New Daily Driver

onewhippedpuppy · 08-08-2016, 08:14 AM

Picked this up last week, 2003 Boxster S with 82k. Needs a few little things but is overall a very nice little car. I'm considering taking a sort of lightweight back to basics approach, call it the CS that Porsche never made. Simplify some things, remove some weight, etc. We'll see what happens.

maxnine11 · maxnine11's Garage

Nice find !!
The red and black looks great and the MY02 wheels suit the car.
Are the body colored grilles stock, or painted by a previous owner?

Gogar · 08-08-2016, 08:35 AM

not a damn thing wrong with that right there

Craig T · 08-08-2016, 09:42 AM

Great plan. Kind of a street legal Spec Boxster? That would be fun.

BTW...I'm partial to red convertibles.

onewhippedpuppy · 08-08-2016, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxnine11

Nice find !!
The red and black looks great and the MY02 wheels suit the car.
Are the body colored grilles stock, or painted by a previous owner?

I'm not sure what was standard on the 2003, painted grille is not listed as an option. I know the early S models had titanium front grilles but I think body colored intakes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig T

Great plan. Kind of a street legal Spec Boxster? That would be fun.

BTW...I'm partial to red convertibles.

Sorta my thought. Simplify and add lightness without making it into something that's not usable. Door panels without door speakers, lightweight motorcycle amp driven directly by USB input, maybe a side airbag delete as technically they are expired anyway, GT3 console delete, strip the front and rear trunks, lightweight performance exhaust, RoW M030, lightweight manual seats, lightweight battery, etc. I think getting 200 lbs out would be a fun goal.

Tobra · Tobra's Garage

Does that red looks as good in person as it does in pictures?

CJFusco · CJFusco's Garage

Nice choice! My mother-in-law recently bought a 2004 Boxster S, and I was pretty impressed by how fun it is to drive. I could see adding one to the garage at some point.

onewhippedpuppy · 08-08-2016, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tobra

Does that red looks as good in person as it does in pictures?

Yeah, I'm not a red car guy but it looks damn good.

porsche4life · porsche4life's Garage

Needs an ipd plenum, 74mm throttle body and tune.

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Love it Matt! If I could get away with a 2 seat DD that would be at the top of a short list!

onewhippedpuppy · 08-09-2016, 03:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by porsche4life

Needs an ipd plenum, 74mm throttle body and tune.

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Love it Matt! If I could get away with a 2 seat DD that would be at the top of a short list!

Full exhaust is top priority! I'm not 100% sold on the throttle body and plenum, I've seen dyno results indicating that they don't make a real measurable difference. Like most normally aspirated Porsches it's not easy to get more power without internal upgrades, even a full exhaust and tune are only good for 20-25 HP at least per what I've seen.

slow&rusty · 08-09-2016, 03:25 AM

Very pretty..they've grown on me.

masraum · 08-09-2016, 04:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Full exhaust is top priority! I'm not 100% sold on the throttle body and plenum, I've seen dyno results indicating that they don't make a real measurable difference. Like most normally aspirated Porsches it's not easy to get more power without internal upgrades, even a full exhaust and tune are only good for 20-25 HP at least per what I've seen.

Yep. I think I have seen dyno results posted that after full exhaust, plenum and TB and chip/tune, you can get more HP. I think it was 30-50hp for the whole batch.

I've also seen some results that showed a bit more peak power, but the lower rpm range actually loses some power, which has folks saying that for the track it might be good, but for the street it actually hurts.

You could always throw a turbo on it.

But then I assume you're more concerned with keeping things simple, not complicating them, especially for a daily driver.

onewhippedpuppy · 08-09-2016, 04:31 AM

Honestly I think it's plenty quick as is. The exhaust is just to get some proper Porsche sound and lose some weight.

CJFusco · CJFusco's Garage

In my experience, the exhaust is the single best upgrade you can make to 986 and 987 cars. That being said, if you also upgrade the plenum and throttle body and then get an ECU tune done you will notice a sizeable bump in mid-range torque (which is clearly the naturally-aspirated flat-six's Achilles Heel).

porsche4life · porsche4life's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Full exhaust is top priority! I'm not 100% sold on the throttle body and plenum, I've seen dyno results indicating that they don't make a real measurable difference. Like most normally aspirated Porsches it's not easy to get more power without internal upgrades, even a full exhaust and tune are only good for 20-25 HP at least per what I've seen.

You know my cell phone number, I've got deals, and even if its not on our site, I can probably get it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by CJFusco

In my experience, the exhaust is the single best upgrade you can make to 986 and 987 cars. That being said, if you also upgrade the plenum and throttle body and then get an ECU tune done you will notice a sizeable bump in mid-range torque (which is clearly the naturally-aspirated flat-six's Achilles Heel).

What you did is about the max of the easy "bolt on" mods for these. Past that it starts getting spendy!

Craig T · 08-09-2016, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Sorta my thought. Simplify and add lightness without making it into something that's not usable. Door panels without door speakers, lightweight motorcycle amp driven directly by USB input, maybe a side airbag delete as technically they are expired anyway, GT3 console delete, strip the front and rear trunks, lightweight performance exhaust, RoW M030, lightweight manual seats, lightweight battery, etc. I think getting 200 lbs out would be a fun goal.

Perfect. After even a modest weight loss, boxsters are great handling cars.

livi · 08-10-2016, 05:55 AM

Excellent! Effective use of parking space too.

porsche4life · porsche4life's Garage

Had an '02s with vodka exhaust in for a tune today. Really wanted to drop the top and take it for a spin!

Yesterday was a 987

The blue 981 belongs to one of our sales guys. Love the mid engined cars!

onewhippedpuppy · 08-14-2016, 03:29 PM

Spacers! And some new Hawk HPS pads up front.

Jeff Higgins · 08-14-2016, 04:08 PM

Great find!

I have fallen in love with my 2002 Boxster S. This is the current "under the RADAR" Porsche for the true enthusiast with more enthusiasm than money. They are in the price range of the long hoods when I first got into this hobby, and every bit as "expendable" as the long hoods were back then. By "expendable", I mean we can mod the bejeebers out of them and no one cares. Too bad long hoods didn't stay that way...

I've looked at exhaust for mine. Any full system, with headers and a muffler, approaches half of what I paid for the car. Just freakin' ridiculous. Have you seen anything, that provides worthwhile gains, that is even close to reasonably priced?