Officially back in a Porsche

[Joe Ricard]

Picked up my 2001 Guards Red 996 C4. It is in beautiful shape and now has 1000 miles on a 3.4L motor. 400 mile trip from Blake's place yesterday was an absolute joy.

I am sure I will be asking a few questions here now and then. First is to get it cleaned up from road grime give a nice rub down with some wax and then pics before sunset today. Maybe open the owners manual to figure out the 8 way seats.

Motor has all the tricks LN single row IMS, ARP rod bolts, NASCAR coated rod and main bearings, Spin on filter, magnetic oil plug, freshened up heads by Len, Water pump, 160 T stat,

Car ran 190 all the way home @ 3 bar on the Joe Gibbs 40w oil.

Been 10 years since I sold my 928 and have been missing the worlds greatest cars ever since.

[Paul Waterloo]

Very cool! Was it your car to begin with, or did flat six buy a roller, do the engine and put it up for sale?

[Joe Ricard]

The later. In my opinion it is the only way to fly. considering there is a 2 year back log for a full on rebuilt motor. This transaction took only a few hours and then the trip to go get it.

[Joe Ricard]

[dporto]

Nice ! Congrats & Enjoy!!

[Joe Ricard]

So after a few days of driving the P-car I drove my 95 M3 this morning.

on the interstate virtually identical except M3 is hopped up on all kinds of performance goof balls. Headers, chip, CAI Sway bars 3x spring rate and AST shocks.

The difference is in the twisty bits. M3 is like sledge hammer and 996 is scalpal It just cuts through.

Already started searching for short shifter, and at least shocks and bars.

[Taco Truck]

Nice car! Congratulations on the new baby!
Nothing much better than a 'modern' Porsche; air conditioning that really works [without putting thousands of $ into a few degrees less than warm], a suspension that has taken advantage of new technologies, cup holders, a nice stereo, etc.

Eat your hearts out, air cooled purists!

I had an early '89 with a '97 Vario Ram with a tricked suspension. It was a nice car [how could it not; its a Porsche!] but I really like my 2002 C4 so much more! Maybe I'm just old but I sure like the 'fast comfort' and less drama when cornering.

The 996 also has a very low coefficient of drag @ .30.

Another very good aspect of a 996 is the lack of sophisticated electronics. Porsche hadn't started putting in a lot of electronics during the 996 era.

My personal opinion is that the 996 will come back into the good graces of the Porsche enthusiast when the 997/onward models start to have electrical problems that are very expensive to hunt down and/or fix. By then, most 996 cars will have had the IMS/RMS issues addressed and will be recognized as a very nice, uncomplicated car.

Enjoy!
Taco Truck