From the ashes a phoenix will rise. I bought my 1997 Porsche Boxster track car a decade ago and it has been largely idle since 2020. I had grand plans when I pulled it into my garage and put it up on my Quickjacks. It’s been a couple of years since I had even laid eyes on the car, having moved across the country, and I don’t have any vision of when I’ll get back to it. So instead of letting all of this stuff sit around and collect dust, I decided it was best to grab a bunch of parts from this project to help finish my other Porsche project, the incredible 996 Turbo. Don’t tell the Boxster, but the 996 is my favorite child.
In preparation for my trip back to Ohio from Nevada, I spent a few hours last weekend picking through bins, grabbing leftovers, and even unbolting a couple of items from the Boxster, now destined for the 996. As I dug into my stockpile of forgotten Porsche parts I kept surprising myself with more cool shit that either never got used or the Boxster wouldn’t notice missing for a few years.
The big ticket items, which I knew I had, but didn’t know their condition, were the spare set of headlights that have just been chilling on a shelf for a decade. Long, long ago, when I was a younger (and arguably dumber) man, I wanted to “upgrade” the Boxster to later 996.2 facelift headlights, and bought this pair of non-litronic without chrome headlight washers in near-perfect condition. I had no way of knowing I would one day need these exact headlights for my 996 Turbo. Even then I could not conceive of ever having enough disposable income to purchase a 996 Turbo. Pure serendipity.
The second item cribbed from the Boxster, and the only item that is actually mission-critical for the car to ever drive again, is this extremely period-correct Agency Power short shift kit. I bought this kit used on San Francisco Craigslist at least 9 years ago now, and thankfully the Boxster and 996 share the same shifter. I remember this shifter being much more rifle-bolt action than the factory shifter, and should be an improvement still over the GT3-style factory short shifter already installed in the 996.
Something I didn’t expect to salvage, but was destined for the trash heap anyway, was the center stack “tombstone” that houses the HVAC and head unit. My 996 was “upgraded” at some point to a double-DIN head unit, and all of the clips and the center support bar were cut out to make room for the larger unit. That was all well and good when the HVAC was in the lower console, but I did a GT3-style center console delete and now the HVAC controls are just strapped to the bottom of the dashboard until I could figure out a way to mount them more permanently.
This might be the solution to my problems. By swapping back to a single DIN head unit, I can move the HVAC controls back up to the dash where they belong. It’ll give the car a more OEM polished look again that I’ve been missing.
My pile of parts also included a nearly-new Clarion M508 head unit. This is incredible news, because the M508 is one of my favorite aftermarket pieces. This has a visually OEM-like look to it that fits the era, but it’s modern enough to have bluetooth and USB input. I’ve had these in many cars and I think it’ll look great in the 996. I will be a little sad to lose Apple Carplay from the car, but I think the aesthetic upgrade is well worth it.
While the GT3-style clip-on brake ducts I stole from the lower control arms of the Boxster used to be available from Porsche for less than 10 dollars per side, they’re now worth a lot more because the left sides are no longer available new. I think my 996 already has a pair of these on the control arms, it doesn’t hurt to have a backup set.
I also grabbed a few wheel spacers from my stash, an 8mm pair and an 18mm pair, just to see if either of those will help the 996 wheels sit a little more flush. I’ll do some measuring and maybe trial-fitting in the spring when the 996 comes out of storage for the spring. There was also a new-old-stock GT3 brake primary cylinder still in the box sitting on the shelf so I grabbed that, too.
I don’t know what I paid for all of these parts, but that money was already spent, so I definitely can’t count them against the 996 Turbo budget. These are basically free parts, right? Car math.
Merry Christmas to: 2024 Brad
From: 2018 Brad
