The Pumpkin 997.1 GT3 RS
Prior to moving out to California in 2006, I really didn’t pay much consideration for Porsche outside of recognizing that the air cooled turbo cars from the 90’s were very fast and very expensive. Although many people had the 911 air cooled turbo on posters of their bedroom walls, I was mostly into Japanese cars as a teenager. So it wasn’t until moving out to California and the 997 GT3 launching in 2007 where the design narrative really started to resonate with me.
More specifically, my love for Porsche started with the pumpkin orange/black 997.1 GT3 RS that launched in 2007. For the uninitiated, the "997" represented the designation chassis code from 911 cars from 2004-2013. The ".1" represents the first pre-facelift iteration of the 997, "GT3" originally represented the homologation of racecars in the GT3 racing class and "RS" is Rennsport or "Racing Sport" in German.
As a 24 year old fresh faced new grad, I wasn't commanding much in the way of salary and even after adjusting for inflation the $53k salary in 2007 (~$74k in 2023) wasn't providing much after the bare living necessities. I lived in a run down 2 bedroom apartment that I shared with a roommate each of us paying $675 a month in a crime ridden part of town. Within a year of living there, my 1993 Honda that the company was kind enough to ship out for me had gotten broken into, someone tried to scale my second floor balcony to steal my bicycle and there were bullet holes in the front entryway glass. Oh, and my roommate nearly got mugged walking across the street to get some tacos as well.
In 2009, just 3 years after beginning my automotive engineering career, the economy crashed and everyone around me seemed to be impacted. Meanwhile my hapless mother had poured all of her money that my grandparents had left her after passing away to remodel our childhood home in Illinois in preparation for a "lucrative" sale. But instead of thick bank account, she ended up being upside down on her home and forced to sign some bad financial agreements to stay out of foreclosure.
By then I was making the modest sum of $60k a year ($85k in 2023 dollars), helping her where I could while my older sister and her limitlessly patient husband did the heavy lifting. I really had a front row seat to the economy wrecking careers and livelihoods of close friends and colleagues and saw the writing on the wall for automotive engineering which was being outsourced to lower cost countries (Mexico, India, Czech Republic, etc). Engineers that I held in high regard were given unadorned white boxes to place their photos of loved ones and career mementos after dedicating over a decade with the company.
Being the cheap labor that I was, I barely dodged getting laid off but was struggling to see any future as an engineer beyond being a slave to a meager paycheck that was just enough to sustain but never enough to get ahead and build tangible wealth. I was all but convinced that the great engineering companies had been eroded by 3 piece bean counters and freshly minted MBA's. My (ex)girlfriend tried her best to convince me to pursue a business degree or better yet go into medical school to pursue a more prestigious career. She also never thought I’d get out of the rat race as a salaried engineer. Perhaps it doesn’t come as a surprise that our formative relationship of 5 years beginning at university crumbled apart leaving me empty, lost and without anything to show for it besides a Swiss Army knife she gifted me from her trip to Europe.
At one of my lowest points, a close friend reached out and gave me a helping hand by introducing me to the love of my life. It wasn't a GT3, but it was even better. He set me up on three blind dates with three different girls, and after the first girl had to reschedule I met the second in line- the girl that I'd marry only 4 years later. We hit it off quickly, and she was beautiful - full of youthful energy, always down to try and see new places, and sharing her love of things like nice restaurants and Whole Foods cheeses (up to this point I had only known Kraft Cheddar in medium or sharp variants). And with her in my life, we both began to look forward to the pages of our lives that had yet to be written.
After a few romantic dates, one summer night in 2009 we found ourselves at a trendy restaurant bar in Orange County- the kind that tried to convince you with ambiance that the taste of the 2 drinks were worth the $30 price. But when finally leaving the restaurant, by chance I was graced by a pumpkin 997.1 GT3 RS (1 of 410 and just 1 of 169 in orange sent to the US) parked on the street as we walked back to my rusty black Honda. I stopped and stared at the car. It was lithe, very shiny, had beautiful haunches and was way more than I could afford (MSRP of $130k).
My date asked if I liked that car and I responded with a defeated "Yes, but I won't ever be able afford it" and without any hesitation she told me "You'll buy it one day". And with that passing comment she gave me hope at a delicate moment when I was still reeling from the pain of overpriced drinks and low self esteem. And with another dash of luck, a few months later I would end up switching engineering fields to start a new job in Aerospace where I finally found my calling as an engineer.
Sapphire Blue 991.1 GT3
So in fall of 2009, I started a new line of work challenging me to learn a completely new industry from the ground up. The new job afforded me enough to move to a 1 bedroom apartment in a better part of town complete with my very own 1 car garage. I was so happy be able to do my own oil changes and safely store my spare car parts.
But for a long time, I had completely lost my passion for cars as I tried to build up the other things in my life through my career. I was fortunate to be mentored by some of the best engineers in the industry and things finally began to accelerate. By 2013 I had gotten married, was able to afford a modest condo with help from my wife's dowry. Fast forward to 2016, an influential engineering leader took a chance on me and promoted me to oversee a small team at work. Although my career successes were still modest, the company equity had grown to a point where it was conceivable to buy my first Porsche. Although I knew it was a poor financial optimization, I followed my heart and located a 1,200 mile 2016 Sapphire Blue Metallic 991.1 GT3 in Houston, TX. It just so happened that my cousin was hosting his wedding in Houston so my wife and I stopped by the dealership the day before the wedding and signed the papers to purchase the car.
The car was a major step from anything I had ever sat or driven. So I would take the car to Angeles Crest Highway, take as many nice photos as I could, and learned how to detail cars with it. The blue color was popular and would regularly turn heads. Even my neighbor's boy would hear the car when I came home late from work and would open the blinds to watch me pull into my garage. I fell in love with the beauty and serenity of driving in the canyons early in the mornings and late at night by myself.
Driving Impressions
The first time I drove the 991.1 GT3 on the street, I was really blown away by the mid range power and sound of the engine even under medium load. It had a lower bass that I was used to coming from lower displacement Japanese cars and it took some time to get used to how much power was on tap (475hp) which was nearly double anything I had been familiar with. The dual clutch PDK transmission was very responsive in manual mode and could shift quickly and smoothly without upsetting the car mid corners. The rear wheel steer was a bit unnatural feeling at lower speeds but really helped the car turn at higher speeds. Meanwhile, the rear suspension of the car felt very planted, and bumps in the road wouldn't take many cycles to damp. The car was very capable, smooth, had a quality interior, was comfortable and had lots of usable range.
991.2 Porsche 911 GT3 Touring
In early 2021, after putting over 21k miles on the Sapphire Blue GT3 I had started to consider the an upgrade as I started to lust over the 991.2 GT3 generation that came with a stronger motor and nicer interior. Someone on the Rennlist forums had made a post that they were looking for a 991 Sapphire Blue GT3 and he made me a solid offer for the car so I sent the car to Oklahoma after 5 special years with the car.
Deep into the COVID pandemic, I was not driving much but was thinking about the specifics of my next car. A 991.2 GT3 RS with PCCB (Porsche Carbon Ceramic Brakes) and chalk color was the apple of my eye. Something like this:
After missing out on a car that I wanted to purchase, I went to check out a more understated chalk 991.2 GT3 Touring in Orange County. The touring edition was offered after the success of the special edition 991R and was offered without a rear wing, in manual transmission and represented the gentleman's version of the GT3.
The car was quite different than the RS cars that I had been eyeing but my good friend Derek went with me to check out the car, showed me how much smaller it was compared to the RS car and convinced me that this was the car to have as it would age more gracefully due to its manual transmission and classic 911 appeal. A deal was struck and I drove away in delight.
Driving Impressions
Stepping into the 991.2 GT3 manual transmission took a lot of getting used to even though I was familiar with the platform. The gear lever was easy to articulate and had a positive firmness about it that was intuitive to use. The clutch was not brimming with feel but was heavily assisted and easy to move but the brake and accelerator pedal placement made heel-toe a bit challenging. Because the accelerator pedal was so low, you'd have to be deep into the brakes to be able to blip the accelerator for rev matching so I adapted the method of rolling my foot over and tapping the accelerator with my toe instead of my heel. Overall, it was fantastic to be back in a manual transmission car as it demands more of the driver and is much more engaging. It's sad that RS variants are no longer offered in manual.
The engine sound was different as well. Gone was the 8500-9000rpm shriek from the 991.1's 3.8L motor and in its place was a lot lower of a rumble all the way to 9000rpm with the 991.2's 4.0L 493bhp engine. The mid range power was a significant step up and even the rear wheel steering felt more naturally calibrated. Occasionally, the 991.1's rear wheel steer would make the rear end of the car feel like it did something out of place, but the 991.2 rear wheel steer algorithm seems to be more progressive.
The lighter ceramic brakes which were about 10lb lighter per corner was also very noticeable as well as the car front steering was lighter and more responsive on turn in.
Overall, the 991.2 touring with the stronger motor, ceramic brakes and better spec overall was a superior machine and it was hard to imagine ever parting with the car in my garage. Especially impressive was the wide range of the car. When you wanted the car to be a tame road car, outside of the heightened tire noise the car was incredibly comfortable - interior lined with supple leather, ice cold AC, Apple Car Play, empathetic suspension behavior, front axle nose lift to get over bumps but when you wanted to drive the car aggressively the engine and drivetrain came alive to deliver emotions that few cars can.
The previous owner swapped out the Carbon Fiber seat liners to a classic Pepita fabric which matched the white gauge cluster. The two interior modifications I implemented were a set of Trackspec light weight bucket (LWB) recliners to angle the seat back more comfortably and a 911R carbon fiber shift knob.
I love how the steering wheel doesn't have any paddles, knobs or buttons. Pure driving pleasure.
I wanted to share the experience of the car and so when Youtuber Zygrene mentioned that he wanted to drive a 991.2 GT3 I met him and a few other people on Angeles Crest Highway (ACH) to let him review my car. This is where I met my one of my closest adult friends and fellow car enthusiast who I found out lived a parallel life to mine.
Quickly into it, I knew I'd want a Titanium center exhaust from Akrapovic. The car barely fit on my narrow lift but it was a joy to work on. The car came with a painted side skirt which I later changed out to the RS wider side skirt.
Akrapovic center Titanium exhaust saves about 10lbs.
You can see the stock steel exhaust in this photo.
Diamond black Monobloc forged Aluminum BBS FI-R centerlock wheels are my absolute favorite modern wheel design and save about 5-6lb per corner. This BBS promo video is fucking awesome. The BBS FI-R is their flagship motorsports wheel that really set the standard for the modern 5/10 spoke design with inner milling for weight reduction. If you look carefully at many modern wheel designs, many take inspiration from the trend setting design from BBS. Interesting fact is that while BBS is a German company the forged motorsports wheels are manufactured in Japan.
Diamond black color was chosen for my earlier Sapphire Blue 991.1 GT3 but still looks decent on chalk.
This photo was taken as one last drive up ACH before starting a new job in May 2022.
Unfortunately, shortly after starting work and street parking somebody hit and run my rear bumper when parking. The damage was minor, and although the paint protection film took the brunt of the damage, the bumper still needed to be repainted. Thankfully it wasn't damaged on the steel body work of the car or I would have been devastated.
After opting to get a brand new bumper to respray, the technician installing the license plate screwed carelessly into the wrong hole, and the dealership offered to replace it with a new bumper. This entire saga took nearly 6 months to get the car back in acceptable shape.
Two holes where there should be one.
After finally getting the car back, it was time to clean the car up a bit by removing the side decals which I was always on the fence about and liquid painting the BBS wheels to satin black which better matches the car's trim better. Here is one last clean shot in the garage before the aesthetic changes.
I was blown away by how good of a job Supreme Power did with the liquid paint although the yellow lettering was done by hand and came out a little crooked in certain areas. Liquid paint and not powder coating is necessary for these wheels because the powder coating process gets the temperature too close to annealing temp which would reduce the strength of the forged alloy.
I love seeing the car on a lift without wheels for some reason.
After ordering black "GT3" logo for the door, the car cleaned up incredibly well and I'm glad that I took the plunge to remove the side decals. Understated motorsport is what I was going for.
Kobe painted next to my favorite coffee shop Steelhead in Long Beach.
RS sideskirts on full display.
Here the car is accompanying me to downtown LA to pick up an anniversary gift for my wife. Vanity plate "NATUUNE" stands for Naturally Aspirated Tune and is a throwback to the video game Gran Turismo. Kind of douchey right? Ah well, lean into it.
I also decided to purchase a carbon bonnet that was featured on the 991.1 GT3 RS and get it painted locally. They were able to get the color match spot on with the first try. I really like the pre-preg carbon work and the linear accents on the top of the hood. $6000 to save 5lb seems like a bad deal but I have to channel my inner import tuner.
Just look at this masterpiece.
Foreshadowing with my friend's 997.1 GT3
Ending the chapter of the 991 generation, the beautiful chalk touring was sold to a friend on 10/24/2024.
2011 Porsche 997.2 GT3 RS 4.0
During the summer of 2023, I had started to dream about what to fill the car-shaped hole in my heart after I sold my 1991 Acura NSX. Initially, I really considered an air cooled 993 Porsche.
Despite late nights of research, I still struggled to fully grasp the air cooled market as there were so many different variants, car conditions and considerations for the cars that were on the market. I liked the rare late run 993 Carrera 2S featuring 282hp (1997-1998 model that was the last air cooled engine before the 911 range went to using water coolant in the 996 generation). I find the 993 designed by Englishman Tony Hatter a wonderful blend of classic features on a more modern curvy body.
In particular I found the Arctic silver cars particularly suiting for this generation but the wide body cars were extremely sought after as they only came on the lower production turbo (AWD), C4S (AWD) and C2S (RWD) variants. I scoured the country for a silver car that had original paint but didn't have any luck. I did however, find a local seller with a Paint to Sample special order color (PTS) in Polar Silver instead of Arctic asking a ridiculous premium claiming he knew what he had.
PTS Polar silver had more blue tinge which somehow commands a premium in this model year. "PTS Silver" became a running joke.
Then I nearly bought a ocean blue metallic car with 14k miles offering $205k, but couldn't close the deal with the owner before he sold it to the artisanal markup dealer Canepa (which then promptly sold for $280k, to a rich client). At this point I had started to lose interest in the 993 that would cost me upwards of $250k to find the kind of example I wanted to own.
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| 993 C2S - Overpriced or nah |
Still hung up on the 993 widebody, I even considered the formidable 993 turbo and bid for a yellow car on bring a trailer before stopping the stupidity at $290k. Various late night critical discussions were had with my good friends about it who agreed that the 993 air cooled generation had seen a significant run in value so was probably a bad time to purchase one. Looking at the available sold auctions on Bring a Trailer for 1997-1998 cars it was evident that the last couple of years had seen an explosion in value for the higher caliber non turbo 993's.
Meanwhile, watching Matt Moreman's 997.2 GT3 RS restoration give away really brought me back to my roots with the pumpkin 997.1 RS. I had driven both the standard 997.1 and 997.2 GT3's that my friends owned and they are both fantastic driving experiences with much more driving sensations through the heavier clutch and full-of-feel hydraulic steering racks and more nimble shorter wheel bases. Although I still love my 991.2 Touring, the 997 generation offered a much more raw analog driving experience. A what a gorgeous machine in 19" BBS forged centerlock RE-MTSP in satin platinum wheels.
The Bring a Trailer sold auctions also showed that while the 997 cars weren't cheap, they hadn't yet seen the meteoric rise that the 993's had. To me and many others, the 997 generation is the water cooled generation to own as it is a natural sweet spot between modern performance but analog driving experience before emission and safety standards took over to make the cars larger and more 'watered' down.
The sold prices >$500k from Bring a Trailer stood out to me as they were of course THE legendary RS 4.0 cars of which only 600 were ever made in the world with 141 making it to the US as the swan song celebration of the 997 Mezger engine powered cars. Only 600 cars were produced derived from the remaining hardware Porsche had available taken directly from the RSR racecar. Porsche lost money on every car they produced and they were all sold out before the car debuted publicly.
In my opinion, the 997 generation GT3 cars are the pinnacle of water cooled 911 driving bliss and of them, the RS 4.0 stands proud as the zenith featuring many notables:
- Last manual transmission RS car produced
- Last Mezger derived engine
- Ultra light weight 2998lbm wet in lightest spec
- Single mass fly wheel
- Short wheel base and no rear wheel steering
- Rose jointed rear suspension arms
- Underrated 493bhp naturally aspirated, 123 hp/liter specific output (which was not matched again until the 991.1RS 5 years later
- Carbon fiber: front fenders, front hood, rear wing, bucket seats. Aluminum side doors.
Even modern car reviews still revere the car.
Armed with this new found hype, I found a car for sale with basic spec and higher mileage (13k) that I could almost stretch my budget to at Merit Partners. The car had been driven, some on the track (which I could hardly blame the previous owners for) but mostly on the road and was going to need a little bit of TLC. After a few weeks of back and forth we decided to move forward with the deal and I eagerly waited delivery of my 2011 997.2 GT3 RS 4.0 car #257/600. I now was able to park my own white pumpkin in my garage!
You know you're in good company when your car gets delivered on the same truck as a multi million dollar Ferrari F40, F50, RUF 996 and GT4 RS!
My son who seems to love cars was intrigued by the F40. He has good taste!
After completely scraping my front lip getting into my driveway, she was finally home next to her younger cousin. This particular car is lightly optioned with lightweight headlights (gets rid of headlight washer nub, and uses Halogen bulbs), steel brakes, and no leather. Coming out of my 991.2 touring, I thought the few creature comforts and bare spec would bother me but have come to appreciate how much it fits this car's ethos.Driving Impressions
The RS4.0 feels faster than the 991.2 GT3 because it is a couple hundred pounds lighter and has shorter gear ratios. The car feels so raw, alive and pulsates with energy- heightened by how quickly the engine revs from the lightweight flywheel. A tap of the accelerator pedal sends the engine screaming in neutral. It's so ready to dance and on its toes that it gives you an impression that if you don't pay attention she could bite you at any moment. The clutch is unforgivingly heavy but with intuitive modulation and early engagement point- a surprise given the lightweight flywheel. Meanwhile the shifter is tight and can't be bothered to be rushed so shifting is more deliberate and slower relative to the 991.2. The challenge is that the revs drop so quickly between gear changes that you are challenged to rev match on upshift as well.
The RS rear weight bias of the car is more noticeable and the car's ride quality is a lot harsher. The car is less composed over bumps and road flaws relative to the 991.2, but this be due to a combination of higher spring rates, less sophisticated PASM (Porsche Active Suspension Management) but my guess is the heavier unsprung mass in the stock wheels (24.508lb X2 Front and 30.8lb X2 Rear) and steel brakes relative to my current 991.2 hardware. Future state BBS RE-MTSP wheels will lower the unsprung mass by 33.4lb total which should help the wheels stay better glued to the road over bumps. Expensive carbon rotors can shave an additional 40lb total as well, but these will be pricey upgrades.
The steering wheel transmits so much more road feedback that the more modern electronic steering racks cannot compete with while the car's single mass flywheel makes grumbling sounds at idle constantly egging you to drive her harder. The car is very fast and has the fairy dust that makes the hair on the back of your neck buzz with electricity. And the Mezger motor has so much character (akin to listening to a full orchestra compared to the solo violinist in the masterwork 991.2 GT3 motor) despite redline being at a lower ~8400rpm.
The garage she shares with her cute JDM nephews.
Yes, I do love white sports cars but the RS 4.0 pretty much only came in white (black is $200k more expensive) and the ITR color to have is the iconic Honda championship white. Interestingly, all car colors in my garage Chaste White, Championship White, Carrara White and Chalk start with 'C' and 'W'!
The best paintless dent repair technician who works on Singers was called over immediately to help remove dents on the roof which unfortunately required removing some of the existing paint protection film (PPF) that I'll need to get redone. I could already tell that the car would clean up incredibly nicely.
The car came with a new shift knob and boot in the glovebox from MP which was replaced immediately.
The special Carbon Fiber air intake unique to the 4.0L had some scratches from where I'm guessing someone had dropped the unit previously. I lightly polished the scratches to get them 30% better without being too aggressive and ceramic coated the entire cover. It catches the light much better in the before and after photos below.
Before:
After:After:
The Alcantara steering wheel was matted near the 3 and 9 o'clock positions from heavy use. After some careful masking and Sonax cleaner the steering wheel came out perfectly! I was worried I would need to purchase a new steering wheel for $3k+.
Before:
Look how much dirt came out from the steering wheel onto the microfiber towel!
After:
The ash tray cover was also scratched up. After getting some tips online about removing the upper layer of cheap paint I soaked the unit under hot water and cleaned up the cover. It looks great even though I have a new unit waiting to be installed if ever needed.
The car's battery was letting me down during startup so it was time to address it. The battery cover was cleaned and ceramic coated with GYEON trim while I swapped in the lightweight Anti Gravity 40Ahr battery that was recently powering my 991.2 Touring which saves a whopping 30lbm! Meanwhile the OEM battery from the 991 was reinstalled and both cars were happy again.
RS4.0 waiting her organ donor.
Preparing for the first car wash!
1 piece carbon fiber fenders unique to the RS4.0.
I found some markings on the rear bumper license plate area so I very lightly polished away what I could. I might go more aggressively in the future but it is hidden beneath the plate so doesn't bother me much.
The driver's side interior door pull and cover had seen better days so it was replaced with brand new OEM units ($121.13 + $103.26). New left, used right:
Feels so fucking good.
The ignition surround bezel had also been banged up by years of keys missing their mark so was replaced with a new unit ($26.11).
Bezel removed.
Bezel installed.
The frunk brake fluid cover had a scratch so was replaced with a new unit ($18.34). Used lower, new upper picture:
A dab of touch up paint was used where the rear engine lid rubber hard stop contacts the rear bumper.
The lower fuse box cover by the driver's side footwell had been on the receiving end of shoes for the last 12 years. It was replaced with a new unit ($12.08).
The lower side sills had been battle hardened from rocks as well. A new pair of freshly ceramic coated side skirts brought the car to a higher standard.
New parts are so beautiful.
The old unit is shown on the right to give a relative comparison between condition.
Fresh side skirts scratch the OCD itch.
Unfortunately, the first trip up to Angeles Crest Hwy was dampened by early morning summer rain. It was still great to hear the engine breath some fresh air. Panera bread/Target parking lot at 7AM is where you'll find me on many Sundays.
Stopping by Pasadena for some card games and lunch before heading back home.
One of the flaws I noticed when first inspecting the car were a handful of stripped T30 torx countersunk screws on the wing riser. After ordering new parts from Porsche I found the replacement screws made from cheap Carbon Steel which has already suffered from surface corrosion. Frustrated with this outcome I measured to thread and found stainless steel replacements from McMaster Carr. Only difference was that the screws did not have pre applied thread lock but I don’t believe that will be necessary.
Old screws had seen better days. Real GT3 RS for scale.
Not the best pics, but I was really struggling with the front height of the car resulting in my lip getting dragged through hell and back. It was time to bite the bullet and raise the car through the stock coilovers. Even after ordering driveway ramps I was still scraping, so I raised the car up and rotated the hard stop by 4 full rotations on both the front left and right sides. The result was an increase of roughly 0.75". This might not seem like a lot but significantly increases the accessibility of the car at the small expense of slightly more weight in the rear.
While I was in there, I noticed some mild corrosion around the stock coilover collar and red spring where the paint had chipped through. It doesn't bother me too much as eventually these parts will be swapped out with a suspension refresh.It was finally time to swap out the front lip that had been battered by my driveway. It was certainly an eyesore every time I looked at the car so was great to replace it with a new unit, ceramic coated and Sliplo scrape guards installed. I'm not convinced the Sliplo is going to hold up but was worth a shot.
Old unit at a glance.New unit with scrape guards installed.
The front bumper looks so goofy without the lip.
All freshened up.
Fresh batch of new plastics for the car came in. Frunk latch trim, lower front wheel well dams and interior dome light bezel.
Back to back with the scraped up lower air dams.
Marginally cleaner underneath still makes me happy.
Frunk hood latch trim removed, underneath cleaned and replaced. Fresh.
Interior light switch bezel was removed and replaced with a new unit as well.Perfect.
The seemingly simply job of replacing the dome light bezel turned out to be the job from hell because of these cursed homelink electrical harnesses. I originally ended up in this area chasing a rattle from the dome light (which I simply remedied with foam tape), but ended up superficially scratching the bezel during the work.
Of course I ordered a new bezel but in order to get it out, the connectors needed to be removed. After an hour of hand prying it without success, I finally resorted to the brute force method of grabbing it with needle nose pliers after getting a similar tip from another owner that encountered the same problem on Rennlist. I'm very unhappy about this standard electrical harness being so unserviceable and requiring so much force to remove.
Curse this clip.Everything still worked but of course I was now going to need to address this.
After looking at the part number on the yellow clip, I found a similar clip from TE Connectivity P/N 1-1355397-3 since I believe the original clip was discontinued. This ended up being a standard 4-pin automotive MQS connector. After ordering 50x connectors from onlinecomponents.com (it was the lowest order amount), I realized that I would also need standard MQS pins (P/N 61131393724) from FCP Euro and an electrical crimper (I used 1.0mm). After a couple of weeks of waiting the hardware arrived.
Test fitting crimping and the MQS pin. The black harness required a minor shaving of the side plastic tab, but perhaps there is a better part number that matches slightly better?
I then stripped 4mm of wire off of each wire and with some difficulty was able to crimp and re-pin each connector. Finally the clean wiring harness was reinstalled into the homelink button.
Finally the new unit (top) was freshly coated with ceramic and reinstalled onto the dome light bezel. Now everything was perfect and all was right in the world again.
Normally I wouldn't go for leather bolster protectors since I have gotten fairly proficient in ingress/egress on bucket seats. However because of the extreme value of these GT2 style carbon bucket seats ($20k+), the fragility of the 997 leather and good condition of the seats I decided to bite the $580 bullet to get these leather covers from Edguardusa.com. After Ed sent me thread samples and the thread color of black grey was determined, the order was placed and two weeks passed before they arrived. I promptly coated them with leather shield and install was straight forward outside of a minor trimming of the velcro straps. I am hoping that they will settle in and sit more flush after some more adjustment but I'm happy with the product.
Passenger side base bolsters on the left and covers on the right. Driver side base bolsters on the left and covers on the right.An extra pic of how beautiful the car is.RS 4.0 Undercarriage Project
To my surprise, there was a good amount of undercarriage secondary hardware corrosion. In looking back on the car's history, it spent a couple years in New York where it might have picked up salt from the wet ground and sat slowly corroding the fasteners. Although there is a fair bit of work to clean all of this up, the good news is that the main chassis is very clean and most of the hardware is readily available and accessible for a clean up. I'm thinking that after I replace what I can, I'll send the car to get dry ice blasted to clean up and the car will really shine.
It was really difficult to determine which fasteners were which part numbers to order. What is shown below was my first stab at identifying what I could knowing that I'd be missing a bunch of hardware still.
This is the start of a long project, but really successful start so far. Here are some pics of new OEM hardware going in. It was incredibly satisfying to remove rusty hardware with fresh factory hardware.
The rear brake duct cover was interesting as the original part was made of cheap steel and the replacement part was a plastic cover. I think plastic suits this part much better as it won't rust and matches the plastic of the duct. Plus there is some weight savings here!
As a brief reprieve, these pics are from earlier in the day meeting a fellow RS 4.0 owner and going to cars and coffee.
A view from Russ' beautiful balcony in Manhattan Beach. RS 4.0 Paint Protection Film Repair
After tearing my PPF from paintless dent repair, my car was going to need to have PPF reinstalled on the passenger side rear quarter panel. While I was there, I was also going to redo the rear engine deck lid, repair stone chips on the rear quarter panel, repair the front driver's side bumper fender flare and install new front aero strakes.
I wanted to find a shop that would let me work with them on these repairs, which would allow me to learn about the PPF installation business and support a smaller shop. Alex from Advanced PPF in Fountain Valley was the perfect place for me.
The day started early at 7AM and began with a car wash.
The RS4.0 looked incredible under the shop lights.
Alex took extra care to remove the old PPF and explained that the steam gun limited the output temperature to not damage anything. He also removed the poorly applied PPF on the rear bumperettes.
Took the opportunity to snap some interior shots.
The previous owner had PPF'd over rock chips in the rear quarter panel. It was great to get the opportunity to improve this before applying a new sheet of protection.
I also worked on reducing the cut line scratch by polishing with V36. I put this scratch in the paint when I cut a straight piece out of the ripped portion. Cutting through the film was a learning item for me.
Rock chips were significantly improved.
Rear deck lid going on.
The front strakes were removed and PPF was applied to the leading edge surface of the new OEM parts.
The front fender flare was coming off of the bumper so it was removed and reapplied with fresh double sided foam tape.
The front strakes were installed in the same location using a masking tape template and adhesive remover was used to clean the surface.Cleaned up.Fender flare was reinstalled as well.All freshened up.
The day ended at 6:25PM, 11 hours of hard work but was worth it given how fresh the car is starting to look. I spent the next day finishing up the car's exterior with ceramic coating to give it a lasting visual pop. Really coming together now.
In the fall of 2023, I finally was able to get the RS4.0 out to Angeles Crest with my closest friends to stretch her legs (the first trip was mostly too wet and unsuccessful). For the trip up the mountain I kept to a slower pace, just scratching at the surface of the car's full capabilities and feeling out the personality. The trip back down was when I finally started to better understand what the car wanted me to do: smoother initial inputs, throttle steering and powering out of curves.
The car was magnificent (not using the word lightly here) as the steering was brimming with feel, so eager to turn with the slightest steering angle. The rose jointed rear end followed the front of the car so quickly, egging me to turn in harder. The drivetrain was full of directness, induction noise from the free flowing cone filters and a Mezger exhaust howl that rang through the tunnel and mountain side. I could not help but feel blessed to own and experience one of Porsche's all time greatest cars. Although there are surely faster and objectively better cars, the RS4.0 represents a complete balanced package that makes me wonder how the Porsche GT department got so much right.
The car's suspension is far from supple- probably too punishing and uncompromising on bumpier surface roads, but on the smoother pavement of ACH it was more composed than I had gotten used to. The drivetrain was somehow both refined and raw, with the grumbly lightweight flywheel spinning up the engine like a sport bike and mid range torque that always seems to challenge the driver to drive faster. The car felt more confident and stable at higher speeds as the rear wing began to load the car up and I was able to lean more into the warm Michelin Cup2 tires.
It was also the first time I noticed that the rear tire widths were 325mm (20mm wider than the already meaty 991.2 Touring at 305mm and matching the much larger 991.2RS with 21inch rear wheels).
At the moment, I'm still faster with the 991.2 Touring as the 991 is simply a much easier car to drive quickly with its computer controls and rear wheel steering. No doubt that in time, as I build confidence in pushing the car harder the RS4.0 will reign supreme as it already feels quicker in a straight line.
All of my friends also seemed to thoroughly enjoy driving the RS4.0 which makes me happy to be able to share the experience of this special car. After we all got back down the mountain we stopped by Constellation coffee for a cappuccino to share some laughs, before finally making our way to Ho Kee Cantonese cafe to be recognized by the wait staff like a group of no-name celebrities in San Gabriel Valley for an all around magical Sunday morning.
One thing that always bothered me was the rusty brake bleeder screws from factory. I ordered a set of new Brembo units from autobrakesolutions.com for $37.73 in addition to some fresh Motul RBF 660 Dot 4 brake fluid. I ended up replacing the screws without removing the wheels, bled 1L of fluid and cleaned up the brake calipers as brake fluid is corrosive. I couldn't find in the car's service history evidence of a brake flush but I'm glad I did it as the brake fluid was pretty dark.
Rusty brake bleeder screws were an eye sore.
New units look great!
A quick afternoon break of Thanksgiving week 2023 led me to Reverent Coffee in Palos Verdes with Jimmy's 997.1.
Friends don't let friends drive stock. Which is why I had to stop by Supreme Power to drop $10k on a set of Satin Platinum BBS Monoblock RE-MTSP wheels. Relative to the OEM wheels, the front wheel goes from 24.5lb->17.8lb and the rear wheel goes from 30.8lb-> 20.8 lb representing a combined 33.4lb reduction in unsprung weight. The improved ride quality improvement was immediately noticeable. I chose a slightly darker silver wheel to better match the decals and I personally prefer a slightly darker wheel color.
Look at the width of the rear wheel!
After ceramic coating the face of the wheels with GYEON rim coating, I took a few NSFW pics. BBS and Porsche 997 are heaven sent!
Meanwhile, a fresh batch of hardware was inbound from Porsche Naples parts department which included a pair of new hydraulic camshaft actuators. These units had been rusting on my car for a while and it felt really great to get a new set installed. The bolt wasn't correct so I had to live with the old units for now.
I also found it blasphemous to listen to the radio when the glorious 4.0 liter motor is screaming behind your ear. So to save 6lb, open up some useable storage space and to make the cabin more purposeful I opted to remove the radio head unit in favor of the shelf. The radio removal was trivial and the shelf slides in nicely. I love the way it now looks!
Not particularly exciting, but was nice to clean up more rusty poor quality fasteners underneath the car. These are from the exhaust hangar bracket.
More exciting was the opportunity to replace the wing risers with fresh OEM units that come powder coated from Switzerland. The previous owner had originally painted the wing riser black, and then at some point was repainted back to GT silver. I was unhappy with the surface finish and wanted everything back to perfection so for the low low price of $1373.68 X2 new wing risers went back on and all is right in the world again.New unit above vs painted unit below. It bothered me greatly that the surface finish was not correct.
In March of 2024, Jimmy and I took a few of the 997 GT3's up to Angeles Crest to let a couple of youtubers review the cars. Not sure whether I'll let anymore people review the cars but I wanted to do this to help share the experience of the cars that we are so blessed to own and drive regularly. Adding miles in the exchange for sharing priceless memories is an easy trade!
After noticing a minor scratch on the passenger door pull cover, a replacement part was promptly ordered and swapped. Interior is nearing perfection!
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