2006 997.1 Carrera S 

Maunal

Seal grey with black extended black leather

Xenons

No sunroof

Sports steering wheel

PASM

Bose

PCCM+ Carplay and Android auto (wireless) 

FSH 

Full engine rebuild in 2023 at 68k miles.

Service History...

27.11.2007 - 20146 miles - OPC Mid Sussex

23.11.2009 - 40396 - OPC Mid Sussex

24.8.2011 - 49454 - OPC Wilmslow

01.03.2013 - 49722 - OPC Leicester 

18.09.2015 - 51972 - Porsche Specialist KS Auto Services 

25.08.2017 - 60357 - SS Motors 

11.09.2019 - 64460 - Wigg Motor Engineers

28.02.2023 - 66792 - Autowerke Porsche Specialist

01.06.2023 - 68329 - AMS Porsche (Millers after rebuild and new transaxle fluid.) 

23.09.2024 - 71428 - Deutsche Diagnostics (Millers NT+)

14.03.2025 - 74162 - Deutsche Diagnostics (Millers 10w50 NT+)

Additional works...

Starting from  5 years back.....

28.04.2021 New alternator 

19.10.2021 Replace rear springs

01.08.2022 New window motors

28..02.2023 Flat Six Performance, in North Norfolk,  were selling the car in early 2023, they sent the car to Autowerke Norwich as  part of their  pre sale inspection and service, this was  in January 2023, as part of the prep, along with a service they replaced all the coolant lines, in fact the the whole coolant system. 

Atowerke also picked up there was the slightest of scoring on cylinder 6 during the routine boresope.

The car was being sold on behalf of a customer of Flat Six Performance's who had purschased a GT4 from them and they were selling it SOR. The seller said if a rebuild is needed then I guess you will have to do it.
Flat Six, the seller and the buyer agreed a price of £33k in the end for the car with the rebuild if both banks were done,  think the car was originally up for around £28k. So the seller took a hit, Flat Six took a hit on their margin and the buyer paid a bit more too but ended up with a 997.1 with full rebuild. 

All 6 cylinders were relined, the manifold bolts were replaced, new clutch fitted, new plugs and coils, all connectors, all heat sheilds all bolts on the engine and the exhaust were replaced, new coolant pump, new low temp thermostat, new clutch cylinders and of course new piston ring sets, cam and crankshaft bearings, gaskets and everything else that goes with a full rebuild.
They also fitted a new engine fan and oil pressure sender. They did pretty much everything.

I know these guys, I know lots of people who have had their engine rebuilt by them too, as they are my local Porsche specialist, and I know they have done dozens and never had a problem. 

I know many kneel at the alter of Hartech, and if I am being completely honest, if I was doing it myeslf, I would have got Hartec to do it too, if only for resale ease.
But I was 100% happy to buy this car knowing Autowerke had done the work. 

01.09.2024 Replaced front diagonal arms. 

Blog...

December 2024...

I bought this car in in the summer after I had an issue with my 996.
That isn't quite true, I had advertised my 996 as I really wanted to get into a 997 or a Cayman GTS and also knew that any more work going forward would be engine out, and I no longer had my workshop and ramps so would not be able to do it, so decided it was time to move it on and start a new project.
I actually had someone coming to view the 996, and the day before on the way to fill it up with fuel I got an engine knock, so I had to cancel the sale and decide what to do. In the end sold it with a £10k loss to someone who was going to do the work themselves.

You can read about my few years with the 996 here......

Guy's 996 ownership blog. 

Anyway, glass half full and all that, I now definitely had to find something and so the search was on for a  997, the GTS 4.0 was now out of reach financially, I didn't want to use any finance.
The must haves were...coupe, manual transmission, PASM, xenons and BOSE, but with a max budget of £30k, £33k at an absolute push.

I though this would be easy, buy a car for £18k with some bore score, get it rebuilt and jobs a good 'un.

Errr, nope.

Every car at this price range was also very, very tired. Suspension felt rubbish, climate not blowing cold, interior looking really old and shiny and bodywork just not looking that nice at all. I get they are now 15-20 years old, but most of these cars need to be sub £15k as they need £15k or more spending on them to get therm right.

The problem with all the 997.2 cars was they were all PDK, the PDK cars were from around £30k and PDK S cars from £34k with some miles on them, but I really wanted manual and they were all closer to £40k if not more, and out of my price range.

I was almost at the point where I was going to buy a 718 Cayman 2.0, it was £32k, guards red with graphite wheels and bose, 2 years warranty, just serviced and new tyres fitted all round, which was tempting after the 996 crapped itself, and it was £32k so just in budget, we agreed on £31.5k.
But....I couldn't do it.

I would miss the flat 6 growl and that loveley linear NA goodness. I took a 718 out at Norwich OPC and it just wasn't for me. Being a turbo I think it would probably suit the PDK better than the manual 'box.

I was nearly at the point where I was going to give up, I was actually considering swapping my 5 Series touring as well and getting into a Panamera Sport Turismo, getting my Pork fix from that.

I then spotted a 991 for £33k and went and had a look, it was nice, really nice, but 90k miles and it did have a bit of a clunk up front over raised iron works etc. It might have been drop links, diagonal arms, £200 and an hours work and sorted, it might however been so much more. 

Plus it wasn't a 997, I loved my 996 by the time I had it sorted and felt the 991 was just too much of a jump in refinement for a weekend toy.

I really wanted a 997.

Then one Friday night this popped up on facebook market place, right colour, right spec, 70k miles and had a full engine rebuild. I messaged him and said I would take it. We had a chat the next morning, he knew I was serious, we agreed a price and I went over on the Monday to collect.

He didn't get on with the 911, felt too floaty and didn't fill him with confidence. When I got there he had an Audi TT quattro, V8 Stag and a V8 Mustang was on order, no wonder the front felt light! Haha

We went out and have to agree, compared to my 996 it felt weird, proper sketchy in the wet, but I knew, or took a risk this was just geo set up though and some suspenison parts would sort it, maybe new front tyres too.
I got out and checked, the front tyres had loads of tread but were 2018 and rock hard. 

Anyway, apart from that it was immaculate, genuinely mint.

Put on the new Bridgestone Potenza Sport tyres (I don't like the steering feel on Michelins, far too vague) and did my geo. Now it was seriously solid and planted. Superb!

Took it over the Belgium and Germany for a bit of a road trip and it is fantastic. 

Didn't have to spend silly money on getting all the front end done, thought it might have needed new dampers all the arms, top mounts etc. doing, it didnt, the only thing with teh slightest of play was the front diagonal arms, which left me with enough money to buy the Porsche PCCM+ Car play unit.  Brings the cabin nicely up to date.


I usually blog the bits I do on my cars, but so far it has not needed anything, arms excluded, so nothing to blog. It is just spot on.

Left it for 4 weeks in January and started on the first click of the key.  Looking through the paperwork they replaced the starter motor and earth strap when the all the work was being done and the alternator was replaced around 8k miles ago.

Also, the pig jobs, the ones I hate, like manifold bolts, exhast bolts etc. were all replaced and look like new too.
It is nice to have a car that is clean underneath, where everything looks new, where you know if you need to work on it, it will be easy and not hours trying to remove corroded stuff. 

Looking forwrd to spring and racking some serious miles up in it.

February 2025...

Not much to report on the car to be honest, not had much chance to drive it,  January was just wet and misrable, and I have got an issue with my left foot. Plantar fasciitis, and using the clutch feels like it is ripping the tissue under my foot.

Took it out for a nice drive on the one day I had off where the weather was nice and it was amazing, but, coudn't walk for the next few days.

Bugger! 

March 2025...

14.03.2025

Been out a couple of times, still got the issue with my foot though, been to a podiatrist and he has advised not to do the usual excersises like bringing the toes up to your shin, as it seems to be causing more issues than helping. Brilliant, basically said try not to drive a manual for the time being.

Should have bought a bloody PDK!

Only been less than 4000 miles since the last oil change, but was nearly a year so treated her to some fresh Millers 10w50 NT+.  I forgot that I had chnaged the oil when I picked the car up in August. Oh well, can never change the oil too often.

18.03.2025 

Foot has been feeling a bit better so going to collact my son from school today in it, around 35 mile round trip and see how I get on.

If my foot is knackered when I get back then I might have to bite the bullet and swap for a PDK car.  No point having this if I can't use it. 

19.03.2025 

Only did 40 miles in the car yesterday, I could feel the bottom of my foot ripping as I used the clutch. Not a nice feeling at all.
This morning when I got up the pain in my heel was back.

What to do?

I guess I don't want to let it go in case I don't get another one with all the work done. But at the same time I want a car I can take out and enjoy, especially now spring has arrived. Hmmm?

25.03.2025

One of the guys on Rennlist who used some 3M Windo-Weld to fill the gap on his oem mounts, I thought I would try it myself.

I had bought some new OEM mounts from Type911 after getting my 997 as I thought mine were original, they may well be, but still feel great and have not drropped, the new ones were 65a shore hardness, but they felt no firmer than the ones I took out. Now, of course they shouldn't be, but I presumed my one would be tired at this age and 70k miles. 

So I decided to put some silicone into the gaps around the rubber.

This is the video...

Typically Windo-Weld is only available to the windscreen trade in the UK. So I spent a few hours looking for something else with a shore hardness of around 60a. (Windo-Weld is actually around 75a, he says 60a in the video).

I had bought some Sikaflex 555 for my transmission mount on the 996, but couldn't find it anywhere. Went to order some more and it was either a week wait and £32 or nearly £50 if I wanted it now, and I always want things now.

So looked around and realised that CT1 has the right properties in black, 55a, 300% tear rate, and will take plenty of strain.

Oh and I think it was £13 from Toolstation and always in stock.

Anyway, filled the mounts last night and already today they feel solid, very solid, in fact, wonder if they might be too solid now, but ho hum, got to try these things and being a durometer of 55A they should still be softer than the 80a of a semi solid mount.

I will try and fit them tomorrow evening and report back. Fingers crossed.

27.03.2005

So, quickly swapped the mounts over, got both sides done in 20 minutes this time, can't believe I put off swapping them the first time for months. Haha

Anyway, the verdict is in. 

Superb!! 

No extra vibration or noise at all, there is absolute no movement of the car now when pulling away or braking, even coming on and off the brake/gas at lights with the oem mounts you could feel the engine move a bit, which is turn is making the clutch feel far tighter and the bite point much easier. 

The gear shifts as expected have got much sharper, nicely slot into place now with a bit of a snap. Really nice. 

Going round tight corners though is where you can really feel the improvements, that change of weight, the slight delay as weight at the rear caught up with the change of direction has gone, it just feels like the turn in is much sharper, and you know what the back end is doing more than before. 

One thing I will mention is the rear end feels firmer, like you have a slightly firmer rear damper. Not as firm as turning PASM to sport, if sport was 100% and with them off was 0% this feels like around 20-30% firmer at the rear. Not a bad thing, but worth mentioning.

Great upgrade. I will update again in case anything changes.

29.03.2005

MOT today. Comepletely forgot it was due this month. I was thinking it was May, but that was the 996.
Anyway, got me in on a Saturday as they didn't have any other time between the 28th and the 15th when it was due. 

74532 miles. 

Passed with no advisories.

01.04.2025

I did 4 hours around Norfolk over the weekend. These mounts are superb. It firms up the Porsche mount just perfectly without loosing the shock absorber type design benifit of the original mounts. 

This is the Porsche mount cut in two....

A very clever design.

The mount has channels to allow the fluid to flow from the bottom section to the bottom section, so there at slower speeds of movement it will flow easier, but higher speeds of movement it will stiffen up. Much like a shock absorber.

With the silicone added it just take some of the left/right and forward and backwards motion out of the oem damper while keeping the comfort and not adding noise. 

10 out of 10 upgrade.

In fact, at under £15, an 11 out of 10 upgrade. 

20.06.2025

I have an issue with my engine compartment fan not coming on, even if I tell it to in Durametric.

Got stuck in traffic with the ambient temps showing 38ºc on the dash, and oil temp got up to 120ºc, hence why I noticed the engine bay fan not kicking in. 

24.06.2025

Tested the fan itself sending it 12v dc direct, and it works fine.

Anyway, after 3 days chasing wiring diagrams, replacing fan relays etc. it turns out the main power wire from the front distribution board to the rear relay board at where the fan relays are was corroded.

It joins under the car in a little distribution box, it is attached to the side of the gear box and the elements get in there. Needed to cut off the existing terminal ring, cut the cable back and crimp on a new terminal ring.

Now the purge fan is back working again.

18.07.2025 

Sat in traffic at 36ºc for over an hour the other day and got to 100ºc, so all working as expected again.