Porsche 911 996 Spy Shots from Autocar Magazine Feb 1997

It's very old news now but these spy shots of the Porsche 911 were published by Autocar in February 1997 along with some suggested details of what was to be the new Porsche 911 codenamed the 996.

Much of the detail was pretty close although the engine wasn't 3.5 litre and the car didn't have a glovebox in the 996.1 iteration.

New Front Shock absorbers

After the hassle of removing the old front shock absorbers they're finally off and new ones fitted.

New engine undertray

When I took my car for the Tipec car check at Porsche centre Tonbridge last year I got some photos of the underside as I was sure some of the plastic undertray was missing.

I've been able to compare to the parts diagram and have ordered the missing section from my Porsche dealer. Next job is to fit it to the 911!

Porsche 911 996 Carrera Rear Strut/Stabiliser Bars Rusted

The rusted strut stabiliser bar is the first thing I see when I look under my Porsche 911 so cleaning it up is a job I've wanted to do for ages. They are the 2 bars marked in green in the photo below.

Porsche 911-996 strut stabiliser bar rusted

Removing the strut bar looked straightforward with bolts at either end, one needed a 15mm socket, the other was 16mm. However it still didn't come off once they were removed so on further checking there was another 15mm nut accessed from above and a rubber bush that was pushed in to the chassis.

Once off it was a pretty easy job to sand down to remove the rust on the surface. 

I've then painted with hammerite anti-rust paint to hopefully stop it rusting for a while into the future.

One side done, one to go!

Porsche 996 Front Shock absorber removal

The saga of removing the front shock absorbers is now over but it was an epic battle against corrosion! In addition to the write up here I've also created video to explain how I removed the front shock absorbers from my 996

The main problem with removing the front shock absorber is the drop link bolt that goes through the hub carrier to hold the base of the shock absorbers. This tends to corrode in place especially if it's not been removed for 22 years.

Once the shock absorber was off the car the next problem was separating the shock absorber components and removing the coil spring.

The top nut wasn't budging so the only option was to remove it using an angle grinder.

The old shock absorber is now apart and mostly sitting in the dustbin but I've been able to reuse some of the washers. 

The top mount was wrecked with centre separated from the rest of the mount. Fortunately I'd already bought a new one to use.

Porsche OPC Free TIPEC Health Check

I was fortunate to get my Porsche 911 booked in with Porsche centre Tonbridge for a free health check and able to go under/around the car with the technician. Luckily there were no major issues identified and the underside of the car that I thought looked quite rusty was actually no different to other cars on the ramps.

Porsche OPC Free TIPEC Health Check

Porsche 996 Bonnet Release Locked Seized

I'd not used my 911 for a few weeks and when I went to open the boot I found that the release lever was seized and couldn't be moved. I already had the bolts removed so was able to lift the lever mechanism from the car but there was no obvious reason why it couldn't be opened.

I noticed an online guide that suggested it was due to the locks going into a dormant state so tried locking and unlocking the car which resolved the problem

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The early Porsche Boxster and 911/996 models have a manual cable release for the trunk/bonnet/boot unlike the later ones that are purely electronic and can cause problems if the battery is flat. In order to fix it Make sure your battery is kept in good condition if you don't use the locks, otherwise the boot/trunk may get locked out and you will need to use a recovery procedure like this. Alternatively always leave the car with boot/trunk/engine compartments open when stored for a period of time in the garage so that you can easily access the battery to recharge.