How Heavy are Porsche GT3 Comfort Seats? What Do GT3 Seats Weigh?

How much do the seats of a Porsche 911 GT3 (Comfort Model 996) weigh?

I recently bought a set of Porsche GT3 leather seats to replace the seats in my 911 Carrera 2 Coupe. When I bought the car it had previously been fitted with seats from a 997 Model Carrera which I found to be rather hard and uncomfortable when driving long distances.

The GT3 seats had been removed from a 2005 Mark2 996 GT3 so that the owner could fit new bucket sports seats in.

Before fitting the GT3 Comfort seats to my 996 Carrera I weighed them to check how heavy they would be compared to the 997 Standard seats I was removing. I couldn't weigh the seats directly but stood on scales holding one and then weighed myself separately.

The net result of this scientific experiment was to find that the Porsche 911 GT3 Comfort spec seats weigh 22.8kg each with rails fitted. The weight of bucket sports seats for the GT3 can be below 10kg so this can be a reasonable weight saving with the lighter seats.

When investigating seat options for the Porsche 996 Carrera it was interesting to see how many different variants were produced either as comfort or sports options or the standard spec seats. There seem to be at least 5 different options across the different model Porsche 911s.

• Standard leather seats
• Standard seats with ruffled leather
• Sports leather seats
• GT3 comfort seats
• GT3 sports seats

The Porsche 911 GT3 seats are now fitted in my Carrera 2 so I will be selling the 997 Metropole Blue seats on Ebay very soon.

Porsche 911 Maintenance Costs First Month of Carrera 996 Ownership

I've now had our Porsche 911 for just over a month so how much has the 911 cost to run so far?

The Porsche 996 was bought on 8th August 2013 and in that time I've incurred the following costs:

Oil change and inspection          £240
UK Car Tax (VED)                    £280
Parts (Horns & Pollen filter)       £47
Petrol Cap / Coolant Cap            £29

None of these were unplanned costs and none were essential as the car was running fine, although the oil change is hopefully a long term preventative measure to keep the engine in good condition. The car tax was also an expected cost and will cover the car until August 2014.

By far the biggest cost so far has been fuel! But the first month is likely to be exceptional as it was during the school summer holidays when both our cars get far more use along with the fun and experience of driving a new car.


Porsche 911 Maintenance Costs First Month of Carrera 996 Ownership

 

Total Costs for August 2013: £596

Porsche 996 Running Costs 2013 - Fixed Price Servicing

Porsche 996 Running Costs - Porsche Centres Cut Service Costs - Fixed Price Servicing

I've found out from one of the Porsche Forums that Official Porsche Centres are now offering fixed price servicing for the Porsche 911 - 996 Model. This means that an Official Porsche dealer will carry out an interim / minor service for as low as £265 meaning that the running costs for a 996 are substantially lower than later models.

The Porsche 997 still has much higher service costs so it looks like Porsche centres are trying to tempt owners to stay with them for older models. Unfortunately our Porsche centre is some distance away so even at these lower prices it won't be that easy to make use of.

Weight of Porsche 911 GT3 Sports Seats? How Heavy are GT3 Leather Seats?

How much do the comfort seats of a Porsche 911 (996 model) GT3 weigh?

I recently bought a set of Porsche GT3 leather seats to replace the seats in my 911 Carrera 2 Coupe. When I bought the car it had previously been fitted with seats from a 997 Model Carrera which I found to be rather hard and uncomfortable when driving long distances.

The GT3 seats had been removed from a 2005 Mark2 996 GT3 so that the owner could fit new bucket sports seats in.

Before fitting the GT3 Comfort seats to my 996 Carrera I weighed them to check how heavy they would be compared to the 997 Standard seats I was removing. I couldn't weigh the seats directly but stood on scales holding one and then weighed myself separately.

The net result of this scientific experiment was to find that the Porsche 911 GT3 Comfort spec seats weigh 22.8kg each with rails fitted. The weight of bucket sports seats for the GT3 can be below 10kg so this can be a reasonable weight saving with the lighter seats.

When investigating seat options for the Porsche 996 Carrera it was interesting to see how many different variants were produced either as comfort or sports options or the standard spec seats. There seem to be at least 5 different options across the different model Porsche 911s.

• Standard leather seats
• Standard seats with ruffled leather
• Sports leather seats
• GT3 comfort seats
• GT3 sports seats

The Porsche 911 GT3 seats are now fitted in my Carrera 2 so I will be selling the 997 Metropole Blue seats on Ebay very soon.

Seat options for Porsche 996 Coupe

What is the Weight of Porsche 911 GT3 Sports Seats? How Heavy are GT3 Comfort Seats?

Porsche 911 Leaking Petrol Cap - O Ring Rubber Seal Perished

One of the items picked up on the inspection of my 2001 Carrera 2 Porsche 996 model was that the rubber O ring seal on the petrol cap was perished so that petrol could escape from the tank if full and turning a sharp corner. Obviously as a potential safety issue this was something I wanted to fix.


Porsche 911 Leaking Petrol Cap - O ring Rubber Seal Perished

I did think about replacing the rubber O ring seal of the petrol filler cap but the cost of a new cap was under £10 from Design911 so I bought a new one instead. The new cap was simple to replace and just needed pliers to stretch the rubber cable over the rivet that attaches it to the car.

Porsche 996 Oettle Muffler Exhaust

My 996 Porsche 911 has been fitted with the Oettle Muffler bypass exhaust which gives a slightly louder note at higher revs but doesn't otherwise change the standard sound of the car.



Porsche 996 Oettle Muffler Exhaust

The Oettle website has more information about the Muffler bypass There are also lots of photos, video and explanation on the 911Uk forum
http://911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=66202&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=oettle

Sound of Oettle muffler bypass exhaust

Porsche CR22 No FM Option on Radio - Display Shows AM Only?

I found a strange issue with the CR22 radio in my Porsche over the weekend. The radio cycled between CD, tape and radio but only showing AM band and no FM visible on the CR22 radio unit.

On further investigation today I found another button that changes the radio band so that FM is now available again. At some point possibly when cleaning the Porsche the botton must have got pressed and switched the band without realising.

Luckily FM is now back working and radio still is of use!



Porsche CR22 No FM Option on Radio - Display Shows AM Only?

Porsche 911 Litronic Headlights - Beam Seems Dim Not Bright As Expected?

When I bought my Porsche 911 one of the items on the spec sheet were Litronic Headlights that apparently give an excellent long distance beam and were a high cost extra option when new. On drving the Porsche home at night I wasn't overly impressed by the headlights but with a new car it is hard to tell when something is as expected or is an issue such as the Litronic headlights being much dimmer than standard.

Video of removing Porsche 911-996 Litronic Headlights and adjustment for continental driving

When preparing the 911 for taking to Europe I worked through the owners manual section to switch the Litronics from UK to Continental adjusted beams aware that this would reduce down the power of the lights. On removing the Litronic headlight units I found that the switch for UK/Continental (on the Litronic units shown as O/T) was already set to T for Tourist so needed no further adjustment.

Having returned back to the UK one of the first jobs was to correct the Litronic lights so that they were correctly set to O (for Origin) and hopefully increase the power of the lights in the process. I also videoed the procedure for Litronic headlight removal so that anyone interested would be able to see the way it works. The Litronic units are simply held on using a metal rod that can be switched in and out of position to release them using a 5mm Allen key.

The photos below are taken before and after the adjustment of the headlights - the top ones show the Litronic units set to T for Continental driving and the lower shots are set correctly for the UK.