ProjectBoxster2 | projectboxster

Perhaps the car's most obvious flaw was it's scared and pockmarked front bumper cover. As you may well expect, I wanted a flawless finish that matches the rest of the car as closely as possible so I had the professionals at the local "good" body shop do the painting.

The damage to the bumper cover is much more apparent from this angle.	I made a point of removing it myself so I could straighten out some of the warped areas on its bottom side.	Using a heat gun and some patience allowed to smooth areas such as this.
With the bumper cover off it was easy to remove all of the crud that had been accumulating on the radiators for years.	You may recall from an earlier post that I had trouble getting the passenger side bumper cover trim to fit correctly. The problem was that this bracket was bent, probably by someone hitting a curb too hard. Once removed it was fairly easy to straighten. Now all fits as it should.	Back from the body shop. They did quite a nice job, don't you think? .
Note that I had the central mounted license plate attachment holes filled in.	I really like the asymmetric look of the tow hook license plate mount but it was too long when I got it, holding the plate so far in front of the bumper that it looked awkward.	Fortunately, my son Ben was able to turn down a portion of the mount's shaft on a lathe so that the plate now sits just the right distance in front of the bumper. It looks like it belongs now.
986 Boxsters came with air guides under the car that are intended to improve the car's aerodynamics. My car was missing three out of four of these guides. This is one of the replacements.	Here are the other two. With these in place keeping excess air from getting under the car I won't have to worry so much about losing downforce next time I'm traveling down the autobahn at 200kph...

With the Boxster on blocks to aid in removing and reinstalling the bumper cover it seemed a good time to address issues with the wheels and tires.

P1010021

Although the front tires were in pretty good shape the rears were worn out so it seemed a good idea to refinish the rear wheels before mounting new tires.

P1010022

The wheel's chrome faces weren't bad but the inside surfaces were badly corroded. It took LOTS of time to sand away the corrosion and smooth them to my satisfaction.

0312171559

While I was at it I removed the brake rotors and sandblasted (with my cheap "blast from a bucket" kit) and painted the rotor "hats". Looks much better now.

P1010029

The wheel's center caps were looking pretty rough too.

P1010030

So I dissembled..

P3050030

sand blasted...

P3050031

and power coated them (with my Eastwood diy kit)

P3050034

Shiny black beats flaky chrome any day.

P3050032

While the tools were out I also sand blasted..

P3050035

And powder coated the lug bolts...

P1100632

All back together, new tires mounted, and brakes bled. Much better!

The driver's side seat was badly worn and in need of TLC so I removed both seats so I could take them to the basement and spend the winter restoring them in comfort. I used Leatherique brand products and am pleased with the results.

The first step was to clean the seats and treat them with "Rejuvenator Oil" to condition the leather.	As you see, the leather's finish was completely gone in some areas leaving those spots with a suede like texture.	Crack filler was applied to worst imperfections.
All of the leather parts of both seats (except for the perforated inserts) were dyed to ensure that the color would be consistent.	The first few (of many) light coats of dye were applied with a paint brush. This did a good job of smoothing the rough areas.	Once the leather was smooth I applied subsequent coats by rubbing on the dye with a gauze pad.
Back in the car. The photo exaggerates the two-tone effect. In person, it's quite subtle - I like it.	Refinishing complete and ready to be reinstalled. Even though the color was a custom match the dyed areas are a bit lighter than they were originally.

Another fun project was installing a ball bearing short shifter.

I found out about these short shifters on the 986 Forum. Ben was good enough to sell me one that he had modified to use ball bearings. .	The shifter support needs to be removed from the car to change the shifter mechanism. In the process of removing the center console to gain access to the support.	The console has been removed and the shift cables have been disconnected in this photo. The blue tape is on the hand brake lever to keep it from getting scratched.
The OEM shifter removed from the support along with the tools used. .	Installing the new shifter in the support was easier than removing the old one. Now it's only a matter of putting things back together.	While I was at it I also replaced the ash tray with an "ash tray delete" piece. Much more useful.
Another "while I'm at it" item was replacing the shift knob with one I turned from a chunk of walnut. My intent was to make the walnut knob as a prototype before turning another from a more exotic wood but it came out so well that I decided to keep it, at least for now...	An aftermarket shift boot completes the job. The OEM boot could have been cut down to fit but I wanted to preserve it least I (or a future owner) would want to reinstall the OEM knob.	The knob's shiny finish is actually superglue (!) applied when the knob was spinning on the lathe. This was the first time I tried that trick and it worked very well. The shift pattern medallion was an eBay find.

How to turn a Boxter shift knob on a wood lathe

How to turn a Ferrari shift knob on a wood lathe

After seeing the photos above you may conclude that I spend all my time working on the car and never drive it. Not true! Like the X1/9 I had before it, I enjoy driving the Boxster to work on sunny days and to the occasional car show but unlike the X our Boxster has become our go-to transportation for many warm weather trips. Whether it's a short hop to church or a 150 mile trip to visit the grandkids it's just more fun in the Porsche...

Cece's first driving lesson.	Hang on, here we go!!	Desy's turn to drive
Orion came with me to the "Red Brick Reunion" Porsche car show in Oxford, OH. That's my friend Dave's BBB (Bad Blue Boxster) on the left.	Great fun!!

Back

Perhaps the car's most obvious flaw was it's scared and pockmarked front bumper cover. As you may well expect, I wanted a flawless finish that matches the rest of the car as closely as possible so I had the professionals at the local "good" body shop do the painting.

​

The damage to the bumper cover is much more apparent from this angle.

I made a point of removing it myself so I could straighten out some of the warped areas on its bottom side.

Using a heat gun and some patience allowed to smooth areas such as this.

With the bumper cover off it was easy to remove all of the crud that had been accumulating on the radiators for years.

You may recall from an earlier post that I had trouble getting the passenger side bumper cover trim to fit correctly. The problem was that this bracket was bent, probably by someone hitting a curb too hard. Once removed it was fairly easy to straighten. Now all fits as it should.

Back from the body shop. They did quite a nice job, don't you think? .

Note that I had the central mounted license plate attachment holes filled in.

I really like the asymmetric look of the tow hook license plate mount but it was too long when I got it, holding the plate so far in front of the bumper that it looked awkward.

Fortunately, my son Ben was able to turn down a portion of the mount's shaft on a lathe so that the plate now sits just the right distance in front of the bumper. It looks like it belongs now.

986 Boxsters came with air guides under the car that are intended to improve the car's aerodynamics. My car was missing three out of four of these guides. This is one of the replacements.

Here are the other two. With these in place keeping excess air from getting under the car I won't have to worry so much about losing downforce next time I'm traveling down the autobahn at 200kph...

With the Boxster on blocks to aid in removing and reinstalling the bumper cover it seemed a good time to address issues with the wheels and tires.

The driver's side seat was badly worn and in need of TLC so I removed both seats so I could take them to the basement and spend the winter restoring them in comfort. I used Leatherique brand products and am pleased with the results.

The first step was to clean the seats and treat them with "Rejuvenator Oil" to condition the leather.

As you see, the leather's finish was completely gone in some areas leaving those spots with a suede like texture.

Crack filler was applied to worst imperfections.

All of the leather parts of both seats (except for the perforated inserts) were dyed to ensure that the color would be consistent.

The first few (of many) light coats of dye were applied with a paint brush. This did a good job of smoothing the rough areas.

Once the leather was smooth I applied subsequent coats by rubbing on the dye with a gauze pad.

Back in the car. The photo exaggerates the two-tone effect. In person, it's quite subtle - I like it.

Refinishing complete and ready to be reinstalled. Even though the color was a custom match the dyed areas are a bit lighter than they were originally.

Another fun project was installing a ball bearing short shifter.

I found out about these short shifters on the 986 Forum. Ben was good enough to sell me one that he had modified to use ball bearings. .

The shifter support needs to be removed from the car to change the shifter mechanism. In the process of removing the center console to gain access to the support.

The console has been removed and the shift cables have been disconnected in this photo. The blue tape is on the hand brake lever to keep it from getting scratched.

The OEM shifter removed from the support along with the tools used. .

Installing the new shifter in the support was easier than removing the old one. Now it's only a matter of putting things back together.

While I was at it I also replaced the ash tray with an "ash tray delete" piece. Much more useful.

Another "while I'm at it" item was replacing the shift knob with one I turned from a chunk of walnut. My intent was to make the walnut knob as a prototype before turning another from a more exotic wood but it came out so well that I decided to keep it, at least for now...

An aftermarket shift boot completes the job. The OEM boot could have been cut down to fit but I wanted to preserve it least I (or a future owner) would want to reinstall the OEM knob.

The knob's shiny finish is actually superglue (!) applied when the knob was spinning on the lathe. This was the first time I tried that trick and it worked very well. The shift pattern medallion was an eBay find.

Cece's first driving lesson.

Hang on, here we go!!

Desy's turn to drive

Orion came with me to the "Red Brick Reunion" Porsche car show in Oxford, OH. That's my friend Dave's BBB (Bad Blue Boxster) on the left.

Great fun!!