When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Have been reading this forum for months now and finally decided to post my thread about investigating my '99 996 C2 history. Car was registered in August 1998 in Louisiana. So its made in the beginning of 1998 and this makes the car early 996.
Reason for starting a new thread is that in March i bought a Porsche 996. Seller was a dealer in Lithuania who is living permanently in Florida. He bought the car from Copart auction and imported the car to Europe where i bought it from him.
Few photos from Copart auction:
He bought the car from copart auction and ofcourse car had a salvage title.
Carfax report said about the accident: Accident reported involving front impact. It hit a traffic barrier. Minor front end damage reported. Airbags did not deploy
Pictures didn't scare me. Carfax and Autocheck were also Ok(it was only recorded accident). So i went further with my investigation. Read all the possible info from here, 911uk and pistonheads forums. Also studied all the information from Hartech.
As Lithuanian dealer didn't had any information about car previous life. His only comment was that car drives well and engine pulls good. He also had a PPI paper from dealership which stated few minor problems(like old tires, loose sunroof button etc.) but i didn't gave a big attention, because it could be manipulated.
I decided to go and look the car. It was an 8 hour drive away so it took a few weeks of planning to go look the car.
First impressions were not good. As we assumed with my friend(20 year experience in dealing with cars) that Lithuanian repairs could possibly be done poorly, our frights became true. Many very cheap plastic pieces missing put us thinking what more suprises could come up. Paintjob was also done quite poor. Could see sanding marks through the paint when looked right.
Luckily technical part of the car made a good suprise. No smoke from the cold, engine oil looked good, almost new Textar brake pads and discs, fresh looking coolant reservoir, 3rd radiator, motor sounded very evenly and good. Car drove more tight than my(now previous) 2011 BMW F11 .All suggested that previous owner in US had put a good effort into maintaining the car. We didn't believe that seller who couldn't afford 50euros for plastic pieces would for example buy a quality brake pads for the car.
Few pics from the ad:
As you can see the car looked really ugly with dark wheels and trashbag tinted windows so seller probably didn't have much interest to the car. Finally he made us an offer we couldn't refuse, luckily with price. So i bought the car.
Back home, doing first big maintenance i discovered that car had more upgrades:
FVD Brombacher xpipe catalytic set with fvd sport mufflers magnetic drain plug
low temp thermostat.
It put me thinking that ideas for these upgrades must be gathered from some enthusiast forum.
So back to google.
Carfax gave me information that former owner in US had visited DMV in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. So probably lived near there.
Started to google these keywords with upgrades names and finally FOUND him.
Originally Posted by mmahon04
I ended up keeping stock colors, but going with a black centering stripe at top and black baseball stitching. I think it came out terrifically; he does incredible work.
I haven't seen a single 996 more with black centering stripe steering wheel. So the odds became very high that this is the right man.
All became clear when i found photos from an old Baton Rouge Cars and Coffee event.
One of the main reasons i started searching previous owner was i wanted to know what has been done to the car.
I already had to return magnetic drain plug to shop and new LTT is sitting in box today. Wouldn't like to pull tranny and discover that IMS is already changed.
I have picked some of info from his posts
Originally Posted by mmahon04
Hankook Ventus V12's, all around, cost me ~$700 (including shipping, mounting, and balancing).
Same Hankook V12's were still on the wheels when i bought the car.
Originally Posted by mmahon04
My IMS bearing cost ~$700, the clutch kit was ~$650, and the seal cost was negligible (labor).
I understand that IMS is done. Car mileage was 70 000 when he bought the car in 2012 and it was around 86000 miles when i bought the car. Accident happened in june 2013 and car was registered in Lithuania in 2014. When should i change IMS again?
Originally Posted by mmahon04
1) I beg to differ. I've changed my water pump, thermostat, steering wheel, chain tensioners (all three), door lock, door bowden cable, interior door handle, tie rod ends...not to mention adding a full exhaust, the 3rd frontal radiator, and so on. With directions and the proper tools (nothing that Harbor Freight doesn't carry), it was all pretty "basic."
Originally Posted by mmahon04
To note, with my 3rd radiator, 160o thermostat, and fan hack my coolant temperatures rarely notch above the '8' on the temperature side...while I watch my oil pressures continually drop (in bad traffic or on a long DE day) to a few shades over 1 bar. Simply a symptom of the oil getting hot, thinning out, and dropping pressure.
Water pump, thermostat, chain tensioners are also changed. What is the usual interval for these?
Have to add that after i bought the car i let the guys do a major service.
New engine oil Castrol Edge FST 10w60 for the summer.
New transmission oil
New spark plugs
All new filters
Coolant looked nice, pink and clean already before.
Later when i got new wheels also bought new Hankook s1evo2-s on these and did the alingment. Amazing grip and street characteristics but too soft sidewalls for tracking and spirited driving. After 150km on track, they dont look bad at all.
Now i have driven about 6500km with the car and used it as my daily driver. Next oil change is scheduled and for the winter i ordered Millers Nanotech 5w40 oil which is recomended by Hartech.
Slightly used Aragosta GT3 coilover kit is also bought and waiting for its time.
And to finish, how the car looks today. Got rid of the ugly tinted windows and left dark wheels for winter or trackdays.
But long story short. Do any of you know or have any contact with the user mmahon04 ?
I'd really like to get more info about car history and what else has been done. (Last week discovered that motor mounts are also replaced with Torque solution parts)
Getting car's paperwork would be unreal after all those years.
I must be weird, I like the graphite look on the wheels. Anyone know if that is some kind of spray on film?
Plastidip. They make all different shades now. My BMW is my daily driver and it makes so much brake dust, I opted to paint the wheels black just so I wouldn't have to clean them as much.
08-17-2017, 08:50 AM
Looking for lovely 996 history
