21st Century Outlaw 997 Project

[Darren C]

While all the brake stuff was going on I dropped the scabby wheels off at my friends refurbishment place and got them freshened up.

And back on the car with new bolts

Following much DEEP OCD Valet, a full mop polish & clay (at home) the 997 was out of intensive care and ready to live again

[Darren C]

Now....I recommend that anyone wanting a 997 buys some form of diagnostics as relying on OPC can be very costly.

Having owned several late Porsche models I invested a few years back in a Durametric system that can do everything OPC can. Armed with this I ran in the 997 watching parameters in real time & dealing with all the usual Variocam & Engine Management resets required over the first few miles.

Then all that was left to do was 1000 miles below 4000 rpm to first oil change

Then came the idea to build an OUTLAW 997

[Darren C]

So that's the back story.

Now with a really sorted 997 Carrera S for under £10K investment, there was scope to add my own touches.

Being silver with dark ocean blue leather & red calipers my gut told me it was a good combination for a hint of Martini

Not wanting a "LOOK AT ME, I'M A RACECAR" I decided on my own subtle Martini Homage side stripes. Working with a local company I got them made to my design using an original side decal for correct size/font.

[Darren C]

Now fate sometimes plays a hand. I'd been buying many parts from my OPC & had spoken to their parts guy about doing a retro, backdate, Outlaw homage on my 997 and talked about wheels.
I'd been thinking on the Fifteen52 cut petal Billet US wheels in 19" (mega bucks) but not sure they'd fit 997??
Anyways I'd mentioned that there was a few aftermarket Fuch replica's out there for 997, but I wasn't keen on the stretched petal look, or the disproportion of their design.

I just happened to joke by asking OPC
"You haven't got a set of Sports Classic wheels knocking around have you?"
"Er, do you know, I think we have some down at Bournemouth"
"What!"

It transpired that when the limited edition Sports Classic came out, OPC Bournemouth sold one to a customer who ordered a second spare set of these uber rare genuine Porsche Fuch style wheels, but never paid or collected.

Problem was they had had brand new tyres fitted & wheel centres, but now they were over 3 years old OPC couldn't sell them due to date code rules on the tyres.

After a little negotiation I agreed to buy them as "waste" which was obviously at a proportionate value

19 x 11 at the rear with 305 tyres, they really looked like they weren't going to fit.

[Darren C]

Being made specifically for the Sports Classic & my car being the 3.8 Carrera S with the S brakes & suspension they ended up being a Perfect Fit

[andytat]

Wheels look great.
Lucky boy!!!

[a1topdog]

Loving this. You mention a £10K investment, but that must exclude the cost of the Audi which owed you £5K.

Did the 997 come with any history, and what was the mileage?

[Darren C]

Yes, including Audi I was in for just under £15K now

As for History...

Well, the decider when I looked at the car was a massive history file, ALL OPC from new including all the original car order paperwork, invoice & notification the car was ready to collect. The book was all stamped up and the file contained every OPC receipt for the slightest thing up to 100K miles when the car was sold

Now, the cars first owner lives here (and yes it's the address on the old logbook)

One of many homes in the world

So you can see him walking into his dealership at 997 launch & saying "Just tick all the extra options boxes my good fellow" when he bought the car

So where did it go so horribly wrong?

2nd owner

Some fella in Leicester who owned the car for 18 months & 20K miles before me with NOT a scrap of history other than his name on the logbook

[a1topdog]

Fantastic.I wonder how many laps of the country estate to notch up 100K miles!

[Darren C]

You guy's just knew this would be a good story

[Darren C]

So far I'd picked all the low hanging fruit, now it was time to start the real 997 Outlaw work....

Wanting to incorporate all the bits of 911 over the years that I liked & in a way doing a "Singer Redesign" backdate (but on a 997) I would need some radical action.

Deciding upon re-modelling the rear of the car first, I purchased a good used 997 rear bumper off ebay.
Being PU it was like a jellyfish on the beach when off the car. For this to work, the bumper needed supporting as if it were attached to the car while undergoing surgery.
The only solution was to construct a rigid frame that picked up all mounting points of the 997 bumper accurately as distortion at this stage would only be multiplied later.

The bumper was bolted in, checked & checked again

Once happy I dropped the frame off to be powdercoated so that the rough slightly oily/rusty steel box it was made from would not contaminate the build stage.

[Darren C]

Frame back from the powder coaters

Time to crack on

To create a pre-impact bumper look, new old style over riders were required.

With the 997 growing in overall size from the pure early 911 SWB, simply fitting original over riders would look silly small. I took one off my 912 and was gobsmacked at how big it needed realistically to be.

The only solution was to scale-up

Using a contour gauge, pencil & paper and a bit of maths I made 997 size drawings and then an over rider template in wood.

This then got thin layer upon layer of filler primer (flatted in between) until it was mirror surface finished to the point you wouldn't know it was wood. All ready to take a mold from.

In the meantime I started to cut up the used ebay bumper so that I was eventually left with just the two corners under the lights and a thin lip running under the boot lid.

[Tosh]

My cap is well and truly doffed to you, sir

[yoda]

What a great project and interesting read. I am very jealous of your sense of adventure as I would have run a mile from the car / seller and still be running.

Good work and keep the story coming!

[DustyM]

Keep it coming, enjoying the read and curious to see how it works out.


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