2005 Porsche Boxster 987 2.7

2005 Porsche Boxster 987 2.7

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CJM36

Original Poster:

167 posts

39 months

Sunday 21st February 2021
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So, this is the last post before I am completely up to date with the car.

After enjoying the car all summer, the car continued to get used into autumn but with work becoming ever the more busy I never drove it much. That was until my daily driver decided it would be a good giggle to s**t itself in the middle of a busy city centre; the clutch fork failed (Mini Countryman R60), and it was going to be an extensive job so the Boxster enjoyed daily driver duties for over a week. Side note, by this point in time I had spent £250 or likely less on Boxster repairs, meanwhile the Mini had a list of work as long as you arm worth of work - timing chain tensioners, wheel bearings, and the gearbox out, where it only made sense to replace the clutch and flywheel (with plenty life left though). Total sum, around 10X Boxster's repairs. Fantastic. As pleasant and welcome as standing in a steaming pile of bodily refuse. I digress.

Once the salt started to make its appearance on the roads, the car got its winter shoes on and tucked away for winter, with a small drive every week or so, because I didn't fancy it sitting idle entirely. Sitting pretty in winter spec with the hard top.

Weeks go by, and on one of its semi frequent spins I noticed the coolant light, one which didn't concern me heavily as I knew exactly where it was likely to have began. The crossover pipes commonly rust on the 987's, and I know this car had yet to have them. I considered attempting myself but then I would have had to drop the subframe, which makes it a pig of a job, so off to the garage it went. At the same time I had the car MOT'd, which it failed on account of the handbrake. So that was sorted, and the car got both front coffin arms done too. So, the car was back in my possession a day later. I decided with the salt seeming to be washed off I should wash and seal the summer wheels. Here they are looking nice and clean, ready to fit - not immaculate but it was freezing. I hasten to add that I will be ridding of the Bridgestones very shortly - they came on the car and are not my first choice.


Next update will be a running one, no longer recalling the recent past. I'll also highlight everything I plan/aim to do to the car eventually.

shalmaneser

5,713 posts

182 months

Monday 22nd February 2021
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My partner has one of these and it really is a great car. Engine is lovely and smooth, handles beautifully, looks great - especially yours, ours is looking a little tired these days!

I really do think these are great value sports cars.

Paul S4

1,159 posts

197 months

Monday 22nd February 2021
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Good thread, and very well documented.

A good pal of mine has a 51 or 53 plate Boxster S in some shade of dark blue, and he lives over in Lanarkshire.
He really likes the car, but he is not in any way a PHer !! ie he cannot fix anything on the car whatsoever...

Anyway, his car resides outside all the year round, and he has no hard top.....!!
I have repeatedly told him to get the car in his ample garage, but to no avail ! I have driven it a few times, and as you may know around Lanark there are great driving roads.
However, the car does not get sufficient attention, so we have hatched up a plan for me to bring the car back here ( North East England) and then put it into a local indy Porsche specialist to have all the " retrospective maintenance" issues sorted, and hopefully attend to the known weak points on it , so as to future proof it hopefully.
It's such a pity really as the car only has about 50,000 miles on it !

I do know he has had a lot of problems with battery depletion/alarm issues, and he uses a garage local to him that does not seem to understand Porsches...at all !!
Hence the plan.

Of course if it were my car.... I would have done a few mods ...maybe a sports stainless exhaust as it has always sounded a bit 'muted' to me.

So when life gets back to some sort of normal... I shall look forward to the adventure of having a Boxster for a few weeks... of course I must keep it for a wee while and use it for my commute...it only seems the right thing to do..... ! just to ensure that it is running as it should.... and then drive it all the way back up to Lanarkshire via the longest route possible !!

It would seem only fair....


M12MTR

251 posts

64 months

Monday 22nd February 2021
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Looks great in GR ...... but I am biased.
Mine is a 2010 987.2 with the 2.9 engine..... the sweet spot between 2.7 and 3.4...... with a 6 speed manual.
Mine has very low mileage..... 16k miles when I bought it 5 years ago with 1 previous owner..... and on only 22k miles now.
I viewed many with rust on the lower sill on the front wheel arch..... so I fabricated these covers..... to prevent future issues (mine were unmarked but I figured prevention is better than cure). You could do similar on yours to prevent issues.
I'm now in 2 minds whether to find a 981S.







Edited by M12MTR on Monday 22 February 11:15

CJM36

Original Poster:

167 posts

39 months

Monday 22nd February 2021
quotequote all
shalmaneser said:
I really do think these are great value sports cars.
Agreed! For the money, I think they are fantastic. Values seem to be creeping up compared to this time last year, perhaps by £1k or so, at the bottom of the market anyway. A multitude of reasons could be contributory to this, but I honestly thought 987's still had some depreciation to do.
My mate recently bought an NB MX5, it is a limited edition (the editions slips my mind at present), and it has sub 60k miles, full Mazda History, low owners and entirely clean MOT history. However, he is away to spend an eye watering £5k to get it to an immaculate, rot free condition. It has no bubbly arches, its mainly preventative work as the chassis legs have some surface rust, as do the very underside of the sills on both sides, and the tiniest bit in the boot floor. By the time he has the cambelt service done, has the chassis legs and sills seen to, if you include the purchase price of the car, he has more into it than I do into the Boxster *sad Mazda noises*
To me, that is why these cars are such good value for money along with E8X Z4's, no real rot issues and on the whole pretty reliable.

CJM36

Original Poster:

167 posts

39 months

Monday 22nd February 2021
quotequote all
Paul S4 said:
It would seem only fair....
Agreed! You'll never want to give it back...
I am going to go down the exhaust route this year, just to extract a bit more of the noise from the car. What Porsche Specialist will you be using? I really have not a single one up this way, closest reputable ones are down over into the the North of England, so I can see I'll have to have a weekend break down there at some point this year to have it serviced to keep the book stamped - otherwise I would do it myself.
I am unsure about the 986 generation like your friends but the drain holes on the 987 have a tendency to block, causing water to drip into the cabin over time and eventually ruin the ECU, which is a very expensive repair. As I said this may not be so prominent on 986's but it is certainly worth a look if it left without a garage, hardtop or cover.

CJM36

Original Poster:

167 posts

39 months

Monday 22nd February 2021
quotequote all
M12MTR said:
Looks great in GR ...... but I am biased.
Mine is a 2010 987.2 with the 2.9 engine..... the sweet spot between 2.7 and 3.4...... with a 6 speed manual.
Mine has very low mileage..... 16k miles when I bought it 5 years ago with 1 previous owner..... and on only 22k miles now.
I viewed many with rust on the lower sill on the front wheel arch..... so I fabricated these covers..... to prevent future issues (mine were unmarked but I figured prevention is better than cure). You could do similar on yours to prevent issues.
I'm now in 2 minds whether to find a 981S.







Edited by M12MTR on Monday 22 February 11:15
That, to me, is the perfect spec Gen 2 987. GR, Carrera Sport alloys, 6 speed manual.

I am searching high and low for a set of Carrera Sports for my car but it is literally impossible to find them (at a reasonable price, anyway)

If you ever do advertise this you may well hear from me. I am currently in two minds as well. I either sell the Mini for a different, slightly faster daily driver (suggestions welcome by the way, only requirements are Petrol, Manual and sub £15K), or, I sell the Boxster for a 987.2, either Boxster or Cayman, spec and price would determine which I went for ultimately.

I am going to do a very similar thing to you, in that I have some PPF I'll cut and apply to the high wear areas.

M12MTR

251 posts

64 months

Monday 22nd February 2021
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^ I tried PPF vinyl on these areas..... it wouldn't stick and peeled. Hence me fabricating these more robust trims. Easy..... Black vinyl from a spare Peugeot B pillar trim i had..... and the lower section is a flexible rubber-plastic sheet Silkaflexd on.

Mine could be for sale. It has some other nice options from factory: cruise, Sat nav, sports electric seats, full leather, parking sensors, 19" Carrera Sport alloys, sound plus, sport steering wheel.

Paul S4

1,159 posts

197 months

Monday 22nd February 2021
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Re the Porsche indy, I shall be putting my pal's 3.2S into a place in Co.Durham who service a a lot of local cars, 911s and Boxsters.
I first heard about them a few years ago as they looked after both my Alfa 156s.

Harfi88

451 posts

49 months

Tuesday 23rd February 2021
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The car looks fantastic, I have a 987.1 2.7 with a hardtop too, the hard top lives in my kitchen as I can’t seem to get it to fit properly laugh

soxboy

5,187 posts

206 months

Tuesday 23rd February 2021
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CJM36 said:
I am unsure about the 986 generation like your friends but the drain holes on the 987 have a tendency to block, causing water to drip into the cabin over time and eventually ruin the ECU, which is a very expensive repair. As I said this may not be so prominent on 986's but it is certainly worth a look if it left without a garage, hardtop or cover.
I had this on my 987 a couple of years ago, the drain holes were blocked and it soaked the passenger side floor which fried the rear control ECU - no power hood and rear lights erratic. I had the ECU replaced and reprogrammed at a cost of c£700.

My 2.7 was an impulse cheap buy (less than £5k) but is a Tiptronic with 130k miles. It's coming back into daily driver duties next month so I will soon be spending some money fettling it. Seeing this thread has inspired me to sort the bodywork and get rid of some of the scratches and dings that it came with.

M12MTR

251 posts

64 months

Tuesday 23rd February 2021
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Paul S4 said:
Re the Porsche indy, I shall be putting my pal's 3.2S into a place in Co.Durham who service a a lot of local cars, 911s and Boxsters.
I first heard about them a few years ago as they looked after both my Alfa 156s.
^ who is the indy garage in Durham?

CJM36

Original Poster:

167 posts

39 months

Tuesday 23rd February 2021
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M12MTR said:
Mine could be for sale.
*wallet starts crying*

CJM36

Original Poster:

167 posts

39 months

Tuesday 23rd February 2021
quotequote all
Harfi88 said:
The car looks fantastic, I have a 987.1 2.7 with a hardtop too, the hard top lives in my kitchen as I can’t seem to get it to fit properly laugh
Thank you! It really is starting to come together.

That's a shame! Although I have heard of a similar issue, whereby, for whatever reason, the car was missing the small clips which you can find on Design911 and Porscheshop for around £100. Have a look there and see if you recognise the parts, hopefully that's what you're missing. The hard top can be quite fiddly IMO!

What colour is your car?

CJM36

Original Poster:

167 posts

39 months

Tuesday 23rd February 2021
quotequote all
soxboy said:
I had this on my 987 a couple of years ago, the drain holes were blocked and it soaked the passenger side floor which fried the rear control ECU - no power hood and rear lights erratic. I had the ECU replaced and reprogrammed at a cost of c£700.

My 2.7 was an impulse cheap buy (less than £5k) but is a Tiptronic with 130k miles. It's coming back into daily driver duties next month so I will soon be spending some money fettling it. Seeing this thread has inspired me to sort the bodywork and get rid of some of the scratches and dings that it came with.
That is actually a little less than I assumed, which is always nice to hear.

I too looked at a good few sub £5K 987's. You can't even buy them for less than £6.5k now, and that's if you don't mind one with a few small issues and or lackluster history and or high miles. None of which would particularly bother me as a buyer, only the service history when coming to resell - however for myself, so long as it is in good mechanical order, I could have kept it that way and started to build a good history for it.

I looked at a sub £5k cobalt blue car with just over 150K miles, but full history. Even had cruise, sports plus seats, and some other nice options - wasn't to be though.

Mines came with a few scratches, and then whilst on holiday a van grazed the lip on the rear quarter - was a young like myself, and I know how much of a pain in the arse insurance would have been if we went down that route. So, after seeing there is no lasting damage to the paint a DA polisher won't sort, he left me his details so I could bill him for PDR, which I probably won't do as I have already spotted 2, very small existing car park dents which need pulled out of the door anyway.

Out of curiosity what sort of spec have you got?

pistolpete12

315 posts

140 months

Tuesday 23rd February 2021
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I cannot see the pics, my work laptop doesn't let me..
but it sounds nice! I had a 2.7 986 in black. It was such a good car never cost me a penny in the year and half i own it other than normal maintenance.

I will get another some point soon!

Enjoy it, my only complaint was the length of 2nd gear on the 5 speed box, i liked the way it revs, btu a bit shorter would have been good smile

CJM36

Original Poster:

167 posts

39 months

Tuesday 23rd February 2021
quotequote all
pistolpete12 said:
I will get another some point soon!

Enjoy it, my only complaint was the length of 2nd gear on the 5 speed box, i liked the way it revs, btu a bit shorter would have been good smile
Agreed! I spend a lot more time in 2nd gear than I feel I ought to. Porsche seem to be good at that, see 981/718 GT4. Thankful where I live (at the moment anyway), with reference to work, I only really use Dual Carriageway for about 15 miles either way - if it was any longer of a commute, I would be hankering for a 6 speed

987's really are fantastic cars, cannot blame you for wanting another!

Harfi88

451 posts

49 months

Tuesday 23rd February 2021
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CJM36 said:
Thank you! It really is starting to come together.

That's a shame! Although I have heard of a similar issue, whereby, for whatever reason, the car was missing the small clips which you can find on Design911 and Porscheshop for around £100. Have a look there and see if you recognise the parts, hopefully that's what you're missing. The hard top can be quite fiddly IMO!

What colour is your car?
I’ve got the fitting kit installed the hardtop doesn’t seem to seal against the windscreen frame at the top. Mine is GT silver.

Escy

3,670 posts

136 months

Tuesday 23rd February 2021
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Is it definitely 987 and not 986?

CJM36

Original Poster:

167 posts

39 months

Tuesday 23rd February 2021
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Escy said:
Is it definitely 987 and not 986?
If you're asking about my car, the one I started this thread for then yep, definitely a 987. The 986 was produced from 1996 - 2004. This car is a 2005. Further, the 986 has headlights the same shape as the 996 911, whereas the 997 and 987 have headlights following a more circular shape.In 986's you could get a 2.5, 2.7, and 3.2, and in 987's you could get a 2.7 (this engine), a 3.2 or latterly a 3.4

If you are asking about the comment above yours, I'm not too sure smile

Edited by CJM36 on Tuesday 23 February 15:36


Edited by CJM36 on Tuesday 23 February 15:37