Hello everyone,
Late last month, I realized a dream I've had since I was a teenager (long, long time ago). My wife and I flew to San Diego, and purchased a 2002 C4 Cabriolet. Of course, as an 11 year old car, it has some issues to work on, but it is an awesome car! I'm looking forward to taking advantage of the expertise on this forum.
John Sims
2002 C4 Cab Slate Grey Metallic

 

Glad to hear you life long dream has come true! Congrats, beautiful car,,I'm sure you and the missis will get a lot of enjoyment out of her. Try a sunset drive in the mountains1

when I had a convertable the wife an I would cruise the beach at night...stopping now and again for a nice drink then dinner....Ahh those were the days.

 

Nice car!

 

Welcome and congratulations on the purchase John. Were you been looking for a while ?

 

congratulations !!!

I know the feeling
I dreamed of one for 40 years

how many miles are on it?

 

congratulations, good for you

now get some clear side markers, its a great first mod

 

Welcome to the group John. I like your cab, especially the sport design wheels. Not sure where you are located, but if your in Socal, there are plenty of P-car activities to keep you and the Misses entertained

 

A bit more background. Back in January, I was thinking of what my next motorcycle would be, having ridden pretty much all the time for the past 8 years. I was looking at a BMW K1600GTL. They are about $25,000. Living in Colorado, I do ride year-round, so long as there's no ice on the road and the temp is above about 25. But when I saw that price tag, I thought "I could buy a car for that money". A buddy of mine over in Wichita has a 72 Targa that he was telling me about, and that got me thinking. When I brought up the idea with my wife, she said if I was willing to give up the bike, she would have no objection to me getting a Porsche. She did want me to get something with more safety features such as air bags, etc, which meant something 1991 or newer. When I saw the price difference and the advanced technology in the 996s over the 993s, I quickly got over the water cooled engine thing and started looking seriously.

The bike sold last week, and I'm really enjoying the Cab! I hope getting the crunchy shifting into 2nd gear won't break the bank, I'll find out when I get home next week and talk with my mechanic. Wish me luck!

John

 

nice, congrats

 

Congrats John....I recently had the same experience...it is a beautiful thang!

 

I would at least try a transmission fluid change to Redline or the Porsche OEM fluid before letting a shop do anything else to the transmission... If your lucky, it might help enough to delay replacing the syncros.

And while there are several top-notch Porsche independents in the Denver metro area, there are a few Porsche transaxle specialists nearby as well. Might give GBOX, Carquip, or Guard Transmission (all in Boulder area) a call. I have no personal experience with any of them, but all are known as Porsche transaxle specialists.

 

John, today I had the engine oil changed and decided to flush the manual tranny also. I read on another board where someone suggested using Motul 300 instead of the fluids recommended by Porsche. I am amazed the difference the Motul has made. My tranny is quiet and shifts smooth as silk. Just thought I'd share this experience with you. Enjoy your car

 

I may have the solution to help with the 2nd gear issue. And it is dirt cheap. PM me.

Congrats, did you get the hard top from the seller too?

 

Thanks for the encouragement. But it turns out the transmission did need a rebuild. 2nd gear was worn badly, and the pinion gear was pretty much gone. I guess that kind of wear goes hand in hand with the clutch being replaced at 30,000 miles and I just paid to replace the clutch again right after delivery at 60,000 miles. The good news, such as it is, is that GBox is up in Boulder, an hour away. They rebuilt the transmission in less than two days, and they're pretty much the best around. The car shifts smoothly now, it's nice being able to downshift from third to second without cringing.

Now, to get my OBD II reader so I can figure out the CEL issue. So far, the mechanic has been reporting that it shows the catalytic converters are out of spec. I'm hoping that it's due to the car getting adjusted to the altitude here in Colorado, and the different gasoline mixtures than in California, where it's from. Any ideas, suggestions?

 

Gbox is good stuff. Cheap and definitely fixes the 2nd gear issue.