I've been a lurker on this board for quite some time and recently became a member. The knowledge available to members on this board is tremendous. I thought I might contribute a bit and give back to the members.

I've been a Porsche fan for quite some time and owned several models. I currently have a 997.2 GT3, 87 Turbo Look, and now a 2002 Turbo. I've been looking for quite some time now for a well optioned 996 Turbo. I was mostly interested in color and interior options. I did not want black, grey, or silver. I would have loved to get a mexico blue one but impossible to find. Mileage was not important to me. I wanted to find one that was well documented with regular service. I located one in california that was a one owner vehicle. A cobalt blue 996 Turbo with grey interior. Loads of exclusive options. Attached are pictures from the dealer. Once the vehicle arrived, I was disappointed with the exterior color. It had been repainted on the drivers door, and both bumpers. It appeared to be three different colors. The paint shop that performed the work did a horrible job. At this point, I had to decide to keep this car or find another. I looked for another few weeks and could not locate another cobalt blue or weird colored 996 so I decided to keep it. I located a paint and body shop in Houston to perform a full windows out respray of the entire vehicle. I replaced the rear bumper since the previous one was repaired poorly. While the car was in the paint shop, I decided to order all the Ruf goodies. Several weeks later, half of my Ruf order showed up so I gave the front bumper to the paint shop also. I'll take as many pictures as i can to take you in this journey of a full Ruf 550 conversion.

 

Everyone must think I'm nuts to spend this much money on a 996 turbo. My goal was to have a complete package from one tuner. I had a Ruf car several years ago and decided it was time to get another. This time, I wanted to get every single Ruf option available. I installed the grills onto the back side of the bumper with provided screws. The left and right intake ducts mount easily onto the respective sides. The center duct is tricky. On the original design of the 996 Turbo, air is blasted through the center radiator and down below the car. The Ruf bumper changes this flow to simulate the gt2. Air is forced through the center radiator and up the top of the bumper. This requires new ducting to be installed in front of and behind the center radiator. The toughest part was to get the new horn bracket installed. the 14mm nut holding the bracket is covered by the right radiator. i unbolted the condenser and radiator just enough to have access to this nut. The Ruf provided bracket moves the horns slightly to the passenger side to make room for the center ducting.

 

Subscribed. That bumper looks fantastic, can't wait to see it on the car

 

Several of the Ruf items are out 3 week. I'll keep taking pictures and uploading. I hope to have bumper done tomorrow along with rear wing.

 

The best color, imho! Very rare for a 996tt (or S).

 

Beautiful color!!!

 

Subbed! Can't wait to see it transform!

 

Glad to hear that RUF is making the front bumper again. That's a great color you have there. Good luck with your project! I'm partial to blue myself. What RUF parts are you installing?

Here is my lapis blau RUF 550 Rturbo from about 5 years ago before it was stripped of most of the RUF parts. RUF built the car with basically everything that was available in their catalogue except the integrated roll cage. It had the following parts:

RUF 550 engine
RUF ECU
RUF exhaust
RUF suspension
RUF brakes
RUF wheels
RUF wheel studs
RUF wheel spacers
RUF front strut brace
RUF front bumper
RUF rear wing
RUF door sills
RUF mirrors
RUF shifter
RUF SSK
RUF steering wheel
RUF floor mats
RUF pedals
RUF badging
RUF certificate of authenticity

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Dyzvem]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Eo5hm4]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/EkRwvA]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Eo5hAn]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/EwivZr]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Eo5hzF]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/EtZ4rf]

 

macmann, great project! Glad you were able to bring back a car that was in need of some love!!!

pwdrhound, those pics are just PURE EYE CANDY!!! Wow, just wow. Ruf sure hit it out of the park with those body mods & a perfect match with their wheels...subtle but gorgeous.

Everytime I see that Ruf front bumper I start to foam at the mounth...lol, I love it.

 

Today I was able to clean out the area of the battery tray under the plastic cowling. I also replaced the rusty battery tray with a new one along with the Ruf Strut Brace. I managed to finish the front bumper. Although the Ruf instructions are not detailed, once you start working on the front end, everything is pretty self explanatory. I was also able to remove a ton of small rocks from the front radiator.

The front aluminum brace has to be cut slightly to accommodate the radiator since it is now tilted forward almost 5 inches.

 

Not pictured is the modified center aluminum brace and the plastic shroud around the front center radiator.

 

Pwdrhound, I will be doing the following

RUF 550 engine
RUF ECU
RUF exhaust
RUF suspension
RUF brakes
RUF wheels
RUF wheel studs
RUF wheel spacers
RUF front strut brace
RUF front bumper
RUF rear wing
RUF door sills
RUF instrument Cluster
RUF steering wheel with large paddle shifters and airbag
RUF floor mats
RUF badging front and rear
RUF Pedals

 

How much are they charging for the engine mods these days?

 

Since the windows were out of the car and interior was practically removed, I decided to remove the sunroof frame and do a proper cleaning. Unfortunately, there are too many small parts broken to work properly. Anyone have a used one? The sunroof moved very slowly. Even with the motor removed, the sliders move too slow on the track. Something is binding them

 

I have a complete sunroof assembly that was removed from my car a few years back when my car had 30k miles on it. Everything is in perfect working order. I only opened the sunroof a couple of times.