RWD Conversion Complete...one word...AWESOME!!!
 

Hey guys, I got the car back this afternoon from the shop. They performed the RWD conversion by doing the following:

1. Remove the front drive shaft
2. Remove the front diff
3. Remove the front axels
4. Remove the 996tt sub axels (tension bolts) from the cv joint/axel
5. Place 996tt sub axels back into place

The result....OMG, a whole new car. Even with the PSM now the car was alive. Both the PSM and ABS are working properly. The car felt a little quicker with 100+ lbs off of it and the steering seems to be crisper and more responsive. The owner of the shop (Tony from Carl's Place in Vegas) took me out for a spin, mind you he is a certified PCA instructor and has raced for many years. There is almost no wheel hop when launching the car at 3000+rpm. He turned the PSM off and the car became a handful to drive (he compared it to driving a GT2). The total cost was around $600 (all labor). Overall, I am very happy that I decided to go through with the conversion in the little time that I've had the car back. :D

sounds awesome and the best part is when/if you decide to sell the car, it's completely reversible. Awesome, if your car was an X-50 it'd basically be like a GT2 minus a few suspension pieces.

Nope, my car is only a regular 996tt that's at a Stage 2 (ecu upgrade, exhaust, intake, and diverters). I will probably go to a hybrid k24/k18 set-up sooner rather than later...hilarious

Thanks for the info- are all the steps pretty well known?

Exactly my sentiment. We have confirmed that the X50 shares the same exact engine and transmission (minus the front drive) with the GT2. The only diffrence is that the GT2 has a cover plate over the front drive output. It's therefore not bad for your transmission at all to drive in RWD only mode.

BTW, I was recently reading that Porsche has programmed the 997TT to cut power to the front wheels during braking for more stability. I'm sure the 996TT benefits in this regard with the AWD disengaged.

The 996TT's viscous cenmter diffrential sends 5% of the torque to the front wheels. Disconnecting the front driveshaft frees up that 5%, removes a lot of rotating mass from the overall drivetrain and gives the car better steering feel.

If you are OK with the extra 125 to 150 punds of front end weight all you need to do is disconnect the front driveshaft. Talk about reversible...

Martin and Ari are spot on. I got my car back today from disconnecting and removing the front shaft, and OMFG. Ive never felt the way i do about this car, as i did today and now! Its amazing, and even more amazing when i go through with removing the added weight on Monday.

Even from the disconnection, the steering is crisp, car seems more flat. This is all definitely not in my mind, and if it is? Then i hope it stays this way until ik sell it because i am more then happy haha..

I was driving with PSM off testing it out, 1st hops and spins under acceleration, 2nd hitting it spins a bit then just TAKES OFF. No joke the car pulls way harder and shifting hard you dont get the clunk of power trying to spin through front wheels, it just flat out GOES. Throttle feels much more responsive, clutch even feels different its honestly weird.

BTW i did my brakes today, fluids, stock wheels back on all balanced, aligned, no spacers front but spacers rear and wow. Car is finally exciting :D

I recommend everyone to do this haha :)

Glad to hear. But correct me if I'm wrong, I thought RWD conversion involved alot more than that? Can some of the tuner chime in please

Jag

Nope, that's all it takes, what Martin said in the first post.

Nope, it's what I wrote at the top. I had the shop order the C2 sub axels but they were bigger in diameter than the 996tt sub axels. So they returned the C2 stub axels and took the 996tt stub axels out of cv joint/axel and put it back into place. The knuckle that connects the tranny to the front drive shaft is fine to leave in place because there is a plastic covering that covers the underneath of the car so no junk can get tangled up in it. The GT2 cover plate is purely optional and would require more labor to install. The car was thoroughly tested by the owner and he said everything was good to go including the ABS and PSM with no warning lights.

that seems so easy to do. If I had a turbo it would be my first mod :)

How is it coming out of corners HOT with PSM on & off now? I'd imagine it would be a lot different.

Yea man so happy i disconnected it to try it out, its no joke a whole different car, and that's not even with the 100+ lbs removed yet haha. Plus my shop is doing it for like nothing since they want to test it out and since im the first car they are doing !

Then comes a good suspension better then a GT2's, along with my hardtop (no sunroof) and im good to go.

what kind of suspension are you looking for?

Do sping rates in the front have to be softened to compensate for the 100 less pounds?

Well, I had the owner drive the car with me and he took some HOT corners with the PSM on and off. With the PSM on, the car got a little squirrely goin in hard, but the PSM kicked in and put a quick stop to it. However, with the PSM off, Tony was able to drift the car and do a small power slide (in a big empty parking lot)....holy crap, I almost make a mess in my pants. The key to get out of a slide/drift with the car now when the PSM is off is to gentely increase the throttle and counter-steer (he said I should only practice this in open areas or at DE events). Unless I get amiliar with the car being RWD, Tony suggested that I drive with the PSM on. Like I said before, with the PSM off he compared my car to a GT2. hilarious