Hey 6speeders. Long time member here with recent purchase of a 997. I have had several 996's in the past and have always wanted to upgrade to a 997, but havenn't have the funds for a low mile, unabused 997. A good friend of mine is a dealer and has been helping me search for a low mile 997 via insurance auctions. I searched for months, but could not convince myself to buy a vehicle that was involved in an accident. I did not want to deal with a car with frame damage, mechanical problems etc.
A few months ago, I finally found the perfect one. 2006 997 with only 35k miles. The car was bought out by the insurance company because of a garage fire. The fire only affected the car's exterior, damaging the paint, and numerous driver-side pieces made of plastic (rear bumper/tails/window trim/door handle/side view mirrors and paint). Interior, engine, and structure were untouched. I was lucky enough to find a local mechanic who performed a PPI and gave me the green light. Here is the car as it sat when I got it:

 

So the first step was to gather all of the necessary parts. Parts I needed included:
new driver's side windows
windshield
rear bumper
exhaust tips
side view mirrors
door handles
hoodcrest
window trim

Some pics when I first got it to the body shop:



Now I am a huge fan of the 997.2 rear, but do not like the aftermarket LED options for LED tails on the 997.1. I figured since I need a new set of tails, I might as well go ahead with OEM 997.2 tails, so I purchased OEM 997.2 tails and a resistor box.
Test fitting the tails:


Custom fitting the tails with the 997.1 rear bumper


What a difference!

 

I ended up having the entire car painted and since the entire d/s and roof needed to be redone. I wanted the job to be clean and consistent so the entire car was resprayed. After the rear LED's, I had to match it up with the front LED's



I'm very happy with the job and will post up some more pics when I have a chance to wash it. I also decided to change the rims. I didn't like the 18's, so I picked up a set of 19" lobster forks.


I plasti-dipped them black to see how they would look


Here is a test fit of how the black looks compared to silver/alloy:



Im not sure that the black rims look good on midnight blue. I will most likely peel off the black and leave the rims as stock alloy for now. When I get some free time, my next project is quad exhaust tips, painting calipers red, and reverting the rims back to silver/alloy

 

Wow, came out really nice.

 

Glad to see that others like the lobster-claws.

I think the other wheels are 19s and not 18's.

Great find and nicely redone. Congrats on your new car.

 

Where did you buy the tail lights and resistors?

 

Looks really good! Great job in saving the life of another 997.

I think the wheels, in this case, look good in silver. For some reason, that color variant looks less like painted black wheels and more like severely covered in brake dust, wheels.

Enjoy!

KS

 

I agree, the black rims didn't look so great, which is why I reverted back to the silver. Luckily, plasti-dip peels right off

Sorry, still haven't properly washed it!




As for the LED rear conversion, I used all OEM parts. Suncoast parts sells an entire 997 to 997.2 conversion kit, albeit expensive: http://www.suncoastparts.com/product...newproductpage

I was able to buy OEM LED tails off of ebay, and had my body guy custom fit them to the bumper. As for the wiring harness, FVD makes a pair (as I learned off of the sun coast website). You can source a set off of the FVD Website http://www.fvd.de/us/en/Porsche-0/-/-/-/item/item_details/VID_239676-VCD_12238339-gid_330-sort_4-display_50-item_FVD631997LEDUS/ELECTRICAL_EQUIPMENT_-_Tuning_-_DME___Control_Units_FVD631997LEDUS_LED_Converter_ units_for_997.2_LED__`US`_rear_tailights_left__rig ht.html.

Although it definitely costs more than aftermarket LED tails for the 997.1, I'm very glad I went this route. I really love my 997.2 tails!

 

amazing job! car looks great - ENJOY!

 

Wow, this looks great. Do the tails function as OEM?
Do you have a part's list to do the conversion? Why didn't you use an OEM 997.2 bumper?

 

Thank goodness you are not going to plasti-dip the wheels. You can always tell when black wheels are plasti-dip vs. powder-coated or painted and IMO, it just cheapens the look of the car. Besides, the oem silver finish is a better contrast in your case.

All said & done after calculating parts & labor/ re-paint, was there still significant savings going this route, vs. buying an undamaged 997 that is "priced to sell"? I suppose if the refurb is done over time as a opposed to spending a lump sum at once, this could be a fun way to get into a 997 for cheap. Very nice work!

 

Parts used are listed above: OEM 997.2 tails, LED tail adapters, and some custom bumper work. Didn't use a 997.2 bumper because the shop doing the repairs noted the inner bumper support and several other parts may need to be changed.
Tails function as OEM in all regards. I'm glad I did the conversion, I love the look! Recently addded OEM quad tail pipes as well.
Some more recent pics next to some of my favorite cars. Even posted up a side by side pic next to my buddies 997.2 c4S (sorry pic is in the garage)

 

Thanks! And I agree with the plasti-dip.
To be honest, I probably did not save that much. Part of the problem was me being a perfectionist during repairs and having the work done at a higher end shop. I probably could have purchased a higher mileage 997.1 for about the same (without doing the rear end conversion)...however I am very happy with my end result.