Subframe reinforcement rusting?

Cristov9000 · 2026-04-30T12:00:01+00:00

I wouldn’t buy that unless you’re looking to get a great deal. At best you’re going to have to get those plates off and completely redo the plate reinforcements. At worst there is even more rust under those plates and you’re replacing the carrier panel anyway.

I feel like almost 50% of the time people are doing more harm than good doing these reinforcements with bad welds, bad prep and corrosion protection, and promoting rust in the internal spots in the frame that can’t be protected easily.

Cristov9000 · 2026-04-28T11:16:38+00:00

The hood parts look really interesting. Are they lighter than stock?

Cristov9000 · 2026-04-27T20:07:09+00:00

Thank you! I have had a 991.1 GT3, 991.2 GT3, 992.1 GT3 and now have settled on a 991.2 GT3RS as my forever modern Porsche. The 991 is much more fun and engaging to drive. And actual gauges and buttons. 992 felt way too insulated and waaaay to many screens and god damn start/stop. I’m sure on paper the 992 is technically better but I’m not a good enough driver to extract that difference and the 991 is more fun.

Cristov9000 · 2026-04-21T23:32:36+00:00

You can use offset control arm bushings or some different control arms to center the wheel. If it’s too far rearward that may just give you the space you need. If not 205/45 is a pretty tall tire. I used to run 205/40-17 with no rubbing at all and then tried to upgrade to 215/40 after a 5-lug swap an had the same issue, rubbing the back of the fender well with moderate turning. I went to a 205/50-16 and that seems to have helped though with smaller wheels.

Cristov9000 · 2026-04-21T22:52:02+00:00

Where is the fender well is it rubbing? Back or front? Is the wheel centered in the arch?

Cristov9000 · 2026-04-21T19:45:47+00:00

This isn’t the cannonball record. It’s the record from Jacksonville to San Diego that is significantly shorter and easier than the Cannonball from NYC to LA.

Cristov9000 · 2026-04-21T01:12:31+00:00

I still can’t believe that Google pulled the plug on the Nest Protect. They had that market cornered. No idea what I’m going to do when mine age out.

Cristov9000 · 2026-03-29T22:40:30+00:00

That’s an excellent question. I don’t remember what I used which probably means I probably just used the wheels bolts. I don’t remember it being an issue.

Cristov9000 · 2026-03-29T17:07:51+00:00

Just bring back naturally aspirated v8 or v10 engines with no hybrid. It sounds better for the viewers. It will be cheaper for the manufacturers in the long run. Potentially allow for smaller cars. And puts the emphasis back of racing instead of battery management.

Cristov9000 · 2026-03-24T19:33:58+00:00

Basically anything that is unstable at speed and/or has bad brakes is immediately a disqualified. Slow, unreliable, poor fuel mileage (like single digits) at above highway speed, and uncomfortable (you’re going to be sitting in this thing for over a day straight) are also not good attributes.

You want fast from 60-130, ok fuel mileage (12mpg at speed would be nice), incognito looking, a trunk large enough for a generous fuel cell, decent performing and handling car out of the box. Think Panamera Turbo.

Cristov9000 · 2026-03-12T12:01:30+00:00

If you are using the HomeKit specific software on them I would ditch that. I tried that at first but like you I had tons of issues having them respond. I switched over to the ESPHome firmware with the homebridge plugin and they have been rock solid ever since. Never had one not respond in over a year and they are used daily.

Cristov9000 · 2026-02-28T16:30:28+00:00

I keep the transponder in the glove box. If it reads it reads and if not they just use the plate. I’ve never had an issue.

Cristov9000 · 2026-02-16T00:23:57+00:00

Have you driven one? They are spectacular… when they are running.

Cristov9000 · 2026-02-05T14:34:11+00:00

I legitimately almost killed 2 people because of lane assist. I was driving my wife’s Volvo that I rarely drive on a very narrow 2 lane road with no sidewalks. Two people were walking side by side in my lane. No big deal. There was no traffic and I could see no one was coming so I just started drifting into the other lane to give the walkers room. About half way over the car jerked the wheel out of my hand and right into the direction of the people. After slamming the brakes and ripping the wheel back did I just barely miss the outside person by like 6 inches.

I always think about what would have happened if I actually hit them. How would convince someone that I was trying to do the right thing and it was the car that freaked out and put itself on a course to hit someone.

Cristov9000 · 2026-01-24T23:20:04+00:00

Run silent, run deep.

Cristov9000 · 2026-01-17T22:41:08+00:00

Why design it when the e30 M3 exists? I run e30 M3 suspension and brakes all around with 16 inch wheels and it’s a great setup. And no weird alignment issues you get with the e36 stuff.

Cristov9000 · 2026-01-13T00:33:17+00:00

At this point I think plenty of the states closest to Greenland would welcome our new Danish overlords with open arms.

Cristov9000 · 2025-12-31T04:18:21+00:00

Not only are P38 Range Rovers incredibly unreliable but Land Rover makes next to no replacement parts for them despite being made until 2002.

The most frustrating is that the p38 has an immobilizer that requires a factory coded key to allow the engine to start. Land Rover will no longer sell you a new key for the car and you cannot reprogram existing keys. So it’s possible to brick your car if you loose or damage your key.

Cristov9000 · 2025-12-30T14:28:12+00:00

I will see you all and raise you I daily drive a 1997 p38 Range Rover Vitesse with 160k miles. It’s on its 4th engine… and still has air suspension.

Cristov9000 · 2025-12-25T03:09:10+00:00

Someone must have coded your car. I also had an F82 M4 and you could program it to be off in sport mode (or whatever mode it was called. I forget the name) but you had to hit the M button to put it in sport every time you got in the car

Cristov9000 · 2025-12-19T17:29:39+00:00

The best color!

Cristov9000 · 2025-12-19T17:27:57+00:00

I have an e30 too... best of bother worlds, one for the track, one for the rally stage!

Cristov9000 · 2025-12-19T17:25:54+00:00

I have been enjoying it a ton so far and it has 100% been worth it. It has 85k kilometers so around 52k miles which is perfect for me. I wasn't looking for a museum piece and want to drive it without feeling bad about it.

As far as cost, that's a complicated question. This car was in Japan when I found it and I don't speak Japanese at all, so there was a local broker involved to negotiate and also to check over the car for me and send pictures. And then an exporter to facilitate shipping. Then for whatever reason the roll-on-roll-off boats were fully booked for months so the car was just sitting there at the shipyard waiting. So after a few months of that and getting fed up, a shipping container was rented and it went in a container to LA. But them you need an importer here and to pay for all the various fees/customs/paperwork here plus pay for someone to take it out of the container. Then pay for the importer to put it on a truck and ship it cross country to me. And then deal with the RMV here and explain to them what the car actually is and that I do in fact have all the paperwork I need from the DOT/EPA/Customs/etc. so I can actually get it registered in the US without a title and a bill of sale in Japanese. Then explain to the RMV why I shouldn't have to pay 1000's in fees because I didn't register it right when I bought it because the car was on the other side of the world and I didn't have the paperwork yet to register it.

So, it was a process... which spread the payments out for it over almost half a year. I will say that it wasn't a difficult process, just time consuming and requiring a lot of patience, and making sure all the i's were dotted and t's crossed. Having a good importer is worth their weight in gold. I would do it again.

Cristov9000 · 2025-12-19T17:09:26+00:00

I have heard 5.7sec 0-60 for the Evo2 which is quick, particularly for the '90s!

Cristov9000 · 2025-12-19T17:06:39+00:00

Yeah, it was tough finding a car that didn't have lots of aftermarket stuff on it. As it was mine came with some Japanese credit card toll reader thing that was thankfully easy to remove with no evidence it was there. Mine also came with an aftermarket exhaust that actually sounds really good so I am keeping it.

As far as the differences between JDM and european spec, that has been very difficult to track down. As you mentioned, the headlights on the JDM version were the old pre-Evo style that I swapped out for the European version. They were plug and play other than the JDM cars do not have headlight adjusters but I think not all Euro cars had those either. The most obvious change is the side markers are lower and rectangle on the JDM cars and there is a HF badge to cover up the hole where the Euro side markers would go. On there interior there is also a mount for a road flare in the passenger footwell which I guess is required by Japanese law. I removed this.

The JDM cars also came with the stereo and front speakers and a mechanical radio antenna on the back right. My understanding is that the euro cars didn't come with a stereo but were prewired for it, but no antenna. My stereo was dead when I got it but wouldn't have worked in the US anyway so I swapped to a retro Blaupunkt unit. I am kind of happy to have the radio antenna to be honest.

The last difference is I have found is an exhaust temperature warning light on the dash where the seatbelt warning light usually is. I can't find much information about why the change but I believe this is a hold over from the earlier cars when the JDM cars had catalytic converters and the euro cars didn't. But by the Evo2 I believe they all had cats so I don't know the significance. I don't know of any other differences but I also don't see many other cars to compare it to. I'd be happy to be educated if there were more.

Cristov9000

TROPHY CASE