It was comforting when I bought Kay that major service up to 30K miles was done but when it comes to fluids, I prefer to make sure that gets changed under my watch so I know what's truly in there, how much and how old. We got the oil change sorted out two weeks ago so today I went to see
SJF Performance to do a few little odds and ends on the her and figured I'd get the transmission fluid changed too.
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| Mobilube PTX 75W-90 - 8-12-2018 |
One of the best recommended transmission fluids for the 987.1 CS is Mobilube PTX 75W-90 which I believe is what they use from the factory. I was able to pick up 3 Liters from Suncoast motorsports which is one of the only suppliers for this in the US. It was a good thing we did do a fluid swap because it looks like the transmission was previously slightly overfilled. When SJF took the fill plug out, quite a bit of fluid gushed out. It's not a super big deal but more isn't always better. The level for a 6-speed 987 should be just below the fill plug hole. After draining the old fluid which actually looked pretty clean otherwise, we added 2.8L of the new good stuff. Maybe it's a placebo effect but the transmission definitely felt quite a bit smoother on the drive home.
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| Topping off the AC refrigerant - 8-12-2018 |
One thing I did notice on the drive back from VA when I picked the car up was that the AC was cold but not as cold as I'd expect especially if you took it out of recirc mode. I didn't see any specific notes in the maintenance notes for the car from previous owners that any service had been done on the AC so I figured it just needed a good recharge. Steve added about a pound of refrigerant and it's now ice cold again.
While SJF was doing that, I wanted to fix something on the rear bumper that I wasn't too fond of. The bumper from the factory has an opening which is obviously there to let air through and not have the bumper turn into a parachute at speed but I wasn't a big fan that the mufflers were just easily visible through it. I picked up some Zunsport rear black grills which were easy to install (basically just wedged in) and I think it tidied up the rear a bit more.
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| Rear bumper open (stock) - 8-12-2018 |
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| Zunsport black rear bumper grills - 8-12-18 |
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Much tidier rear - 8-12-2018
(Excuse the dirty bumper, drove through a downpour yesterday) |
To get as much airflow into the engine as I can get, I also replaced the intake filter from the OEM paper to the aFe Magnum Flow - Pro 5R (Model: 10-10106). It's probably not going to give any appreciable gains but I might as well start with a known quantity. It was also a good chance for me to check out the engine bay for the first time. Super happy how clean the engine bay is. I highly recommend the aFe filter. Steve and I only took a few minutes to put it in which is a big relief since people that install the K&N filter report taking well over an hour trying to get that filter to fit right. It's a perfect fit and slots in just like OEM does.
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| First time seeing engine bay - 8-12-2018 |
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| New aFe Intake filter - 8-12-2018 |
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| New filter (left), Old filter (right) - 8-12-2018 |
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| New Filter installed. |
Next up I wanted to fix my cell phone holder. My defacto cell phone holder choice is always ProClip but it sadly is not very good on the Cayman. The center mounted version sits to the left of the radio and when you put your phone there it's mostly obscured by either the steering wheel or your hand (or both). It also doesn't seem to sit tightly as I wanted. I ended up picking up a Rennline ExactFit Magnetic Phone mount instead which fits snugly to the panel to the right of the radio. It's very solid and the phone is still easily visible but out of the way. This is definitely the way to go on a 987 Boxster or Cayman.
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| Notice the ProClip mount just behind the wiper stalk |
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| Really bad placement of phone mount (ProClip) |
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| Much better Rennline mount - 8-12-2018 |
Finally, I also got to test my new GoPro mount which is a RAM Mounts (RAP-B-400U) small tough-claw with 1" diameter rubber ball connected to a short double socket arm and a Ram Mounts GoPro adapter. It's nice and solid and clamps firmly to the bar between the driver and passenger seats.
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| GoPro 5 Session Mounted - 8-12-2018 |
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| GoPro 5 Session Mounted - 8-12-2018 |
I previous tested just the GoPro mounted there and the audio is terrible with the windows down. All you get is wind noise so I bit the bullet and got the external mic adapter and it's connected to a 6-foot extension and a Sony ECMCS3 Clip style Omnidirectional Stereo Microphone. Unfortunately I didn't get any audio because apparently you first have to turn on the camera using the back button
before you record or the mic adapter won't work properly (i.e. one touch record doesn't work with an external mic).....arghhh!!!
Maintenance Updates:
Mileage: 32949
- Transmission Fluid Change: 2.8L of Mobilube PTX 75W-90
- Refilled AC refrigerant
- OEM air filter replaced with aFe Magnum Flow - Pro 5R
