"Hacking" your Boxster

 

Modifying, commonly referred to as "Hacking" can be very rewarding, fun and practical.

Each one of us wants our cars to be unique, but more than that we want them to be "our" cars.

Although I had the opportunity to order my 986 from the Factory in 1997 as I wanted it (I still have and drive it daily after more than 150,000 miles) very soon it became apparent that I wanted to change a few little things.

 

My first Hack was bypassing the Clutch Interlock Switch so that I could start the car from the outside (an advantage of having the key on the left side) and letting it warm up on those very cold Missouri mornings. You just have to unplug the two wires that connect to the microswitch on the base of the clutch pedal and jumper them. You can take a short piece of wire and put a male spade connector on each end and plug the two wires to it, or just simply splice them together. Obviously, this is a hack for manual tranny cars.

 

After that I got caught in a quick downpour while on the Interstate and thought that it would be nice to be able to operate my top while moving, instead of having to come to a dead stop. That was accomplished by simply bending pin #18 on the top's relay. The top's relay is easy to find, (relays are located just above the fuse box in the driver's footwell) it's the only double-sized relay and the pins are clearly marked. Just bend pin 18 down to the base of the relay and reconnect the relay . With this hack you can operate the top the 986 while in motion, but as an added safety feature the emergency brake light must be on. Just pull the handle up a couple of clicks until the light comes on and before the brake engages and you can then use the top's button to put it up or down while moving. Never engage the top at speeds over 30 mph because damage may occur. If you don't want to have to turn on the brake light there is another simple hack which eliminates this need. Simply ground pin #15 on the same relay. Some people have added a ground wire to the back of the relay socket corresponding to pin 15.

 

As you see, there are multiple mods or hacks that can be done to personalize your car and make it even better for you.

If you want more ideas, feel free to visit my website (http://www.pedrosgarage.com/Site/Garage.html), where I've posted some of my favorite hacks. Maybe it will give you an idea for a new hack.

 

Happy Boxstering,

Pedro