James Mcgrath
Minneapolis, USA @auto.amateur Auto Amateur autoamateur. buzzsprout.com
Model 991.1 CARRERA Year 2013 Acquired 2019 Model 996.2 CARRERA Year 2002 Acquired 2020
This month I have been living in ‘mod heaven’, spending the last few weeks making a handful of (what I think are) relatively subtle changes to my 911. I don’t know if I will refer to my 991 now as the 991.3, or the 991.1B, or even the 991.1.5… but whichever designation sticks, I’m very happy with the results. I’m talking about a Moshammer ‘Duck Tail Evo’ rear wing, made in Germany by Moshammer Automotive and a factory 991.2 rear bumper with the ‘3D’ 991.2 LED tail lights which are favoured by most, above the version introduced with the 991.1. As much as I love how the 991.1 looks and drives, I have never been particularly fond of the rear lights. A little too ‘disco’ for me, the thin LED outline of the light casing looking a bit like a neon sign hanging in the window of a downtown chip shop. Okay, maybe not that far over the ‘not for me’ end of the spectrum, but hopefully you catch my drift.
These mods have been several months in the works. There are usually several waves of activity to any of the jobs I take on, which consist of month-long chunks of time. You have to have a hobby, right?
Research – finding ideas, looking at what others have already done with the parts of the car I’m thinking of changing, comparing products and suppliers, cost vs. quality vs. complexity of the installation vs. desirability of the modification for any future owner.
Sourcing – not only finding the primary part I want to install, but any related parts I might also need to get my hands on. In this case, for the rear bumper I needed to also get my hands on plastic airintake trim, the rear diffuser/valance and reflectors. Of course most of the mods available for Porsches are not available from the likes of Amazon, so we’re talking a couple of weeks to get my hands on everything needed as opposed to days.
Preparation – in this case both my new Moshammer wing and the factory rear 991.2 bumper needed to be primed and painted to match my car. The wing came as standard black plastic. From the look of the bumper, it came off a metallic black 911.2 C2 and took a fair few scrapes in the process. In addition to getting the parts painted I also had to prepare myself for actually doing the jobs. For the Moshammer wing, unfortunately I couldn’t find any useful online resources to walk me through the job, but from what I could gather it was going to be a simple job – four screws, that’s all.
Turns out this was the case, but it needed a little coercing into place to fit perfectly. I have since made a DIY video for anyone attempting this job – something I hope will help others. For the bumper, thankfully I had a great online resource in the form of a DIY video from my friend Andrew at the Youtube channel ‘Nineelevensouth’. He had installed a 991.2 bumper on his 991.1 just a few months ago (and was the person who gave me the idea to do this to my own car!).
Installation – finally, the main event. As with most jobs, all the research and preparation can’t cover every potentiality when it comes to modifying cars. The wing was pretty straightforward but with the rear 991.2 bumper undoubtedly, and not surprisingly, I encountered a few novel challenges which I captured in my own DIY video that was recently published on the Auto Amateur Youtube channel.
Overall I’m really happy with how these mods have turned out. Should any future owner of my 991 want the stock look, I’ll keep all of the parts, but for the foreseeable future I’ll be driving around, loving my 991.3.