Forgive the long post but I hope it's interesting!
I'm not sure if I'd mentioned it before on Pedro's Board, but I recently started the process of converting my 1998 Boxster to "Spec" racer form. Thought I'd post a progress report and a few photos of the process so far. You may have seen various pictures of my car since the early PPBB days so now you can see some of the details of the all the weight-adding/sound-proofing luxuriating material on the car and what's underneath it. (I have a for sale listing here on PB for all the items I'm pulling off the car and a page with all the details. Recouping the cost of some parts is a good way to trick myself into thinking this really isn't going to cost that much!)
Parts InfoParts PDFThis my favorite photo so far -- skeleton on the left, guts on the right!
The first area I worked on was the main interior. The floor carpet is a one-piece tub that is held in place by other parts (no glue), so first those other things like door sill trim (trunk levers), center console, shifter and handbrake, gas pedal and fuse box cover, need to come off in order to remove the carpet. This is all pretty simple and quick, and primarily just bolts and screws. An evening's work.
To complete the main interior (not counting the door panels and dash) there's a glued-on carpet strip at the bottom of the firewall behind the seats. Getting the adhesive residue off is a pain and so far denatured alcohol works best (Goo Gone and an Eco bike chain degreaser don't get the job done). The plastic covers near the door sills where the trunk release cables are come off with a few bolts and screws. Normally on a race car external hood pins replace the release cables and latches (weight savings) but until I do that I may want to at least keep the front release cable working (only the rear can be opened with the key fob remote on a '98). Under those panels are the airbag sensors. All airbag wiring seems to have yellow connectors, you can see the two in this photo (air bag connector in door, air bag sensor connector by door sill).
Everthing behind the roll bar was next. I was pleasantly shocked at how simple it was to remove the convertible top. Pop off the two forward arm levers, and then it's just three bolts and two little screws on each side that attach the top to the roll bar. On my own it was possible to lift the top out of the car, though it was awkward and I had to be very careful not to drop it on the outside panel; with two people it would easily be done in a minute.
The rest of the rear compartment just involved undoing fasteners and pulling off the foam padding that is tucked or glued on. The convertible transmissions and motor and cables etc. just require removing all the nuts and bolts in sight. The top cables that plug into the motor pull straight out after sliding off the retaining clips. Unless the roll bar is removed first, a single cut is necessary in the single piece of foam on each side of it. The driver side had an extra piece of white plastic above the top transmission that was mysterious to me at first, but after the rest of the parts came off I found it to be a protective cover channel for the wiring harness, that should probably remain.
The roll bar was next, and it's easy with just 8 bolts attaching to the frame. The weird thing is that a 1/2-in socket fit better than a 13mm. Finally, I removed the door panels and airbags. The window motors and glass will come out next and the roll cage builder will probably use a plasma cutter to remove the extra door material.
Next up will be the dashboard (unnecessary things behind it) and the trunks (liner carpet and various trim). I'm toying with the idea of finding a way to keep the window glass mounted in the up position but quickly removable, so I can drive "windows up" on longer drives to and from the track while not having the motor and regulator. Once the dash and windows are out, it's ready for the cage! There is a local cage builder here that does a great job on Boxster cages that fit the car as tightly as possible.
Weight loss so far: about 190 lbs. Does not include replacing the 2 factory leather heated seats with my single Sparco race seat on sliders, netting about 60 lbs. more.