A day in paradise: Watching my Cargraphic Turbo tuned by GIAC

Thanks to the crew of GIAC, I had a day in paradise for a car enthusiast yesterday: Watching the pro’s tune the ECU of my Turbo.
In case you don’t already know, the only addition to my car so far is the Cargraphic Loud exhaust. I’ve been shopping, and thinking about ECU tune for a year now. My hesitancy is partly related to warranty issue, and partly related to the fact that I use the car as a daily driver on Los Angeles freeways, don’t track the car, and occasionally take the wife on Porsche club drives. I therefore am a difficult and “enigmatic” customer: I would like more power, but not too much power LOL; and it’s very important to me that my car retains its daily-drive ability. Above all & at least for now, I don't want to have to replace the clutch, or any other hardware as a matter of fact (more on this later). In other words, if you are into killer horsepower and 60-130 times, check this "landmark" GIAC/AWE thread by eclou instead -- this car went to 186 mph at Texas mile: AWE 700 kit review .

My impression of GIAC, having spent a day “infiltrating” the office and facility: A serious, very tightly run, very well organized operation. That said, the guys were at heart car guys like all of us here. I’ve read about what Garrett has done in the past, and it’s a pleasure to finally meet the G of GIAC (Garrett Integrated Automotive Corporation). I found out Garrett is a Porsche nut like us, owner of a rather well tuned 996 Turbo, and even better yet, is a graduate of Cal Berkeley. This has got to be a big plus as it seems some smart people go to school there (ha ha, nudge nudge wink wink, go Bears!). The crew was enthusiastic, helpful, and spent time explaining & answering my amateurish questions (Thank you!). I still forgot to ask what that curve Motec AF is, and which way is good. LOL.

Garrett, Andrew, Austin, and my mysterious test driver whose name I don’t remember (sorry) worked on my car. There were a few dyno runs with the stock chip, then the program is loaded onto a spare ECU (My stock ECU remains original and "untouched." The spare ECU is avail. for $650 from Sunset Porsche, plus 200 or so from the dealer to load the original Porsche DME program, then the flash goes on top of this.), and then the crew went to work fine tuning the curves, with tuning dynos in between. For those with Cargraphic exhausts, this means GIAC now has a file that’s specific to the exhaust and I believe you should make a point to ask for this file specifically.

A couple of notes before I forget. I am loath to replace any hardware in my Turbo baby (since I think it’s the cause of many problems reported with modding, usually secondary to some kind of disconnect or installation problem), but I could have sworn Garrett and Andrew mentioned replacing the stock intercooler with something like the AWE intercooler about 20 times yesterday when I was at the shop. Or was it 25? At any rate, this should give you an idea of how important it is in their eyes to lower Intake Air Temp.
The second thing I heard, this one only about 12 times, is how horrible 91 PON California gasoline is. And how I should try race gas at my earliest opportunity. Garrett, ever the car enthusiast, wanted me to try the higher octane stuff on the way home. LOL.

A lot of people have reported on ECU tunes so I have very little to add here, especially since mine is only a modest stage 2. But a few points for those on the fence, my preliminary subjective evaluation:
1. You’ve tried to run in the swimming pool, with water up to your waste? There is this heaviness to forward progression. That’s what the stock car feels like compared to a tuned car. My GIAC Turbo feels like it has a spring in the engine; springy and very light footed is how I would describe it.
The problem I have now is I keep speeding even when I know there are plenty of cops around. It’s very hard to resist. It’s fun.
2. The GIAC car feels remarkably stock like in daily driving in Normal mode. A big plus for me considering how I use this car. There is very little added noise & no resonance. The pedal response, to my relief, is very much stock like and allows for relaxed cruising when I want to. Performance wise, GIAC Normal mode feels like stock Sport mode; perhaps a little quicker.
3. In GIAC Sport mode, all hell breaks loose (modest hell I guess, as I understand I am still at the bottom of the hill; an intercooler and higher octane gas will add more) and one has to be careful around curves. That said, the power delivery is remarkably linear. Bottom line, Sport mode is where the money is. The car becomes seriously fast and fun.
The Sport mode is slightly noisier at idle, but still very much acceptable and there is no resonance at higher rpm.
4. Spool up (what happens when you press on gas pedal at 2000 rpm, power doesn’t kick in until 2800-3000 in stock car): Perhaps a bit faster, but essentially no change.
5. Lag (what happens when you press gas pedal at 4000 rpm, slight lag in response in stock car): Virtually eliminated in Sport mode. This more linear engine response might be a subtle point but to me is a major reason why we should all upgrade our ECU.
6. So what? Screw the warranty. Run, don’t walk, to your nearest GIAC dealer! You have absolutely nothing to lose (kind of ), and everything to gain with this mod.

I have some pictures to load later when I have time (very busy!), and video of one of the dyno runs if my kids teach me how to put it on youtube. And maybe when I come back from vacation, my report on higher octane gas.

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Regards,
Can
997 Turbo + Bilstein Damptronic ( Review ) + ECU Tune ( ??? ) + Cargraphic Exhaust - Oh heavenly noise!  ( Review )