Re: what do you think of this?
this is an outdated article, not that outdated, but it refers to the 986. id like your opinion (everyones). do you think that an 987 with 320 hp will do a fast 0-60 time. somthing like a sub 5? this would be ok until the 997t comes out
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Pureporsche you post really deserve credit, and I found it to be very informative and usefull for anyone who are looking for an engine upgrade.
I've been in contact for tha last 6 years with many of the most famous Porsche tuners here in Europe, and I'll have to say that in general they are not to informative and even professional. For instance an e-mail asking for upgrades and technical info can take 10 days to be replied, and when they respond, you only get a list of prices and not much more. They could send some dino charts or even pics and some personal experiences with the upgrade requiered, but all you get are 4 lines with prices and not much more. Even on the phone they don't seem to know what they are talking about, sometimes even ladies were telling me, \"oh yes, with sport filter and exhaust you get 20Hp gain\". My advice to you, is trying to talk with the owner of the company. When I phoned to Gemballa, I talked with Mr. Uwe Gemballa(very helpful guy) when I phoned to TTP I talked with Mr. Pietz(also very nice guy) and so on.
I've a 3.4 L Boxster since October 2000, but from 1998 to Sept 2000 I had a turbocharger system on this same car, made by TTP/Gemballa, so you can have an ideia of the several contacts I made over the years in order to trying to get the best and most reliable info I could get from any tuner.
I'm now running with the Boxster S stock exhaust, but I had already some aftermarket mufflers on my car. My advice is to forget about power gains, with some units, you can feel that the car is some how faster on high revs, but you the price to pay is some resonance at 2500 3000Rpm and noise. I never liked aftermarket exhaust, but because of the upgrades I was making, the pack would came always with sport mufflers. Has I said before, I'm using the Boxster S unit, and it's quiter and as powerful as the others, if not even powerful, plus you keep the stock look wich is something that I like.
Ruf is indeed the most credible company working in Porsche. They don't talk about power gains like all the other tuners, but their marketing guys are also dum. FVD is also very credible and their set up for the Boxster that includes Cams, headers, exhaust, intake and ECU calibrated on the dino are good for 25/30Hp gains. There are companies that are offering alot more Hp gain with these same parts, it's up to you to believe or not. I've known two guys that had put all this parts not including the cams, and one year later they installed the cams. Both told me that the difference in power after the cams installation was huge, and from 4000rpm up, the car was really screaming and making alot of power. Both these guys didn't know each other, so this proves that the cams are really a great upgrade.
Has some of you might know, I had the chance to put my car in a side by side accelaration test with a Boxster S equipped with TTP headers, TTP Intake, no cats, and TTP ECU. This car was really making more power than a stock S, and although I was faster( my car is still running with stock intake and no headers) the difference was not huge. Know several other Boxster S owners that have put TTP performance parts on their cars and really felt a power difference, so from real world experience, I can say that TTP is one of the best tuners out there. They always claim huge HP gains, but indeed you can expect to have a powerful car after TTP parts are installed, but not as powerful as they stated.
I still believe that for every Boxster owner the best option is to drop a 3.4l engine(build post May 2000). With new engine cost is 15000 euros, with used engine 10000 to 11000 euros with installation inclueded in both cases. This way you will get a reliable engine making 280 to 290Hp. In top of that you should put a sport intake(400E from EVO, 600E from FVD, 1000E from TTP but this one in made of carbon and headers from FVD or TTP more or less the same price 1250E. If budget the is not a problem, get the cams from FVD 1495 without installation, from what I heard it's really worth it. If you plan to take your car to the track the 6 speed gearbox(2500 euros without installation) is advisable together with the oilpump kit from FVD that costs 1200E installation inclueded and water cooler 900E inst incl. This way you'll be running with a 320Hp Boxster that can match, from real world experience, cars like Ferrari Modena Spider.
Here's an e-mail that I received from a guy that has all these upgrades:
\" If you add the Sport Cams you will really have a monster \"sleeper\". I can run 12.7 1/4 mile times @114mph That is neck and neck with my friends 360 spyder !! no bull. I race a lot of 993, 996\'s & really leave them in a hurry, a good friend has a Boxster S with headers and a reprogrammed ECU and another with a new M3 and a non z06 corvette and can pull away from any of them (the M3 is a hell of a car and I hope he does not start to work on it much as he can probably turn the tables on me).\"
For those who have the Boxster S, a best option would be to put headers, sport intake, ECU and if possible cams. it would gain something like 35Hp, and it would cost less that a 3.4l conversion. But don't forget that if you decide to drop a 3.4l, you can always sell the current 3.2l engine and this way the transplant wont be so expensive.
Here's another :
\"I purchased and have had sitting in the cupboard a set of FVD Cams for over 12 months waiting the time to have them fitted . SO while doing some home renovations i thought it would be good to have the car live some where else for a few weeks and sent it off for the cams to be fitted ,
what a revelation the cams made to the rest of the package while accelerating in 2nd and 3rd gears without even using full throttle the traction control light is blinking away and the car is really edgey wanting to break away at the rear and you have this really serious concern that you are about a moment away from a really big moment in your day and that the scenery is moving past way faster than it should SO THAT MEANS WHEN I GET USED TO IT. IT SHOULD AT LAST BE FAST ENOUGH (he he )to keep my attention \"
Both these guys have 3.4L powered Boxster.
J.Seven
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Sorry mate, but I think it lowers the tone too much! (Yours isn't the only one, but it IS the most obvious!)
