Will a header, exhaust, air filter and chip improve my Boxster?

[motoadve]

Ok I live in Costa Rica, I have a 05 Base 987 triptronic, I love it (yes even with the triptronoc), I have this car as a toy not everyday drive, only Sundays early to go on the mountain twisties.

Buying an S is not an Option unless is new $100,000 , Buying a manual version is not an option either (there are non used).

So will putting all those upgrades to my car make any more HP?
Or is a waste of money?

Will putting all these compromise the car's reliability?

[porsche986spyder]

This is a question that has been debated for some time. Some people like me will say yes it will give you an increase in horse power and tourqe, but is it worth the amount of money for so little gain, maybe not. I like to upgrade and add on the basic bolt-on options but to really see or feel any difference you need to do these add-ons WITH a modified CPU or chip. Otherwise your just not going to notice any signifigant differance and won't truely be utilizing the add-ons. If you realy want to see significant changes in the cars HP & Torque, you need to add a supercharger or turbo with it's own stand alone CPU or piggy-back type of system. And that isn't cheap either.

[motoadve]

As far as I know they dont make a supercharger or turbo for the 987, and even if they make one will the Triptronic be able to handle it?

So really is Chip, exhaust, air filter, and header all I can do to my Boxster.
Will it be a 20 30 hp increase or just 5 10hp?

If its the later then now worth it.

[porsche986spyder]

Originally Posted by motoadve

As far as I know they dont make a supercharger or turbo for the 987, and even if they make one will the Triptronic be able to handle it?

So really is Chip, exhaust, air filter, and header all I can do to my Boxster.
Will it be a 20 30 hp increase or just 5 10hp?

If its the later then now worth it.

It's realy hard to say without having your car put on a Dyno machine to measure the true HP gains. I would not expect any gains over 20hp with basic bolt-ons ALL together. I like to do it for the increased sound and as a hobbie for working on my car.

[der Geist]

Originally Posted by porsche986spyder

It's realy hard to say without having your car put on a Dyno machine to measure the true HP gains. I would not expect any gains over 20hp with basic bolt-ons ALL together. I like to do it for the increased sound and as a hobbie for working on my car.

I quite agree. My 228HP '03 Boxster was up to appr 240HP on it's best run (207HP at the rear wheels). This after the intake, exhaust and chip. Car sounds awesome and runs great but is still not as good as an "S".

Save your money. By the time you get done with shipping and duties that 10 or 15 HP is probably gonna set you back about 2K or more.

Drive the hell out of your car and when a better one comes along nail it.

[ChrisZang]

The big question in my mind is if you want to improve straight line speed or overall speed (meaning how long does it take you to get from A to B)

I believe with all the modifications you mentioned you still won't win a drag race.

Where the Boxster really shines is the handling, and yes even though it's already awesome it can be improved:
If I'd invest $3k ~ $5k I would
a) get the stickiest DOT legal tires my money can buy (this topic has been covered a million times before so I won't start this discussion again)
b) upgrade the suspension with, for example PSS9
c) improve the driver by attending a high speed driving school

[steve00s]

I have been chasing more horsepower since the day I bought my car and to be honest I do not think that the HP modifications have been worth the money. The suspension, short shifter, exhaust (for improved sound) have had a bigger impact on driving satisfaction. I do not think that any of the common modifications reduce reliability in any way (other than oiled cone filter damaging the MAF). Unless you start looking at forced induction (big reliability risk) or a higher displacement transplant you just are not going to turn this car into a dragster. Given that realization you need to enjoy the car for what is. And that is an extremely well balanced, precise handling vehicle with moderate HP.

[IowaS]

I copied and pasted the following from a website (cant remember which)....seems like a lot of $$$ for 31 HP...this was as I recal on a 986S....


Engine Upgrades:
For the engine we wanted all the reliability of the stock engine, but better performance with perfect drivability. We also wanted to select the tuning depending on the quality of the fuel we were using. We knew the gains would not be large if we didn’t make the engine breath better so we changed the exhaust system and used Revo Technik’s flash loadable engine performance software to give us the flexibility to run 91, 93 or 100 octane unleaded race fuel in case we wanted to run a track day event. The result was 31 rear wheel horsepower gain (or about 50 flywheel horsepower) with 91 octane (CA premium fuel). With 100 octane race fuel and open exhaust even more!
• Dansk equal length headers
• Dansk 100 Cell CATs
• 959 quick change muffler attachment to allow open pipe operation on track
• Sport Muffler (and open pipes included)
• Revo Technik Stage 2 performance engine software
• Selectable 91, 93, 100 octane settings w/tunable timing, mixture, and throttle response
• Extended Sump for better oil pickup under cornering loads
• Back date to early Porsche inline fuel filter system (all parts included but not installed)
• EVO Cold Air Intake (new in box not installed)