Best "bang for the buck"

[nastyboxster]

Perfectlap,

Attached are dyno charts from Evolution MotorSports for the Air intake and Chip/Intake upgrade. I did several months of research and inquired with a number of Boxster owners who did the Air intake before putting down the $400.

According to the charts, there is actually 11hp increase to the wheel with just the the air intake. I guess we can also argue that the dyno's are fake and it's all B.S. since it's Evo who makes the intake.

Also, check previous thread stock h.p at the wheels. He dyno 246hp to the wheel (almost 280hp) after headers, chip and air intake.

Aside from numbers, I think what really matters is how it feels. As long as it makes me smile a little more driving the car, it doesn't matter if it actually adds 2hp or 20hp.

I agree with most Boxster owners that the car is great as is, but a little icing on a great cake always makes it taste a little better.

With regards to the tires, I didn't mean to offend your opinion. I was referring to R compound tires as an upgrade.

P.S. I didn't mean to stick all the numbers at you, but I can't help myself since I'm an Accountant and I use to be an auditor!

[Perfectlap]

well Porsche got 30 more hp out of the 987 3.2 with intake and exahust upgrades but I believe they also did some presumably very costly upgrades to the engine internals. Which is why I'm skeptical that a few bolt ons to the 3.2 could produce just a few less ponies than the guys at Stugart in a much more elaborate process.

But $2400 for and aditional 25 HP sounds about right for this car. Although I would have to see the dyno chart to see whether top end had been sacrificed for more low end power. Not to mention where mid range power stands after the upgrades which is where most drivers would want the extra kick in pants.

as far as Dynos yes, I don't know how many times I've read in Excellence or Import Tuner where the editors dyno a product themselves and rarely are the vendor 'dyno' HP claims confirmed. Except one Tech Art 911 where they actually low balled their HP claims. Very rare.

and yes R-compounds for daily use, not a good idea. R-compounds during the middle of December: really not a good idea. Better get over to Tirerack.com!

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

well Porsche got 30 more hp out of the 987 3.2 with intake and exahust upgrades but I believe they also did some presumably very costly upgrades to the engine internals.

Perfectlap, you are correct in your statement above! Porsche did much more to the 987 to get the HP gains.

Here is what I have read on the PCA site:

"There have actually been many changes made from 2002-2005 and in fact to many to list. All of these have only gained 21kw of power. Now the changes were not to the compression or to the displacement but to its efficiency. The camshafts and their operation were drastically changed in 2003. Their were other changes for a total increase then of 6kw. The other 15kw evolved in the 987 from the Motronic 7.8 with faster processor speeds up to 40Mhz and memory of 1Mb. This translates into faster corrections and mapping of the engine management. The fuel injectors were also upgraded along with the intake system and exhaust. When you put all of this together you get this increase in KW (KiloWatts) .

In general there is not much you can do to gain more power with your engine. The bolt on after-market air intakes,exhausts and chip upgrades do little and often lower your power. Should any of this been that easy then Porsche wouldnt have to spend millions for product research and development. These products that show power gains by Dyno testing are all in the area of error. I could change spark plugs in an engine and Dyno it 3 different times and most likely show a gain of 3-6kw on one of them. I could now use this to sell my product and say that you can gain this amount in power by using these spark plugs. I only used spark plugs as an example. An air-freshener inline with the intake stream would have worked also. Perhaps pine scented?

Scott Slauson - PCA WebSite - 12/4/2005"