Increasing HP?
 

Hi. I have a 986 Boxster with the 2.7L engine. While it's a fun car that I bought on a lark one day and am glad I did, I've always had Corvettes before, and the lack of power in the Boxster is frustrating at times. My Ford Expedition has more power.

What can one do to raise the HP without breaking the bank?

I'm not going to go to heroic measures to eek out another 5bhp at the cost of $5,000. But are there things that will make a noticeable difference in oomph without major surgery? I'm told some exhaust solutions can bump up the HP, but is it really noticeable? Feel free to tell me, "It's never going to be a fast car, just enjoy it for what it is." That's what I've been telling myself. But I thought I would ask, just in case. What wisdom do you experts have for this lady with her first Boxster?

A Boxster midengine is a track car and made for track racing; quick on the turns and corners. To increase HP:
1. install a IPD with a larger TB
2. Increase exhaust e.g. headers
3. Tune
Options: install turbo/supercharger but that may defeat the costs

Probably the cheapest and easiest way to get a few hp that I'm aware of is to get some secondary cat bypass pipes. Adds around 5-10hp and I got mine for around $150. The cheap ebay ones are fine.

There is no cheap or easy way to increase the power these cars enough to be noticeable. Especially if you are used to the grunt of a Corvette!

It's never going to be a fast car, just enjoy it for what it is.

You are welcome! :)

Anything you try will be peanuts when it comes to added HP and by the time you get everything installed, you'll have maybe 20-30hp and you'll be $5K lighter. With that addl $5K you could upgrade to an S and have 50 more HP. Porsche engines are not small block Chevies that open up with a few cheap mods. First of all, they don't "open up", and secondly, they're not cheap. You'll be better off buying the car that has the proper amt of HP from the factory.

If it was easy, everyone would do it.

The difference between a base Boxster and an S is definitely worth the price difference. And it’s not just about HP!

I'm sure this is the correct answer. Thanks.

That is the correct answer. You can't do better than husker. But, if you really want to cure those low horsepower blues? Just take the car to the track. You'll find yourself very quickly driving circles around Corvettes.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

You’ll never wring a lot of power out of these cars. They are roadsters meant to be enjoyed in a way different than most, top down with wonderful driving characteristics. With all due respect to Newart, and I have a lot, don’t get sucked into the age old thought that an S is better than a base. They simply don’t have enough “more” to make an appreciable difference. Go drive one you’ll see. Enjoy the cars for what they are and buy another corvette.

Newart's the MAN!

I would not buy a 986 Boxster for the horse power, for the convertible fact and handling are a couple of good reasons. For the 2 years that I was looking for a 986 Boxster, I drove several base and S models, yes the S has a bit more power but nothing compared to a corvette. My 330xi has about the same power as the S model, maybe a little more with the bolt ons, but it is much faster than any S models that I test drove. If you want power, you are better off just getting something else, almost any newer model convertible has a lot more horse power that any 986 Boxster model, with the exception of a few, like Miata, Fiat, etc., And they are a lot cheaper to mod. than the Boxster. Good luck.

Put corvette engine in boxster??? Not the average joe thing, but if you want the style and the grunt. Costs are either money or ingenuity.



The grease rat's sign said:

Speed's just a question of money, how fast can you go?

Consider spending some time with a Porsche trained driving instructor. What these cars lack in grunt, they more than make up in agility. Two very different driving approaches required, Porsche vs Vette. Learning how to never coast in a turn will make a huge difference in lap times, canyon carving, etc. Safe travels.

Now some truth. I own a Boxster S and I do enjoy driving it on country roads and around Athens, GA. It is perfect for that and fun. I tracked a Corvette Z06 for years. Ran Time Trials also. No Boxster ever came close to running circles around me at the track, most were just a blimp in the rear mirror after a few laps and that's a fact. I was also an instructor and took quite a few Boxster owners out for lessons. Now that I have retired from track/racing days, I am looking to replace my 986 with a 2009 or 2010 Boxster S.

+1
I was fortunate enough to drive Laguna Seca as my 5th ever DE. I was still pretty green (I look back at my videos and see all kinds of places to improve) and they had me in an intermediate run group. I got a thrill in the 2nd day because I passed a 997 GT3. Now I look back and understand it was more about his driving than mine. As I've gained more experience and driven a variety of tracks, I'm placed in run groups with lots of experience. That also means with my measly 303HP and street tires, I'm a knife at a gun fight vs all the GT3s, GT4s, McLarens, and race cars. It would take a special track (one that I haven't driven yet) that would put handling over HP. You can still drive a slow car fast, but chances are low you're going to be passing better cars.

Well husker and myrx, I'm disappointed in both of you! Haha (j/k)

But seriously; my point was NEVER that a boxster is a faster car than a corvette. My point was that once you learn to drive properly, there's more fun to be had than simply mashing your foot into it, the way most drivers do it. (especially those in corvettes, haha)

FWIW:
Same driver (me ;-) ) same track, same day: in the Ferrari F430 (street tires & brakes) i was only 2/10ths faster per lap than in the boxster (race tires and brakes.... plus all the other suspension goodies, haha ). Yes, I was driving the Ferrari "conservatively", (scared, haha) but it was still the fastest- lapping car in NASA's HPDE 3 group that day. (No way i was taking into DE4, haha)

If you're driving it well, you'll find yourself passing LOTS of "faster" cars that are driven less-well. Driving a boxster at the racetrack injects enormous enjoyment into ownership. Learning to drive it well should make you miss a corvette's hp much less.

Just my $0.02

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

20 years ago, even my 986 (2.7l) was a REALLY fast sports car.
2020...20 years later: Don't invest big money for a few HP more, they don't make a difference anymore.

It still is one of the FASTEST CARS on the Autobahn, if you want to, but acceleration wise...no match anymore even for a "little" Audi S3 with their 300HP turbo engines.

Fun wise...unmatched.

+1 maybe 2

Or install a used 3.2 liter engine and then do intake and exhaust up grade's that's the best spent money,..short of newer, faster,.. But again once it's added up,.But they always say once you get use to the power you always want more..!! LOL Torque is where the fun if but I don't know how to get more of that, short of a engine built for just the Torque..80 MPH is 80 MPH no matter what your driving.!! Have Fun ! Frank

Totally agree with this. Nothing more satisfying than a near-perfect lap (like Costner said in Tin Cup, "perfection is unobtainable"). It gets disappointing when a third of the people who pass you don't come w/in 2' of an apex but think they're "fast" b/c they can mash the accelerator and go fast between corners.

You have two options
1) remove weight
2)laughing gas

Bottles are for babies. LOL

But yeah best bang for the buck by far.

What about weight?

I see ads on Ebay for exhaust systems in the $300-400 range that say you can save a bunch of weight.

I bought lightweight wheels on a previous car, dropped 6-7lbs per corner. It was great and really helped the engine rev (I remember the change was like AC on vs AC off), the braking, and overall nimbleness. I cracked 2 wheels though, maybe it was an LA pothole. You can find used OZ wheels that are a few lbs lighter than stock, for $1000.

My mechanic invited me to join the local PCA group and go to the track with them, where I could really learn to drive it. That sounds like fun and I want to do it, but it also scares me. It scares me for two reasons: 1. having someone in the car with me during COVID-19; 2. flipping the car. I saw a video of someone here who got into a side skid on the track, and all I could think of is that he was lucky he didn't hit a bump or a spot with greater surface tension, because that car looked like it was about to flip. Didn't. He came to rest in the dirt. But it sure scared me.

I would love to take Mrs. Peel (my car...folks probably don't know who Emma Peel was, but she was pretty, sophisticated, and a badass) to the track and learn to really drive her. One day.... :)

Oh I know who Mrs Peel was! Diana Rigg of the Avengers. Not that crappy super hero Avengers but the super cool British spy show of the 1960’s Avengers. As a pubescent 13 year old seeing Mrs Peel in her leather pantsuit provided any number of boyhood fantasies. Oh, did I really type that or just think it? 55 years on I still think she was hot.

It would take running into a curb or something like that to roll nearly any modern car, let alone a Boxster. If you don't hit something, it's just not going to happen.

I understand your Covid fear, and I'm surprised that there is any PCA club allowing instructors to ride in the car. My local club isn't allowing that. You can be patient and wait until the virus magically disappears (any moment now...) and then take a High Performance Drivers Education class. Realistically, probably in two to three years.

You like Emma Peel? This guy is in love with Emma Peel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kskwZW9iQNM

You might be referring to this video:
https://youtu.be/tC4WE0wsWhk?t=58

The likelihood of "flipping" or rolling a car on a racetrack is negligible. At HPDE's, it just does not happen. If you search high-n-low enough you might find an example of it, maybe.

Honestly, I was being sloppy and careless... "cocky" maybe. :cool: I drive on the edge of my ability at the track, because I want to keep expanding my ability. But in this case, I wasn't being smooth, and that's why it bit me. I went out on shagged-out tires with the intent of just sliding-around a little and having some fun. So I deserved it.

Do not let that little skirmish deter you from having more fun in your boxster than you ever thought possible.

If you are close enough, Riverside PCA is having another Auto Cross at the Fontana Speedway on September 20. We just had one last weekend, and even with all of the Covid rules, it went off great. We will have PCA trained driving instructors their who will coach you for free. Either in the car (covid rules dependent) or via two-way radios.

A/X is a safe, non-competitive way of getting into high performance driving that doesn't break the bank. Worse case scenario, you murder several orange cones. Safe travels.

https://riversidepca.org/event/september-pca-rsr-autocross-2020/

+10 Emma Peel

Yeah, that's the video! I kept thinking all you had to do was hit a sizable rock and over you go. Am I wrong?

I have to ask, what color is your car? It looks like it's the same color as mine.

The nice thing about racetracks is that usually the big objects have been removed around the track and other hard objects are mitigated as best as possible (within reason!).

How about autocross with someone elses car as a taste test??? We had an exotic car outfit show up at the minor league stadium parking lot. Something like $150 (Groupon thing???) for 3 laps in a Ferrari or Lambo. I drove the F430 and 612 like I stole them. There is zero instruction but I think you will know afterwards if this type of thing is your bag or not.

Of course things can happen on the track, but they can on the street too. The nice thing about DEs is you can push your car as hard as you want to. And it's in a much more controlled environment than in the public.

We just had our first DE of the year last mo, including a novice group. Everyone was checked for temperatures before the event began and we had a 100% refund policy if someone didn't feel well and didn't attend. As for the novices, everyone wore a full face helmet, which acted like a face mask. And no one was forced to sign up. It's been almost 5 wks and there have been no reported cases other than permagrin.

Here's a pic from the event. Check out my front tire.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1596138073.jpg

While this was written in 2009, I don't think anything has changed in the intervening years. A 2.7 is a 2.7. Until it get to be a 3.6 or so, you aren't going to see a big difference.

https://sites.google.com/site/mikefocke2/itisn%27tfastenough will tell you all the things you can do to make it go faster. One important things is the money flees your wallet faster the faster you try to go. You can spend up to around $25k for the ultimate Boxster engine.

I've owned 5 sportscars with as little as 1.3 litres. They were fun because it was all about the driver and not the machine. I had a 2.5 Boxster and a 3.2 Boxster S and I actually preferred the 2.5 because I could keep my right foot pressed down harder and longer. I've driven Corvettes, they always felt ponderous. Just my preferences, I guess.

Hey, don't sell us short!
There are some Emma Peel/Diana Rigg fans around here...check out:

http://986forum.com/forums/boxster-general-discussions/75119-long-arm-law.html

You should try driving at the track. I've only done it a few times, but it's a blast. Do it soon—you're in my age bracket: our reflexes aren't getting any faster! :rolleyes:

Mrs. Peel...…...Emma Peel?

Never heard of her.

TO

986Chick,

You could also check the awesome POC program, where you would be able to go and learn to properly drive your car in a very safe and controlled environment.

Check out their Performance Driving Series
https://www.porscheclub.com/performance-driving-series/

PS: There are many talented (and competitive..) women in the POC ;)
.

PS2: I was in love with Emma Peel as well :-) but by now she must be around 80...

That PDS looks interesting. I need something for novice drivers, in an environment that won't shun women. Ima go look for one. :)

You may have seen Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) in Game of Thrones.

https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.c...ward.jpg?w=600

My Mrs. Peel is holding up a little better.

Yeah, it'd take much more than a "sizeable rock" to flip a boxster. a curb that both wheels could hit so it'd flip instead of spin.... maybe. But you'd have to be moving much faster than I was there. And, as another poster mentioned; usually those obstacles have been removed form racetracks. (Though you'd be surprised what "obstacles" still exist on a SuperBike :eek: )

My car? it's like... um.... blue. :p



http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1596164388.jpg

True, but your Mrs Peel isn't 82 years old.

..........

Aw man! You edited your comment?
Hahaha..... i take a ton of heat over that PT..... but i can take it. ;-)

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk