boxster vs 350z?

[986_inquiry]

had the opportunity to race against a 350z on a closed track and was surprised at how well the 2.5 did. We were even, he beat me some, I beat him some. All speeds 60+ mph.

Two runs really stand out. We were behind another car, him in front of me, and when there was space he knew when he would take off and go around the car. I followed but that 1 second delay between him changing lanes and me realizing he was going around the car was enough for him to out accelerate me

Second time we were side-by-side and I had him by a car length while entering 5th gear

They're 287hp cars, my 201 shouldn't even compete, but they're nearly 3,200 lbs and I think he had a automatic.

still, a win is a win but unfortunately beating a Nissan in a Porsche isn't something to brag about

[The Radium King]

It's official, I'm moving to northern canada and hundreds of miles of bad roads. as a result, i finally took a 300 hp wrx sti for a test drive the other day and may soon be out of the porsche game. 0-60 in 4.9 s, awd, cheap to tune, engines last. looks a bit too 'fast and furious', especially next to the boxster, and is 3200 lbs heavy. haven't had it on the track yet but anticipate some terrible understeer which can hopefully be addressed.

anyways, don't diss the ricers; you never know when one will show up in your driveway ...

[986_inquiry]

Originally Posted by The Radium King

It's official, I'm moving to northern canada and hundreds of miles of bad roads. as a result, i finally took a 300 hp wrx sti for a test drive the other day and may soon be out of the porsche game. 0-60 in 4.9 s, awd, cheap to tune, engines last. looks a bit too 'fast and furious', especially next to the boxster, and is 3200 lbs heavy. haven't had it on the track yet but anticipate some terrible understeer which can hopefully be addressed.

anyways, don't diss the ricers; you never know when one will show up in your driveway ...

Lol funny you mention northern Canada since they're the largest pca region in north America with nearly 2,000 members. Might wanna go to a pca meeting up there before trading in the Porsche for a Subaru

And I didn't mean to diss ricers, my post was meant to express my amazement that Porsche can achieve so much with what seems like so little.

[BYprodriver]

Originally Posted by The Radium King

It's official, I'm moving to northern canada and hundreds of miles of bad roads. as a result, i finally took a 300 hp wrx sti for a test drive the other day and may soon be out of the porsche game. 0-60 in 4.9 s, awd, cheap to tune, engines last. looks a bit too 'fast and furious', especially next to the boxster, and is 3200 lbs heavy. haven't had it on the track yet but anticipate some terrible understeer which can hopefully be addressed.

anyways, don't diss the ricers; you never know when one will show up in your driveway ...

STI's are great fun cars, maybe you could make a less severe sacrifice & mount 16" tires on your car!

[The Radium King]

anguished over the issue, but we are talking 1100 kms north of edmonton. tarret says that with pss9's i could actually get a 1" lift which would allow for more rubber on the car, as well as better clearance. i could brace the front and rear struts and fab some sort of guard to protect the exposed brake/clutch and vacuum lines, but i still would have a car good for 4 months a year max; wrx sti goes all year long. sorry for the hijack, but i appreciated the 350z/boxster comaprision and would like to see more, at least to help me separate fact from fiction in the eternal euro/asia debate.

[986_inquiry]

Originally Posted by The Radium King

sorry for the hijack, but i appreciated the 350z/boxster comaprision and would like to see more, at least to help me separate fact from fiction in the eternal euro/asia debate.

really? I had an opportunity against a new (2008+) Maxima (290hp) and easily outpaced it. G35 (280 to 298hp depending on transmission) also on track, again could not keep up with 986 2.5, probably because they weigh a lot more than 2.5 and I have a manual.

C6 Corvette.... encounter was brief, but he was faster although not as much as I would have imagined

again all encounters were at 60+ mph. Had we started from 0 the results may have been different.

love my 986, best bang for buck by far

[ProjectM96]

I raced my buddies modified 2004 350z with my stock 217HP 2.7L.

My friend had full exhaust system with test pipes, Short Ram Intake, Plenum Spacer Upgrade, lowered suspension, lighter than oem rims. Estimating 300HP+.

We raced from 40mph to 120mph. In the end, he beat me by 2-3 car lengths. Pretty close race.

But now he bought an 06 M3 and sold the plenum spacer and test pipes off his 350z and I got an Intake, test pipes and UD Pulley for my 2.7L. Time for a rematch. Hopefully before his 350z gets sold. I think I can win.

On paper, the 0-60mph time and the 1/4 mile times are both 0.3 seconds apart when comparing the 350z and the 986 2.7 engine. Which means off the line, the 350z is quicker, but acceleration is the same after that.

[fivepointnine]

Originally Posted by 986_inquiry

really? I had an opportunity against a new (2008+) Maxima (290hp) and easily outpaced it. G35 (280 to 298hp depending on transmission) also on track, again could not keep up with 986 2.5, probably because they weigh a lot more than 2.5 and I have a manual.

C6 Corvette.... encounter was brief, but he was faster although not as much as I would have imagined

again all encounters were at 60+ mph. Had we started from 0 the results may have been different.

love my 986, best bang for buck by far

I drove few different G35 coupes...they are a nice car but not near as fast as the HP numbers suggest...I drove both a 6 spd and an auto

[The Radium King]

here's an interesting link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_N%C3%BCrburgring_Nordschleife_lap_times

the boxster/cayman are all over the place; a second off the gt3, or down with the ford focii. good to see the wrx sti up there swinging with the big boys, but odd to see the exige so slow ...

[986_inquiry]

Originally Posted by ProjectM96

I raced my buddies modified 2004 350z with my stock 217HP 2.7L.

My friend had full exhaust system with test pipes, Short Ram Intake, Plenum Spacer Upgrade, lowered suspension, lighter than oem rims. Estimating 300HP+.

We raced from 40mph to 120mph. In the end, he beat me by 2-3 car lengths. Pretty close race.

But now he bought an 06 M3 and sold the plenum spacer and test pipes off his 350z and I got an Intake, test pipes and UD Pulley for my 2.7L. Time for a rematch. Hopefully before his 350z gets sold. I think I can win.

On paper, the 0-60mph time and the 1/4 mile times are both 0.3 seconds apart when comparing the 350z and the 986 2.7 engine. Which means off the line, the 350z is quicker, but acceleration is the same after that.

The more I drive different types of vehicles, the more I realize that 0-60, quarter mile and horsepower don't mean that much.

for example, parents have a hybrid Highlander. Nothing much on paper, but stomp on the pedal and from 0-30 it's a rocket ship. I think it's those electric motors, instant massive torque.

Horsepower doesn't mean much either since it's a maximum number. 300hp sounds great, but if you only get that at 6500rpm then that's not as useful as, say, 300hp at 4500rpm, with 2000rpm to go.

Also minor mods can make a huge difference. Your friend's mods might not sound like much, but adding just 5-10 hp from 2000 to 6000rpm can make a huge difference. Dyno on K&N's website does a good job of showing that:
2007 and 2008 Nissan 350Z Gains 8.17 Horsepower with K&N Performance Air Intake System

Had he not modified his 350z I have a feeling you would have been probably right next to each other from 40-120mph

I've seen inexpensive headers on ebay, think I'll give them a whirl, and look for any other inexpensive mods. Not because the 986 is slow, but because it has a lot of hidden potential

[jacabean]

this reminds me of the day a dodge challenger big v8 thing with this insane exhaust came screaming up my ass as I am entering one of my favorite twisty roads. i even slowed down a bit and waited for the first set of turns. then just went for it. when i got to the end of the road, still moving real good i looked back , he was not there. i took a right after a stop sign and he was coming up behind me , seemed like it took him forever to catch up. Boxster on a back road with no straights tooled him. that's what the Boxster is all about not that straight line crap !

[fivepointnine]

the S is no slouch in the straights though, 2nd gear acceleration is probably the best of any car I have drove,my wife has even commented on that, and her car is a 21+ PSI tuned Saab

[ohhh my]

Originally Posted by fivepointnine

the S is no slouch in the straights though, 2nd gear acceleration is probably the best of any car I have drove,my wife has even commented on that, and her car is a 21+ PSI tuned Saab

I agree, 2nd gear is very nice on my 03 boxster s. pulls very well and i don't exactly recall but i believe i am around 60 before i switched to third gear.

[ProjectM96]

Originally Posted by 986_inquiry

I've seen inexpensive headers on ebay, think I'll give them a whirl, and look for any other inexpensive mods. Not because the 986 is slow, but because it has a lot of hidden potential

Just be careful with those cheap ebay headers. I heard horror stories. They are cheap because they don't fit perfectly. You will most likely need to bend them into place. And they don't include cats so the CEL light will turn on and you won't pass emissions.

The cheapest street legal performance headers with sport cats I know of are from NHP. $999 I think. I plan to get them when I save up the money.

But yeah the 350z engine also has lots of potential. He also shifted gears much faster than me since he was more experienced with racing than I was. He matched his 350z's advertised 1/4 mile at the drag strip when it was still stock. I was afraid of shifting too fast because I didn't want to accidentally let the shift knob go while it was only half way in gear. But I am getting more and more used to shifting faster.

[thstone]

You really gotta mount a video cam so you can share it all with us! :dance:

[BYprodriver]

Originally Posted by fivepointnine

the S is no slouch in the straights though, 2nd gear acceleration is probably the best of any car I have drove,my wife has even commented on that, and her car is a 21+ PSI tuned Saab

The SAAB Viggen has as quick throttle response as any of the many, many cars I have driven & a close match for a 986S 2nd gear acceleration.

[nieuwhzn]

Originally Posted by BYprodriver

The SAAB Viggen has as quick throttle response as any of the many, many cars I have driven & a close match for a 986S 2nd gear acceleration.

The Viggen is really the pinnacle of what is possible with a turbo engine. Saab managed to not only get quite a bit of power out of this 2.3L four-pot but also made it drivable. The torque steer that so many are complaining about is not really torque steer but rather a feature of any high torque front wheel driven car. It's simply the difference in traction that the front wheels are experiencing, only some fancy torque vectoring hardware can take care of it. What also helps is to put a fatter rear sway bar, this reduces the twist in the chassis under full torque which results in both front wheels to stay more firmly planted.
The Viggen _does_ have turbo lag but the Saab engineers did some smart stuff with the board computer that makes it feel like there is no lag, it's mainly opening the throttle more than the actual demand.

[fivepointnine]

ours is not the Viggen, but the 2.0 High output, about 20hp shy of the Viggen, but comes with the same turbo and intercooler as the Viggens 2.3. Ours has a 3" turbo back with no emissions equipment at all, a very very aggressive tune along with all the supporting fuel and air mods. We are pushing the stock TD04 and Viggen crossflow intercooler to the max at the moment. It also has full Koni suspension and a fatter rear sway bar. The car is extremely fast but at the expense of driveability.

If you mash the throttle below 40mph you just see the TCS light up, TCS defeated you just get wheel spin,it is pretty insane. Definitely not a 1/4 mile or 0-60 racer, but a good highway runner. I have never put it up against my S so I have no idea how it would work out.

The Saab cannot even begin to compete in handling though.






and those are legit 2 piece BBS RK wheels too....score of the century on my part when I located them!

[nieuwhzn]

"...you just get wheel spin,it is pretty insane..."

which is why I didn't bother to crank up the output of my Viggen, it's pretty easy and cheap to get it to 300hp (and even more insane torque) but, apart from the bragging rights, that power is pretty useless except for shredding tires.

Got meself a Boxxie instead, lots of fun! Today was top-down motoring day in the Hamptons.

[Speedster986]

I'm new to the Porsche Brand, but itching to try my next mod:dance:

My first mod consisted of a "simple to install" bolt-on plenum that replaces the original stock plenum by Peak Aire Performance, which has yielded 36 to 37 MPG highway driving ( see pic ) & 20 to 23 MPG city.

Not sure if these MPG ratings are good or bad, however the original sticker price label when the car was sold read - 20 City 29 Highway - Comments Welcomed!

Question:

Has anyone successfully increased the size of the stock TB & Intake Plenum from 68mm to 74mm?

I would like to combine the increased performance from the first mod with a larger plenum & TB from a different Porsche model.

Does anyone have the recipe for this "DYI" cocktail?