Help me soup up my boxster - 986 Forum

Boxster_luver · 02-15-2009, 07:43 PM

HEy guys, I have a 98 2.5l boxster. Im new to all cars(was never a gearhead until my first porsche 944). So I know very little about anything. Im hoping some one has some good ideas or projects I can do to my boxster to increase performance.
I was already thinking about a new exaust system, new headers, new cat conveter, cold air system, and maybe a power chip. I want to make my car around 10-11 second 1/4 mile. So please help me out. Also im wondering, what can the 986 share with the996?

Michael

kabel · 02-15-2009, 08:16 PM

Michael

Welcome to the forum. We are here to help you get aquatinted with your new to you Boxster. My first recommendation for anyone just joining a forum, is to take some time and poke around the forum, you will discover many discussions and answers to your question(s) already exist.

+ The general consensus is our boxsters are producing near their maximum power and the additional gains are minimal compared to the cost (short of dropping in a newer, larger engine).

bkiersz · 02-15-2009, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boxster_luver

HEy guys, I have a 98 2.5l boxster. Im new to all cars(was never a gearhead until my first porsche 944). So I know very little about anything. Im hoping some one has some good ideas or projects I can do to my boxster to increase performance.
I was already thinking about a new exaust system, new headers, new cat conveter, cold air system, and maybe a power chip. I want to make my car around 10-11 second 1/4 mile. So please help me out. Also im wondering, what can the 986 share with the996?

Michael

Welcome to the forum.

10-11 second quarter is really fast, and the mods you have listed aren't going to get you there. I think you are trying to make the car into something it's not. There are a lot of cars out there that will run the quarter faster than your Boxster, and you could probably buy many of them for what you would have to spend to modify your Boxster to compete with them. I think that most of us have come to accept that it's not how fast you get from A to B, but how much fun you have and how good you look doing it. Few vehicles can compete with the Boxster for the style and fun factors. Enjoy the car for what it is.

Just my $.02 worth.

vath2001 · 02-16-2009, 03:09 AM

Welcome to the Boxster world. Sorry to disappoint you, but Boxster are not 1/4 mile machines (unless the 1/4 has 3 S curves and a hairpin turn). We do great, as long as we don't have to drive straight.

But, poke around the foum and everything is in here.

Kirk · 02-16-2009, 08:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boxster_luver

I want to make my car around 10-11 second 1/4 mile.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!

OMG, I almost cried while laughing when I read that one, and with a 2.5L none-the-less. Dude, there is no way, on God's green earth, that you could squeeze the 700 HP or so necessary out of that 2.5L engine to get your 2,800 lb Boxster down the quarter mile in 10-11s. Did you mean a short track, 1/8 mile???

Kirk

mikefocke · 02-16-2009, 10:11 AM

If that is what you want from a car?

You want displacement and torque and the 2.5 has not to much of either.

So my advice is trade it now on a big block something or other. Or learn to drive the lower displacement Boxster to the 9/10ths and be proud of your driving skills instead of the torque in the engine.

The link will help you understand just how expensive it is to significantly improve the Boxster engine. It also gives you an idea what a bigger engine into your car swap might cost. More than you paid for your car, I'd wager.

http://mike.focke.googlepages.com/itisn%27tfastenough

RandallNeighbour · 02-16-2009, 03:18 PM

Join your local PCA club and enroll in a driver's education course. You will quickly learn that your car is fast enough to make drivers in much faster cars look pokey if you learn how to drive the car.

The boxster is designed for cornering, not straight line performance. Enjoy it for what it was designed to do. Find some twisty roads!

Boxster_luver · 02-16-2009, 07:28 PM

I do appreciate all of your opinions except for the guy who laughed at me lol.
I guess im stuck in the fast and the furiouse mode. I do realize that I need to get over this racing thing and have fun with my car. But, if I did want to squeese a couple of extra horsepower out of it what would you guys recomend? I meen would you say it's worth putting in a better exaust system and headers? It's about 3k for the system and headers.

Michael

Sputter · 02-16-2009, 08:44 PM

It's a tad early for April 1st

You sure bought the wrong car for that stuff man.
You could go for a motor swap, checkout flat6 or even Ruf.
The 3k might or might not get you a few extra ponies (even that is up for debate) but it's not very cost effective nor would it be enough to be noticable.

+1 for what Randall said. Learn how to drive it and have fun.

kabel · 02-16-2009, 08:47 PM

headers, exhaust, intakes even superchargers

Quote:

Originally Posted by kabel

... take some time and poke around the forum (i.e. Search), you will discover many discussions and answers to your question(s) already exist.

. . .

stephen wilson · 02-17-2009, 03:58 AM

IMO the best bang for the buck would be trade up to an S model, preferrably a few years newer.

ekam · 02-17-2009, 04:33 AM

Get a bottle of naws.... no, get 2 bottles!!!

Jake Raby · 02-17-2009, 07:38 AM

Its funny this should pop up now, the same week that I am working on a 3 stage performance enhancement package for the 2.5 Boxster engine.

Last week I was able to take power output of one of test cars (2.5 with 38,000 miles that we have not modified internally) from 164 HP to 192 on our Dyno Jet chassis dyno by applying several bolt on procedures including de-snorkel, K&N replacement filter, a set of our most recently developed headers and muffler and then topped all of this off with an under drive pulley.

With the first stage development applied I am getting better MPG and the car runs better and is much more crisp and throttle responsive. The torque is increased throughout the RPM range and due to that drive-ability is also enhanced and even my Wife like to drive the car better now. All around the engine is better and it's certainly not just on paper as the acceleration is now through the roof!

This week I am working on the second stage of the kit that will include some other bolt on induction changes and believe that after these are done and we develop an ECU flash for them that 200 RWHP is a possibility with this second stage of the package.

In my experience the stock 2.5 cars have adequate brakes and suspensions for up to a 75HP upgrade in performance, and the cars really wake up around 200 RWHP, and are fun to drive. (actually being able to throttle steer them is fun!)

Historically, the problem with enhancements for the M96 has been that no one knows what is compatible and performance packages that are proven have not been available.

You can read more about the test work and keep up to date with the developments on my forums, here
http://forums.aircooledtechnology.com/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=3138
I'll be posting graphs and data on my forums in the coming days and even some video of the car before and after the changes with the data mixed in as a heads up dsplay for comparison. The data logger is now in the car for field testing.

As for other enhancements like Turbos and Superchargers:
They make real big power, but the engine already has reliability issues and these "power adders" are catalysts for failure for a stock, non internally upgraded engine...

If you want big power, turn the 2.5 into our Big Bore 2.9 and see 250 RWHP for the same cost as a stock factory replacement engine.. Heck we can build that 2.9 into a low compression engine with forced induction cams and heads and then big power over 350 ponies is a possibility as a bolt in with no conversion complications.

Topless · 02-17-2009, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kirk

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!

OMG, I almost cried while laughing when I read that one, and with a 2.5L none-the-less. Dude, there is no way, on God's green earth, that you could squeeze the 700 HP or so necessary out of that 2.5L engine to get your 2,800 lb Boxster down the quarter mile in 10-11s. Did you mean a short track, 1/8 mile???

Kirk

I guess if the OP stripped the car and then dropped in a blown LS1 motor he could get there for a few passes until something breaks. Might be a tad more than $3k though.

Topless · 02-17-2009, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jake Raby

(actually being able to throttle steer them is fun!)

HEY! I can throttle steer my lil 2.5 pea shooter now... in the rain!

A well thought out, tested, reliable, tuning package would be interesting. Up to now we had RUF and Farnbacher Loles on the high end for those with more money than brains and a bunch of unmatched aftermarket bolt on products from China that were hit or miss... mostly miss.

Kirk · 02-17-2009, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boxster_luver

I do appreciate all of your opinions except for the guy who laughed at me lol.

Sorry I'll try to be more constructive, it's just that an 11 s 1/4 mile with the Box is a loooooooong stretch. Even with $3K it would be hard to see much improvement. You're lucky though in that right now there's a blue light special over in the Classified section. Check this out, for $1,500 you could supercharge your engine (honestly this is a steal at this price):

Tpc Supercharger 2.5

That's the best improvement that you could see for the money and it would really impress any of your fast and furious friends. Otherwise, save some more coin for swapping in a 3.4L 996 engine, which would give you 300 HP and last a lot longer than the supercharged 2.5L engine will.

Kirk

Jake Raby · 02-17-2009, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Up to now we had RUF and Farnbacher Loles on the high end for those with more money than brains and a bunch of unmatched aftermarket bolt on products from China that were hit or miss... mostly miss.

Nothing currently available is developed to the level that we are taking this program for all the models that use the M96 engine.

I am more concerned with coming up with cost effective combinations that can be purchased with the budgets of most Owners.

kabel · 02-17-2009, 12:04 PM

^A good business man and my hero.

I don't want my engine to blow, but if it does, I know who to turn to.

23109VC · 02-17-2009, 12:35 PM

Michael-

Flip open any car magazine and look at the cars that run the 1/4 in the 10s and 11s. Virtually no car made runs in the 10s. That is like Bugatti Veyron fast. There are cars in the 11s, and they are all very expensive and MAJOR hp cars - 500-600+. That is ZR1, Z06, Ferrari, Lambo, etc territory. Your boxster was never meant or made with the goal that it be a speed demon.

cars are purpose built tools. As a simple analogy - you wouldn't take a shotgun to shoot at a target 250 yards away, and you wouldn't take a .308 bolt action hunting rifle to shoot skeet....

you don't take a boxster to the drags, and you wouldn't take a Mustang Cobra on a set of twisties... you can do both with each - but the boxster will lose bad at the drags and then leave the Mustang in it's dust on teh twisty mountain roads....

Ask yourself this: What do you REALLY want? Do you want a car that mashes you into your seat and blows people away driving light to light? if so, sell your boxster now and buy a big V8. Go buy a used Z06 - a C5 or C6 Z06 are insanely fast out of the box and can be made into seriously fast cars.

The boxster is more of a handling car. You can make it marginally faster iwth bolt ons, and the only way to make it substantially faster would be to swap motors which is going to cost you $10k+, and even then you will still be nowhere near as fast as an 11 second car if you are after straight line speed.

There is no right or wrong answer. Everyone likes something different. Just remember, no matter how fast you make your car, there will always be somebody faster.

As I've aged (I'm *only* 36), I've come to learn that it is more fun to have a car that is "fun" to drive versus a car that is "fast". Fast does not equal fun.

"Fun to drive" is a holistic factor. It's nothign you can measure with a stopwatch or a G-tech. It is something that you ONLY know from sitting in the drivers seat and taknig the car for a spin, and it is totally subjective.

FOR ME - the boxster is one of, if not THE, MOST FUN cars i have ever driven. If you want fun, you have the right car.

blue2000s · 02-17-2009, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kirk

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!

OMG, I almost cried while laughing when I read that one, and with a 2.5L none-the-less. Dude, there is no way, on God's green earth, that you could squeeze the 700 HP or so necessary out of that 2.5L engine to get your 2,800 lb Boxster down the quarter mile in 10-11s. Did you mean a short track, 1/8 mile???

Kirk

11.0 second quarter mile takes about 500 HP in a 3000 pound car.