Best sub $1k power mods?
 

Winter arrives in Quebec. I’m looking for ideas to upgrade my car over the next few months befor my first spring track day: an 04 Boxster S, MT, unmodified with the exception of the 2 litre deep sump. I’m only interested in power mods, no cosmetics, not interested in loud, and I have already addressed the brakes, suspension, etc.
Having already spent more than I had planned on the slippery slope, I would like to keep the costs in check. I have been reading about the plenum/996 tb mods, and the exhaust mods, and the 997 airbox mod. There is a lot of info to be pored through. Anyone want to chime in with a Cliffs notes version? :cheers:
BTW, I am my own mechanic.

Easy....
 

....go on a diet and lose 30 pounds.

:cheers:

Hmm, should we change the :cheers: beers to Perrier?

What are the rules at your track? What mods are allowed? What class are you running in?

What safety improvements have you installed?

Obviously have you done significant time with an instructor? Have you done any instrumented and recorded laps to allow you to review your performance? IOW, have you gotten the most out of the driver?

I hear you mate. The answer to your last question is a resounding NO! However, one doesn’t preclude the other. I’m not racing, just trying to hang with my 911 buddies on the straights. ;)
I have spent quite a bit of time with instructors and will continue to do that on occasion as I continue to improve.

If you DIY you can do plenum and 996 throttle body, 987 air box, exhaust manifolds, under drive pulley for sub 1k.

This combo should be a new sticky

I forgot to mention, I did install the UDP, essentially to keep from cooking my PS pump at the track. Don’t know if it really gives you any boost but it’s good peripheral insurance. :)
«****Eddy****» posted a 3 hp gain on the dyno after installing the plenum/TB/box mod. Seems like a lot of work for 3 hp. But I guess every bit counts!

I don't agree with that 3 HP increase. I did the air box, plenum and tb upgrades and could tell the power was much much better. I have since put on headers with 200 cell cats, secondary cat delete pipes and a borla exhaust. My car pulls like a monster.

Do I have dyno numbers, no, but watching a guy on youtube that did the air box, plenum, tb and a "sport exhaust" with the stock Porsche tune gained 25 HP on the dyno. He did have an UDP, but the dyno showed no gain with it.

HP with the air box, plenum, tb and a "sport exhaust".

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/kja5LSsUT_g?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

UDP showed no HP gain.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/CvFdH11y4EI?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Car had an off the self tune on it, then they put the Porsche factory tune back on it. Total HP gain in the end was 25 HP.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Rf_iv6nyr1g?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I often want more power, especially when newer cars rocket away down the straights. It makes it that much more fun when I dog them in the subsequent corners :) translation: I haven't figured out any go fast mods :)

I’m with you there Steve, just depends on how long the straights are!:rolleyes:

Kram, loved those Road and Race vids! Think I’ Watch them again.

As Mike suggests and without a doubt, the best investment of $1,000 is in high performance driving instruction.

Even with a completely stock Boxster on street tires, an untrained driver is, by far, the weakest link in the pursuit of going fast on a race track.

No one would expect to walk into a calculus class and think that they could just kind of "pick it up as they go" just because they've been doing addition and subtraction their whole lives, would they? Of course, not. Then why do people think that they can show up to a race track and know how to really go fast just because they've been driving around on the street? Like calculus, high performance driving is a skill wholly unto itself.

And track driving isn't about having big balls. The size of your balls has very little to do with performance driving. Its really all about learning specific driving techniques; techniques that you have most likely never been taught or practiced.

Even after 135+ track days and 50+ races and as a DE/Time Trial instructor myself, I still hired a professional instructor to work with me over this weekend because I still don't know everything. We analyzed video and data and I had another driver's data (who is faster than me and who graciously shared his data) to compare against. The insights were astounding and it helped me to pick up quite a bit of time per lap. And it doesn't end when we left the track, since the instructor and I will have a call to go over final points and talk about what I need to work on next later this week.

Forget about the car mod's and get as much seat time and instruction as you can because the most fun you can have is outrunning the 911's in your stock Boxster because you are a better driver then they are!

Thanks for your input Tom, and I am totally in agreement with you. As I said to Mike, one doesn’t preclude the other. I have been, and will continue to be taking advantage of the driving instruction which is available to me through PCA Rennsport. Since in my part of the world there won’t be any track time for the next 5 months, I thought that I could use the down time to make some welcomed tweaks!
Cheers, James

Is there any indoor karting near you? That would be a good investment of time/money. Go twice a week and get one of the fastest drivers (usually one of the kids who works there) to help you get your lap time into the Top 3 on a weekly basis. You'll learn car control, driving the fastest line, and how to maintain momentum - all of which will transfer over to the Boxster in the Spring. :cheers:

The 996 TB, 997 T and 987 airbox can all be had for way less than 1k. Have yet to install UDP but it pulls very hard throughout the rev range. No regrets! The ******************** of it all was getting the old airbox out. Had to cringe a bit when bending one of the engine cover tabs! That and loosening the intake mani for clearance.

It is very hard to hang with a 911 in the straights with a 986. You need to beat them in the corners, but like Tom and others stated that take training and getting smooth so you can carry more speed before the pedals goes to the floor. But once the pedals go down there isn't much hope if your not carrying more speed than they are out of the corner.

These cars with bigger brakes can enter the corner faster, so brake later and catch them going into the corner. Trail braking does not upset them as quickly, which sets you up so you can be of full throttle much faster sometime even before the apex. The 911 can't do that. Learn these 2 things and you can cut down your corner time by seconds while increasing your exit speed by 10 or more MPH above them.

1. Find 100 pounds to remove from the car, more if you're willing to part with trim and fluff
2. Get a set of Pagig R19 or R29 brake pads. These will not fade and wear like steel.
3. Buy a set of slick tires BF Goodrich R1S, Hankook Z214 or Hoozier R7

Yep, I am sure there must be some fast 986 cars out there somewhere with just the intake, plenum, throttle body, and re-flash mods, I just haven't seen any. Ever. The 986 guys consistently at the pointy end of the time sheet have 4 things in common: suspension, tires, weight reduction, and talent.

YMMV

I would sincerely like to thank all of my friends who are concerned about my lack of driving talents. I have only just finished my 3rd year of tracking with lots of instructor input. I promise that I will continue to seek this expert advice in the upcoming season. Comments from my instructors have been very positive and encouraging and every time I learn something. Yes, I do realize that adding a few HP does not replace a few more hours/days/years of seat time!
Humour me here. Over the next 5 months of Quebec winter doldrums, I like to tinker and prep my car for the next track season. Surely, doing minor mods like the ones mentioned, can’t be such a sacrilege. :cheers:

OK, it isn't fast enough so lets list what you can do to cure that.

But I'm not sure any of the low priced mods are really that great. Though one that can help on both street and track is lightweight wheels.

Thanks Mike!

This may sound corny but a Xbox ONE with Forza 6 or 7 and a good steering wheel-pedal controller. Don't use the joy stick.

I think if you do some math 125# is equal to a 10hp change in power/weight ratio.
3150/255=12.35 stock

3025/255=11.86 -125#
3150/265=11.88 +10HP

2925/255=11.47 -225#
3150/275=11.45 +20HP

I have a observation on the Road & Race vids. The stock car makes 260hp but that is at the flywheel. So the number on the RR would be lower (drivetrain loses maybe making 235hp). So if the car now makes 285 on the RR arent the mods worth more like 50 hp? and 285 at the wheels is more than a 3.4 carrera maybe even a 3.6 carrera. Or do I just not have it incorrect.

The Road and Race poster was mainly on boxa.net and gathered a lot of info from users there doing the tried and tested mods. But to answer your question no. You won't get +50bhp whether at the wheels or at the flywheel with those mods. I did them all and put the car on the same dyno at each stage and posted the graph with each mod stage over layed including a baseline run. You'll note the Road and Race vids "layer" up the mods and power on an assumed 260bhp start point. I have seen standard cars run anything up to 35bhp different to each other depending on their maintenance.

I get that. But where does the 260 HP number come from? I don't think any 986 makes 260 at the flywheel. So if the RR says 285 at the wheels....that is well over 320 at the flywheel. Not possible.

In the UK the facelift 986 S is rated at 260, Anniversary 266, early S 252. It might be bhp or PS but the figures are all still the same.

The RR is not showing 285 at the wheels. Charlie who operates that dyno is round the corner from me and one been using him for a good few years. The 285 is the corrected flywheel figure. He does also provide the wheels figure and the AFR plot. But as he will tell you most people want the fly figure as its good pub talk. I only managed to get from him an overlay of my flywheel figures and I know all my at wheels data is still in his system but I never got the time to ask him to pull all those different runs for at wheels onto one graph.

Thanks sooo much...I thought I was loosing my mind.

There's still more power to be had. In those R&R videos they still have all the cats and are using the 986 MAF and tunes. I think 300+hp is achievable with decats and the larger MAF+Carrera tune.

The UK cars only have 1 pair of cats at the rear where you call the mid pipes. The 987 3.2 puts out 276PS or maybe 280 bhp. A couple of guys have dyno'd mods for this and not quite cracked 300 but I guess if you started with an already strong engine and high baseline then you can.

Yes and those weight loss numbers look even better when you realize that 20hp improves straight line acceleration only. Weight loss improves acceleration, braking distance and cornering speed. Back-of-the-napkin 986 performance improvements look something like this on a typical 2 minute race track:

Add 20hp, cost: $3000, shave 2/10s of a second/lap
Remove 200#, cost: zero, shave 2 seconds/lap.
Upgrade suspension and run R-Comp tires, cost: $5000, shave 5 seconds/lap

Some mods deliver a lot more measurable bang for the $$ so spend your long winter tinkering wisely.

Is your deep sump baffled? Better not to starve bearings with slicks on high speed turns.

I have been very fortunate regarding oil starvation. My 986 was set up for BSX class with *moderate* R-comp tires and logged over 100 track days including 20 at AAA Speedway which is notorious for killing 986 motors. We added the X51 pan and checked/topped the oil before every run session. Zero oiling issues even while posting top times.

My current car is a 987.2 with 4 scavenge pumps and a vastly improved oiling system. Zero oiling issues after 2.5 years and 40 track days. So far, so good.

:cheers:

So, what's the best way to spend $1,000 (CDN?) lightening a Boxster?
Woody's build thread has some great weight loss info.
I'm guessing that seats and wheels are a good place to spend the money if you still have stock equipment.
-CF trunk and frunk.
-Remove the soft top? Make the soft top manual by removing the motor & transmissions?
-AC compressor, lines, and condensers?
-A couple pounds by removing the spoiler mechanism and fix it in the up position.
-Liners, carpet, and padding. Is it negligible weight loss vs loss of comfort?
...what next?

How far do you want to take your car? Wheels, stock interior, and top are the low hanging fruit and make a noticeable difference. The SPBOX guys have this down to a science regularly pulling 400 lbs off the car (which transforms it's performance). Then they put 50 lbs back in with a full cage. Tom Stone and Brad Roberts both have build threads detailing weight loss for winning 986 cars.

The 986 weight loss king was a manic AX guy from SFO (Grant) who got the dry weight down to around 2000lbs. That car also had 285 slicks all around and dominated the AX circuit for a while. I think it is in Texas now.

Weight loss works and costs very little to do. :)

The bast bang for the buck on the Boxster is remove as much weight as possible. Full exhaust headers etc (if legal) 36-40 lbs, AC? ditch it if you can, spare tire? gone... track days any way. Stock seats... gone. How many creature comforts do you need on the street? Weigh that into the equation. Lightweight wheels are a good $$ too. But, as others have said, skill is the best equalizer. Most of the top end/intake motor mods make more noise than anything else IMO.

Another CRAZY heavy item is the stock steering wheel! OMG that thing is a boat anchor! You loose your airbag, but some things are a trade off. Most of the cars I've owned over the years never had airbags...

This is the best bolt in! http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1514074209.jpg