Bang for Buck Mod

[The Radium King]

Originally Posted by KRAM36

Just talked with the man at Softronic. He said using the larger 987 MAF Housing will yield no gain with the 996 TB, is could also hurt the cars performance even with a tune. He also said do not go to a larger TB, like a 82mm TB on a stock 3.2L engine (no internal engine changes). It will actually hurt the cars low end performance. The 996 TB he says is what to go with and stick to the 986 MAF housing.

umm ... so what was porsche thinking when they put it on the 550 and added 8 hp? the 550 is basically your engine with the 987 airbox / maf housing and a factory tune.

no gain? not likely. most likely no gain for softronic. you've been upsold. instead of 1/2 hour at your indy getting the spyder tune pushed onto your car, now you're out $800 to ... softronic.

[KRAM36]

Originally Posted by The Radium King

umm ... so what was porsche thinking when they put it on the 550 and added 8 hp? the 550 is basically your engine with the 987 airbox / maf housing and a factory tune.

no gain? not likely. most likely no gain for softronic. you've been upsold. instead of 1/2 hour at your indy getting the spyder tune pushed onto your car, now you're out $800 to ... softronic.

The 996 TB can only move so much air, the 82mm MAF house would do zero good. I told the man I was more then willing to buy the MAF housing and the Maf sensor the 550 Special Edition came out with. He told me it would be a waste of my money, we got into discussing the air velocity and everything, it was quite a long talk. I was really surprised he took that much time with me. The 550 Special Edition only has 6 HP over the standard 2003-2004 Boxster S not 8 HP and that's at WOT. What was Porsche thinking? Save money and make the HP look as good as possible, while the around town drivability is probably not as good as a standard Boxster S. Come on TRK use your head about it.

I called two indy shops and neither could push a 550 Special Edition into my car as they do not have the tune. I asked how much they would charge to push the tune if I got it, $800 to push a tune. At least with Softronic you get the Durametric cable which will work on your car with Durametric software.

[The Radium King]

Originally Posted by KRAM36

The 996 TB can only move so much air, the 82mm MAF house would do zero good. I told the man I was more then willing to buy the MAF housing and the Maf sensor the 550 Special Edition came out with. He told me it would be a waste of my money, we got into discussing the air velocity and everything, it was quite a long talk. I was really surprised he took that much time with me. The 550 Special Edition only has 6 HP over the standard 2003-2004 Boxster S not 8 HP and that's at WOT. What was Porsche thinking? Save money and make the HP look as good as possible, while the around town drivability is probably not as good as a standard Boxster S. Come on TRK use your head about it.

I called two indy shops and neither could push a 550 Special Edition into my car as they do not have the tune. I asked how much they would charge to push the tune if I got it, $800 to push a tune. At least with Softronic you get the Durametric cable which will work on your car with Durametric software.

i don't think anyone ever recommended using a gt3 tb on a 3.2.

wiki lists the 2003/04 as 258 and the 550 as 266 - that's 8 hp increase.

as i've stated previously (in this thread, for example) the role of the intake mod is to go from a reducing diameter intake designed to accelerate the air and benefit low rpm power (your "around town drivebility") to an intake that works better at high rpm because it flows more air by reducing the amount of restriction (accelerating air takes work). so, either have an oem reducing diameter intake (did you notice that the oem air pipe on your car is a smaller diameter at the tb than at the maf housing? that the tb is 2.7" ID and the maf housing is 3" ID? - that's reducing diameter - as the air gets drawn in it has to either compress or accelerate as the amount of space available decreases - this accelerating air rushes into the cylinder and increases power. works good when the engine needs help breathing, but just gets in the way when the egnine is trying to breath hard) or mod your intake to move as much air as possible. putting on a big tb, big plenum, and big airbox, then leaving a restrictive pipe in the middle, does neither - it slows the air down instead of accelerating it, and it serves as a restriction to airflow. if you already have the big tb, big plenum and big airbox, then you are already expeneincing any loss of low rpm power you are going to experience - not much, is it? changing that one pipe sitting by your airbox is not going to reduce the amount of hp your car makes.

it took me 5 minutes with a pirate porsche pst2 to do my row flash. it is not an $800 job. the mechanics you checked with probably don't have the tool and are quoting you softronic, giac, pedro, or one of the others.

[KRAM36]

Originally Posted by The Radium King

i don't think anyone ever recommended using a gt3 tb on a 3.2.

wiki lists the 2003/04 as 258 and the 550 as 266 - that's 8 hp increase.

as i've stated previously (in this thread, for example) the role of the intake mod is to go from a reducing diameter intake designed to accelerate the air and benefit low rpm power (your "around town drivebility") to an intake that works better at high rpm because it flows more air by reducing the amount of restriction (accelerating air takes work). so, either have an oem reducing diameter intake (did you notice that the oem air pipe on your car is a smaller diameter at the tb than at the maf housing? that the tb is 2.7" ID and the maf housing is 3" ID? - that's reducing diameter - as the air gets drawn in it has to either compress or accelerate as the amount of space available decreases - this accelerating air rushes into the cylinder and increases power. works good when the engine needs help breathing, but just gets in the way when the egnine is trying to breath hard) or mod your intake to move as much air as possible. putting on a big tb, big plenum, and big airbox, then leaving a restrictive pipe in the middle, does neither - it slows the air down instead of accelerating it, and it serves as a restriction to airflow. if you already have the big tb, big plenum and big airbox, then you are already expeneincing any loss of low rpm power you are going to experience - not much, is it? changing that one pipe sitting by your airbox is not going to reduce the amount of hp your car makes.

it took me 5 minutes with a pirate porsche pst2 to do my row flash. it is not an $800 job. the mechanics you checked with probably don't have the tool and are quoting you softronic, giac, pedro, or one of the others.

I suggest getting your 550 Special Edition HP numbers straight from the horse's mouth. It's only 6 HP more at 264 HP.

Special Edition Boxster® S Celebrates 50 Years of the 550 Spyder

"For added performance, the new Boxster S edition is equipped with the most powerful engine ever offered in the Boxster model line. Rated at 264 horsepower (SAE)"

Yes I am looking to increase the size of the piping between the MAF housing and TB. Was looking on eBay earlier today looking for some 74mm I/D pipping. Right now with the stock piping the car has no normal driving issues and when you drop the throttle, she goes like stink. I don't know how the larger piping is going to effect the car's drivability, but once I get it done, I'll share the information.

Bottom line is, the 987 MAF housing is a zero gain using the 996 TB. If a person wanted to use the 987 MAF housing, he would want to use the 82mm TB, but you would need valve work done to the heads. The stock motor just can not take in the extra air without internal engine mods. 996 TB with the 986 MAF house is largest you would want to go on a stock 3.2L, your power band is perfect with that setup, no normal driving issues and will suck all the air she can at WOT.