Woody's build thread

[Smallblock454]

Hello itsnotanova,

fans threshold: I don't know if the fan relais gets an analog or a digital bus signal in your car. If it's analog voltage signal you can use a voltage divider to modifiy the signal. If it's an digital bus signal you can use a port sniffer to detect the signal and manipulate the input of the relais via a bus controller. The other option would be to reprogram the DME. But i don't know if there is an option in PIWIS developer mode to do this on your DME model.

Arenared: these dark metallic colors are really difficult to paint. Best is to blend in the new color in old color and do an overall new clearcoat.

Regards
Markus

[itsnotanova]

Originally Posted by Smallblock454

Hello itsnotanova,

fans threshold: I don't know if the fan relais gets an analog or a digital bus signal in your car. If it's analog voltage signal you can use a voltage divider to modifiy the signal. If it's an digital bus signal you can use a port sniffer to detect the signal and manipulate the input of the relais via a bus controller. The other option would be to reprogram the DME. But i don't know if there is an option in PIWIS developer mode to do this on your DME model.

Arenared: these dark metallic colors are really difficult to paint. Best is to blend in the new color in old color and do an overall new clearcoat.

Regards
Markus

From what I researched, there's not much you can do to make them come on at a lower temperature. Some guys are talking about having them hotwired and with a toggle switch so they can manually activate them. I'll probably just run my AC even when I don't need to for now. I would like having the option of running my heater and the fans on high when I want too though.

As for the paint. It's not too bad of a contrast and totally ok for most people. I'm a little picky when it comes to things like that. The rest of the car could use another coat of paint anyway. Especially the hood and front fenders because they have lots of rock chips on them

[itsnotanova]

Sorry guys but I was being a new father. Over reacting and nervous about everything. I just took it for a spin and it stayed on the 8 the whole time. Like I tell a lot of people. I'm an expert at taking them apart but not so much putting them back together. I did have someone try and race me already.

[Ben006]

Originally Posted by itsnotanova

Some guys are talking about having them hotwired and with a toggle switch so they can manually activate them.

I'm working on an easy DIY for that, using 4 remote relay socket and a 3 position switch
I'll post it on the forum when I receive the sockets

Good job with your car!

Ben

[seningen]

Originally Posted by itsnotanova

From what I researched, there's not much you can do to make them come on at a lower temperature. Some guys are talking about having them hotwired and with a toggle switch so they can manually activate them. I'll probably just run my AC even when I don't need to for now. I would like having the option of running my heater and the fans on high when I want too though.

As for the paint. It's not too bad of a contrast and totally ok for most people. I'm a little picky when it comes to things like that. The rest of the car could use another coat of paint anyway. Especially the hood and front fenders because they have lots of rock chips on them

FYI -- I have the Under Drive Pulley -- when I go on track I turn off my AC
when I come off track -- I turn it back on -- to cool the engine as it kicks
the radiators on -- AND raise idle, increasing water pump circulation :-)

Mike

[steved0x]

Originally Posted by seningen

FYI -- I have the Under Drive Pulley -- when I go on track I turn off my AC
when I come off track -- I turn it back on -- to cool the engine as it kicks
the radiators on -- AND raise idle, increasing water pump circulation :-)

Mike

I do the same thing, turn on my AC when I start my cool down lap...

[itsnotanova]

In response to Markus,

I checked my supply and the exhaust manifold tubes are slightly bigger on the 00-04. The 97-99 exhaust manifold doesn't have the pre-cat's, so I'm guessing they might flow better. One of the best Porsche mechanic in Texas has a liking for the early 97 manifolds because he thinks they flow better. Some early 97's have a flat spot on them and that's how you can visually tell. On that note, I took a picture of the factory manifolds that I have. Starting from the left we have a 2005 987, early 97 flat manifold, 00-04 and a 2001 996 exhaust manifold. I didn't get around to measuring, but the 996 and 987 look close to the same size.

While I was at it, I took a picture of the secondary pipes from the 986 and 996. The 97-99 and the 00-04 are the same size and the only difference appears to be the lack of an O2 bung for the 00-04. It looks like they still kept the heat shield though.


From the research I came up with, the 987 base and S share the same muffler but have different tips that attach to one 70mm singular exit tube. I would have loved to have two separate tubes coming out of each muffler at a better angle. The factory muffler has the exhaust gases exiting towards each other and then making a 90 degree turn out. I'm thinking tomorrow I'll fabricate something to help the exiting gas flow better at that point.

My modified 987 muffler looks larger in this pic, but it's only a few inches wider than the 986 muffler. It's about the same total height in the middle but a few inches narrower on the sides

[kjc2050]

Congrats, Woody. It looks great!!

[Smallblock454]

Hello woody.

2 videos from Motortrend / Freiburger for you:

The Power of 2.5- vs. 3-Inch Exhaust:
https://youtu.be/_PVXvHkr-Vs

Exhaust Header Bash! Testing Power Loss From Dents:
https://youtu.be/azPKIjxmmdU

OK, the engines can't be compared directly, but the result will be similar.

Please also note that the 2.5 exhaust system is different to the later 2.7/3.2 exhaust system.

On the last photo it looks like your system has only one exhaust pipe at the end. If that is like it looks i would say that's a design fault. Not because of optical aspects, but of technical aspects (overall diameter).

Very interested to hear about your final results.

Regards, Markus

[silver-S]

After watching that Motor Trend video and seeing your project, I predict you will sell all of your 987 s mufflers within a week or so after you do your testing. I'm watching this one closely!

[steved0x]

Maybe the larger 987 exhaust is part of the puzzle as to why the exact same engine in a 2005 Boxster S makes more HP than the exact same engine in a 2004 Boxster S. And why the 2004 Anniversary Edition 986 S splits the difference in HP (since it has the 987 airbox but not other pieces including the exhaust?)

2004 986 S: 258 HP
2004 Anniversary edition: 266 HP
2005 987 S: 276 HP

Since it is the same engine, I think (and I heard of someone doing this I think) they just took the whole exhaust of a Cayman, including the manifolds, and put in on their 986 Boxster.

[itsnotanova]

Originally Posted by steved0x

Since it is the same engine, I think (and I heard of someone doing this I think) they just took the whole exhaust of a Cayman, including the manifolds, and put in on their 986 Boxster.

I looked to see if someone had done that but couldn't find any info. I'm thinking it's not possible. The 987 exhaust system and car are wider than the 986. I could be wrong though.

I'm too lazy to try and wire something up to manually control the fan at this time. I'll probably run my AC like you and Mike do. My only reasoning that I would like an override switch might be when you really need to cool an engine down fast. As in heater blowing and windows down. The car should have the fans going anyway, but I'd like to make sure.

[Smallblock454]

Hello woody,

thank you very much for the pictures and comparisons. BTW nice shoes.

What i was not aware of, when writing my last post, is that the US 986 00-04 headers have an additional catalysator. The ROW headers don't have that. They look more like the 97-99 header manifolds. The 97-99 exhaust system seems to have a different designed muffler system than the later cars.

I think it's pretty obvioius thet the 987 and 996 have a bigger diameter. In general the diameters in automotive industry are measured in inches (exterior diameter). So i would suspect from your measuring the 986 systems are a 1,5" (38,10 mm) system whereas the 987 / 996 systems seems to be 2" (50,08 mm).

If you can delete catalysators that is always a good idea to gain power. But you have adjust the ECU tuning, else there won't get a big benefit (in general stock catalysators are 400 cell catalysators).

What does the exhaust tip diameter has to be if have two 2" (50,08 mm) inlets? So one inlet has an area of 1970 mm2. Now we have to calculate that back for 2 inlets and get a diameter of 70,82 mm or 3940 mm2 for an optimal exhaust tip diameter. (Please note that all values are rounded.) So if the singular exit tube is 70 mm it's absolutely OK and correctly designed.

In my personal opinion 2 separated exhaust tips won't be a plus because of the x-pipe factor.

A before and after dyno run is always a plus.

Regards, Markus

[itsnotanova]

Made this today

and put it in here.

Now I'm waiting for the exhaust wrap and O2 fooler to come in the mail. I weighed the factory exhaust system from the headers back and my exhaust system is 13.5 lbs lighter.

[Smallblock454]

Hello woody,

couldn't see from your pictures exactly what you are doing, because some importatnt parts where too dark. So i adjusted the brightness a little bit. Hope that is OK.




13,5 lbs is a lot. Very interested how the final result comes out and if you're satisfied with that solution.

Regards, Markus

[itsnotanova]

Thanks Markus. I didn't notice how bad the pic was until I had already welded that piece in. I hate the camera on the IPhone5S. I had a phone ten years ago that took better pics. That piece I made is to help direct the exhaust gases out the tailpipe instead of facing each other. I cut two little pieces off some U pipe and welded them together. I then welded them to the back of the piece I cut out of the back.

[Sassmatt72]

So is it on the car yet?
Any thing you would do differently next time?
are you wraping or adding heat sheilds, it looks like you've moved it closer to the trans and cv joints?

installed pictures please.

thx for sharing.
matt

all because My ecu choice will not support 2 pair of O2 sensors. runs great tho, and sound is great, I can have a conversation or hear the radio at certain lower revs...

So this is how I plumbed my Subaru 2.5 NA SOHC 4 banger, the headder flange mates to OEM stock Boxster exhaust system....if I want to run stock or AF.

[Sassmatt72]

internal cleanup...

rear mounting...


the best part is the look on peoples faces when they hear a subaru burble (un-equal length y pipe) and see my "little" exhaust tip.

[itsnotanova]

I wish I had access to a mandrel tube bender and a tig welder. I'm using a mig and it's challenging trying not to burn through such thin metal. The tubes are made up from five different pieces and each joint is a weak spot for future cracking. I also wish I could done a better job with the exit pipe. Two separate pipes would flow better. I didn't have anymore 90 degree 52mm pipe so I stuck with the 987 section. I haven't got it installed yet because I'm waiting for exhaust wrap to show up in the mail. I live in a small town and none of the auto part stores had any in stock. Build thread?

[itsnotanova]

I posted about this in another thread but it wasn't my finest moment and haven't been to happy to talk about it. A few months back I was pulling out from my street and gunned it. In a few seconds I was doing the speed limit of sixty so I let off of the throttle. As soon as I did that, I started getting a horrible shaking. I instantly completely let off the gas and started look for a place to pull off of the highway. There were no side medians but there was a turnaround in the middle of the highway only about 50 yards away. As I'm making my escape plan I feel the car drop in the back accompanied by a loud scraping noise and I see my left rear wheel pass me rolling down the center grass median. The box comes to a quick stop halfway off the road and halfway blocking the fast lane. From the point it started to shake to where the wheel came off was only 4-5 seconds. I'm guessing I was only doing 40mph by then. As I retrieve my wheel I access the situation and see that all of my lug bolts had come off. You would think there would have been some kind of vibration from the lug bolts coming loose and I would have felt it before the wheel came off. There wasn't! Only that 4-5 second vibration. This made me start to think what went wrong and I believe there was a few things I shouldn't have done. First was I used some generic wheel spacers on the back and I used gasket maker to hold them in place until I attached the wheel. That right there was the worse idea ever! The second bad thing I did was not rechecking my lug bolts after driving the car for a little bit. I had done a few 100+mph sprints and put about 500 miles on it so I had assumed everything was good. If I had checked the torque on them I might have caught that they were coming loose. After I limped home with my tail between my legs I checked the other side and those too were about to come loose. They maybe were only at 20 FT Lbs by then. My theory is that the gasket maker I used to secure the crappy spacer gave enough space and cushion to allow vibration that worked the lug bolts loose. I also believe the aftermarket lug bolts that came with the spacers were not long enough.
When the wheel came off, it flopped around in the wheel well rubbing against the rotor and caliper causing all kinds of groves to the inside of the wheel. One grove was so deep that it cracked the wheel. So much damage was caused to the wheel that it wasn't repairable.


If you're asking why I used those spacers? I had them laying around and they were just the right thickness for my wheels to clear the coilovers. I was too lazy and cheap to buy the right ones. Completely a dumb move and I can't argue that. I did buy some ECS spacers for the front that have worked great so far. I'm just grateful I didn't kill anyone or my car. Besides the damage to the wheel, the only other damage was to the leading edge of the bumper cover as the wheel rolled out and some touch-up paint will fix that.
That leads me to my next bad decision. I put the only complete set I had at the time on and they are from a 987. Not the worse thing but 987 wheels are skinnier than 986 wheels and it wasn't the look I was after. Semi-desperate that I am, I had a customer offer to trade me some 19 inch wheels for a set of 17x8.5 wheels for his boxster that he's turning into a spec. I prefer 17's or 18's but I can live with 19's. So I drive up to Dallas and we switched out the wheels at his house. I get a look at the back side of them and they're cheap knock-offs. Disappointed at that I still go ahead with the deal. I figure I'd try them out. Those 18's were knock offs and they seem to perform as good as the factory 17's. It only took five minutes of driving before I realized that they suck. The 19's are boat anchors and it feels like I lost 50hp! The ride quality is a little worse too. They looked good on his car but on mine it might be a little too much.



On a good note, while I was up there I got a free alignment and ROW tune from a friend at Porsche of Plano! I kept getting an O2 code from the rear sensors even with the O2 sensor foolers. No check engine light since then.