ECU upgrades - worth it? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

23109VC · 04-07-2009, 06:02 PM

my independent mechanic told me a client of his put a chip on his 2.7L boxster and themechanic said it made the car noticeably faster.

i've seen some online sources for upgrades - like softronic.

has anyone here used these? do they really work? is it a big fat waste of money unless you have full exhaust and intake?

Wingnut2u · 04-07-2009, 07:31 PM

I am not sure what kind of results you will get with a 2.7

heyjae · 04-07-2009, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wingnut2u

I am not sure what kind of results you will get with a 2.7 but I just did a GIAC flash in my 01 Box S with EVO intake and the results were impressive, horsepower was increased by 10 and torque was up by 19 and the butt dyno is very happy with the results too

That's impressive. I got a GIAC a while ago and I wasn't too impressed, especially considering the cost. I'm assuming you dyno'ed before and after since you quote HP and TQ figures. Personally, I think getting headers made the biggest difference.

eightsandaces · 04-08-2009, 04:26 AM

I've read as much as I can find on the subject. I think headers sport cats and intake mods would produce the biggest gain. However, the sport muffler is loud enough for me, I think the headers would: draw attention I don't want, be loud on long trips and not really offer the performance gain we all wish for. If I ever have enough funds to direct at the project, I'm going to get a raby motor made out of my stock unit.

edevlin · 04-08-2009, 05:32 AM

If you have the money, chipping seems to work, I like mine. You just need to determine if an increase in 10hp or so, coupled with a better throttle response is work the cost. In the non-porsche world, most folks would think chipping our cars for modest increases in performance would be a joke. But additional hp is hard to come by in our cars.....

Ed

RandallNeighbour · 04-08-2009, 11:11 AM

Here's a question:

I've swapped my headers and exhaust on my 2.5 and got a bump of 15 hp and 19 ft lbs of torque.

If I chip the motor, will I get another bump?

Man, tweaking a measly 10 hp out of a Porsche motor costs a wad of cash. Something like $100 per horse!