Let it breath...
 

Spent the weekend installing 1. evo intake; 2. chinese headers/ebay and 3. desknorkled as well as did front/rear stress bars, stainless brake lines and pagid orange pads in prep for a weekend at Willow Springs coming up... as others noted, the evo intake is a major pain in the a** and my mechanic and i did actually have to lower the engine a little to get the old intake out. we also had to fabricate some pipe to get it to fit properly as the pipe it came with was too short (even though nobody else has mentioned this issue). We moved the 02 sensor behind the 2nd cat (as the 1st cat has now been removed) and got no CEL and car ran smoothly after the computer figured out what was going on.

Anyway, combined with the PSE already on the car, the car sounds great, not much louder below 3000 rpm, little more raspy for sure, but from 3500 onward, it literally screams... low end butt dyno seems not improved, or maybe even worse, however mid to high end is like a banshee! After I do my softtronic "flash" this week, I'll try and do a dyno...

fishyfishfish
2004 boxster s 550 "SE"
1999 carrera 4
1983 audi urquattro

Sounds like a pretty busy weekend.

Do notice an improvement with the stainless brake lines?

Keep us informed on the dyno.

You removed your OEM 550 Spyder intake setup?! Wasn't it the same as the 987 intake set up w/ a small rectangular cone filter set up?

Didn't that account for the small hp difference between the 04' 986 S and your 550 Spyder?

Good point Blink! .... and fishyfishfish, can you post up some pictures of the stock intake that you removed? Thanks in advance.

yes, it still was more restrictive than the evo intake, in theory, imo... but that was something i was interested in finding out, hence the dyno to come... ideally, i would do the dyno before the softtronic, but i don't know if it's going to be practically feasible for me.

the extra 6 - 8 horsepower the 550 was potentially due to software as well -- we'll see!

fyi, i had first purchased the 987 "evo" intake first, but was told by my mechanic that it would not fit, so i purchased the 986 "evo" intake and with a little help, it fit... and, yes, i will post photos of 550 intake later in the week.

Correction. The 986 "evo" intake was the first that we tried, and did not fit, but the 987 "evo" intake was the one that fit with a slight modification, and yes, it's the larger, more oval shaped filter and not the cone type filter... sorry for the misinformation! Btw, suncoast porsche was very cool in letting me exchange out for the correct intake and did not charge any new shipping charges for the second shipment...

Sounds great. I too am very curious what kind of dyno numbers you generate.

Curious as to whether you have dyno'd your car as we seem to have quite similar setups, apart from the GIAC tuning you've used and the Softtronic route I'm going to take... Interesting comparison for sure!

I have not dyno'd nor plan to anytime soon. I was hoping to get a ballpark from your numbers. I have always guessed around 15-20 at the wheels and most of that on the higher end though I do get quicker throttle response.

Softronics
 

Hi, Fish. Have you had Softronics installed on your Box S? I have 2001 S. I m thinking of getting Softronics since that is about only package which allows customer to tune own flavor..... with complete bit by bit file redo back to stock.. I have asked Softronics with emails and even phone calls but no replies. Have you talked to anyone in Softronics? Let me know. Thanks.


Curious as to whether you have dyno'd your car as we seem to have quite similar setups, apart from the GIAC tuning you've used and the Softtronic route I'm going to take... Interesting comparison for sure![/QUOTE]

Which Chinese headers did you install?

What are Chinese headers? Headers made in China but from what company? Any pictures?

Ebay has them for sale for $159.00.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Porsche-Boxster-986-2-5L-2-7L-3-2L-Performance-HEADERS_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ133195QQihZ017Q QitemZ270224862484QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

Uh... o.k. just pasted this, and noticed that these guys just lowered their prices to $100.00 plus shipping. Seems like there is a price reduction going on for all 986 headers. Some other sellers that had them for more are also dropping. :)

Chinese Headers
 

I saw one Chinese header on Ebay for like $89 with a best offer option...that means more like $70 might be something they might bite on. Btw, are there anyone who likes or dislikes them...it be interesting to know if they are worth the buy. It's not much, it's just the fact I will have to take time to install it am I wondering if it is worth considering. Chime in.

Hey Fish, just curious, does the Boxster feel as strong as your 996 now?

I have been gathering TONS of real world exhaust system results... Just today I tested 3 different systems back to back on the dyno as well as in road tests with my GPS based data logger. This testing is being done with a 2.5 currently and we'll do a 3.2S next.

The results are very interesting. That's all I am willing to say now, I still have lot more data to gather and am awaiting a couple ore sensors to monitor vibration as well as Db level inside the cabin so it can be graphed and compared between systems.

I drove home tonight with a more popular arrangement on the car, while it made the best peak power on the dyno it has horrible drive ability and my gas mileage is down 4 MPG.

Unlocking the truth is a lot of fun, especially when the comparison is for more than just raw power...

My Chinese headers bumped my power by 15 hp. I have before and after dyno runs to show it. The aftermarket twin chamber, ultra-high resonance muffler added another 3.

Has anybody tried these Chinese headers with Tiptronic? Did they fit easy?