Buddy,



I tried to say the same thing, but yours came out a little better!!

 

deanger,

I think you bring up a valid point for those that do not and will not track their cars. It is apparent many people have a lot of experience on the track and often strive for more HP which equates to better times(hopefully) I think that you address that well and agree with upgrades for those people. I am not one of these people. I upgraded my car becuase I could and I wanted to. I guess I like that fact that I do not have an "average" Porsche turbo. I like that mine is different. Do I have enough experience to use all of the original 415hp to the fullest, probably not, which would mean The extra 90hp will probably never be used to its full potential either. But, to me that's not the point. It's my car and I enjoyed the entire upgrade process. I like that I can feel a performance difference even if only for 5 seconds. I am not one of these guys who races around in traffic and puts other people in danger so I really do not see the harm in my upgrades. I do understand the type of person that you are referring and if it puts me in danger, I can see your point. I just hope I am not one of the people you are referring to. Take care.

-Lou

 

there is no substitute for RUF. the original, "often imitated, never duplicated." the art of engineering

 

Ruf is a great tuner. But what do they really do under the hood?

A pair of turbos, ECU, exhaust and intake system. So I don't really see what the big deal is.

Don't get me wrong, I would definitely buy a Ruf VIN# R Turbo if I had gratuitous cash lying around.

But the real question is, would I ever swap my setup for an R Turbo? Even a Nardo setup? The answer is no, or else I would have done this already.

As good a tuner as Ruf is, their products have been race proven by only a few people, such as Ruf Racer and Steve Beddor. Even these guys are pushing the envelope for Ruf products, in my humble opinion of course. If you think somehow that a Ruf R Turbo can run a 24H enduro without requiring some kind of overhaul, you are fooling yourself.

Ruf are great road cars, not race cars. I am sure Alois Ruf would be the first to admit this.

The problem with some of us enthusiasts is that we don't realize the compromises we are making as we go through the various stages of tuning with our Turbos. I see people here running more and more boost without redoing all the internals of their motors and frankly, that would scare me. In fact, it has.

If I lived in Germany and had access to the Ring on a regular basis, the tuner I would choose is Manthey Racing. As far as I am concerned they have more racing pedigree with the 996 than almost anybody.

As for me, since I like to "drive" my cars, I am even thinking of turning down the boost myself for a truly reliable 100,000 mile motor. I already know that at 1.2 bar I can outrun almost anything in a straight line, including a Ruf.

 

Well said. That is exactly why I am remaining stock. My skill level does not warrant anymore power. But I certainly can agree that your skill level and that of others can warrant the increased power.

I think some get crazy from the hp wars that really have no purpose.

 

In case anyone still cares about the original thread at this point , I'd throw in my vote for the the EVO/PES/IA crew as the best tuners in terms of bang for the buck - whether you are talking HP, handling, braking, etc.

Upsolute is fine as long as you are going with stage 1. Anything beyond that, they're not much help.

Ruf does really, really nice work. But, the original poster asked about "bang for the buck". In this regard, Ruf loses out IMO due to pricing.

-Donn

 

Appreciate your feedback racer!

 

Hamann7 what do you run in the quarter mile. I agree RUF is too expensive.

 

"I already know that at 1.2 bar I can outrun almost anything in a straight line, including a Ruf."

and what happens when you go around a corner?

i have nothing against more performance; i am talking to Ruf. but gt2 is alot already; it's almost the perfect hillcliimb car - in the dry -. it is not however the perfect ORR car as it is inherently unstable at very high speed. it's just that off the shelf it's the best porsche has until CGT. and i flip or have flipped every 5-7 months which has made factory the answer.

but going to a mfr. like Ruf or a mod engr like Manthey only makes sense if i can still pound the car hard all the time and make no allowances for fragility or unreliability. as i've said before: i sold the 360 spider because i just could tell i would break it. Porsches are nigh bulletproof. I require a similarly bulletproof increased performance 4WD TT.

Right now i believe that is Ruf. i would like to hear from Buddy and others with high mile, hard driven performance rigs not so much on the performance, but on reliability and that maintainance is like a factory car...

 

996twin: I have not run a timed quarter yet. I expect it will do low 11's or high 10's. According to Protomotive, one of their 996TT with only an ECU did 11sec flat.

Watt: What happens when I go around a corner?

I go around it quickly. It's called having a tuned suspension.

If you do a Ruf conversion without the Ruf suspension, it won't corner too well relative to its straightline performance.

How reliable or fragile your car is is a function of your driving style and maintenance habits. My maintenance is like a factory car, and with the exception of cracked headers, no problems in over 5000 miles and 18 months. At my power level, I do not believe anyone has logged more miles, as my car was to my knowledge the first car in California to use the Garretts (yes, even before CJV).

You don't really believe that no Ruf cars have ever had problems, do you?

 

I have clocked over 22K since Nov now with the one thing that will be the first to kill a motor. TQ. Nothing to date has been an issue other than my clutch. At 598RWTQ you can't expect any clutch to last terribly long. Although the last one has been pretty good. I DE and AutoX the car when I can. Several 10+hour trips and used daily. Driven in the snow and sitting in the rain as I speak.

 

Wizard of Oz.

 

I wouldnt under estimate the power of the standard upsolute chip.....it's got more power than one might think. This was evident at the NJ/PA meet.

 

The best bang for your buck?

Up to 580 flywheel hp....Upsolute chip and Dave's exhaust
Up to 640 flywheel hp....Stage IV GT
Up to 700 flywheel hp....S Car Go Racing/Protomotive/Stage V ?
Up to 800 flywheel hp....S Car Go Racing

The bucks become irreleveant at 700 hp and above.

 

chad, you might have a lot of bang, but I'm not sure you get much bang for buck as a mathematical ratio