Stage 1 - Project 996TT Goes Under The Knife
CLICK HERE FOR PICTURE GALLERY

The first step in the Project 996TT was to get a baseline. Vivid Racing uses an All Wheel Drive Mustang Dyno at its executive facility in Arizona. With the room cooled down and the fans moving, our 996TT baselined at 323 wheel horsepower with 333 ft/lbs of torque. 2 factors here, hot temperature, AWD dyno, and the Mustang Dyno reads a bit lower then others. Generally you have about a 20% drivetrain loss with AWD cars, so we are pretty close. Once the baseline was complete, it was time to MOD.

Our first order of business was to do an ECU Reflash to really open the cars capability. Upsolute (www.upsolute.com) is the newest in ECU reflashing. Vivid Racing, an authorized tuning center, simply plugs into your ECU and changes the map to a safe, but more aggressive map. Changing your boost to 1.0 bar and altering your fuel and timing maps to gain more HP and Torque. Upsolute claims about 90hp gain and almost 100ftlbs of torque increase. We put the ECU Reflash to the test, and for a $700 retail price, why not. That is $1300 cheaper then the competition... After our ECU Flash was completed, we strapped the car back on the dyno, fired up the fans, and gave it hell. For $700, Vivid Racing got 412 ft/lbs of torque and 417 wheel horsepower. And that is ALL WHEEL HORSEPOWER!

CLICK HERE FOR DYNO SHEET 1

Next, we could see that our boost was not staying consistent because the factory diverter valves were most likely bleeding off boost. So we called up our good friends at Forge Motorsports (www.forgemotorsport.com) and got a set of the original billet diverter valves with performance spring kit. These valves were available in black or polished to us, and to bling, we took the polished. When we went to remove the factory ones out, we found that there was already some kind of aftermarket diverter valve in it. We removed the black valves that were leaking and sticking and put our new Forge valves with upgraded stiffer spring for up to 23psi of boost. Since our boost was more consistent, we made 428 ft/lbs of torque and 412 wheel horsepower. The power curve was increased down load and through the midrange. Not bad for being only $280 for the pair.

CLICK HERE FOR DYNO SHEET 2

Our last mod and most controversial one is the Fabspeed Intake Kit (www.fabspeed.com). Fabspeed intake kit is brand new on the market. Utilizing a flat panel BMC filter like the factory one, they retain the factory air box and use an aluminum plate and heat shield. The open air intake receives air from the factory air inlet and the engine fan. The filter is cleanable for the life of the filter and is out of the way from water and other major elements that could harm your engine. Before we dynoed the Fabspeed kit, we did just put the BMC in the factory air box. Our OEM filter was brand new so the difference was only about 5 wheel horsepower. Once the Fabspeed intake kit was installed, we fired it up on the dyno and made 3 pulls. The Fabspeed Intake kit definitely flowed more air flow then the stock one. The Mid to High RPM power was increased, where some low end was sacrificed, but that is normal for almost ANY intake for ANY car. The Fabspeed intake kit made 421 ft/lbs of torque and 423 wheel horsepower. Bottom line is it made for us in our conditions about 20 PEAK HP and Torque at 5500rpm's. Again for $546, not a bad upgrade.

CLICK HERE FOR DYNO SHEET 3

All and all, the Stage 1 kit we did of the Upsolute ECU Reflash, Forge Diverter Valves, and Fabspeed Cold Air Intake, netted our Porsche 996TT about 90 ft/lbs of torque and 100 wheel horsepower gain. At a retail price of about $1500, that is over 50% cheaper in price for more WHEEL horsepower and torque. Are we stoked? Very! Next step, Fabspeed Exhaust and Headers. Stay Tuned!!!

If you have any questions on the aftermarket parts explained in this article, the package or individual pricing, or how the tests were done, please contact our TUNING department to get hooked up at tuning@vividracing.com or call 1-480-966-3040 x236.

 

Very nice write-up. I'm curious what gains can be achieved with the Fabspeed exhaust.

 

Oh it is done...that is coming next!

 

Damm good stuff man, glad to see your modding already, great gains as well. First time i have seen someone with the Fabspeed intake, looks like you lost some torque but gained some HP, hmm!

Congrats though!

 

Thanks man!

 

Good luck on ur TT endeavor... some tuners here are a few steps ahead... but in good time...
good luck.
how do u like my TT with a pair of these:

 

This is stage 1, dont worry, our alternatives will shine Just showing other directions. Turbos look tough! Lets see some EVO VIII pics Email me!

 

sounds tempting. do you know if your Stage 1 flashed car will pass California smog tests? I am interested in your product but am a little concerned as I reside in Cali.....

Thanks

Sameer

 

Thats a weird TQ curve. Usually the TQ continues to fall off at high RPM as turbulence and inefficiencies limit air flow, but your curve flattens out. Any idea why??

 

Looking forward to the progression Dan.

 

smistry - Those individual parts have been used on CA resident cars. Because your maintaining your cats, the affects on emissions would be minimal. I would put my money on it that it would pass fine. Or you can ship it all back

RMRMD1956 - I will have Clark the tuner respond to you.

Phoenix - Thanks buddy!

 

Wow, nice gains for the $$$$. I know who I'm calling up when I pick up my next 996TT

 

Our Mustang AWD 500 SE dyno has more load then a typical AWD Dyno. As a result of this increased load you see a broader and flatter trq curve. We also tuned the car to make as much trq on the top end as possible. THe result is what you see. I have been around this country and tuned on every model AWD dyno personaly. The time for a pull is much longer this this Mustang and the numbers are lower. You need to pay attention to the Delta between stages and when parts are added to see the gains. I am very impressed with this car as it is on 91 oxygenated fuel and its 115 outside. This car is detonation free and runs solid. Peak boost is only 14 psi and this happens only for the duration of the trq peak. After that 13 psi. If anyone has any questions or would like to order please feel free to call me. I can do the 996TT in person in your town or you can mail the ecu in. I am now flashing these computers without REMOVAL or modification. Just plug in, flash and done.

P.S Markski your a mad man! I have one of those on an STI

Clark Turner
Clark@vividracing.com
480-966-3040 X236

 

Are you going to take the car to Firebird? I'd like to see how it does under the very extreme conditions right now here in Arizona.

 

Ill be at Firebird Fri night. Are you guys going?