Wanted to share some mod news. Installed the IPD Plenum and the car has a power boost in the mid range between 45 mph and 75 mph.

Have a list of mods that are getting done and the next will be ECU flash. Trying to do things one at a time to see the gradual performance increases.

As some you know the topic of Plenum has been discussed in the forums and there are some who like it and some who don't. For myself, very worthwhile mod and dyno results of 20 HP are respectable. An ECU flash should yield about another 20, bringing these two mods alone to a 40 HP boost on a stock 997.

Had mine put in at Mckenna Porsche in Norwalk.

http://mckenna.porschedealer.com/

Installed was $1,200.00. You can get the Plenum other places for about $1,000.00 but still have to deal with labor.

A word about Mckenna Porsche: Unbeleivable customer service. While there are other Porsche service departments in Socal (Riverside area) who wouldn't give me the time of day, Mckenna went the extra mile to take care of my needs. They were also lower cost. My initial visit was to re-program the PCM for an install of the Sirius-Most adapter. Riverside wanted $250.00 just to plug in the PIWIS while Mckenna was $145.00. Went to the market for a gallon of milk and left with a bag of groceries. Hats off to the guys at Mckenna Porsche .

 

Glad to hear about your good service. I'll keep it in mind next time I need any PIWIS work done. Glad to hear you like your new plenum too. I just hope this doesn't start another endless and hopeless debate on the subject.

 

I lucked upon the IPD plenum for sale on here months ago for $400... I installed it along with exhaust and an intake so it's difficult to tell EXACTLY what IT did... The car pulls much better now.

 

I, also, have an IPD plenum on a 997S. It was installed after a full AWE exhaust (headers, cats & mufflers), Evo airbox & GIAC reflash. It definitely increased the midrange. I has the car run on AWE's dyno after the reflash was installed on top of the other parts. RWHP increased from 314 to 321. I have not had it retested, but the apparent effect from the plenum seemed a little more than the reflash.

I think 5 to 10 RWHP each is reasonable for reflash & plenum. 20 each is wildly optomistic. Claimed gains may be in midrange areas or be crankshaft horsepower. Improvements from different parts do not add up most of the time, and if you use percentages to figure supposed improvements, your numbers will be seriously flawed. Different dynoes also give widely varying results. On a 997S, the complete range of bolt on enhancement parts listed here is worth around 20 to 25 RWHP.

 

40 hp from a flash and plenum all confirmed by the butt dyno? If you say so.

 

it seems like if porsche could grab the extra 40 BHP so easily, they probably would have in the first place! Naturally, we have to consider the "area under the curve" on these dyno plots too.
BTW, Has anyone seen, in detail, what all the Factory powerkit parts are comprised of??? I have searched the forum, but no one has put up exact info on it. They do have a plenum as well??

 

On a few ocassions I have written about what parts are included in the factory powerkit, as I have it myself. It includes the following: carbon fiber airbox with dual intakes, bigger throttle body, aluminium intake manifold, revised cylinder heads, exhaust manifolds, PSE, ECU reprogramming for X51 and the third center mounted radiator up front with related hardware for better cooling. It is a very comprehensive kit and involves a lot of work. I really like it in my car but would not put it in again out of my own pocket, relying instead on finding one in the used car market with it installed already, as I will most likely not recover any significant portion of money for the expense come resell time. Also, the new cars have 4 hp more and 3 ft-lbs more of torque than the X51 for no premium at all and with an arguably better engine. It would have been better to keep the money saved by not putting the X51 kit in it and add it to what I could sell my car now (2006 Carrera S with X51 and Aerokit plus an MSRP of $122k) and get a new 2009 Carrera S or a 997 GT3 or a Turbo rather than spending those $122k in the first place. In conclusion, the X51 only makes sense if you find it already on an used car for sale, not to specify it on a new car order.

 

And a turbo badge is worth at least 30hp

 

Does that mean manufacturer's performance reports are false?

 

I haven't seen the manufacturers reports on Hp gains from a turbo badge!

I am not challenging the manufactures, but I doubt that you could get the compounding gains that all the manufactures claim. If you add the a flash, plenumn, intake, headers, cats, and mufflers would you get a 100 hp? Not a chance.

Search for the IPD plenumn thread from last spring, it has a number of dyno results.

 

I think that is very good advice indeed. I think the OEM aerokit and full leather are similar options that don't impact resale very much.

Of course, the X51 kit costs more than those options in the first place.

 

Re full leather option, I personally will pay less for a car without it, which I guess means I'll pay more for one with FL. Totally agree with X51 being worth only a fraction of it's new cost at resale time.