Big Power Upgrades on 986 - Advice
#1
08-20-2009, 12:04 PM
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Boston, MA
Age: 61
Posts: 200
Rep Power: 28 
Big Power Upgrades on 986 - Advice
Hi All,
I am thinking about adding some power to my 986 this winter. The suspensionw rocks (PSS9) but I would likely need to upgrade brakes (easy enough).
The two avenues I am considering are
1) Jake Raby. He can bore out a 2.5 to 2.9 and makeover the mechanicals of the motor to make it more robust. He gets about 260 hp in this fashion (200 stock). Add a turbo and it's about 300 hp.
2) Farnbacherloles engine swap. They can install 3.6, 3.6 X51 or 3.8 powerplants in a Boxster.
Has anyone here researched or gone either avenue? I'm wondering just what the cost is of these types of conversions and whether or not you would recommend doing it in hindsight.
I am thinking about adding some power to my 986 this winter. The suspensionw rocks (PSS9) but I would likely need to upgrade brakes (easy enough).
The two avenues I am considering are
1) Jake Raby. He can bore out a 2.5 to 2.9 and makeover the mechanicals of the motor to make it more robust. He gets about 260 hp in this fashion (200 stock). Add a turbo and it's about 300 hp.
2) Farnbacherloles engine swap. They can install 3.6, 3.6 X51 or 3.8 powerplants in a Boxster.
Has anyone here researched or gone either avenue? I'm wondering just what the cost is of these types of conversions and whether or not you would recommend doing it in hindsight.
#2
08-20-2009, 12:12 PM
Hi All,
I am thinking about adding some power to my 986 this winter. The suspensionw rocks (PSS9) but I would likely need to upgrade brakes (easy enough).
The two avenues I am considering are
1) Jake Raby. He can bore out a 2.5 to 2.9 and makeover the mechanicals of the motor to make it more robust. He gets about 260 hp in this fashion (200 stock). Add a turbo and it's about 300 hp.
2) Farnbacherloles engine swap. They can install 3.6, 3.6 X51 or 3.8 powerplants in a Boxster.
Has anyone here researched or gone either avenue? I'm wondering just what the cost is of these types of conversions and whether or not you would recommend doing it in hindsight.
I am thinking about adding some power to my 986 this winter. The suspensionw rocks (PSS9) but I would likely need to upgrade brakes (easy enough).
The two avenues I am considering are
1) Jake Raby. He can bore out a 2.5 to 2.9 and makeover the mechanicals of the motor to make it more robust. He gets about 260 hp in this fashion (200 stock). Add a turbo and it's about 300 hp.
2) Farnbacherloles engine swap. They can install 3.6, 3.6 X51 or 3.8 powerplants in a Boxster.
Has anyone here researched or gone either avenue? I'm wondering just what the cost is of these types of conversions and whether or not you would recommend doing it in hindsight.
Option 2 will get you more power and a brand new engine. I would not want to put a Turbo on a Boxster engine, as it already has enough trouble handling the stress in stock form apparently for folks out there who've had IMS failures.
Me personally, I'd go with option 2, and get a brand new engine with big power, instead of the quality rebuild to an existing old engine. Now if Jake offered his full rebuild at $10k, instead, hmmmm.
Last edited by boxtaboy; 08-20-2009 at 12:23 PM.
#3
08-20-2009, 01:27 PM
You missed the third, perhaps most cost effective and powerful option....
A TPCRacing Boxster Turbo Kit.
Our kit can take a stock 986 Boxster S from a pedestrian ~220whp all the way up to 370whp on only 5.5lbs of boost. 370whp translates to roughly 425hp. Imagine having that much HP on tap in your flyweight Boxster.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact us.
A TPCRacing Boxster Turbo Kit.
Our kit can take a stock 986 Boxster S from a pedestrian ~220whp all the way up to 370whp on only 5.5lbs of boost. 370whp translates to roughly 425hp. Imagine having that much HP on tap in your flyweight Boxster.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact us.
His car is not a 986S, but a base 2.5L model that starts off with 200hp. He did mention a turbo in his post actually, but that it would offer only a nominal 40hp gain over the normally aspirated 260hp 2.9 bore out. You're saying your turbo kit offers a 175hp gain off of only a little boost pressure? Could a base 5-speed tranny in the base Boxster handle that kind of extra power for any good amount of time?
#4
08-20-2009, 01:49 PM
I have heard that the stock boxster engine isn't a good candidate for a Turbo or super charger. The pressure is just too great and engine failure isn't far off. Actually Jake R. and a few others stated that. I was thinking about a turbo, but was turned off by those comments.
#5
08-20-2009, 02:15 PM
Interesting. I have a 2001 "s" with 62k miles, and a triptronic. Would I be a candidate for a turbo? iF so How much to get the gains on your dyno pic? If you can't quote prices, please PM me. I am saving up for something big early next year. IE 3.6/3.8 swap or a turbo.
#6
08-20-2009, 07:33 PM
mptoledo
I have a 2007 2.7 Liter Cayman and have been researching and talking to lots of current TPC Turbo owners and performance tuners that have installed them on Porsche cars,specifically current Cayman owners.
So far I have heard Nothing But GREAT responses from actual owners that have taken the leap to do this mod.The Quality is simply second to none and now Its come down to a Money Issue for me because I WANT IT!!!. All the opinions from TPC owners that I have read about and chated with with over the past year is they are 100% Happy with the Product and decision they made to Go FOR IT
If you have the $$ DO ITIMO
I REALLY hope I can Join the party someday
So far I have heard Nothing But GREAT responses from actual owners that have taken the leap to do this mod.The Quality is simply second to none and now Its come down to a Money Issue for me because I WANT IT!!!. All the opinions from TPC owners that I have read about and chated with with over the past year is they are 100% Happy with the Product and decision they made to Go FOR IT
If you have the $$ DO IT
IMO I REALLY hope I can Join the party someday
#7
08-20-2009, 08:13 PM
To upgrade to a 3.8L is a huge expense. Somewhere on here is a thread when they did it to my car. FVD did it. After 30k miles, it is still bulletproof. However, they had to change out the electronics on the car for the variocam plus of the 3.8L crate motor. Also, I've heard that the factory is not onboard will all of the aftermarket shops doing this conversion and is requiring a core in return for a crate motor. Mine was done just as they were beginning to mandate the new policy. Not sure if it is the same now since it was a couple of years ago.
Option 2 is also pricey. For my conversion, it was about $30k. You've really gotta love your car for that.
Option 3 should be to sell your car and pay the difference for a used 3.2 Boxster S and then add something later. They have really come down in price for a used car.
Dave
Option 2 is also pricey. For my conversion, it was about $30k. You've really gotta love your car for that.
Option 3 should be to sell your car and pay the difference for a used 3.2 Boxster S and then add something later. They have really come down in price for a used car.
Dave
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#9
08-20-2009, 10:33 PM
I have a 2007 2.7 Liter Cayman and have been researching and talking to lots of current TPC Turbo owners and performance tuners that have installed them on Porsche cars,specifically current Cayman owners.
So far I have heard Nothing But GREAT responses from actual owners that have taken the leap to do this mod.The Quality is simply second to none and now Its come down to a Money Issue for me because I WANT IT!!!. All the opinions from TPC owners that I have read about and chated with with over the past year is they are 100% Happy with the Product and decision they made to Go FOR IT
If you have the $$ DO ITIMO
I REALLY hope I can Join the party someday
So far I have heard Nothing But GREAT responses from actual owners that have taken the leap to do this mod.The Quality is simply second to none and now Its come down to a Money Issue for me because I WANT IT!!!. All the opinions from TPC owners that I have read about and chated with with over the past year is they are 100% Happy with the Product and decision they made to Go FOR IT
If you have the $$ DO IT
IMO I REALLY hope I can Join the party someday
What kind of gains in the 0-60/1/4 mile? (turbo), and what about the ims? I would hate for that to blow after dropping in some serious coinage!!
#10
08-21-2009, 10:37 AM
We don't yet have any acceleration number for this car. The only cars are customer cars, and I don't believe any have made it to the drag strip yet. However, in the 1/4 the car should be able to do mid 11s. 0-60 i would suspect would be somewhere in the 4 second to low 5 second range...all depends on how much you dislike your clutch.
As far as the IMS concerns. None of the Boxsters we've installed kits on have had these issues as of yet. There is really no telling which cars could suffer this problem and which ones will never experience this. There is absolutely no relation between IMS failures and the installation of a Turbo Kit. In fact, in 20+ years of working on thousands of Porsche vehicles, we have never witnessed an IMS failure first hand. It would also be possible that the extremely few IMS failures that have occurred were a result of using improper/low-grade oil or running too long between changes . All of our Pro Grand Am GT3 Cup cars ran the M96/97 engines and never experienced this issue. Long story short, IMS failures are extremely rare occurances. They have never been caused by one of our turbo/supercharger kits...EVER. You can't predict it or stop it from happening. All you can do is perform proper maintenance with the proper materials at the proper intervals. On a side note, though the factory manual requires oil changes be done every ~15,000miles, we highly recommend that oil changes be done every 5,000 miles(or sooner depending on track time) with Mobil1 or Redline or another high-grade lubricant.
As far as the IMS concerns. None of the Boxsters we've installed kits on have had these issues as of yet. There is really no telling which cars could suffer this problem and which ones will never experience this. There is absolutely no relation between IMS failures and the installation of a Turbo Kit. In fact, in 20+ years of working on thousands of Porsche vehicles, we have never witnessed an IMS failure first hand. It would also be possible that the extremely few IMS failures that have occurred were a result of using improper/low-grade oil or running too long between changes . All of our Pro Grand Am GT3 Cup cars ran the M96/97 engines and never experienced this issue. Long story short, IMS failures are extremely rare occurances. They have never been caused by one of our turbo/supercharger kits...EVER. You can't predict it or stop it from happening. All you can do is perform proper maintenance with the proper materials at the proper intervals. On a side note, though the factory manual requires oil changes be done every ~15,000miles, we highly recommend that oil changes be done every 5,000 miles(or sooner depending on track time) with Mobil1 or Redline or another high-grade lubricant.
Oh, I wasn't implying that your turbo causes IMS. I was just wondering if Porschepet did the ims bearing upgrade. I don't know if people/haters have used the few ims failures to scare the rest of us. I would just hate to put that much money into my care without insuring my Ims bearings had been replaced.
#11
08-21-2009, 11:42 AM
mptoledo
I have not had the TPC turbo installed on my Cayman yet.
I have been doing research and talking with Current TPC owners my local Tuner MAX RPM in Bremerton Wa about all the pros and cons of this proposed project .
I am 100% confident that the TPC product is exactly what I want and I believe the Quality and longevity is there as long as the owner of the car takes care of things on their end.
I hope to be the first 2.7 Liter Cayman owner to have one on my car
I have been doing research and talking with Current TPC owners my local Tuner MAX RPM in Bremerton Wa about all the pros and cons of this proposed project .
I am 100% confident that the TPC product is exactly what I want and I believe the Quality and longevity is there as long as the owner of the car takes care of things on their end.
I hope to be the first 2.7 Liter Cayman owner to have one on my car
#12
08-22-2009, 05:54 PM
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Boston, MA
Age: 61
Posts: 200
Rep Power: 28
Thanks for all the responses.
I guess I'm still on the fence as to what to do. Maybe I'll wait a year and consider buying an 07 Orange Box/Cayman to match my Turbo. Hmmmmmm.
I guess I'm still on the fence as to what to do. Maybe I'll wait a year and consider buying an 07 Orange Box/Cayman to match my Turbo. Hmmmmmm.
#13
08-24-2009, 08:51 AM
Dave, what ecu program are you running? I have the 996 7.8 DME in my 3.8 conversion, but it is only running the 3.6 factory program. Seems to run ok, but I am sure there is more power on tap with the right tuning.
#14
08-25-2009, 01:44 PM
Question. With your turbo kit installed would the car still pass smog inspection in Calif. or would we have to remove it every two years for inspection? "Track car only" for us in the land of the air quality *****?