FIRST TPC Cayman Turbo in Southern California
#1
07-18-2009, 08:14 PM
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: San Diego
Age: 40
Posts: 821
Rep Power: 60 
FIRST TPC Cayman Turbo in Southern California
I'm going to document the TPC Turbo kit install for my car in this thread.
the car:
My car is a 2006 Cayman S 'launch car', 6 speed, with 21000 miles. August of last year, the much acclaimed RS350 kit from the combined efforts of Sharkwerks/RSS/EVOMS was installed. The car hit 300rwhp after putting down 277rwhp stock on a dyno-dynamics dynometer.
going TPC:
Like many of you, I, too, drooled over the TPC kit when it was first announced over a year ago. Since then, I was able to barely restrain myself from taking the plunge, and waited until more than a handful of people review it. After reading Harajuka's awesome DIY, FrankinCayman and peterfcumminskey's road test of the kit, I was warming up to the idea of turbo charging my daily driven Cayman S. After sitting on my hands for another few months, the Casey@TPC released the ATP: 2 kit, and I caved.
picking a shop:
I approached a good friend of mine, Shane Nguyen, who owns and works out of EuroAutoSpot in San Diego about the install. Honestly, without someone who i can trust to do the install, no matter how good the kit is, it's just not going to happen. Shane worked for many years as a Master Technician at a number of BMW dealerships in San Diego, and have worked on numerous custom turbo-ed and supercharged M-series cars. Having experienced his quality of work through the extensive modification of my E46M3, and well aware of his excellent reputation in Southern California, it was a no brainer who I'd want to do the work. With him giving the green light, the kit was ordered.
day 1
7-18-2009; 12:00p
After Shane moved the last car out of the shop, space was made for the unpacking of the kit and taking apart of my car. The first thing I noticed was how well everything was packaged. The kit came in two separate boxes. Everything was well labeled, wrapped and an extensive checklist was included along with an in depth video tutorial. With the unpacking done, it was time to commence work.
First the ECU was removed and overnighted to TPC. Then the IPD Plenum, GT3 Throttle Body, EVOMS Intake were removed to get to the driver side Intake Manifold. It felt weird removing mods for more mods = p
The Intake Manifold was removed along with the fuel rail and we get to the most "difficult" part of the install, removing the airbox. The instruction calls for dropping the engine to make room for the removal.
With a little bit of finesse and precision cutting, Shane removed the airbox without having to drop the motor, something that will likely save quite a bit of time.
With the airbox out and moved aside for relocation of the MAF sensor, the Milltek Cat-back exhaust was removed and the TPC 3 piece Y-pipe is assembled for installation. Notice the difference in the size of the exhaust tips.
This was mind boggling. I was definitely not expecting so much to get done in such a short period of time. At this point, we're only about 4 hours into the install and much of the leg work is done in preparation for the installation of the turbo hardware. Since Shane typically do not work on Saturday afternoons, I didn't want to be the ******* to eat up his weekend so we decided to pick things back up Monday.
With Harajuka doing such a great job documenting his DIY, I figure another DIY is pretty pointless, so much of this thread will be devoted to our experiences with the install and the fit and finish of the parts themselves. If possible, I would also like to get Shane to comment on the parts and the installation process so we can also see things from a technician's perspective. I'll be sure to do a quick q/a on Monday.
After everything is done, I will be getting the car dyno-ed at the same place where I got my baseline and RS350 dynos done to get a comparison and to write up another in review summarizing everything. Then off to Mexico for some "comparative" driving. = )
stay tuned...
the car:
My car is a 2006 Cayman S 'launch car', 6 speed, with 21000 miles. August of last year, the much acclaimed RS350 kit from the combined efforts of Sharkwerks/RSS/EVOMS was installed. The car hit 300rwhp after putting down 277rwhp stock on a dyno-dynamics dynometer.
going TPC:
Like many of you, I, too, drooled over the TPC kit when it was first announced over a year ago. Since then, I was able to barely restrain myself from taking the plunge, and waited until more than a handful of people review it. After reading Harajuka's awesome DIY, FrankinCayman and peterfcumminskey's road test of the kit, I was warming up to the idea of turbo charging my daily driven Cayman S. After sitting on my hands for another few months, the Casey@TPC released the ATP: 2 kit, and I caved.
picking a shop:
I approached a good friend of mine, Shane Nguyen, who owns and works out of EuroAutoSpot in San Diego about the install. Honestly, without someone who i can trust to do the install, no matter how good the kit is, it's just not going to happen. Shane worked for many years as a Master Technician at a number of BMW dealerships in San Diego, and have worked on numerous custom turbo-ed and supercharged M-series cars. Having experienced his quality of work through the extensive modification of my E46M3, and well aware of his excellent reputation in Southern California, it was a no brainer who I'd want to do the work. With him giving the green light, the kit was ordered.
day 1
7-18-2009; 12:00p
After Shane moved the last car out of the shop, space was made for the unpacking of the kit and taking apart of my car. The first thing I noticed was how well everything was packaged. The kit came in two separate boxes. Everything was well labeled, wrapped and an extensive checklist was included along with an in depth video tutorial. With the unpacking done, it was time to commence work.
First the ECU was removed and overnighted to TPC. Then the IPD Plenum, GT3 Throttle Body, EVOMS Intake were removed to get to the driver side Intake Manifold. It felt weird removing mods for more mods = p
The Intake Manifold was removed along with the fuel rail and we get to the most "difficult" part of the install, removing the airbox. The instruction calls for dropping the engine to make room for the removal.
With a little bit of finesse and precision cutting, Shane removed the airbox without having to drop the motor, something that will likely save quite a bit of time.
With the airbox out and moved aside for relocation of the MAF sensor, the Milltek Cat-back exhaust was removed and the TPC 3 piece Y-pipe is assembled for installation. Notice the difference in the size of the exhaust tips.
This was mind boggling. I was definitely not expecting so much to get done in such a short period of time. At this point, we're only about 4 hours into the install and much of the leg work is done in preparation for the installation of the turbo hardware. Since Shane typically do not work on Saturday afternoons, I didn't want to be the ******* to eat up his weekend so we decided to pick things back up Monday.
With Harajuka doing such a great job documenting his DIY, I figure another DIY is pretty pointless, so much of this thread will be devoted to our experiences with the install and the fit and finish of the parts themselves. If possible, I would also like to get Shane to comment on the parts and the installation process so we can also see things from a technician's perspective. I'll be sure to do a quick q/a on Monday.
After everything is done, I will be getting the car dyno-ed at the same place where I got my baseline and RS350 dynos done to get a comparison and to write up another in review summarizing everything. Then off to Mexico for some "comparative" driving. = )
stay tuned...
Last edited by GT3 Chuck; 07-18-2009 at 08:16 PM. Reason: gratuitous promotion of a non-sponsor
keep us posted!
#3
07-19-2009, 07:46 AM
Registered User
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Chester County, PA
Posts: 5,897
Rep Power: 282
Oh man. This is awesome......just might be the thread that pushes me over the edge too!!! 
Until monday.....
Until monday.....
#5
07-20-2009, 11:54 PM
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: San Diego
Age: 40
Posts: 821
Rep Power: 60
day 2:
7/20/2009
This morning I arrived at the shop around 9:30am to find Shane working on gutting the airbox to relocate the MAF housing. I swung by Autozone to pick up some oil, gasket maker and per Shane's recommendation, made a quick stop at the dealership to pick up some intake manifold gaskets and oil filter.
After work, I bummed a ride from work back to the shop to find that we hit our first major bump in the road after much smooth sailing thus far. During a visual inspection of the engine bay before reinstalling the modified airbox, Shane noticed that the fuel supply hose going to the driver side fuel rail has a very minor nick towards one of the joints going to the passenger side fuel rail.
How it happened? No clue, but I am definitely counting my blessings that we detected the potential disaster before my car catches on fire going down the freeway. Upon further inspection, it doesn't appear to be leaking gas (thank goodness), but not fixing it was not an option.
Not wanting to risk a very expensive fireworks, Shane recommended that we replace the hose all together. Unfortunately, the hoses are pressure attached to each joint and onto each fuel rail, trying to replace just a section might not be the best option.
After some discussion, we ordered the replacement part, which happen to include both fuel rail and a few miles of hosing in between for a whopping 300 dollars shipped(wholesale discount).... to make things worse, it's coming from Germany, and will not make it here until Thursday at the earliest. Shane also re-attached a vacuum hose going to the vacuum pump.
Bad news aside, more progress was made underneath the car with the installation of the intercooler, y-pipes and hosing up to the engine bay. The fuel injectors and new spark plugs were also installed. With our new timeline in place contingent on the delivery of the fuel rail, tomorrow will likely be devoted to finishing up the installation of the turbo assembly in the rear, and possibly finish up the third radiator.
*fingers crossed* that everything comes in on time.
So far, much thanks to Tom @ TPC for being extremely prompt with his responses to our questions, something that we've all been very impressed with over here on the other side of the country.
Shane noted that the airbox modification could have been avoided if TPC casted a new housing to be included with the kit, but then stipulated that the volume of sales would have to reach a certain threshold before something like that would be economical. He also commented that a gasket maker is a must-have. The process described by TPC's video instruction for removing the airbox can be simplified by tactfully cutting the airbox while it sits in the engine bay to prevent having to lower the engine and stresses that if anyone chooses to go that route, MUST properly tape up the engine air inlets to prevent shards of plastic from entering the engine with the intake manifold removed.
not much action today because of the fuel supply hose headache. So far, still far under the anticipated 30 hrs for the install, but to do things clean and proper, certain parts of the install, like relocating the MAF housing intake the intake, or aligning all the pipes and hoses were pretty time consuming.
{on a separate note, the RS350 kit components that I put up for sale were individually sold within a matter of hours.... craziness.}
more tomorrow !
7/20/2009
This morning I arrived at the shop around 9:30am to find Shane working on gutting the airbox to relocate the MAF housing. I swung by Autozone to pick up some oil, gasket maker and per Shane's recommendation, made a quick stop at the dealership to pick up some intake manifold gaskets and oil filter.
After work, I bummed a ride from work back to the shop to find that we hit our first major bump in the road after much smooth sailing thus far. During a visual inspection of the engine bay before reinstalling the modified airbox, Shane noticed that the fuel supply hose going to the driver side fuel rail has a very minor nick towards one of the joints going to the passenger side fuel rail.
How it happened? No clue, but I am definitely counting my blessings that we detected the potential disaster before my car catches on fire going down the freeway. Upon further inspection, it doesn't appear to be leaking gas (thank goodness), but not fixing it was not an option.
Not wanting to risk a very expensive fireworks, Shane recommended that we replace the hose all together. Unfortunately, the hoses are pressure attached to each joint and onto each fuel rail, trying to replace just a section might not be the best option.
After some discussion, we ordered the replacement part, which happen to include both fuel rail and a few miles of hosing in between for a whopping 300 dollars shipped(wholesale discount).... to make things worse, it's coming from Germany, and will not make it here until Thursday at the earliest. Shane also re-attached a vacuum hose going to the vacuum pump.
Bad news aside, more progress was made underneath the car with the installation of the intercooler, y-pipes and hosing up to the engine bay. The fuel injectors and new spark plugs were also installed. With our new timeline in place contingent on the delivery of the fuel rail, tomorrow will likely be devoted to finishing up the installation of the turbo assembly in the rear, and possibly finish up the third radiator.
*fingers crossed* that everything comes in on time.
So far, much thanks to Tom @ TPC for being extremely prompt with his responses to our questions, something that we've all been very impressed with over here on the other side of the country.
Shane noted that the airbox modification could have been avoided if TPC casted a new housing to be included with the kit, but then stipulated that the volume of sales would have to reach a certain threshold before something like that would be economical. He also commented that a gasket maker is a must-have. The process described by TPC's video instruction for removing the airbox can be simplified by tactfully cutting the airbox while it sits in the engine bay to prevent having to lower the engine and stresses that if anyone chooses to go that route, MUST properly tape up the engine air inlets to prevent shards of plastic from entering the engine with the intake manifold removed.
not much action today because of the fuel supply hose headache. So far, still far under the anticipated 30 hrs for the install, but to do things clean and proper, certain parts of the install, like relocating the MAF housing intake the intake, or aligning all the pipes and hoses were pretty time consuming.
{on a separate note, the RS350 kit components that I put up for sale were individually sold within a matter of hours.... craziness.}
more tomorrow !
Last edited by notquitefob; 07-21-2009 at 03:23 PM.
#6
07-22-2009, 10:30 AM
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: San Diego
Age: 40
Posts: 821
Rep Power: 60
day 3:
7/21/2009
With only about 8-10 hours into the install, surprisingly not much left to do. ECU will return on Thursday of this week and hopefully the replacement fuel supply hose along with the fuel rail will get here the same day from Germany so we can finish up the install.
We ran into a little bit of a problem aligning the Y-pipe up to the turbo mount yesterday. Rather than trying to alter components of the kit to make things fit, Tom@TPC offered to send us brand new piping along with the ECU to arrive on the same day. So far the technical support has been absolutely top notch not to mention lightning fast.
Assuming the fuel rail arrives the same day as the ECU and new piping, we could have everything up and running as early as Friday afternoon. Will post an update Thursday when the parts arrive.
7/21/2009
With only about 8-10 hours into the install, surprisingly not much left to do. ECU will return on Thursday of this week and hopefully the replacement fuel supply hose along with the fuel rail will get here the same day from Germany so we can finish up the install.
We ran into a little bit of a problem aligning the Y-pipe up to the turbo mount yesterday. Rather than trying to alter components of the kit to make things fit, Tom@TPC offered to send us brand new piping along with the ECU to arrive on the same day. So far the technical support has been absolutely top notch not to mention lightning fast.
Assuming the fuel rail arrives the same day as the ECU and new piping, we could have everything up and running as early as Friday afternoon. Will post an update Thursday when the parts arrive.
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#8
07-22-2009, 04:20 PM
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: San Diego
Age: 40
Posts: 821
Rep Power: 60
day 4:
7/22/2009
To everyone's, including the dealership's surprise, the fuel rail(ordered monday) arrived from Germany today, two days ahead of schedule! I'm not sure if I will be able to swing by the shop tonight before they close, but I'll post some pictures as soon as I do.
New Y-pipe to be delivered tomorrow and the rest of the parts will be installed. Hope to hear the car fired up by Friday afternoon.
7/22/2009
To everyone's, including the dealership's surprise, the fuel rail(ordered monday) arrived from Germany today, two days ahead of schedule! I'm not sure if I will be able to swing by the shop tonight before they close, but I'll post some pictures as soon as I do.
New Y-pipe to be delivered tomorrow and the rest of the parts will be installed. Hope to hear the car fired up by Friday afternoon.
#11
07-24-2009, 12:58 AM
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: San Diego
Age: 40
Posts: 821
Rep Power: 60
day 5:
7/23/2009
Y-pipe showed up today. Unfortunately, fitment was still not perfect. After going back and forth between the first Y-pipe and the second Y-pipe, we decided that the original Y-pipe was a better fit. With a little bit of finesse and a little elbow grease, we got the pipes fitted. Once everything bolted up, you'd swear that it was perfect all along.
Shane mentioned that he's never dealt with a single turbo or aftermarket force induction kit of any kind that just bolted on. This coming from someone that's done tons of custom one-off, and many off the shelf superchargers from Dinan was a bit of a relief for me. I was expecting most of the parts to bolt right on without much effort, but I guess I'm slightly naive, this being my first aftermarket force induced car.
Again Tom was great, immediately sending me tracking information for the ECU for tomorrow, along with detailed diagrams for the wiring and also gave us some tips for things to check after firing up the car for the first time. While the fitment on the y-pipe wasn't stellar, the customer/technical support more than makes up for it. I really felt they were doing what they could given the circumstances to get us up and running. Much more than I could've asked for.
With the Y-pipe bolted on, everything else just started to fall together, with a quickness. The Turbo went right up to the bracket that the Y-pipe was attached to and the hose going to the intercooler was clamped down. The intercooler bolted right up to the body along with the L-bracket. Everything was pretty much smooth sailing from here.
According to Shane, we're about 8 hours into the install (that's it?!?!?!). My guess is another 8-10 hours until we can fire up the car. This puts the install just under 20 hours, just incredible for someone that's never worked on a Cayman before and rarely does major work on Porsches in general. Apparently they're all the same to some degree. It was quite comical to hear Shane compare certain OEM parts to the M5, the M3 and even the Z8.
me - "honestly my biggest priority is for the kit to bolt up, work, and my car doesn't blow up"
Shane - "nah, your car won't blow up, yet. *smile* I can make just about any kit fit beautifully. But I can't do anything about the software. So if the software sucks, don't blame me if your car blows up! *sarcasm*" (what a relief because I've heard nothing but awesome things about the TPC tune)
With the major hardware installed, we have the front mount, reinstalling the new fuel rail, air box and intake manifold. then run the rest of the misc. oil hoses. The ECU is expected to arrive from TPC tomorrow morning at 10am. Unfortunately, I'm swamped tomorrow but will plan to make another trip to check out the progress Saturday morning. We expect most work to be done by then with rest of Saturday to tie up loose ends and install the ECU.
almost there ! ! !
7/23/2009
Y-pipe showed up today. Unfortunately, fitment was still not perfect. After going back and forth between the first Y-pipe and the second Y-pipe, we decided that the original Y-pipe was a better fit. With a little bit of finesse and a little elbow grease, we got the pipes fitted. Once everything bolted up, you'd swear that it was perfect all along.
Shane mentioned that he's never dealt with a single turbo or aftermarket force induction kit of any kind that just bolted on. This coming from someone that's done tons of custom one-off, and many off the shelf superchargers from Dinan was a bit of a relief for me. I was expecting most of the parts to bolt right on without much effort, but I guess I'm slightly naive, this being my first aftermarket force induced car.
Again Tom was great, immediately sending me tracking information for the ECU for tomorrow, along with detailed diagrams for the wiring and also gave us some tips for things to check after firing up the car for the first time. While the fitment on the y-pipe wasn't stellar, the customer/technical support more than makes up for it. I really felt they were doing what they could given the circumstances to get us up and running. Much more than I could've asked for.
With the Y-pipe bolted on, everything else just started to fall together, with a quickness. The Turbo went right up to the bracket that the Y-pipe was attached to and the hose going to the intercooler was clamped down. The intercooler bolted right up to the body along with the L-bracket. Everything was pretty much smooth sailing from here.
According to Shane, we're about 8 hours into the install (that's it?!?!?!). My guess is another 8-10 hours until we can fire up the car. This puts the install just under 20 hours, just incredible for someone that's never worked on a Cayman before and rarely does major work on Porsches in general. Apparently they're all the same to some degree. It was quite comical to hear Shane compare certain OEM parts to the M5, the M3 and even the Z8.
me - "honestly my biggest priority is for the kit to bolt up, work, and my car doesn't blow up"
Shane - "nah, your car won't blow up, yet. *smile* I can make just about any kit fit beautifully. But I can't do anything about the software. So if the software sucks, don't blame me if your car blows up! *sarcasm*" (what a relief because I've heard nothing but awesome things about the TPC tune)
With the major hardware installed, we have the front mount, reinstalling the new fuel rail, air box and intake manifold. then run the rest of the misc. oil hoses. The ECU is expected to arrive from TPC tomorrow morning at 10am. Unfortunately, I'm swamped tomorrow but will plan to make another trip to check out the progress Saturday morning. We expect most work to be done by then with rest of Saturday to tie up loose ends and install the ECU.
almost there ! ! !
#14
07-26-2009, 12:30 PM
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: San Diego
Age: 40
Posts: 821
Rep Power: 60
day 6+7
7/24-7/25
not much going on these two days as the shop is swamped with walk-ins. The front mount was installed and the hosing completed after draining the coolant out of the car. The new fuel rail was installed as well.
list of stuff remaining:
re-install airbox
re-install driver-side intake manifold
install wastegate
run oil lines
SO CLOSE ! ! ! Unfortunately, I'm going to be out of town next week, so I won't get to try out the car until I return Saturday. Will definitely try to post updates if images are available. Hope to do first impressions when I get back, and if possible, some dyno runs.
This is going to be the most painful trip ever lol...
7/24-7/25
not much going on these two days as the shop is swamped with walk-ins. The front mount was installed and the hosing completed after draining the coolant out of the car. The new fuel rail was installed as well.
list of stuff remaining:
re-install airbox
re-install driver-side intake manifold
install wastegate
run oil lines
SO CLOSE ! ! ! Unfortunately, I'm going to be out of town next week, so I won't get to try out the car until I return Saturday. Will definitely try to post updates if images are available. Hope to do first impressions when I get back, and if possible, some dyno runs.
This is going to be the most painful trip ever lol...
#15
07-28-2009, 10:50 AM
EuroAutoSpot is where it is at in San Diego, Shane always does excellent work. With a great tune and an awesome installer, this kit will not have issues blowing up and what not. Why would anyone want that to someone else's car that is a fellow enthusiast.