Hi,

My first post here, and I see I'm doing the typical newbie post .

I'm a new owner of a 01 (MY02) red stock tiptronic 996tt in Australia, having come from a E39 M5. Having had the 996tt for a week now I am happy with the car and can see it being a great platform for mods, as well as being a daily driver. I mostly chose the 996tt because almost all other cars I considered as an M5 replacement, including the standard C2's, did not feel as enjoyable (read quick ) as the M5. Comparing to the E39 M5, the 996tt feels like it has a bit more power, but not substantially more, hence the interest to see how the 996tt can be modified and its great to see that 996tt mods are pretty common, and not a "fringe" activity. I have some experience with turbo tuning and know most of the technical aspects, and as my 996tt is in its mid life, I'm not so precious about doing modifications and can do some of it DIY.

After lurking for a week researching mod options, I don't seem to be able to dig up the information that I'm looking for, hence this post and looking for some feedback. It seems there is very little information / data comparing the different tunes that makes it hard to work out which approach to take.

So perhaps if I explain what I'm looking for I'd appreciate any feedback from knowlegeable members of this site about what tuning approach to take:

1) I drive mostly in town and enjoy the acceleration and handling aspects of the car rather than top end speed. I rarely speed on the highway except for overtaking, so a tune that maximises the power for high speed runs is of no interest to me.

2) I don't plan on tracking the car (although this may change, even though it would be occassional and social only).

3) I don't want to increase turbo lag, in fact the stock turbo lag is a little too much for my tastes, but I have had the last 6 years in a very responsive BMW v8 so I understand there will always be a responsive difference between a turbo and a NA v8. A tune that gives more low rpm torque to make the car more responsive around town, with a flatter torque curve, even at the expense of power at 5-6K rpms would be acceptable.

4) I don't need a 700-800 HP monster. It looks like the standard turbos are only good for about 500hp so to get 550 - 600hp which I think will be sufficient for me, I need to upgrade the turbos. The K16/24 turbo seems to be the best compromise to get 500+hp by not adding too much extra lag (which is compensated for by a better flash).

5) The car already has too much roadnoise and exhaust noise. I want to lay a whole lot of Dynamat (sound deadening) to make the cabin quieter as I want to upgrade the stereo (the standard bose system sucks), so although I'm OK to upgrade the stock exhaust if necessary to gain over 500hp, I don't want to add to the cabin noise or pay too much for a quiet after market exhaust.

6) For the ECU tune, I'd prefer to be able to flash the ECU maps over a laptop if possible and if possible switch between maps (eg. stock and tuned).

I don't see any comparisons / shootouts of the different tuner approaches, and I cant find an apples to apples dyno pull comparisons between the tunes. So given the above considerations, any pointers on what type of mods and what tuners would be a good fit for my needs would be appreciated.

Also, any Aussies on this board know of any 996tt tuners in Australia, preferably in South East Queensland? Not that there are many 996tt's in my neck of the woods due to their high cost.

Last question , how do you get search to go further back than 20 months, or is this how old the forum is?

Many thanks for your feedback.

 

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the new ride.

 

Deandod, Welcome to 6speed !

Drop me a PM with your contact number. I can share my recent experiences.

Cheers

Mark

 

Welcome to 6Seed!

Just curious...How much did you pay for your '01 996TT?

I know that cars in Aussie-Land are extremely expensive! Have a bunch of family in Melbourne

 

All, thanks for the warm welcome. I'm looking forward to interacting with the 996tt community!

Looks like I can't PM until I have a number of posts up, so I'll post replies in separate posts to get my post count up

 

Regarding exhausts, is it possible to get a better aftermarket exhaust which adds extra performance (especially relieving the backpressure which will help reduce the turbo lag) but is as quiet as the stock system?

 

So assuming I stick with the stock exhaust, if I do the following I should be able to get approx 550 - 600hp?
- Upgraded turbos to K16/K24 hybrids
- Ported headers + better flowing inbox
- diverter valve
- Wastegate for 1.2 bar
- ECU flash specific for the above setup?

 

Do any of the tuners / tunes specialise in making the car more responsive around town (even at the expense of some top end power)? A tune with a broad torque curve with considerable additional area under the torque curve for 2K - 5K rpm compared to stock would be nice (if possible).

 

I'm also looking to upgrade the stereo and have chosen the Kenwood DNX 7100 double DIN unit, any recommendations for a good amp and speakers that go well with the 996tt acoustics?

 

A couple of observations about the car, having come across from driving a BMW E39 M5 for many years:

- The boxster engine sounds rough compared to the BMW v8, which I suppose is the horizontally opposed setup. I had a Subaru 10 years ago and it had a similar sound. But it does make the car sound a bit more tough compared to the BMW

- I have noticed that the corner "turn-in" is better than the BMW and the car enters the corner well, but then when pushed hard in a corner goes into understeer which is pretty controllable.

- The PSM and ABS occassionally come on when going through a corner hard, especially a corner that dips. Maybe it is because the traction control is more obvious than the BMW, perhaps because I can feel the ABS through the brake pedals? At first I though there was a fault with the car, but the road was a bit wet and perhaps I was trusting the 4WD to do too much on a wet road (and I'd never have pushed the M5 at the same rate).

- The only possible problem I have picked up with the car is that occassionally when starting the car warm the alternator does not charge the battery until the motor is revved, and the alternator/battery warning comes on. Also possible that the engine bay was wet at the time (both times it was raining when this happened) and the alternator belt was slipping (but there was no slipping belt sound). The previous owner replaced the alternator a while ago, possibly it is still faulty or something else is causing a heavy intermittent electrical drain at startup (the engine starts fine when this happens). Is there any known electrical problems with the 996TT?

- Did I say previously that the stock radio sucks?

 

....

 

keeping the post count up....

 

Now I can see signatures....

 

PM sent.

 

Hi Battery,

Thanks for the response. Yes, I am a bit hesitant to mod the car, its not something to just jump into, I want to get it right first time if possible. There are a lot of members here who go through various stages of tuning and have to throw out bits they have already upgraded in their quest for more HP