I am still new to my 996 and been driving it the past 800 miles like a grandpa. I took it out last night and got on it a bit with a modded GTO on the highway. I didn't feel the power I was expecting, nor the pull of the turbos kicking in. About what RPM do you start feeling the turbos spool and kick? I had the car checked by the Porsche dealership and all was good.

 

Assuming you have a non X50 or S, K16s should start to make a noticeable impact at 2500rpm. The problem is with the factory tune that impact is pretty muted.

 

As others will tell you, boost leaks are very common in all turbo cars and should be a schedule part of your maintenance and inspection of the car. You may be loosing power due to that factor. Do you recall what RPM you are seeing what boost levels?

 

My guess is you were trying to out pull the GTO gear for gear, RPM for RPM.


You are not going to pull a GTO (not a mod'd one at any rate) gear for gear/RPM for RPM as the Turbo needs revs to make boost and boost to make torque.


You need to down shift or be in the "right" gear so when you slam the gas pedal down boost starts and builds right away.


As an aside: I can say my 02 Boxster was able to stay even with a 5.7l stock GTO on a deserted highway some couple of years ago when we were at some speed. I do not know if my Boxster would have been able to pull away as speed increased -- to the point that I was about to shift up into 4th gear -- as we ran out of road. I do not know my 06 GTO pulled away from a Mustang (not sure of the model year but it was a V8 and a pretty good performer) on another deserted road as the GTO's speed climbed above 140mph.


As for the Turbo, I feel with me driving my Turbo would handle even a 6.0 GTO ok. Turbo: 420hp, 413ftlb torque; GTO: 400hp, 400hp torque. Turbo advantages? Weight for one: 3480lbs vs. over 3600lbs for the GTO. That based on my experience doesn't slack off at higher RPMs. It will pull like a freight train on meth right up to redline. The NA GTO engine has breathing trouble at higher RPMs.


Where the Turbo could fare worse against the GTO would be starting from a dead stop. While I would have some qualms about a hard launch with the GTO with the Turbo I'd have more. So I would be a bit gentler with the Turbo and rely upon its turbo-charging to regain what was lost out of hole. Have to point out though that the Turbo under a hard launch would probably best the GTO as I recall with my GTO unless one was careful wheel spin was a real problem. With the Turbo and wide/sticky all driven tires little wheel spin. Just neck snapping acceleration.

 

Do few pulls maybe slipping clutch. You should feel the pull. Get tune. Do a boost leak. And slap exhaust on ;p

 

Your car has a boost gauge.. What is it hitting?

Your car could use a tune too. In stock form you're probably only putting down 330whp or so, good for a 12 year old car but not that much.

 

Boost leak test. Search for DIY. Boost leak test. Stock should be .7 bar. Modded likely .9 bar. Boost leak test. Assuming k16 car. Boost leak test.

 

Did you mention boost leak test?

 

A good tune and catless exhaust will WAKE that car up! Oh yea.... and perform a boost leak test.

 

The car was just at the dealer and they did run through it but I am not sure if that would catch a boost leak or not. And I cannot recall the specific RMP but know it was over 3000.

 

I will take it out again this weekend and play with the boost gauge and see where I am. It just seemed off. I have had other turbo cars; 300ZX and Grand National and this was just off.

 

It was actually the GTO guy toying with me and I did drop shift but that almost felt worse in terms of boost power. It was the first time since I bought it playing at higher speeds on the interstate.

 

I took it out last night and consistently hit .6 for boost. I didn't play around too much to see if it would hit .7 and the turbo spools around 4k.

 

Perform a boost leak test. Build a kit (search) or buy one from 911tuning.com. It's an easy, hour at most, task.