Wanted to post up about my experience with Sam (SamboTT) at By Design. I read multiple threads on this forum before calling him, all of which were good. After our first conversation I was impressed with his knowledge and patience.

Background, I have a 996TT that was running an “off the shelf tune” from another company, and wasn’t pleased with the performance. The car came with the tune, and I am not looking to fault the company that provided it. That said, the torque curve was “peaky” (not by dyno, by feel) and ran out of power over 5k RPM. The transition throttle was abrupt. The car was running pretty rich; I was seeing consistent 13.X AFRs at idle, and as low as 10.5 under full throttle. The other telltale sign was fairly heavy carbon buildup on exhaust and bumper (near exhaust outlet) after a long spirited drive. My goal was better driveability, and a tuner who was willing to provide feedback and work with me to get the car “right”.

I purchased the Cobb Accessport from Sam and (for the short term) am running the OTS Stage 2 tune. So this part of the review is for Cobb stock tunes. The difference was immediately evident, almost like driving a different car. The power delivery is more linear, it transitions from maintenance throttle to acceleration more smoothly, and doesn’t run out of torque toward the top RPMs. AFRs are running in the 14.X range at idle and around 11.X at full throttle. One caveat, I did perform a leakdown prior to the tune and found one small leak, but nothing dramatic. Thanks to Markski’s posts on this forum for that guidance.

I will update this post after having Sam do his custom tuning, but I plan to add 997.2 intercoolers before doing so. As it sits I am very happy with performance, and the datalogs look good. Overall a “thumbs up” for Sam – I would highly recommend working with him. Thanks!

 

Sam is the man but don't waste your time with 997.2 intercoolers. Just get the SRM 4.5's.
Your plans may not extend too far right now but more often than not, you'll catch the bug and will want more.
The 997.2 coolers may be better than stock, for a mostly stock car, but that's it... And they still have plastic tanks.
Spend a few extra money's and get the SRM's. You won't regret it

 

I disagree. Plenty of data out there (especially from Pwderhound) to prove that 997.2s are fantastic even with upgraded turbos and 600+whp.

Hell, they came stock on a car with over 600hp that was built for the track.

I've been super impressed with my IATs so far with my 997.2s on the stock k16s that are just blowing super hot air at this point. They should fare even better with larger turbos operating in the meat of their efficiency range.

 

997.2s are great coolers, proven to be better than many aftermarket options at reducing IATs and temperature recovery after pull. The plastic endtank isn't exactly a bad thing as far as conducting heat goes, it's less material that can heatsoak..

Larger ICs do flow more which can benefit drag racing applications when power is more important than thermal recovery, but the trade-off the flowing more is that it gives less time for cooling to happen. The alloy that the core is made from is also different as well, at least in all of the cores that I've held in person; more conductive alloy in the 997.2 core which lets heat transfer out more effectively than typical aluminum core.

 

Cheers guys
LilRichard, it was a pleasure working with you as well and I look forward to the next step. Especially the challenge to improve on a tune you speak so highly of even after having another before it.

As for coolers and any hardware, there is a time and place for everything IMO. A set-up for each application or goal. The best thing to do is evaluate your goals (including future hits of the crack pipe like Bauer suggested) and find someone you trust to work with based on things like reputation, experience and honesty that you can lean on. Many times there are several ways to skin a cat too.

 

Appreciate the feedback guys. I like to think I am going to "keep it reasonable", so will likely go the 997.2 route. Even if I go bigger later, there seems to be good demand for 997.2 intercoolers, so they could be resold without a huge loss.