... so ever since I finished tearing apart my mustang and raping every ounce of streetability it ever had, I learned a great deal about how much I love nice sunday morning cruises, and miss not having to tighten up fittings before doing them.

The good news is, I ended up with a track car and ruined a far less expensive car in the proccess. Problem is, I still have an itch to mod, whatever it is I drive. Yea, I chipped my old Jeep Cherokee.

Goal:

-good HP, handling, braking while retaining factory ride, sound, and for most part, apearance characteristics.

Done:

-I like the factory reds I have, and have done SS brakelines to fix the fade I experienced the first track season out. I don't forsee doing anything else to the brakes aside for maybe aftermarket discs pending reviews of vividracing's new setup.

-I've also comitted to PilotSport Cups since I bought the car, and while it's a pricey marriage, I'll never go back, except for snow tires in really bad months.

Keeping:

-factory turbo back. I love how nice the exhaust is in normal driving, but that it still opens up at WOT. I don't mind doing headers, but if my intuition serves me right, I will loose spool?

Mods I think I want:

-Mild coil drop
-Fixed bushing tie rods front and rear
-Headers (spool loss?)
-Tune
-Intake Plenum
-Intercoolers (Smaller volume heat exchangers, again, I want to keep a quicker spool)
-Rear diffuser (I really like the way they look. Will this mess with the car's aerodynamics balance if I don't do anything up front?)

Given my goal, are those good/bad mods to do? Anything else you recommend? I know very little about what turbos respond well and poorly to. I know Fords, but they are very strange. I'm looking for a Sunday Morning Porsche with a devil inside, but that I can still drive to the park without scaring the ducks away.

 

I know that you have stated you don't want to switch the exhausts, however, of the modifications you listed, you are going to be spending a fair amount of cash with minimal return without swapping the exhaust. Headers+Plenum are going to yield very minimal returns, in comparison to lowering EGTs from a better flowing exhaust. I'd even argue that not only are your gains less than an aftermarket exhaust, but your gains will be limited due to a restrictive stock exhaust.

If you really like the stock exhaust, may I recommend at least swapping out cats for better flow. You are really tying your hands behind your back without improving your exhaust flow. It hurts your other modifications, it limits your tune, and it actually could hurt your turbos by leaving EGTs high with an ECU tune. In fact, it will negate gains from an improved intercooler by keeping the overall temperatures of the turbos themselves high.

- bob

 

My 2 cents & opinions:

1. Mild coilover drop: This eliminates lowering spring (a fixed 1 inch drop) and leads you straight to what I think is the most important of all Turbo mods: Stiffer suspension by using after market coilover. There have been numerous, exhaustive posts on this topic, starting with my signature , but let me take you straight to the point: Bisltein Damptronic is a no brainer recommendation for a street/track car that needs to maintain daily drive ability. Bilstein makes the OEM coilover and use Porsche's chief test driver as consultant. This is almost like checking an option box from Porsche factory itself.
"Improve handling while retaining factory ride": Impossible since, in general, and despite of various dubious claims, better handling implies stiffer ride. There is no way around this. That said, many here use Turbo with Bilstein as daily driver without any difficulty. I drive mine daily to work in LA.

2. ECU Tune: Agreed with Bob's post above. While there have been many components reviewed and discussed here, my exhaustive web research indicates these are the 3 main steps you should concentrate on:
a. Change exhaust to a more free flow system
b. Tune the ECU.
c. If you want more power, then the next thing is the Intercooler, with a re-tune of the ECU.
Headers, intake plenum, airbox, diverter valve, etc., etc., are all controversial (just search for "header" on 996 Turbo forum for example) and should be saved for later stages of mods, or maybe not at all.

3. Exhaust: A matter of taste and I know you seem to like the stock sound, but for some of us, that is one of the worst "features" of the Turbo. Its exhaust note is Lexus like and "wimpy." Again a matter of taste and I don't mean to be critical here if you like the stock sound. Keep in mind I am a picky person and an audiophile and I think my Cargraphic sounds mind-blowing good. I'm in love LOL, and I'm not kidding at all. Both the loudness (medium loud) and character of sound (more staccato, more lower frequency rumbling, less whinny noise) are much more appropriate for a sport car than the stock sound.
If you really want to keep the stock sound, at the least change out the cat to 200 or 100 cell.

4. Besides coilover, it is near mandatory that you consider alignment changes (you didn't mention this). Again this is discussed in my Bilstein thread in my signature but at a minimum, you need to increase front negative camber to about -1.2 degree. Some big time tuners also give a mild gentle front toe-out to improve turn-in response and steering input (the toe out makes Turbo steering response less "lazy" and much more direct, like the GT2's).

Again, just my humble opinions. Hope this helps, good luck, and have fun with the mods!

 

The two posts above are from experienced P car drivers and I totally agree with them. The first things most of us change is the exhaust (there are lots of choices) to reduce back pressure, reduce a bit of heat, reduce (rear end!) weight, and allow the rest of the mods to do what they are designed to do. Coilovers - a MUST (I prefer the Bilstein's but there are others to consider). Balancing power and performance is an important consideration and the steps you take is up to you and your wallet - but I hope you begin with the exhaust.
Enjoy!
K.

 

coilovers, proper alignment, sway bars, front drop links, exhaust, and ECU flash. Then call it a day.

 

Well guys, I'm certainly getting a better feel for how I need to play it. I think I'm going to do as recommended with coilovers, alignment, tune and intercoolers. I'm still not sold on exhaust, but I think it's worth salvaging some of the money I throw into all the other stuff by doing 200 CEL cats. Headers and plenum are gone, I refuse to do aftermarket filters because Salt Lake seems it's under perma-construction with the way the population rockets here, so constant dust.

Thanks, I'm much more clear on a path.

 

If you will do ecu mod then eliminate the cats from the stock system. The sound won't be much more different than with 100 or 200cells cats and the flow will be even better. Tell to the ecu programmer to eliminate the engine light on due to the catless exhaust. There is a recent topic about a member that have a stock catless exhaust.
Found the topic: https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...s-997tt-3.html

 

It's a pleasure to help separate a fellow Porsche nut from his $$$.

If you haven't yet, at least take a listen (in-person audition) to a Turbo with a good after-market exhaust. You might come out a believer.
I once was VERY skeptical of people waxing eloquent about their exhaust sound, now hard to believe but the sound is one thing I enjoy most of all about my Turbo!

 

Doing an ECU tune without changing your exhaust is not a good idea. If you are worried about the sound of an aftermarket exhaust, take a look into the Miltek system. I do believe it's one of the most quiet systems on the market and it might serve your goals well.

 

[quote=cannga;2588055]My 2 cents & opinions:

1. Mild coilover drop: This eliminates lowering spring (a fixed 1 inch drop) and leads you straight to what I think is the most important of all Turbo mods: Stiffer suspension by using after market coilover. There have been numerous, exhaustive posts on this topic, starting with my signature , but let me take you straight to the point: Bisltein Damptronic is a no brainer recommendation for a street/track car that needs to maintain daily drive ability. Bilstein makes the OEM coilover and use Porsche's chief test driver as consultant. This is almost like checking an option box from Porsche factory itself.
"Improve handling while retaining factory ride": Impossible since, in general, and despite of various dubious claims, better handling implies stiffer ride. There is no way around this. That said, many here use Turbo with Bilstein as daily driver without any difficulty. I drive mine daily to work in LA.


4. Besides coilover, it is near mandatory that you consider alignment changes (you didn't mention this). Again this is discussed in my Bilstein thread in my signature but at a minimum, you need to increase front negative camber to about -1.2 degree. Some big time tuners also give a mild gentle front toe-out to improve turn-in response and steering input (the toe out makes Turbo steering response less "lazy" and much more direct, like the GT2's).


Oh yeah, I almost forgot. When it comes to your suspension, take Cannga's advice. The Bilstein PSS10 setup is the way to go for everyday drivability and improved performance. I went a more aggressive route and while the car handles incredibly well, the ride quality is brutal.

 

I would go with the tubi, cg tuv, or europipe quiet exhaust. All fit the bill, all of these will seem stock comin from bypass pipes anyway (I believe you had those).
Doing all those other mods without reducing backpressure/egt's could harm your engine on the flipside.
Suspension wise, at least align the stock suspension correctly.