So, as you all undoubtedly know, we've been hard at work with our 2010 Turbo doing PDK development and testing. Our PDK test car is now finally back in our hands after spending some time out at the California headquarters of our tuning partner GIAC. The PDK software has now been perfected and works in perfect concert with our upgraded PDK hardware.

Time to a crack open the champagne and party, right? Not quite.

Once we were able to push beyond the electronic and mechanical limits of the PDK, another unfortunate roadblock of the new DFI motor reared it's ugly little head. The DFI fuel pump. As you know DFI cars run an ENORMOUS amount of fuel pressure and require a very high pressure pump in order to supply fuel to the engine. As I'm sure some other tuners have already discovered, you simply can't make any more power on this motor without upgrading the fuel pump. So...what do you do next if you're Champion Motorsport? You design a new fuel pump to deliver the amount of fuel you need to make big power. Below is a little teaser video we took during some testing of the new pump. Stay tuned...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLTgClnNMqg

 

and that is why ,you guys are the champions

 

thumbs up champion! u guys deserve all the respect from the P community as u were one of the very few 1st to unravel the 997.2tt complexity and show it to the public in very informative educating threads. Rep for great R&D guys ..

 

Hey Tom,

I must say, kudos to Champion and to Louis for persevering on the development path of the PDK 997.2.

On the other hand, you guys are teasing us way too much!

The PDK Gearbox upgrade:
1- Finalized? Not yet? Any time frame for commercial release?
2- Any Details? We know you've upgraded clutches and oil capacity and cooling. Any strengthening of the internals such as the smaller drive shat and its gears (2nd, 4th and 6th)?
3- Any idea about the new limits of the upgraded box in terms of torque and power?
4- Any remaining drivability issues such as shifting smoothness and shift speeds?
5- Any concerns regarding longevity after the upgrade?

The 68mm VTGs:
1- Max power and torque these will produce on 93 Octane and on Race Gas?
2- Lag characteristics?
3- Area under the curve?
4- How does the power come on and behave? Strong top end, etc...?
5- Can PDK owners upgrade to them now and have them down tuned to within current PDK limits until your PDK upgrade is commercially released?
6- Most importantly, will your upgraded PDK box, once installed, be able to eventually take full advantage of these turbos?

The Fuel Pump:
1- Up to what power levels can we retain the stock pump?
2- What other parts will need replacing along with the pump, such as injectors perhaps?

Other parts:
1- Can you provide us with a clearer idea about your performance parts program for the 997.2 (current released parts and what's in the pipeline) and how each part will add to the performance and behavior of the car.
2- What parts should be fitted together and not one part at a time to have the desired effect/result?

The problem is, you guys are keeping us hungry for details! Sort of like a cruel and continuous cliffhanger!

I am not asking you to reveal trade secrets or any issues that can jeopardize your commercial plans...
It's just that, and I am sure I speak for many others here, many of us would be willing and happy to sit tight and wait for you before deciding about, and moving on further upgrades for our cars...
...provided we know what exactly it is that we are waiting for and for how long!

 

+1 Karim ..
Very well said !

 

HEHE sorry. I'll do my best to answer some of the questions you have below:

The PDK gearbox is complete. We finally just received the car back here from GIAC literally yesterday. What we upgrade is the clutch-pack. Unfortunately the PDK is not a serviceable gearbox, so there is no way to upgrade other parts without making an entirely new gearbox. It was during the PDK software tuning that we realized there would soon be an issue with fueling, and that a larger pump was definitely required. The upper limits of its power capacity have not yet been tested, but will definitely be as soon as this new pump testing is complete. As far as when it's going to be available, I hope soon, but I honestly can't say for sure because there is still a little bit of testing to be done with the new fuel pump. From a drivability standpoint, I can tell you that our new box drives absolutely perfect!! GIAC did an amazing job with the software. Shifts are smooth, comfortable, and FAST! An important thing to mention is that our PDK upgrade will require both GIAC/Champion ECU & TCU software.

There will be a lot more updates about the PDK box coming out very soon. I just don't want to speak too soon. I'd rather wait til it's 100% before saying too much.

To date, we have complete 3 in-house builds using our 68mm VTG's on 997.1 cars. However, keep in mind that the 68mm VTG is standard upgrade on the 997.2. PDK owners can certainly upgrade to these turbos now, but without the PDK upgrade, you won't be able to go beyond about 560 wheel horsepower (without the upgraded pump). At that power level, programming gets a little dangerous because the pump starts running out of fuel. The power from the 68's on the 997.2 comes on very early with minimal lag. In fact, the area under the curve is very much like stock. See the graph below.

Right now, we're at 558 wheel horsepower and 471 lb/ft of tq on a Mustang AWD dyno. This is what we consider to be the safe level with the existing fuel pump. During the initial PDK testing a few months ago, we did achieve some higher numbers with a slightly more aggressive tune but for public release, this is what we feel would be a safe level. Below is a dyno sheet from yesterday of the upgraded PDK car. Unlike some of our other projects, this car belongs to us, so we have a little more freedom to test and experiment with it. Right now, we don't anticipate there will be a need to replace the injectors because there is plenty of room within their duty cycle. However, once the new pump is in place, we'll know for sure if they're capable of handling big power. I promise, as new developments happen, I will keep you guys up to date.



Currently, we have all of the hardware in place for our 997.2 big turbo packages. Turbos, intercoolers, headers, y-pipe, plenum, airbox, software, exhaust.....it's all readily available. The only missing link to BIG power was the PDK upgrade and fuel pump, and there's now a light at the end of that tunnel.

Another part that we've recently added to our lineup is our carbon fiber turbo inlet pipes. We've thrown out a few teaser pictures here and there of the pipes, and have installed them on all 3 (soon to be 4) of our 997.1 tiptronic 68mm turbo upgrades. What I can tell you is that these inlet pipes are CLEARLY responsible for making power. They are VERY difficult and time consuming to produce as each one is hand made using a very complicated mold. Sure, silicon hoses can squeeze in there and it's OK if they touch a water line, or get squeezed in one area, but the carbon fiber has to fit perfect. Our designers did an amazing job with these. IMPORTANT NOTE: As of right now, the turbo inlet pipes are available for .1 cars ONLY. Once we have completed the PDK pump testing and we are able to explore the upper limits of power on the PDK .2 cars, THEN we will make the inlet pipes for the .2.

Here are some pictures of the carbon turbo inlet pipes on one of our 997.1 68mm upgrade cars.



So....I hope I did OK answering some of your questions. I'm not the best sometimes when it comes to technical questions or answers. Unfortunately I can't always ask Louis to come and spend time on 6Speed because he's much more valuable back in the shop working on these projects. But, if you do have questions that I didn't answer, please feel free to ask, and I'll do my best to get the answers from him.

Thanks again for all the reps guys!! Enjoy.

 

Hi Tom,

Thank you for taking the time to reply. Just read through it quickly.
I want to take the time to reread later tonight and I am sure I will have a couple of follow up questions for you.

Cheers,

Karim

 

Would these carbon fibre inlet pipes work on a tuned but stock turbo car?

 

Absolutely. They would work with whatever tune you currently have, but an optimized tune would definitely give you awesome results!

 

tom, u guys are top notch!!! I will be composing a pretty good letter about just how top notch you really are very soon...thank you

 

I have the Cargrahpic RS Tuning 600 kit, they said the larger air tubes alone would not work?
Are your tubes your own design?
Have you tried them in an application as I am asking?
What kind of gains would you expect?
Do you need to drop the engine to install?

 

Are you accepting 42 year old apprentice/squires?

 

Awesome!

I love to see this approach to development! Keep it up

 

Our inlet pipes are our own design. It took months to perfect the design and shape. I'm not sure why they would told you their pipes would not work, but then again, I'm not familiar with their pipes so I can't really say for sure. We have tried them only on our upgraded VTG applications. On those cars, the inlet pipes ALONE are responsible for approximately 40 WHEEL hp. However, they would indeed work on a car even using stock VTG's. Yes, the engine needs to come out for installation.

Thank you John! I CAN'T WAIT until you drive your car the first time!

haha...not at this time.

Thanks Betim....your praise is definitely much appreciated!

 

I would guess the gains would be thru the mid range to upper end?
They are very tempting, thanks for the quick replies!