It's best to drive the car stock for a while and get used to it. You will know what you want to upgrade after sufficient seat time.

Suspension, wheels, intake, exhaust & ECU are probably the most popular mods.

 

No worries and I know it sounds weird but it's really good to learn, play and drive the car as is out of the box first to get a good feel for how everything is and how it works first Mod bug is a bad habbit. I know

 

+1. Chill on the mods and get to know the car first. Couple of reasons:
The 911 is an 'unusual' car. Rear engine, light front-end. It's a new driving experience - and you won't appreciate the mods unless you settle in to appreciate the new characteristics of the vehicle.
Familiarizing yourself with the car is the starter version of DE (with which I also agree). If you are going to add performance mods, get used to the car first. It's one of the great cars ever built, but can be a handful in the wrong hands. Get used to it before you pump it up.
You won't know what you want until you 'become one' with the car. And each new piece is a thrill. For me, stretching it out over time has made it even more enjoyable.
The 911 is a great car stock. You won't be disappointed with an unmodified one.
FWIW, I've focused on convenience features rather than performance features to start with. I've got a 2005 911S Cab, and so a MoBridge bluetooth and iPod connector, soft top computer enhancements, 3rd party TPM, clear side markers. Someday, a trip to RUF might be in the offing. Might

 

You are 100% correct! My brother in his 2001 996 kept up and took the turns with the new RSs in our run group at the last Sebring DE we went in September, on a consistent basis. On the past one we went in July, he kept a 996 GT3 behind him and couldn't pass him - at Sebring also. This with an 80 hp deficit in the 996's case and a 115 hp deficit on the 997s. His car only has GT3 wheels and GT3 sway bars in conjunction with the RoW M030 shocks and springs. That's all as far as mods are concerned. Everything else is stock since PSE doesn't increase performance. He did put GT3 brake ducts and a third radiator because this car will be seeing a lot of track events as longevity ensuring measures.

Seat time on a track is by far the best investment!

 

For 3K you could probably go with headers (X51) and sport cats. Opinions are all over the place on this mod. AWE makes nice headers and sport cats and they have some persuasive data on their website. I don’t think there are any real differences in headers from AWE, Porsche, Fabspeed… again there are many opinions and little data.

Other folks may recommend chipping your car; GIAC and Softronic seem to be very popular for around $1K.

Personally I think getting an extra 20hp will not buy you any real performance on the street and limited gains on the track, and those that claim 40hp gain from bolt on mods (SC is a notable exception) are drinking the tuners Kool-Aid. These mods may get you bragging rights at the bar but not much else and as others have said a SC seems to be the only proven way to add real power, emissions compliance makes me hesitate in CA.

So if you want to have some real fun with your Pcar take it to some PCA AutoX events and do some DEs after that I think you will have gained some understanding of just how fast these cars are – and they are plenty fast enough. As you do that save your $ and buy a used TT in a few years to satisfy your HP thirst.

Better mods for performance *where it counts” are R compound tires for the track and suspension mods. A good easy cheap mod is a sport shifter (I installed a B&M and like it).

 

I agree on the DE days.

 

what is DE . I couldn't get it

 

Get the DE Podcast from the PCA website:

http://www.pca.org/

Scroll to the bottom of the page.

 

+1
Seems that there are two groups of folks mod'ing on this forum:
1. Changing the appearance. Though I for one am who is quite fine with the look from the factory, the 911 is certainly a 'target rich' environment for such changes. But to each his/her own here. Your car. Go for it;
2. Performance improvements. On this one, like MartinJF and others cite, most basic improvements will not be very noticeable, and most significant ones can't be justified by ones driving skills. Now, to be fair, more power is just plain fun - just like the appearance stuff. But if one wants to get the car around a track faster, more time and money spent training, and less spent mod'ing is probably the way to go.
Not that I follow my own advice. I just funded the addition to a new supercharger pulley and ECU tune to squeeze 100 extra horsepower from the Ford GT's 5.4 litre. Again, it's just plain fun. But my personal driving skills are surely not up to the task.

 

Oh, and I have added an OEM short-shift kit to my 911. Performance or feel, it really does improve the driving experience. The smile on my face, while driving, has had its performance improved.

 

DRIVERS' EDUCATION = they teach you how to drive better

 

LOOK MAN. FORGET WHAT EVERYONE ELSE IS SAYING:

NUMBER ONE RULE:
1. Slam that sucker! Bilstein PSS9 or PSS10 depending on whether you have PASM. Get'em new on eBay. thepartsladi (username) has best deals for ebay store new-stuff wise. call them in florida.

2. Get some shoes to walk on. HRE MONOBLOK 19's. Light as heck. Beautiful.

3. Get AWE cats - they sound EXCELLENT by themselves. Where the power comes from bolt on-wise.

4. Get X51 headers - cheap and the same damn thing as any other headers

5. Depending on preference, exhaust. Fabspeed, Cargraphic, AWE, whatever you want. Tubi. If you want loud and to sound like a jet plane, get Tubi. If you want to sound like a deep purrrrrr AWE.

6. Either VF Racing Supercharger (vf racing) or TPC Supercharger (vividracing).

7. Put in a lot more hours on the job to afford everything else.

8. GT3 oem front (suncoast) - $1300

9. Techart Sideskirts - $1500

10. Indy back bumper - $2500

11. All the other stuff to track your car if you want. Frankly, I don't have time for it. Too busy trying to make money to make payments and pay vendors.

GL!