Yea...the SSK is a sweet touch, very similar feel to my old UUC Evo3 SSK I has in my E39 ///M5.

 

Congrats on the new car!! Your posts made me take a trip down memory lane to some of my new car "honeymoon" periods.....I love it.

As for mods, I think you're doing the right thing. Take your time, do your research, talk to other owners/enthusiasts, and most importantly, talk to the tuners themselves. Many people on the board will tell you that the difference in performance you'll get between AWE vs EVO vs TechArt (or any other tuner), are minimal. What's most important is finding someone who understands what YOU want from the car. Then they can tailor a set of mods to YOUR liking, and to how you would like the car to feel and perform.

As for HP increases from the above. I think it's a bit of an exxageration to say that all these mods only offer you increases in sound. Many mods, like the EVOMS intake, do create a certain intoxicating sounds, but there are also small proven HP gains as well. (10-12HP). The problem is....what does 10-12HP feel like on the butt dyno? It's hard to notice, to be honest. However, keep in mind that a lot of these mods were designed to show their full benefit when used together. The ala carte chip/exhaust/intake setup comes to mind. Each of these three are designed to work well enough alone, but their full potential is realized when you put them together. Other things like suspension, short shifter <cough check out our short shift kit sale in the vendor classified area cough>, and wheels/tires will also enhance the driving experience although they don't directly add any HP. I'd suggest finding someone who's willing to put a good package deal together for you <coughRennsport-1cough>....

But don't rush...I think you're doing the right thing taking the time to learn the car. Once you really get in tune with it, you'll have a better idea of what's just right the way it is, and what about it that you'd like to improve. Then, give us a call.

For now....enjoy it!!

 

I've had my 2008 997.1 C2S for a year now. Had 8mi. when I got it, and it's got around 2300 miles on it now. Never took it much above 4k rpm for the first 2k mi. That was absolute torture. It's been broken in now for just a couple of months and I've started to play with it. It's bone stock, but plenty fast for me...and handles like it's on rails. I also think it looks great, and sits nice...even with stock suspension and wheels. I don't really understand modding a car until you've gotten used to/bored with the current setup. When a car is so new and you haven't even scratched the surface of what it can do...will you even be able to notice a mod to the engine? What will you use for reference? As to the mods. to the suspension, you would notice immediately the new look of the car, but would you notice the handling...if you only have a few miles on it? I probably will do an intake/exhaust, ssk, rims/tires...but only after the honeymoon...and I'm getting a bit bored with the look/feel of the car. Will this be in the next few months or the next few years? For me, we'll wait and see. But between now and then, I'm here on the 6 doing my research .

J

 

Wow - almost a year to do the break in? That would have killed me. But good points Ghotiman, I do agree that in general if something is already great to you, why upgrade?

Couple offsetting considerations though from my own personal philosophy on upgrading - I think what and when you can notice on a car is relative to the driver and their accumulated experience with driving overall plus knowledge of that class of cars. Some guys I think could probably drive a car for a few hundred miles and pretty much know the capability of it and be able to detect even subtle nuance changes to it - not me certainly, I figure I'm the few thousand miles normal type.

Having said that, I'm at 1k now and probably will be at 1500 by the time I get any mods other than SSK so I figure I will be able to notice them vs. what my stock capabilities are. Also, for me the ideal performance upgrade is one where I can feel the effect at all ranges, not just at the upper end of the capability spectrum. If I can hear/feel a nice improvement at mid range speeds or tac, that's a good mod to me.

Last - I totally understand modding something that is already good to be a bit or a lot better. That's not me, but I understand the guys that do it. But there's a big difference between choosing to mod something you think is already pretty good or even great to be better vs. modding becaues you just don't like one or more aspects of your overall good/great car.

I think my 997 is a GREAT car. Fantastic, incredible, and other superlatives come to mind. BUt there are a few aspects I just don't like - case in point, the wimpy stock exhaust sound. Totally respect the drivers that love the stock sound just fine, but I like a more aggressive tone. So for me modding that part of it right away is a must have because not having it interferes with my full enjoyment of the car from day 1.

On your suspension handling example though - I don't need an upgrade but if I wanted one, yes - I feel I would notice immediately the handling difference even after just one drive for a few miles in the stock car. I did Dinan suspensions on all my BMWs and right from stock, even at moderate turn speeds I could notice the roll reduction and other improvements right off.

On my 997, just by hitting the sport button to lower my ride height and get a little stiffer feel I notice that instantly. I'm assuming an actual full suspension upgrade would be even more noticeable.

In the end, I think it makes sense stretching out the mods for areas you're totally happy with until you start to get bored with it, but otherwise I'd say starting right from the start most people probably have a few key areas they want to adjust.

 

mozhacker,

First congrats on your new car. I hope you have many enjoyable miles to go. My simple advice is to get on you tube and listen to all the exhausts that you like. Personally, I like it loud, look into the cargraphic loud exhaust or the tubi exhaust. To me those sound the best. As far as intake, personally I think its a waste of time. Get yourself a new bmc air filter and save your money for a tune, which actually can improve power.

Oh, almost forgot, driving a 911 "nowhere" always has a point, we all know that, LOL

 

Finally took a few first pics and attached to original starter entry at beginning of thread.

Like all black car owners - the eternal quest to keep it free (as much as possible) of swirls begins.