997.1 3.6 TPC Turbo Kit Review
#1
08-08-2017, 08:39 AM
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Austin, TX
Age: 41
Posts: 50
Rep Power: 0 
997.1 3.6 TPC Turbo Kit Review
I recently installed a TPC “stage 2” turbo kit on my car and thought I’d do a quick write-up of the experience in case anyone is considering going down the same path and needs some feedback and honest opinions.
Background – I’ve owned and modified a wide variety of cars over the last 18 years. I’ve had everything from an NA Miata to a Novi supercharged Viper GTS and recently sold my 1,200 RWHP 2jz powered fox body. I only recently “discovered” Porsche when my father and I purchased an 89’ Carrera as a project car and I quickly fell in love with the 911 platform. After driving this car for a while, I decided to purchase a more modern example for myself. I looked at a number of different cars including a 987 Cayman, 997 CS, but ended up finding a great deal on an ultra-clean 997.1 C2 that was being sold by a family friend.
My initial plan was to focus on building something that provided a complete contrast to my Mustang. The C2 had very little power, but it was light and handled great in stock form with a new set of RE-11’s. I thought I’d strip as much weight as possible without completely sacrificing drivability and invest in handling and braking mods only to create a “momentum car” that’s fun at track days and twisty roads. This was a great plan…… right up until an A7 sedan pulled away from me on the highway during a day trip to Dallas. Soon after this I began researching power mods, but didn’t find much that offered decent ‘bang for the buck’ other than TPC’s turbo kit.
I didn’t see an option for ordering the kit directly from TPC’s website, so I went ahead and placed my order through Vivid Racing in AZ. This was a big mistake. If you must have this kit, call and order from TPC directly. Vivid didn’t communicate well with TPC and TPC told me multiple times “you didn’t purchase the kit from us” when I called asking for support. I’m not sure exactly why this would matter, but Tom at TPC seemed to be under the impression that they’re not liable for providing any support if the kit is purchased from a distributor. If that’s the case, it needs to be listed on their website.
When I finally received the kit (initially promised on 9/21, but didn’t actually ship until 10/16), I did a thorough inspection of that parts included. Overall, everything seemed to be well packaged and mostly decent quality. There was some weld spatter inside the exhaust manifolds that I needed to clean up, the brake ducting used for part of the intake system seemed a bit cheap for something going on a higher-end car, and the turbo looked like generic china-charger, but for the most part it all looked pretty good. The only thing that really concerned me at this point was the quality of the instructions and support materials. All that was included beyond the parts, was a burned DVD in a generic sleeve that had a hand-written “CT-50” on it and included a random assortment of pictures. Inside the CD sleeve was also a crumpled sheet of paper with a checklist of included parts (some of which were not checked off).
The installation process was relatively straight forward. This is a 4th car for me, so I was in no rush and worked on it slowly and methodically. This was my first project that was more than basic maintenance on a P-car, so I did a lot of reading and research whenever I was curious about a particular part or didn’t fully understand a next step. The first time I reached out to TPC with a question was about half way through the install when I got to the step of installing the center radiator for the A/W intercooler system. There was no mounting hardware included in the kit, so I thought maybe something was overlooked. All I received in response was a one-line email from Tom saying that TPC did not include a heat exchanger in the kit. This is a good representation of the support I came to expect. Didn’t include a heat exchanger? Then where did mine come from and why is the exact same heat exchanger shown on the promotional photos of the kit? Needless to say, I’m not impressed with TPC.
During the installation process, I found a number of other missing parts or things that needed to be modified. Here’s what I can remember off-hand
- A number of the hose clamps provided were the wrong size for the diameter of the pipes attaching to the turbo and intercooler (not a big deal, I had some t-bolt clamps in my shop and typically don’t like to use worm-drive clamps on silicone couplers anyway)
- The clamps provided to prevent the intake manifold from splitting apart under boost were the wrong size and one was completely broken (this is a poor solution to the problem to begin with, so I trashed them and built a better harness and tension system with coated steel cable)
- The exhaust pipes did not line up… at all… not even close….. The P/S exhaust pipe needed to be cut, shortened, welded, heated and reshaped in order to fit properly. The D/S pipe needed to be adjusted slightly as well. There is a problem with their jig apparently
- The orange brake ducting used for the post-maf intake pipe and the filter element itself was cheap and looked awful. I went ahead and replaced these parts with some 3.5” silicone hose and a K&N short ram. The replacement parts I used were not expensive and made a big difference to make it look like a quality kit
- As mentioned above, no mounting hardware was included with the AWIC heat exchanger, so I had to fabricate these parts
- No hardware included for mounting AWIC water pump
- No V-Band clamp included for mounting DP to turbo
Now that the installation process is behind me and I’ve had a chance to drive the car a bit, I’m relatively happy with the performance. It’s been 100+ degrees most days, so I haven’t had a chance to really “abuse” it as I’m still making sure there’s no issues and don’t want to stress anything. There have been a couple of evenings in the low 80’s where I’ve made some highway pulls and it feels great considering it’s only making about 5.5/6 psi. It’s hard to put a “butt dyno” number on it, but I’d say their claim of 90+ hp out of the box seems about right. I haven’t experienced any oil consumption, smoke or leaks, so that’s a good sign and it revs, idles and drives very well even in heavy traffic. My only complaint with the driving experience is that it really doesn’t sound that great. It’s lost that boxer rumble and sounds more like a honda when the wastegate opens at full boost.
Cliff Notes:
Ordering process: poor (through vivid racing) – bad communication and delivery took ~7 weeks
Pre-install kit impressions: mediocre – packed well and most parts looked good, but some low quality parts, weld spatter and no instructions or support materials to speak of
Installation process: mediocre – relatively straight forward, but poor support from TPC, some parts missing, some parts required significant modification
Driving impressions: positive – car runs, idles and drives well with a significant increase in power. Still needs professional tuning and doesn’t sound great
Background – I’ve owned and modified a wide variety of cars over the last 18 years. I’ve had everything from an NA Miata to a Novi supercharged Viper GTS and recently sold my 1,200 RWHP 2jz powered fox body. I only recently “discovered” Porsche when my father and I purchased an 89’ Carrera as a project car and I quickly fell in love with the 911 platform. After driving this car for a while, I decided to purchase a more modern example for myself. I looked at a number of different cars including a 987 Cayman, 997 CS, but ended up finding a great deal on an ultra-clean 997.1 C2 that was being sold by a family friend.
My initial plan was to focus on building something that provided a complete contrast to my Mustang. The C2 had very little power, but it was light and handled great in stock form with a new set of RE-11’s. I thought I’d strip as much weight as possible without completely sacrificing drivability and invest in handling and braking mods only to create a “momentum car” that’s fun at track days and twisty roads. This was a great plan…… right up until an A7 sedan pulled away from me on the highway during a day trip to Dallas. Soon after this I began researching power mods, but didn’t find much that offered decent ‘bang for the buck’ other than TPC’s turbo kit.
I didn’t see an option for ordering the kit directly from TPC’s website, so I went ahead and placed my order through Vivid Racing in AZ. This was a big mistake. If you must have this kit, call and order from TPC directly. Vivid didn’t communicate well with TPC and TPC told me multiple times “you didn’t purchase the kit from us” when I called asking for support. I’m not sure exactly why this would matter, but Tom at TPC seemed to be under the impression that they’re not liable for providing any support if the kit is purchased from a distributor. If that’s the case, it needs to be listed on their website.
When I finally received the kit (initially promised on 9/21, but didn’t actually ship until 10/16), I did a thorough inspection of that parts included. Overall, everything seemed to be well packaged and mostly decent quality. There was some weld spatter inside the exhaust manifolds that I needed to clean up, the brake ducting used for part of the intake system seemed a bit cheap for something going on a higher-end car, and the turbo looked like generic china-charger, but for the most part it all looked pretty good. The only thing that really concerned me at this point was the quality of the instructions and support materials. All that was included beyond the parts, was a burned DVD in a generic sleeve that had a hand-written “CT-50” on it and included a random assortment of pictures. Inside the CD sleeve was also a crumpled sheet of paper with a checklist of included parts (some of which were not checked off).
The installation process was relatively straight forward. This is a 4th car for me, so I was in no rush and worked on it slowly and methodically. This was my first project that was more than basic maintenance on a P-car, so I did a lot of reading and research whenever I was curious about a particular part or didn’t fully understand a next step. The first time I reached out to TPC with a question was about half way through the install when I got to the step of installing the center radiator for the A/W intercooler system. There was no mounting hardware included in the kit, so I thought maybe something was overlooked. All I received in response was a one-line email from Tom saying that TPC did not include a heat exchanger in the kit. This is a good representation of the support I came to expect. Didn’t include a heat exchanger? Then where did mine come from and why is the exact same heat exchanger shown on the promotional photos of the kit? Needless to say, I’m not impressed with TPC.
During the installation process, I found a number of other missing parts or things that needed to be modified. Here’s what I can remember off-hand
- A number of the hose clamps provided were the wrong size for the diameter of the pipes attaching to the turbo and intercooler (not a big deal, I had some t-bolt clamps in my shop and typically don’t like to use worm-drive clamps on silicone couplers anyway)
- The clamps provided to prevent the intake manifold from splitting apart under boost were the wrong size and one was completely broken (this is a poor solution to the problem to begin with, so I trashed them and built a better harness and tension system with coated steel cable)
- The exhaust pipes did not line up… at all… not even close….. The P/S exhaust pipe needed to be cut, shortened, welded, heated and reshaped in order to fit properly. The D/S pipe needed to be adjusted slightly as well. There is a problem with their jig apparently
- The orange brake ducting used for the post-maf intake pipe and the filter element itself was cheap and looked awful. I went ahead and replaced these parts with some 3.5” silicone hose and a K&N short ram. The replacement parts I used were not expensive and made a big difference to make it look like a quality kit
- As mentioned above, no mounting hardware was included with the AWIC heat exchanger, so I had to fabricate these parts
- No hardware included for mounting AWIC water pump
- No V-Band clamp included for mounting DP to turbo
Now that the installation process is behind me and I’ve had a chance to drive the car a bit, I’m relatively happy with the performance. It’s been 100+ degrees most days, so I haven’t had a chance to really “abuse” it as I’m still making sure there’s no issues and don’t want to stress anything. There have been a couple of evenings in the low 80’s where I’ve made some highway pulls and it feels great considering it’s only making about 5.5/6 psi. It’s hard to put a “butt dyno” number on it, but I’d say their claim of 90+ hp out of the box seems about right. I haven’t experienced any oil consumption, smoke or leaks, so that’s a good sign and it revs, idles and drives very well even in heavy traffic. My only complaint with the driving experience is that it really doesn’t sound that great. It’s lost that boxer rumble and sounds more like a honda when the wastegate opens at full boost.
Cliff Notes:
Ordering process: poor (through vivid racing) – bad communication and delivery took ~7 weeks
Pre-install kit impressions: mediocre – packed well and most parts looked good, but some low quality parts, weld spatter and no instructions or support materials to speak of
Installation process: mediocre – relatively straight forward, but poor support from TPC, some parts missing, some parts required significant modification
Driving impressions: positive – car runs, idles and drives well with a significant increase in power. Still needs professional tuning and doesn’t sound great
Last edited by Imolasoul; 08-09-2017 at 06:02 AM. Reason: adjusted paragraph spacing
#4
08-08-2017, 05:34 PM
I am not sure how you would make a turbocharged car sound as good as a NA Porsche..... I've been trying to make my STi sounds like my 997 and could use some tips....
#5
08-08-2017, 06:03 PM
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Austin, TX
Age: 41
Posts: 50
Rep Power: 0
I have an STI as well (tomei UEL header / turbo-back). I was actually thinking while working on the 997 that a 6-cyl version of the STI's exhaust note would be great. Unfortunately that's not how it turned out
#6
08-17-2017, 08:56 AM
Very disappointing to hear. With the support and quality issues, I would be concerned with the tuning. If they are sloppy in one area they probably are everywhere.
Does it come with injectors and fuel pump or can the stock components handle 6 psi and higher duty cycles?
Any chance you could provide a parts list. I have done a couple of custom turbo kits and would like to see what they provide. Turbo a/r, injector type and cc, intercooler or heat exchanger, wastegate type and size, any blow off valves, oil feed info, etc...etc...
Does it come with injectors and fuel pump or can the stock components handle 6 psi and higher duty cycles?
Any chance you could provide a parts list. I have done a couple of custom turbo kits and would like to see what they provide. Turbo a/r, injector type and cc, intercooler or heat exchanger, wastegate type and size, any blow off valves, oil feed info, etc...etc...
#7
08-17-2017, 12:42 PM
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Austin, TX
Age: 41
Posts: 50
Rep Power: 0
I had the same thought about tuning and am driving my other vehicles until I have time to have it professionally dyno tuned.
As for parts, the key components included are: TPC fabricated Manifolds, & connecting pipes (slip-fit, no cats), generic stainless muffler, turbo (CT-520... whatever that means), oil feed/return lines & AN fittings, "motorsport" injectors (60lb), generic heat exchanger (although TPC denies including this part for some reason), A/W intercooler (looks to be custom made), MAF, generic 4-bolt wastegate (looks to be 40mm) and various hoses/couplings/clamps
There was no BOV, but I've actually just purchased all the parts I need to add a recirculated Greddy FV to the system. I can't imagine all that compressor surge is great for the generic turbocharger.
I believe I mis-spoke when I indicated it was running 6psi. I don't have a boost gauge in the car currently, so I'm not sure what it's making. I've recently seen evidence that the kits push more like 3.5-4psi out of the box. I'll be installing the BOV along with a Profec B prior to tuning, so I'll have more data in the near future.
As for parts, the key components included are: TPC fabricated Manifolds, & connecting pipes (slip-fit, no cats), generic stainless muffler, turbo (CT-520... whatever that means), oil feed/return lines & AN fittings, "motorsport" injectors (60lb), generic heat exchanger (although TPC denies including this part for some reason), A/W intercooler (looks to be custom made), MAF, generic 4-bolt wastegate (looks to be 40mm) and various hoses/couplings/clamps
There was no BOV, but I've actually just purchased all the parts I need to add a recirculated Greddy FV to the system. I can't imagine all that compressor surge is great for the generic turbocharger.
I believe I mis-spoke when I indicated it was running 6psi. I don't have a boost gauge in the car currently, so I'm not sure what it's making. I've recently seen evidence that the kits push more like 3.5-4psi out of the box. I'll be installing the BOV along with a Profec B prior to tuning, so I'll have more data in the near future.
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#13
08-19-2017, 08:12 AM
Good thing you are someone who seems to know what they're doing so you could get this worked out and installed properly and welcome to the aftermarket forced induction club (mine's supercharged).
I'm surprised about the comments on TPC though, since I've had a completely different experience with Tom and others on their DSC product. Their DSC posts into the forum are also very responsive and thorough, but maybe that's what they're focusing on these days rather than the turbo kits.
I'm curious though how they're getting the intake air volume and air temperature data into the DME and then doing fuel and engine management. For proper parameter reporting, you want the air for is data from the MAF to get analyzed at ambient intake temperature but you need the air temp data to get reported after compression by the turbo since compressing air raises the temperature. On my RUF car, they replace the normal NA DME with one from a TT so they have the parameter adjustability for fuel trim to account for forced induction differences across the complete rev range - parameters such as intake air temp at the intake manifold just before entering the motor, manifold pressure/boost, etc - and other parameters that aren't available from the DME on a NA car. They use a different MAF to get values in the range they're looking for, but clip the air temp sensors from the MAF wiring harness and tie those into a threaded in air temp sensor that's in the custom intake manifold. As you have been, I'd be very careful at higher RPMs and heavy engine load conditions (i.e. a spirited drive up a mountain under full boost at 5-6k rpm) until you can track live values for mixture, fuel trim, timing, etc on both banks. Also, is the OEM knock sensor tied into the wastegate or boost controller in some way so that if detonation is sensed, it can immediately eliminate boost pressure and retard timing? Not trying to freak you out, but really am just curious how other add on forced induction kits and companies have handled engine management.
From an exhaust sound perspective, with my supercharger setup I have a Fabspeed J-Pipe intake and their full valvetronic exhaust system (headers, 200 cell x-cats, and valved mufflers) and the car sounds phenomenal, especially at high rpm.
Here are a couple quick drive-bys of mine
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VMJ_NLjjJNw
Looks like some exhaust updates might be next on your list
I'm surprised about the comments on TPC though, since I've had a completely different experience with Tom and others on their DSC product. Their DSC posts into the forum are also very responsive and thorough, but maybe that's what they're focusing on these days rather than the turbo kits.
I'm curious though how they're getting the intake air volume and air temperature data into the DME and then doing fuel and engine management. For proper parameter reporting, you want the air for is data from the MAF to get analyzed at ambient intake temperature but you need the air temp data to get reported after compression by the turbo since compressing air raises the temperature. On my RUF car, they replace the normal NA DME with one from a TT so they have the parameter adjustability for fuel trim to account for forced induction differences across the complete rev range - parameters such as intake air temp at the intake manifold just before entering the motor, manifold pressure/boost, etc - and other parameters that aren't available from the DME on a NA car. They use a different MAF to get values in the range they're looking for, but clip the air temp sensors from the MAF wiring harness and tie those into a threaded in air temp sensor that's in the custom intake manifold. As you have been, I'd be very careful at higher RPMs and heavy engine load conditions (i.e. a spirited drive up a mountain under full boost at 5-6k rpm) until you can track live values for mixture, fuel trim, timing, etc on both banks. Also, is the OEM knock sensor tied into the wastegate or boost controller in some way so that if detonation is sensed, it can immediately eliminate boost pressure and retard timing? Not trying to freak you out, but really am just curious how other add on forced induction kits and companies have handled engine management.
From an exhaust sound perspective, with my supercharger setup I have a Fabspeed J-Pipe intake and their full valvetronic exhaust system (headers, 200 cell x-cats, and valved mufflers) and the car sounds phenomenal, especially at high rpm.
Here are a couple quick drive-bys of mine
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VMJ_NLjjJNw
Looks like some exhaust updates might be next on your list
#14
08-21-2017, 08:10 AM
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Austin, TX
Age: 41
Posts: 50
Rep Power: 0
Trust me, I was also surprised by the poor support from TPC. I did my research and looked at how they responded to users on various forums prior to purchasing. What I saw at that time and what I experience directly were very different.
Unfortunately I can't speak to the specifics on how TPC adjusts the tune to accommodate for the turbo. All I know is that I had to send the ECU in to them for a reflash. I'll be digging into these details in the near future.
Your car sounds great! I'm jealous. I'm working on plans for a new exhaust setup currently, but it will be a while before I get around to making those adjustments.
Unfortunately I can't speak to the specifics on how TPC adjusts the tune to accommodate for the turbo. All I know is that I had to send the ECU in to them for a reflash. I'll be digging into these details in the near future.
Your car sounds great! I'm jealous. I'm working on plans for a new exhaust setup currently, but it will be a while before I get around to making those adjustments.
