Must have 997 GT3/RS Upgrades
10-11-2012, 10:20 PM
#1
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
Must have 997 GT3/RS Upgrades
I’m on a flight back from Albuquerque so here’s to killing some time on the topic of must-have upgrades for the 997 GT3. I’ll start with my own opinions but I’m interested to hear other opinions, especially for upgrades I have not covered. I’m going to ignore cost here because what’s expensive for me might not be expensive for you, and vice-a-versa.
Offering my opinions here and also very interested to hear other thoughts.
For the Street and/or Track.
Exhaust. I’ve said it many times in person and on forums, but exhaust is a must-have upgrade for me. It really adds to the experience of driving at any speed. As it turns out, I just happened to read the article “Slow dancing” in the current issues of Motor Trend which talks about the increasing importance of making high-performance cars fun to drive at any speed. For me, sound is a big part of that and an aftermarket exhaust really makes the n/a flat-6 come alive. I went w/ the full akra because it adds perf to back the increased sound level (~50 lbs out of rear, +17 rwhp). Whether you the sound or not is a matter of opinion, but I’m constantly approached by people at the track letting me know how great my car sounds. There are a couple of downsides. The full akra gives you the benefit of loudness control via the sport button, but heat generated from tracking the car has already (<10 track days) resulted in 1 exhaust valve actuator needing to be replaced (probably due to heat) and a broken actuator valve itself (the metal throttle-body-like valve broke in half). The side-mufflers are also very close to the rear tires (presumably true for OE exhaust as well but I have not measured) which leads to some head-soaking into the tire once pitted. I have a theory that this may have contributed to a tire de-lamination issue I recently experienced and that I will not get into here. For the future, I am going to run with the Akra bypass pipes for the track season (more reliability, even less weight) and then run w/ the side-mufflers in the off season (Nov-April for Seattle area driving events). The other downside of a louder exhaust is you need to be thoughtful of sound restrictions for tracks driven. Even the OE RS exhaust is at or near the limit for tracks like Laguna / Mazda, so I wouldn’t stand a chance. My hometown track (Pacific) also has quiet days for which I am probably at risk of being meatballed. The high-flo cats will trigger a CEL so I had the EVOMS tune applied primarily to suppress CEL for O2 sensor error.
Sound-deadening (for the RS): For those of you who want to beat on me over this, save your breath. If you're so good that +8lbs is going to make a noticeable difference in lap times then my hats off to you. For the rest, if you plan to use your car for anything but driving to / from the track I recommend this for the 997.2 GT3RS (perhaps gen 1 cars as well but I have no first-hand experience driving one). Opinions on this are all over the map, but it really depends on road surface construction / condition. Like most anyplace, road conditions in the Seattle area and on several roads (esp. back roads) the RS w/ MPSCs can generate sufficient road noise that carrying on a normal conversation with passenger can be very difficult. I was warned of this BEFORE I purchased my RS and consulted w/ Cantrell prior to purchase (he had done it for other customers so I’m not the only one – just willing to admit it). For about 8lbs of added weight, he applies sound deadening material to the floorboard and wheel arches. Subjectively, it cut sound level by about 30%. Still loud w/ the MPSCs but it makes the difference between being able to have a conversation versus not on rougher roads. Having said all this, a bigger impact to lowering road noise was switching to Trofeo’s but they hadn’t been available yet at the time I had the sound deadening material added. If you plan to switch to Trofeo’s you may want to do that first before opting for sound deadening if you’d like to hear less road noise.
Michelin Pilot Super Sports (MPSS): I haven’t tried them yet, but am ordering a set for the off season now that they offer factory sizing for the 997.2 GT3RS. I haven’t had any issues in the rain w/ the MPSC as of yet (again daily driver and I live in Seattle area) but MPSS is clearly a better way to go or daily use (longer longevity, deeper / more tread pattern) and the R-compound tires are overkill (nor optimized) for street-use.
For the track:
In general, my philosophy on track-related upgrades is anything safety or “fixing” anything that interferes with my driving. No doubt I’ll sprint for a set of high-end dampers at some point but not until I feel like I’ve gotten everything I can out of my car as is, and I know it has plenty more to give than I’m getting out of it.
Roll-bar / Harness: I did my first few track days this year without a rollbar or harness. Having previously raced (amateur level) the feeling I had w/ just OEM belts is similar to the feeling most of us would (hopefully) have if we undid our seatbelts while driving down the highway. In other words, I felt very exposed and irresponsible. (No offence met here to others who might drive without a bar, just conveying how I felt and am not preaching). Even a bar is not a full cage, so I’m less inclined to hang it out like I would my racecar (and the fact that it’s my expensive daily, not my take-a-beating, stuff-and-repair racecar) but, again, it’s my daily so a cage it out and a bar is a good compromise IMO. Of course, if safety is not sufficient motivation, having a harness so that you don’t need to hang on to the steering wheel in the turns will yield some slightly better lap times. -- about 0.5 seconds for me which is less than often quoted for a harness but the RS seats are pretty supportive so less hanging on than in a non-bucket seat.
Pedals: The OE pedal arrangement made it very difficult for me execute proper down-shifts. Even with the Rennline pedals (incl. throttle extension) I had to reach for the throttle to blip when hard on brakes and blipping for down-shift. It felt like my foot was falling between the pedals (which of course it was not) and I even tried my bigger Piloti’s as opposed to my driving shoes to see if they helped, which they did not. It really affected my driving for the worse and every downshift was a conscious act so it became my top priority to fix. I consulted with Colin (from Cantrell Motorsports). I wanted the relative position of the throttle to come closer to the brake pedal when hard on brakes, and the throttle was already as far out as it was going to come. Colin was able to lower the brake pedal through a simple, low-cost adjustment which provided the arrangement that I was seeking. The pedal arrangement is now perfect (for me) and troublesome downshifts are now a thing of the past.
Cup-car Cables: Overall, I think the OE shifter is pretty good. However, once I started tracking my car I started running into minor issues w/ gear selection, especially in situations involving lateral loads. The 2->3 gear select issue is a frequent complaint that I was seeing as well. Also on downshift from 5->4 under hard braking. Based on what others were saying and in discussing w/ Colin, I opted to have cupcar cables installed. I had “felt” the cables working in other customer cars and, frankly, I could not tell much of a difference without driving the car but I took it on faith that this would be a good upgrade as they’re not very expensive. I also had the CMS short shifter installed. I don’t typically like short shifters but the CMS shifter extends the “hardness” of the shift linkages all the way up to the shifter itself replacing plastic components w/ hardened metal parts. After the job was done, the Cantrell folks were excited to have me jump in the car and feel the new shifter while the job was getting finished-up. Unlike the cable-only upgrade which presumably needs to be driven to be appreciated there was a radical improvement in shifter feel and engagement even while the car was static. On the track it took a session for my brain to reprogram to the new shifter because of its shorter throw and more precise / positive engagement after which I fell in love with the new setup. I cannot say that it completely eliminated the 2->3 issue for me. On hard acceleration out a slow turn I’m still run into issues w/ grabbing 3rd. I have a theory that his may have to do w/ needing firmer tranny mounts because issue I’m seeing now is limited only to on straights and 2nd is high torque to wheels so I’m going to have Colin replace the rubber tranny mounts w/ urethane ones to see if that addresses the issue. (Keeping fingers crossed.) If considering cup car cables, consider yourself forewarned that more noise will be transmitted into the cabin. For the RS (or 3s w/ LWFW), the rattling noise that you already hear is amplified by about 2x (subjectively, not measured) and you’ll also hear the noise on light deceleration (at about the level that it was in idle before cup car cables). So I can see this being an issue for some people.
LWFW (for non-RS cars): For non-RS cars, the RS lightweight flywheel (LWFW) is a great upgrade that will speed-up your downshifts and rev-matching. On my previous car (non-RS) I was disappointed with revability of the OE flywheel and swapped in the RS LWFW & pressure plate which made got the car to where I was OK with it. (Still not near as good as the Audi RS4 which I had become accustomed to at the time.) For me, LWFW was a must have if for no other reason than driving enjoyment on the street and certainly if to be driven on the track. If upgrading to LWFW, be forewarned that you’ll get some gearbox chatter transmitted into the cabin. Also be sure to install the proper pulley for the belts else it will fall off after some time, potentially leading to engine damage. There are plenty of posts on this, including one from me on the 6speed forum.
-Roland.
Offering my opinions here and also very interested to hear other thoughts.
For the Street and/or Track.
Exhaust. I’ve said it many times in person and on forums, but exhaust is a must-have upgrade for me. It really adds to the experience of driving at any speed. As it turns out, I just happened to read the article “Slow dancing” in the current issues of Motor Trend which talks about the increasing importance of making high-performance cars fun to drive at any speed. For me, sound is a big part of that and an aftermarket exhaust really makes the n/a flat-6 come alive. I went w/ the full akra because it adds perf to back the increased sound level (~50 lbs out of rear, +17 rwhp). Whether you the sound or not is a matter of opinion, but I’m constantly approached by people at the track letting me know how great my car sounds. There are a couple of downsides. The full akra gives you the benefit of loudness control via the sport button, but heat generated from tracking the car has already (<10 track days) resulted in 1 exhaust valve actuator needing to be replaced (probably due to heat) and a broken actuator valve itself (the metal throttle-body-like valve broke in half). The side-mufflers are also very close to the rear tires (presumably true for OE exhaust as well but I have not measured) which leads to some head-soaking into the tire once pitted. I have a theory that this may have contributed to a tire de-lamination issue I recently experienced and that I will not get into here. For the future, I am going to run with the Akra bypass pipes for the track season (more reliability, even less weight) and then run w/ the side-mufflers in the off season (Nov-April for Seattle area driving events). The other downside of a louder exhaust is you need to be thoughtful of sound restrictions for tracks driven. Even the OE RS exhaust is at or near the limit for tracks like Laguna / Mazda, so I wouldn’t stand a chance. My hometown track (Pacific) also has quiet days for which I am probably at risk of being meatballed. The high-flo cats will trigger a CEL so I had the EVOMS tune applied primarily to suppress CEL for O2 sensor error.
Sound-deadening (for the RS): For those of you who want to beat on me over this, save your breath. If you're so good that +8lbs is going to make a noticeable difference in lap times then my hats off to you. For the rest, if you plan to use your car for anything but driving to / from the track I recommend this for the 997.2 GT3RS (perhaps gen 1 cars as well but I have no first-hand experience driving one). Opinions on this are all over the map, but it really depends on road surface construction / condition. Like most anyplace, road conditions in the Seattle area and on several roads (esp. back roads) the RS w/ MPSCs can generate sufficient road noise that carrying on a normal conversation with passenger can be very difficult. I was warned of this BEFORE I purchased my RS and consulted w/ Cantrell prior to purchase (he had done it for other customers so I’m not the only one – just willing to admit it). For about 8lbs of added weight, he applies sound deadening material to the floorboard and wheel arches. Subjectively, it cut sound level by about 30%. Still loud w/ the MPSCs but it makes the difference between being able to have a conversation versus not on rougher roads. Having said all this, a bigger impact to lowering road noise was switching to Trofeo’s but they hadn’t been available yet at the time I had the sound deadening material added. If you plan to switch to Trofeo’s you may want to do that first before opting for sound deadening if you’d like to hear less road noise.
Michelin Pilot Super Sports (MPSS): I haven’t tried them yet, but am ordering a set for the off season now that they offer factory sizing for the 997.2 GT3RS. I haven’t had any issues in the rain w/ the MPSC as of yet (again daily driver and I live in Seattle area) but MPSS is clearly a better way to go or daily use (longer longevity, deeper / more tread pattern) and the R-compound tires are overkill (nor optimized) for street-use.
For the track:
In general, my philosophy on track-related upgrades is anything safety or “fixing” anything that interferes with my driving. No doubt I’ll sprint for a set of high-end dampers at some point but not until I feel like I’ve gotten everything I can out of my car as is, and I know it has plenty more to give than I’m getting out of it.
Roll-bar / Harness: I did my first few track days this year without a rollbar or harness. Having previously raced (amateur level) the feeling I had w/ just OEM belts is similar to the feeling most of us would (hopefully) have if we undid our seatbelts while driving down the highway. In other words, I felt very exposed and irresponsible. (No offence met here to others who might drive without a bar, just conveying how I felt and am not preaching). Even a bar is not a full cage, so I’m less inclined to hang it out like I would my racecar (and the fact that it’s my expensive daily, not my take-a-beating, stuff-and-repair racecar) but, again, it’s my daily so a cage it out and a bar is a good compromise IMO. Of course, if safety is not sufficient motivation, having a harness so that you don’t need to hang on to the steering wheel in the turns will yield some slightly better lap times. -- about 0.5 seconds for me which is less than often quoted for a harness but the RS seats are pretty supportive so less hanging on than in a non-bucket seat.
Pedals: The OE pedal arrangement made it very difficult for me execute proper down-shifts. Even with the Rennline pedals (incl. throttle extension) I had to reach for the throttle to blip when hard on brakes and blipping for down-shift. It felt like my foot was falling between the pedals (which of course it was not) and I even tried my bigger Piloti’s as opposed to my driving shoes to see if they helped, which they did not. It really affected my driving for the worse and every downshift was a conscious act so it became my top priority to fix. I consulted with Colin (from Cantrell Motorsports). I wanted the relative position of the throttle to come closer to the brake pedal when hard on brakes, and the throttle was already as far out as it was going to come. Colin was able to lower the brake pedal through a simple, low-cost adjustment which provided the arrangement that I was seeking. The pedal arrangement is now perfect (for me) and troublesome downshifts are now a thing of the past.
Cup-car Cables: Overall, I think the OE shifter is pretty good. However, once I started tracking my car I started running into minor issues w/ gear selection, especially in situations involving lateral loads. The 2->3 gear select issue is a frequent complaint that I was seeing as well. Also on downshift from 5->4 under hard braking. Based on what others were saying and in discussing w/ Colin, I opted to have cupcar cables installed. I had “felt” the cables working in other customer cars and, frankly, I could not tell much of a difference without driving the car but I took it on faith that this would be a good upgrade as they’re not very expensive. I also had the CMS short shifter installed. I don’t typically like short shifters but the CMS shifter extends the “hardness” of the shift linkages all the way up to the shifter itself replacing plastic components w/ hardened metal parts. After the job was done, the Cantrell folks were excited to have me jump in the car and feel the new shifter while the job was getting finished-up. Unlike the cable-only upgrade which presumably needs to be driven to be appreciated there was a radical improvement in shifter feel and engagement even while the car was static. On the track it took a session for my brain to reprogram to the new shifter because of its shorter throw and more precise / positive engagement after which I fell in love with the new setup. I cannot say that it completely eliminated the 2->3 issue for me. On hard acceleration out a slow turn I’m still run into issues w/ grabbing 3rd. I have a theory that his may have to do w/ needing firmer tranny mounts because issue I’m seeing now is limited only to on straights and 2nd is high torque to wheels so I’m going to have Colin replace the rubber tranny mounts w/ urethane ones to see if that addresses the issue. (Keeping fingers crossed.) If considering cup car cables, consider yourself forewarned that more noise will be transmitted into the cabin. For the RS (or 3s w/ LWFW), the rattling noise that you already hear is amplified by about 2x (subjectively, not measured) and you’ll also hear the noise on light deceleration (at about the level that it was in idle before cup car cables). So I can see this being an issue for some people.
LWFW (for non-RS cars): For non-RS cars, the RS lightweight flywheel (LWFW) is a great upgrade that will speed-up your downshifts and rev-matching. On my previous car (non-RS) I was disappointed with revability of the OE flywheel and swapped in the RS LWFW & pressure plate which made got the car to where I was OK with it. (Still not near as good as the Audi RS4 which I had become accustomed to at the time.) For me, LWFW was a must have if for no other reason than driving enjoyment on the street and certainly if to be driven on the track. If upgrading to LWFW, be forewarned that you’ll get some gearbox chatter transmitted into the cabin. Also be sure to install the proper pulley for the belts else it will fall off after some time, potentially leading to engine damage. There are plenty of posts on this, including one from me on the 6speed forum.
-Roland.
10-12-2012, 12:31 AM
#3
Admin
Lifetime Rennlist
Member
Lifetime Rennlist
Member
Moved..
MUST haves.. ? Well..Safety gear for the track..belts, seats, roll bar and a H&N support.
A good alignment , a functional LSD, solid rear toe links and the GT2 rear sway for the 7.1.
MUST haves.. ? Well..Safety gear for the track..belts, seats, roll bar and a H&N support.
A good alignment , a functional LSD, solid rear toe links and the GT2 rear sway for the 7.1.
10-12-2012, 01:02 AM
#4
Burning Brakes
10-12-2012, 01:06 AM
#5
GT3 player par excellence
Lifetime Rennlist
Member
Lifetime Rennlist
Member
safety that's it.
exhaust good for sound.
sound deadening? i thought my cup car was way too quiet and so is my RS.
pedal arrangement, that's personal issue. i love the oem spacing.
lwfw. again personal pref. i felt zero benefit on my cars.
LSD..... the drug is good, the thing on the car... well, i dont really care for it.
exhaust good for sound.
sound deadening? i thought my cup car was way too quiet and so is my RS.
pedal arrangement, that's personal issue. i love the oem spacing.
lwfw. again personal pref. i felt zero benefit on my cars.
LSD..... the drug is good, the thing on the car... well, i dont really care for it.
Trending Topics
10-12-2012, 02:50 AM
#8
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
Get a 6 cup shift box
10-12-2012, 03:51 AM
#9
Roland, agreed on the exhaust and sound deadening. Unlike some that can afford to just track their RS, I, like you, purchased the car to drive on the street. I'm doing the deadening myself and will update all. I'm on MPSS in the back and Nitto Invo's in the front. The MPSS on my M5 are whisper quiet and on the RS, not so much, so I'm sure that the deadening will help a bunch. I'm not so good as to be able to tell the difference in driving dynamics.
I have cup cables and can't comment and Wevo engine mounts so shifts are very positive. The CMS shifter is interesting, will have to talk to Colin about that..., and pedals I haven't had the issues your having, but I'm also not as fast as you!
I was going to go out for a drive and record the levels in the car before and after deadening on the same roads to see if I have something to quantify the effort! (i'll be doing it myself!)
I have cup cables and can't comment and Wevo engine mounts so shifts are very positive. The CMS shifter is interesting, will have to talk to Colin about that..., and pedals I haven't had the issues your having, but I'm also not as fast as you!
I was going to go out for a drive and record the levels in the car before and after deadening on the same roads to see if I have something to quantify the effort! (i'll be doing it myself!)
10-12-2012, 04:03 AM
#10
Rennlist Member
Having tried Mooty's cupcables and 6cup shifter box it was well mated. Never had to think about shifting it. If any shorter then what the 6cup shifter box offers I be thinking about it. Op already mentioned that. Wouldn't like it at all. Mike
10-12-2012, 07:17 AM
#12
Rennlist Member
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Somewhere in a galaxy far, far away....
Posts: 17,106
Likes: 0
Received 256 Likes
on
172 Posts
take a look at my signature for mods....... 
For street use, MPSS tires and an exhaust is fun. Cup shifter cables are also nice to replace worn OEM.
Sound deadening in a non RS is fine but not for RS. Same goes for audio upgrading RS IMHO. This is why they make the GTS and Turbo...
For track, Seats, bar and harness are the first step. Then rear toe links and then LSD. Car is now perfectly capable.
Everything else (pedals, suspension, LWFW, etc) is just luxury.
For street use, MPSS tires and an exhaust is fun. Cup shifter cables are also nice to replace worn OEM.
Sound deadening in a non RS is fine but not for RS. Same goes for audio upgrading RS IMHO. This is why they make the GTS and Turbo...
For track, Seats, bar and harness are the first step. Then rear toe links and then LSD. Car is now perfectly capable.
Everything else (pedals, suspension, LWFW, etc) is just luxury.
10-12-2012, 09:07 AM
#13
Rennlist Member
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Wishing I Was At The Track
Posts: 13,516
Received 1,727 Likes
on
914 Posts
Cup-car Cables: acceleration out a slow turn I’m still run into issues w/ grabbing 3rd. I have a theory that his may have to do w/ needing firmer tranny mounts because issue I’m seeing now is limited only to on straights and 2nd is high torque to wheels so I’m going to have Colin replace the rubber tranny mounts w/ urethane ones to see if that addresses the issue. (Keeping fingers crossed.)
10-12-2012, 10:08 AM
#14
Rennlist Member
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: In a van down by the Ottawa River ...
Posts: 4,132
Received 460 Likes
on
257 Posts
Went with a 996 Cup transmission (for shorter gearing) with stock GT3 cables and shifter and the 2-3 shift problem vanished...
Recently added the cup cables, and cabin noise has definitely increased but shifting is the best it's been!!
10-12-2012, 10:09 AM
#15
