3.2 Owner, requiring advice on performance
 

Hi, I currently have an April 1989 3.2 Carerra, with original books.

I have had the car for 8 - 9 years (third owner from new), it's travelled a genuine 110,000 km and love it madly. It is basically stock, except for 7" wheels up front and a hollow cat pipe. Otherwise, the car is standard, and beautiful in all aspects, in fact it's a 9.5 out of 10. I'm a hard marker.

Colour is Grand prix white with white linen leather interior. Genuine factory delivered Australian car, hence right hand drive.

I also have 3 other performance cars, two muscle cars and a Japanese performance car.

I was wonder if anyone can advise me of what I could do to, well in simple terms make my 3.2 go noticeable quicker. Say 20- 30 more power and torque. However still be reliable for road use, maintain a standard look and be of reasonable value for the mods.

I understand I could sell the car and for 20k's or so more possibly get a later 993. however I really like the 3.2 and also because I know the history of this vehicle I would prefer to keep this car.

I dont want to butcher the car, I just want more performance, sorry if it upsets some of you purist. I am trying to be methodical and careful because it's a beautiful machine. Thank you.

Welcome! An absolutely fantastic car, and interesting given the right-hand-drive!

First and foremost... Pics are a must!

For 20-30 more hp, I would recommend (and I think many would agree) that SSI heat exchangers, a sport muffler, and a steve wong chip will get you where you want to be.

The best part is, you don't have to change the look of the car at all, and reliability won't be affected either.

Porsche0nut,

Thanks for your input. Why are you surprised that it's RH drive, all Australian delivered cars are RH.
It may of helped if I stated I was from Sydney Australia. Also, the low K's are because I work in Asia for most of the year, and hence I only do 500 - 700 k's per year.

This Steve Wong chip your recommending. have you used one in your car?
Okay I will put pics up (when I work out how).

Cheers.

From what i understand,SSI's don't do much for a 3.2 engine due to their restrictive 1 1/2 inch pipe diameter,a better bet would be for a set of 1 5/8 headers along with a SW chip and sport exaust.

Go do some searching on the Pelican 911 forums,lots of reading regarding performance upgrades !
Enjoy your new car :)

Forgot to mention,lots of knowledgeable Aussie members on the Pelican forums !!!

Cheers !
Phil

I have all of these mods on my 3.2 The biggest bang for the buck is the chip change.

have you ever considered going to a DE or HPDE event ?

for me that was the biggest HP increasing upgrade for my car - kept it stock, learned to drive much better - I hit maybe like 20+ track days last year and my car puts 199.8 to the ground - somehow the car got faster and faster and faster

Certainly driver's ed/track time will show you how to extract the most from your car-in stock form, they are simply awesome.

I went through what you are asking in stages. I saw a nice bump with B&B 1 5/8" headers, and a Wong chip setup for 93 octane. This will be the cheapest and easiest HP you will find and buy.

I then added brakes and upgraded the suspension. It was a great ride.

From here, it gets expensive. I then added cams, 3.4L/98mm Mahle high compression pistons and cyls, as well as twin plug, and a different Wong chip. That was expensive, but popped HP up about 30hp at the wheels, with a nice tq curve. With the cost of me rebuilding the motor, and replacing a lot of parts, I'd venture to say that I had $18k in that project, with my labor. My guess is having a shop do the build would've added $3-3.5k. It was an experience I'd never trade or regret. :thumbup:

Not surprised about the RH drive given Australian, just interested as personally I don't see nearly as many as LHD! (acutually never seen a RHD 911 in person).

I have not yet done the mods above, I suggested them based on my research. Those are what I have planned for next spring. There are certainly lots of people on this board with more knowledge than myself! Hopefully hearing all our different viewpoints on the topic will help you decide what is right for you.

I stand corrected - a quick google search for B&B's website has taught me that they manufacture a variety of header sizes with and without heat exchangers! More to choose from is always a good thing, I was wrong in limiting my suggestion to SSI's.

I suggest the exhaust system before or with the wong chip because his chips are designed specific to your setup... so if you do the chip first, you'll need a new/re-programmed chip if/when you upgrade the exhaust system. I also think that an upgraded exhaust gives the chip more to work with and would produce greater results.

there was a huge "fight" about chips by Steve himself and another very respected contributor on these forums about the effectiveness and value of chips - it was real ugly IMO - both ended up calling each other liars

I didnt like it but with some searching you could find it and read for yourself - might have been on that "other forum"

Porsche didnt leave gobs of cheap horsepower hiding behind an air filter or secret switch tucked under the dash :D

another great idea for finding HP is having someone else drive your car - you might be really really surprised - really really !!

Not wanting to re-start the chip wars but I will say this definitively, I felt greatly improved throttle response at the low end with the Steve Wong chip immediately. I cannot say how much (if any) additional hp but it feels great and it was a simple install. You can stage your mods by ordering the SW chip for freeflow exhaust and using it with your stock exhaust until you decide on the type and brand of exhaust you want. Search the forums for M&K, Dansk, etc.

Thank you all thus far, your input is really appreciated. That said please don't stop as the more info the better. Basically you guys have narrowed it down for me in that the chip and exhaust is the way to go both economically and bang for your bucks.
I will look up the Chips. It appears you guys have a preference for SW chip?

Again thank you, and I'll keep looking for info please feel free to advise.

You can't advance the distributor timing on a 3.2, except via the chip. If you are mindful of octane, operating temp, etc-to avoid pre-detonation, a chip can and does up the HP moderately.

Read here: https://rennlist.com/forums/911-foru...-the-myth.html

... don't bother. That was a wasted hour of my life I'll never get back. Also why Caferacer above said "... not wanting to restart the chip wars...".

Loren has a personal vendetta against the SW Chips, take everything he says with a "grain" of salt.

The ultimate performance gain would be to get a good exaust system,purchase a chip from any of your favorite vendors then bring your car for a dyno session and get everything fine tuned as per YOUR particular car ...

I have the 1 5/8 headers,sport muffler,SW chip on my car but after i drop my engine to install a Kennedy lightweight pressure plate and Clewet billet single fan pulley over the Winter my car is going on the dyno for a custom "remap" of my existing chip !
There's always some HP on the table for a good dyno session as each car is different and generic chips work differently for each application !

Just sayin ...

Cheers !
Phil