RajDatta

I recently drove a friend's 968 coupe and its completely stock. No mods what so ever, standard 16 inch wheels and all.
I walked away very impressed in how nice a stock 968 drives. It really put a lot of things in prespective and I could see how our cars are amazing cruisers.
I have a new found respect for what Porsche was able to achieve on the 968 and wonder how some of our mods take away from this "niceness".
Please feel free to share your experiences and your current mods.
Thanks.
Raj

potent951turbo

This should be an interesting thread since I am going to be in the market for a 100% stock 968 in the next couple of months. Seems like everyone wants to immediately do a turbo conversion to their 968.

While I admire the cleanly done turbo conversions, a stock 968 is a beautiful thing IMHO.

SpeedBump

I'm going out on a limb to say very few forum members are bone stock. Holes in airbox, exhaust, wheels, suspension, and chip mods leading the way. I'm leaving out stereo changes. I'm sure there are a lot of stock ones belonging to non members of any Porsche forum.

Jeff may be one of the few exceptions to this.

Damian in NJ

There are many out there; however the owners don't know Rennlist from Ritz Crackers.

Darryl92Cab

My car is completely stock EXCEPT for a K&N air filter...it was already installed when I purchased the car. I've been meaning to drill the airbox, but haven't even done that yet. I've done some audio stuff but did it in a manner that retained a stock look using all of the stock speaker locations. So, like Mark, I wouldn't think audio mods actually count for the purposes of this thread.

I do have stuff planned, but lack of time forces me to postpone. Of course, lack of time translates into not wanting to spend the cash since I wouldn't be able to enjoy it anyway. Hopefully that will change in the coming months so I can drive the car more. Echoing Raj's comments though, I too am always impressed each and every time I drive the 968 at the job Porsche was able to do engineering and development wise with this car. Add chips, suspension, engine goodies, etc. and it becomes quite a beast for a little front engined 4 banger. Can't wait to slide down the slippery mod slope!

- Darryl

AaronR968

My Car is completely stock. I bought it in April and just haven't saved enough money to upgrade what I want.

RajDatta

Well, what I am trying to get at is, enjoy your cars if they are stock. Once you start going down that mod path, something gets lost. It is just not as refined. Each mod takes away a little bit of refinement that probably took Porsche Engineers months to perfect.
There are days I want to totally revert my car back to stock. Maybe its a coupe and a cab thing but I was very impressed with a completely stock 968 coupe.
My cab only has a few mods, just the airbox on the engine side. I do have a few suspension mods like CS Springs, M474 struts and shocks and M030 swaybars on all 4 corners and ofcourse the 18 inch wheels.
Raj

SpeedBump

Not a fan of the stock shifter, suspension on the cab or the exhaust note. If my wife's cab had the 944racing short shifter it would be pretty much perfect for her after M030 sways, exhaust and chip. Still refined but better. Of course we do not have to worry about giving a warranty on anything which always forces some compromise on the manufacturer. I'm sure a nice stock M030 coupe would be nice though.

AaronR968

I wish my car was less refined! In my 86 951 I had a test pipe and loved the sound of that, haven't found the right exhaust for this car yet. Also want to run a full KW variant suspension set up. M030 sway bars and sport seats. Chip and Air box are in the near future as well as new wider wheels.

StewHatch

My '93 (LSD) is stock except for a K & N air filter. My plans are to improve the suspension and brakes for now. Replacement OEM bushings are better quality parts these days then they were 15 yrs ago, and that alone could prove to be a slight improvement - IMO. I would like to upgrade to 17" rims only to allow for a fresh set of Michelin P-Sports. Better brake rotors + pads and Koni's should round the car off nicely. Maybe in 1-2 years an engine rebuild to stock specs, and some minor body work will turn her into a nice original example with favorable upgrades. Is it really worth a switch to M030 sways for a weekend driver? I'm not so sure. The car already has more ability than I have skill. I'd love to attend a few DE events to see just how inept I actually am. I hear so many conflicting reports on the merits of cat back exh systems - from minor hp increases to actually LOSING power to gain a "better" sound. I think that $800 is better spent somewhere else on the car. My $0.02

SpeedBump

On my wife's cab it was the single biggest improvement we did, the wife and I thought the suspension needed to be replaced until that was done. I can't speak to the coupes as I have only been in modified ones.
It sounds like (no pun intended) that for you that would be $800 or whatever they cost better spent elsewhere. Drilling holes in the air box will actually give it a little better sound without the cat back.

PorscheDude1

The cat back not only changes the sound, it also drops some significant weight.

StewHatch

Really? Perhaps the $800 would be better spent on the upgraded sway bars. Thanks so much - this is exactly what I'm looking for. That advice carries a lot of merit coming from this site and I will take that into consideration. Is it possible to make that single upgrade for that amount of money & can a weekend wrench install new sway bars on his own w/o too much difficulty? Obviously the bushings would be renewed as well. How commercially available are M030 sway bars or is there an aftermarket alternative that is comparable should genuine parts be hard to obtain? Seems like a far more practical improvement vs what sounds like (pun intended) an exhaust embellishment. I've read the info on the airbox mod, but I can't help wondering if water would somehow get ingested into the intake system. Has anyone ever seen this happen? When I say the exh is an "embellishment", that isn't to downplay that type of system, it just isn't something that would work for me. I think the Germans knew what they were doing when they designed these cars and didn't leave a lot of room for improvement. But I could be wrong. I don't have the same knowledge as most of you do & I welcome / appreciate all the advice received on this site.

StewHatch

I never considered the weight advantage. If you had to choose between exh or upgraded sway bars which would improvement would yield the greatest return?

SpeedBump

The weight loss with the exhaust is significant but if you are happy with the sound and performance of your car now but want to tighten up the feel than I would say the sways would be the better move, M030 sways should not be hard to find. I'll let the actual wrenchers give you a real answer to your other question but I would say yes a weekend wrencher could do it. if I don't have a lift to put the car on my many past broken bones let me know it. The weight loss with the exhaust is significant.

Raj,
Did we take this far enough off topic for you yet?