Gbboenda

10.8% increase peak WHP, TQ significantly flattened out (dotted line is base)







Sorry for the sloppy application of my #16 Road Atlanta tag







My other garage queen, couldn't resist, this pic will most likely get me banned - wrong make vehicle (-;

So, fellow Rennlisters, Happy New Year. I have been lurking around the forum and benefitted from your combined wisdom in here. About time that I contribute, hence, this write-up. During the holiday period I used the time “wisely” and decided to add some go-faster bits to my car while being a little scientific about it; before/after dyno runs to document result - more below.

This is my first P-car after having spent time on the BMW scene where I have owned or driven most of the line-up during the past 20 years (still hanging on to my mint 25k mls e46 M3 Dinan which seems to hit a weak spot- that NA S54 engine! – story for a different forum )

I picked up my 987.2 Spyder from a fellow Rennlister summer 2015 - drawn by its light agility and sharp reflexes. About the car,

• 2011 Carrara White 987.2 Spyder, 14k mls
• LWB
• PSE
• PCCB (added after I got it…crazy, I know, fell over too good a deal while traveling in Germany…) Thread on conversion here: https://rennlist.com/forums/987-981-...cb-vs-red.html
• 6 speed manual, sport shifter
• Spyder Interior Alcantara package with GT3 wheel and engraved handbrake
• Instrument dials Carrara White
• Sport Chrono
• Bi-Xenon
• A/C
• Half clear bra added to hood, fenders and mirrors
• …and some other misc. bits and pieces.
• Ideal spec 987.2 Spyder if you ask me

And, boy, has it delivered! I love the nimbleness and level of control the car offers as a great weekend driver that also sees occasional track work at Road Atlanta. Only point where I have been slightly underwhelmed is in the aural area; the engine and exhaust noise is great, albeit, too mute for my taste. So, the mod bug bit me and my head started spinning to fix this unbearable problem

Goal was a solution that would let me retain the current style of sound but crank up the volume. I settled for a set of FabSpeed Sport headers with 200 cell cats which supposedly would give me what I wanted. Yet, while studying the internet lore regarding performance improvements, it appeared that it would be wasteful not to install intake plenum and GT3 TB to utilize the increased breathing capability on the exhaust side; since plenum and GT3 TB are reasonably priced compared to the headers, I decided to “Go max - or don’t go at all” including a tune,

• FabSpeed Sport headers
• High performance intake plenum / Innovative ProDesign
• GT3 throttle body
• Topped off by a Cobb Accessport tune with a custom Protune to maximize gain - tune performed by the certified dyno shop
• Lots of trouble to go through just to increase sound level – but better spend the money before the wife does, right?

After having spent the kids’ winter clothing money on these essential go-faster bits, the least I could do was to properly document any (lack of?) impact on engine HP and TQ; the internet lore seems to be all over the place. Therefore I planned before/after dyno runs to verify and shed some light– at least in my world,

• Mustang Dynamometer
• 48F during baseline run and 58F during run after upgrades (29.271 consistent baro)
• 93 pump gas
• Baseline: Peak: 287 WHP, 270 WTQ
• After upgrade: Peak: 318 WHP, 272 WTQ
• That is, 10.8% WHP peak increase
• See dyno chart for details

So, from a peak performance perspective the upgrade resulted in 10.8% WHP increase (peak) while torque (peak) is virtually unchanged. That is, the shape of the torque curve is greatly improved: More torque mid-range and it holds on for longer – definitely an improvement which also can be confirmed by the butt dyno…very useful performance improvement in real world driving. Whether the added performance is worth the dough is a personal thing; for me, I really like the added mid-range shove.

The sound – any good? Mission accomplished, character of sound has been retained but noise and drama has gotten a step up…without drone. Best described as ‘PSE ON’ before upgrade now equals ‘PSE OFF’ after upgrade. So, still liveable, also during a long cruise.

Last thing I need to figure out is how to handle the fact that the kids winter clothing money now resides in my 987.2 engine compartment. Given the abundance of summer clothing in their closets, my argument will centre around “layering of clothing” which is a well know Arctic trick that doesn’t need dyno runs to prove
(Dyno run performed at DBW Motorsports and install at Freed Performance, both in Cumming, GA. Excellent guys, I have no affiliation with these companies – mentioning to complete picture)

Ubermensch

Thanks for going through the effort to document your results and the detailed write-up. Is the dip in torque between 2000-2500 rpm real or an artifact of the dyno? Do you notice that reduction in power? The rest of the band looks good so I'm sure you're enjoying it.

Gbboenda

Thanks for pitching in. I noticed same dip at low RPM, at least on the chart, however, I am not aware of it cause. On the road I don't notice.

eddielasvegas

Thanks for taking the time and expense to document the benefits of these mods.

So, no tune? Just the bolt-ons pictured? What was the cost for these?

If I could get 10% (without CELs, emission or reliability problems) doing these, I'd be all over this for my Cayman.

Eddie

Gbboenda

Sorry, my mentioning of tune probably got a little lost in the details. Yes, I added a tune - Cobb Accessport is the hardware and my dyno shop is a certified Protuner who developed and uploaded the actual tune. Tune and dyno was around 10% of the cost of the engine parts, well worth it. Total around $5.5-6,000 for components, install, dyno and tune. No CEL issues.


Not sure if a tune was actually needed - there is forum posts mentioning that the OEM engine management software will 'learn' the new components and adjust. Yet, I choose to go all in because cost of custom tune is quite reasonable everything considered.

eddielasvegas

Good info. Thanks Gbboenda.


Eddie

Schmidts Cat

Did I miss it? Or did you retain the stock exhaust? Changing that too will help the tone/pitch and maybe a few ponies. In my experience, you will throw codes without a tune.

Gbboenda

I kept stock OEM from headers backward - have PSE. I am happy with OEM tone, just wanted louder sound so I changed headers only.


During the tune tolerences was widened for allowable values read from the 2 oxygen sensors before/after the cat which helps to avoid CEL.


Saw your sig - Z8, classic, nice...so I am not the only one also with one leg in the BMW camp

john weires

I bet it sounds great and the extra power can't hurt either.
I have one nearly identically equipped to yours, except PCCB's, which I wish it had to stay with the lightness theme.

Gbboenda

Yes, for the same reason I could not help myself when I fell over a like-new set of PCCB at a fair price.


In terms of real world performance for the 987.2, I think the inertia and unsprung weight advantages from PCCB oversteel rotors might be offset by the increase of rotor diameter from 318 mm to 350 mm and added weight of the PCCB calibers over the red calibers. But they work well with the lightweight theme of the car, have great pedal feel…and fill the wells nicely, bling, bling

Marine Blue

I too want PCCB's and wished I ordered them when I bought my car but the cost difference was just too much too justify it.

Did you happen to weight the calipers and rotors to confirm the weight differences?

christallon

I believe the braking with the standard set-up (reds) is excellent from the factory. I have read many threads that state otherwise, but I just don't see it. Apply adequate pedal pressure and the brakes are amazing. Yes, the PCCB's might be a nice upgrade, but frankly the weight diff is likely marginal, and with the car being as light as it is, I don't see the need. YMMV.

Gbboenda

You are properly right. In the end, why we buy stuff is largely emotional and then we use facts and logic to justify afterwards. Some fancy red and some yellow - either will work on 987.2, the emotional drive is just different.





Well, yes. PCCB: 4 calipers and 8 pads weigh in at 19.3 kg while rotors are 13.3 kg per axle. Total 45.9 kg. Reds: unfortunately, we will be kept in suspense till I am back from business trip end of next week - sitting in boxes in my garage and will be put on a scale when I am back. Stay tuned.

Marine Blue

I agree the weight difference is marginal but if you continue down the path of reduced weight to include lighter battery and lighter exhaust you now have a combined reduction that is substantial which can and should enhance the performance. That's my crazy mental approach to it anyways! .

But seriously the other benefit of the PCCB's is the reduced brake dust which I personally find of value.

Very cool, looking forward to getting the weights of the standard brakes

John@Fabspeed

What a lovely surprise finding this thread haha. I appreciate your time and effort in providing this data for us, there aren't too many members that go above and beyond with 3rd party testing for the community. We do the best we can, but nothing is more meaningful than the review of the end client!

Major props to you and the guys over at Freed/DBW, you hit the nail on the head as the biggest performance restriction on these cars in the headers and software.

As it is a rare occasion to find someone that has done this is such detail, could you describe in a bit more detail the improvement in performance/drivability and the sound? I know you touched on this a bit already, but the more information the better for the community and we would love some more feedback to share on our product page

Ah the infamous boxster/cayman powerdip haha. This has been shown on every dyno of a stock 987/981 I have ever seen, including the new Boxster Spyder/GT4. One thing all these cars have in common...a Very restrictive header design.

We actually designed our Sport Headers specifically to target this factory performance dip low-end and midrange to maximize the street performance of our cars. Gbboenda your graph is a great example. Likewise below you can see some more examples on the Boxster/Cayman platform of just the addition of our Sport Headers targeting that area for smoother power delivery improved acceleration in an enthusiastic street environment.

981 Boxster S



981 Boxster Spyder



Eddie/Gbboenda for your reference our Sport Headers were designed using HJS 200cell cats that (save for the most sensitive of ECUs) should have no CEL for cat efficiency. The cat cores are even guaranteed for 2 years outside of track abuse and race fuel.

A tune is not necessary to run our Sport Headers. If in the very rare event your ECU is particularly sensitive and there is a CEL, we would be happy to get you set up with some O2 spacers for the downstream oxygen sensors to simulate a stronger cat reading. Worst case, a tune can shut off cat inefficiency codes.

Eddie, outside of California you should have no issues running our Sport Headers and getting through emissions. When you get right down to it, they actually pass the Smog test in CA, its just that pesky CARB visual portion where they look for a factory certification stamp haha.

I'd also like to mention that a tune is quite beneficial on these cars, the factory software is not very optimized and I highly recommend a protune by a reputable tuner like the lovely fellow we have in house. I recently received a graph back from a client of mine with a 981 Cayman GTS that was running our Race Headers. Factory versus Cobb Stage 2 versus Fabspeed Protune dynograph is below, and check out his in depth comparison and analysis here. Software makes a difference, do it!



For your reference the factory PSE system on the Cayman R and Boxster Spyder have a slightly larger inlet pipe diameter than the PSE systems on the standard S or Base models (5mm if memory serves me right). Although seemingly small, is does mean on the Spyder he has a bit less power potential with a catback upgrade than an S model. Below is a graph of adding our new 987.2 Valvetronic Exhaust System to our Race Headers on my Cayman R. The ROI isn't as beneficial as doing headers/intake/software, but still there for those who are trying to maximize the performance of their car like myself haha.



I have a pretty used set of my factory rotors/pads sitting in my trunk...would be happy to weigh them for you if you feel it would help answer your question haha