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I also purchased a Carnewal GT modded muffler for the car and installed it last night. It wasn't hard, but getting the mufflers assembled and set to the correct width was a bit of a PITA. I wish I had measured the original assembly's width before I took it apart. A couple hours later I had it installed and took it for a drive. At lower rpms it really doesn't sound any different than the stock exhaust. At higher throttle or above 5k rpm it opens up a bit. The exhaust note is deeper and louder, but not too loud. Perfect for a daily driver.
Possibly one of the better mods I've ever done on a car, was add the Carnewal mufflers - and a Soul X-pipe.
A great set up... as you describe.
Last night I made up a set of dummy brake pad connectors, installed Porterfield R4 front and R4S rear brake pads, and mounted my Hankook RS-4 track tires (245/40/18F-275/40/18R). I was able to get it all done in about an hour.
I'm heading to Laguna Seca tomorrow. It will be my second track day in this car and the first with decent tires.
Possibly one of the better mods I've ever done on a car, was add the Carnewal mufflers - and a Soul X-pipe.
A great set up... as you describe.
The very first things I did to my '09 2.9 Boxster when I got it about a year ago. Although improved, the (lack of ) sound still bothered me a bit so I got the 200 cell manifolds from Gert...problem solved. It sounds glorious.
I, too, was skeptical about the Sprint Booster but after installing it I highly can recommend it. Well worth the money in my opinion. I added a Softronic tune and the factory SSK and I'm good to go.
I'm happy with the sound. I'm trying to keep the car under 93dB so that I can run as many track days at Laguna Seca that I can. I also live in CA so I don't want to change the cats or tune due to the restrictive smog rules here.
I bought this car as a stepping stone in the Porsche world. I'll probably do some minor suspension mods to increase camber but otherwise I'll drive it as is for a couple years and then buy an S or GTS if I need more power.
I'm happy with the sound. I'm trying to keep the car under 93dB so that I can run as many track days at Laguna Seca that I can. I also live in CA so I don't want to change the cats or tune due to the restrictive smog rules here.
I bought this car as a stepping stone in the Porsche world. I'll probably do some minor suspension mods to increase camber but otherwise I'll drive it as is for a couple years and then buy an S or GTS if I need more power.
I forgot you're in CA...that does change things a bit with regard to exhaust modifications.
Saturday was a blast. It was a 103dB day so there were a lot of big money guys there. The guy next to me had a McClaren Senna AND a Lamborghini Huracán STO. There were huge tractor trailer rigs everywhere. I was definitely a small fish in a pool full of sharks. LOL!
I ran in Point By A (Fast). There was a group of guys running GT3s in our group and they were all running slicks. I'm usually one of the faster guys in Point By. Not this time. I was consistently in the bottom 3 out of 20-25 cars. I did have a lot of fun chasing a guy in an Elise and another guy with a GR86. Both of them were on 100TW tires. The Elise had a huge aftermarket diffuser. The GR86 had 235/40/18s and camber mods. I consistently pulled the Elise in the corners but he killed me on the straights. I would pull the GR86 on the straights but he would reel me in on the corners. It was fun.
The R4/R4S brake pad combo worked out well. I got to the point that I could threshold brake and feel the fronts breaking loose occasionally but the car never went into Ice Mode. Yeah!
The Hankook RS-4 were better than the Michelin PSS, but not by much. My best lap was only 1.3 seconds better than the last day out. I ran the tires at 31PSI F/R and they seemed to be happy there. The temperatures were within 10 degrees from inside to outside. I tried adding a couple PSI for the last session and it made the car more difficult to drive. I really need to get some camber on the car. I'm only getting 1.0-1.1g in the corners.
Looking at the data my best GTI lap had 3-7mph on the Cayman at every point on the track. I was able to brake later and carry more speed in the corners. The GTI was able to consistently pull about .2G more in every corner.
RaceChrono crashed mid session once and didn't record any data for the last session. I really need to look for a better solution.
The one upgrade I really want to do to my car is install the GT3 adjustable lower control arms so I can put a decent alignment on it. I looked for a couple months but couldn't find the OEM arms in stock anywhere. I finally gave up and ordered a Cup-Series Control Arm Kit (GT3 Rubber Spec) from Tarett Engineering today.
Tarrett makes great, no BS products. Those Tarrett arms are also PCA and POC legal substitutes for the OEM arms. Great choice.
rennpart.com and suncoastparts.com have the OEM GT3 adjustable arms in stock. Suncoast will try to sell you the trailing arms aka thrust arms as well, but you can just buy Tarrett's spacers instead.
Rennpart want $1549 for the OEM arms. I found one seller on eBay that had one set of OEM arms for $1335. I figured at that price it was worth the extra 10% for the Tarett parts.
I like the Meteor Metallic Gray but felt like it needed a little pop of color. I finally got around to installing a set of Cayman R style stripes this week.
I like the Meteor Metallic Gray but felt like it needed a little pop of color. I finally got around to installing a set of Cayman R style stripes this week.
Those stripes looks great! Coincidentally, I have a 2011 Base in Meteor Metallic Gray as well (mine is a stick).
I have today and tomorrow off for company holidays so I decided to take a drive down Hwy 25 to Priest Valley. It's very dry, brown and not very pretty right now. The road itself long and windy and the kind of road that the Cayman was made for. The 4 mile stretch of Hwy 198 East of the 25 junction happens to be Motor Trend's test route for their annual Best Driver's Car competition.
Apparently it was let's see who can get closest to getting hit by Chris' car day. I had two coyotes and about 47 squirrels run across the road right in front of me. I also ran into something you don't see in Northern California very often. Roadrunners! How appropriate.
07-19-2022, 10:09 PM
