I will be travelling to Mesa, AZ next Wednesday and will be spending three days there getting a custom exaust, 100 cell cats and Dyno. I will post results along with a sound clip and pictures of the finished Unit for all you 987 owners patiently waiting for GHL's system.
If the exaust sucks I will tell you, If it loses power I will tell you, If the build is excellent I will tell you, if it gives me real power to the ground then I will scream it to the world.
The first dyno was done when the car was completely stock, it showed 240.7hp at the wheels. Then I got the GIAC installed calibrated to work with an intake and exaust. I will dyno the car again, with and without the GIAC flash done. Then everyone should know what real world gains are, not the 20hp gain as quoted by other guys.
Cameron D

 

Definitely looking forward to seeing the results....

 

Thanks for sharing. Looking forward.

 

few questions about the GIAC flash.
1.) do they have a standard 987 program or is yours totally custom?
2.) where are they doing it? any GIAC dealer?
3.) ...or do you have their flashloader in hand?
4.) ...or can you turn it on and off insde the car?
5.) approx. what did they charge you?

thanks and good luck with all your mod future.

 

Answers To Questions:
1) I believe they have a standard program but can customize the tune depending on what mods you have. (My tuner said real world about 5-7hp alone)
2) There are GIAC authorized dealers, I actually met the owner of GIAC the other day. A nice guy (And a great custom 100% Titanium on his turbo weighing only 16lbs.) Yes any dealer can flash your car and convert it to stock if a service comes about free of charge. (But that is my guy every shop may be different so be sure to ask.)
3) I wish I had the flashloader (Had a flashloader for my mini chip but from a different company) Although having a professional do it does make you a little more comfy.
4) You need a laptop I think or the flashloader I guess.
5)1095$
I wish I'd have waited until I broke in the car as I couldn't really hammer on it until I hit 1000miles. (Yes I know it's 2000miles but I don't think that many miles is necessary) Obviously to gauge the difference in my situation is difficult although I do have a dyno chart and my mods together better be putting out atleast 15-20hp or the car is getting flashed and this man is getting his 1100$ back.
I am tired of hearing all this crap about gains, Fabspeed promises 15, Techart promised 20. Man I would rather spend 100$ on a dyno before and know. Because if it's bogus, there will be an online expose!

 

My favorite is that Fabspeed quotes a savings of 30lbs by using its cat bypass pipes. Joke is on the buyer. The stock ones only weigh 17lbs. Are they made out of helium? Similarly, their muffler saves 26lbs. Hmmm... the stock one only weighs 31lbs to begin with. My aftermarket Dansk one weighed 29lbs--only 2lbs savings. I'm convinced all performance gains and numbers come from strictly from the marketing department.

 

Would be interesting to hear from Fabspeed and/or others.

My philosophy on aftermarket exhaust is this: Don't expect any HP gains. Buy the one that SOUNDS the best, because that's pretty much all you're getting if all you're doing is bolting on an exhaust, IMHO.

The new 987S has a nice sound at any RPM and that sweet burble when you let off the gas. Not sure you can improve on perfection.

 

I am sure this topic has been beaten to death in past theads. End muffler gives you NO HP !! ONLY equal length headers and sport cats will give you HP from the exhaust side of things. Along with good HP program, expect 25 to 30 extra HP depending on the dyno used.


Theo

 

I won't knock all exaust systems. I used to have a set of GT3 race cats on my 1999 C2 Cab along with a techart RACE exaust. I was supposed to have lotech headers on as well but discovered over a year later after an accident that the headers were never put on the vehicle. (The Infamous By Design Automotive Group) Anyways, the cats,exaust and chip yielded gains and a good amount of throttle reponse. The sound was incredible.
I realize that the newer P-cars get the more difficult it is to extract hp/tq. I am a believer that you can always find hp/tq from somewhere within the motor it just takes some of the great tuners to extract it. Some companies that I know are good for there words in terms of claimed HP figures are Techart and RUF. There are other companies none that I am all that familar with or have ever been in contact with people using there stuff in their cars.
I have discovered that Supersprint manufactures exausts, cats, and headers for several major german tuners including Techart, Rinspeed, Cargraphic (The last two I am 80% sure on) They have live dynoes and are very reputable. They have a header/exaust/cat system for the 987S and claim it to yield about 7-8hp and 10tq. That is real numbers. They are a big player in the Euro market. So you are not getting too much gains and for a price tag of 4k$ for so little hp/tq. Crazy!

 

You can probably get a little more out of the 987 3.2L, but not much. I don't think there is 25 to 30 HP left in it. The 3.2L in the 987 is nearly identical to the 3.2L in the 986. The major difference in output for the 987 is due to Porsche opening up the intake airbox and opening up the exhaust. Both of these are fairly well known areas to "tune" on the 986 by the aftermarket. And the 987 airbox is a superb design. Most of any gains would be in the exhaust which Porsche has greatly improved but which still is designed for emissions. Possibly a little left in the midrange with a chip--possibly at the expense of fuel economy. About the most I've ever read of anyone getting out of a N.A. 986 3.2L is about 290 HP. Early in the 986S lifecycle, it was around 280 to 285. I honestly don't think you can get more than about 295 to 300 HP out of the Boxster 3.2L engines without major work such as redesigned manifolds/heads/cams/all new piping/TB/etc. or you go forced induction. Given that the 987 is still early in it's life cycle, I would estimate that you could realistically expect maybe 290 to 295 with all bolt-ons. Pure speculation: BMC air filter 1-2HP, full Cargraphic exhaust 7-9HP, chip 2-5HP?

 

Arenard
(God I hope I spelled that right) I would agree with you. I am not expecting gobs of power. I would be happy with a grand total of 15-20hp. I know that Cargraphic and Techart makes headers although I am not about to spend 2200$ on a set of headers. GHL said they can't make headers in the two or three days I am leaving them my car as it is a much more complicated procedure than putting on a muffler and cats. I guess it would require alot more time and I don't want to be in AZ for more than three days. I will bug them to do it anyways if I can as I would LOVE an entire system.
As for me being happy with the 15-20hp gain. This would be through
1)GIAC
2)CATS
3)FREE FLOW MUFFLER
4)CUSTOM INTAKE
If I don't get it expect

 

Seems like a lot of money to spend for a possible 5-7% increase in power. And is that 5-7% increase really even going to be noticeable? Under what driving conditions will it be noticeable?

When are you anticipating getting your car back? I'm really curious to see the differences in power before and after. Any chance you can get dyno results after each addition opposed to after 1-4 above are complete?

 

CameronD, at least your expectations seem reasonable--not based upon manufacturers' wishful thinking. I wouldn't spend too much on the intake. I really don't think it can be improved more than 1-2HP. About the only thing you could do more would be to increase the piping size for the whole thing, but then you'll need custom ECU programming because your MAF readings will be off. This was a problem with the S-Car-Go intakes on the 986. Next, for the 987, you'll run into the intake resonance pipe and throttle body bottlenecks. Those would have to be redesigned to accommodate the higher intake pipe diameters to gain any advantage. Without the 987 intake resonance function, you'll loose the bottom end. I think you'll be spending thousands of dollars chasing 1 or 2 HP on the intake side. Also, the 987 airbox is very large, so you're looking at significant disassembly to retrofit.

Good luck, and post your dyno results. If you're lucky, at least you could have bragging rights that you have the same power as the Cayman...

 

I agree with people that think the amount of power I will be able to possibly extract out of the 3.2 is not worth the $ but there is more to it than just power increases for me. Although they seem to overlap and i am not sure if what I am expecting is realistic.
With the intake, I never really expected to gain 10hp with an intake. That would be wishful thinking. I never expected to gain 12hp with the full exaust system and 100 cell cats. I was confident in the last car I did a chip to (1999 C2) that I got about 12-15hp although I never dynoed the car.
I am also looking for great sound. Intake/exaust= more sound. And I am looking for alot more throttle response which I feel as though i will get when my work is complete.
Especially with the intake/exaust, if I stay even in power figures then I am doing alright as I want more sound and alot of companies provide that, with a loss of power.
My tuner has a set of resonators in his 3.4 Boxter S and tips with built in resonators in the tunnel. I finally heard his set up. It is absolutely crazy. No sh*t my buddy has a 355 with a crazy 8000k exaust set up and the first time i drove in his car I was in love with the Ferrari/exaust combo. The sound was........Euphoric. I swear his 3.4l conversion sounds pretty much like my friends Ferrari. Pretty much F1 right on the money. He did have a pretty bad resonance problem between 2500-3000rpm. but the scream it produces at full throttle is worth the resonance problem. But for the 1000$ he quoted me, I know his exaust guy is only charging him probably 400-450$ to build it and he is marking it up 2x+ hell no.
I like the idea of me going into GHL listening to some of there systems up close and personal and custom matching it to my liking and taste. And imagine it all for free. I personally think the 12+hr drive both ways is unforgiveable but truthfully worth a system that is custom tailored by a reputable company that is non existant at this time and would probably cost me 1600$
As for multiple dynoes I doubt I will do it several times with each individual product as it will be a very pricey procedure if I need to pay for labor to replace and remove things.

 

For sound, take out that intake baffle plate and put in a BMC. You should be at least Evo sound. The 987 intake is a very nice design. There is a water deflector area on the airfilter retaining bracket that may block the sound some more. I dremeled mine off, but as I mentioned in my PM never got installed