Carlo_Carrera

Searched around but couldn't find this exact subject.

I am thinking of purchasing a 991.1S and having its ECU tuned up to HP levels of the 991.1 GTS.

Has anyone done this and have a long term opinion and review?

Thanks in advance.

Jabs1542

Check out Cobb Access Port

plenum

Maybe I am missing something, but wouldn't you also need the GTS engine internals to get there? An S with X51 kit ok -- but an S without it I don't think so. But then, i guess you could wring 30+ HP out of tuning without the bits, right?

STG

If only it was that easy ...

Carlo_Carrera

That is part of what I am asking. How much of a HP gain can get from just an ECU tune?

jimbo1111

GTS go requires mechanical internals. It isn't just a tune. Different heads, intake and exhaust are just the beginning. 30 HP doesn't sound like alot but getting there with an N/A motor isn't so easy. A tune may extract some HP but I'm sure it's not the same as hardware.

JimHJr

I've read that with a tune, full exhaust with headers, and plenum you can get close. I know fabspeed put out some impressive numbers with a GT4 which is basically a .1S engine. 400 at the wheels and around 450 at the crank. They have a video of it on their dyno.

I added just a Cobb tuner a few weeks ago and I can't say that it's an extreme improvement but it's noticeable, especially in the midrange. Impressed with the small gains and smoothness it added overall. I'd buy it again.

The dealer that I bought the accessport off of has a dyno and for $100 I can run my car both pre and post Cobb to see exactly what it did/didn't do. Gonna go for it one of these days. I'll post the results on Rennlist if/when I do. I don't think I'm anywhere near GTS numbers with just the tuner though.

Larry Cable

in my mind *if* X51 gains were attainable by simply tuning the (N.A) ECU and maybe playing with the intake plenum and headers/exhaust then Porsche would have done just that, it would have been much cheaper than developing a significant variant of the engine internals (as it did)

go read the Porsche engineering magazine article on the 991 9A1 X51 kit it explains the differences that were developed.

in short, I'm pretty skeptical that anyone can squeeze the same reliable perfomance out of that engine "on the cheap" that Porsche couldn't.

F.I is a (somewhat) different matter as we all know, N.A its much harder
and more of a systemic redesign that is needed.

neil.schneider

Did the "tune" on my previous 911. All I got was a spark knock. When I complained about it to the company that did the custom tune they more or less said that comes with the tune. I reverted back to original. I didn't feel it responded better or was any quicker with the tune, and I hated the knock sound when I was hard on the throttle. It was a waste of money. They would not give any refund. I wouldn't do it again. I learned my lesson for $900.

NoGaBiker

I'll even go as far as to say FI is bound by the same nasty rules of physics and economics that NA is. That is to say, while it's easier to "turn up the wick" with a turbo setup, we have to assume that doing so involves lowering the margin of safety before things blow up. Not at all saying that moving from, say, the factory "35% safety margin" to your new "25% safety margin" (numbers made up for illustrative purposes) means a melted motor is imminent. I've had turbo cars that I turned up the wick on, as well as NA cars I added a turbo and IC to without opening the engine, and I've never melted one. But the truth is, there MUST be a price for turning up the wick, and even if you never go into the blown engine zone, you are going to be using up some margin.

John@Fabspeed

You can get close, if not surpass a bone stock GTS with a standard S, but it is going to require full bolt-ons and tuning to get you there. Below is a dynograph of a C2S we had come through the shop for full exhaust, intake, and tune. We saw 24whp/35wtq that were very consistent throughout the powercurve. It definitely woke the car up significantly. That being said, I know we had a 991 S that responded a bit better than this one to the upgrades. I'll see if I can find that dyno as well to reference for you guys.

desmotesta

was it Softronic? because I too wasted similar amount of money with Zero gains

Jack F

My simple recommendation is to buy the car with the power you want. Should be reliable and resale would likely be better than something that got cobbled up with parts from various manufacturers.

911.

Can you tell us about your scenario. They are on here posting for their .2 tune and every time they were asked for proof, hard data, such as Dyno/Draggy/1/4mile or anything else they come back with " why would we, our customers feel the difference and VAG doesnt dyno the cars for HP/TQ to the wheels so its pointless". Something to the tune of that. Some members have their tune and they dont have issues, however its too easy to simply crank up boost so they will feel those gains however on the .1 platform its a different story.

Softronic

Yes Im interested also as I couldn't find anything prior on it. The VAG comment is funny as we dont tune Volkswagen's yet Porsche so Im not sure what all VAG does or doesnt do as a whole..
All I can say is we have flashed many 991.1 cars and haven't had anyone say they couldn't feel a difference or contacted us with issues and yes many have been run on dynos by the customers or better yet lower track times.

Best,
Scott