mrsullivan

Have been reading a lot of archives material.... 3.8L conversion, chips, exhaust, RUF, etc.

I would love to bring my 98 C2S up from 282 to about 320 NA HP...and like the idea of doing so without heavy modifications like turbo or supercharging...

What is common wisdom on this? With RUF autocentre now in Dallas, I am thinking about approaching them for some tuning to see what they would propose...

David in LA

regear your tranny and get a LWF...while not a true hp improvement the performance increase will be equivalent to a 40-50hp increase. combined with a new chip and some weight savings from lightening up the weight of your car, this is prob best bang for the buck.

graham_mitchell

That's an awkward number. Too much for the easy mods and not enough for the big mods. Perhaps you could investigate a MOTEC conversion.

Ninemeister claim to have achieved 339hp from a 964 using MOTEC (see link)

http://www.9mracing.co.uk/html/modul...%20the%20magic

poorb0yw

Regearing the transmission to "feel" this type of gain is a good idea.

Maybe you could go with a more aggressive cam (rs?), upgraded springs/valves/retainers, reprogrammed ecu, good set of headers (who needs heat in Texas anyway ), and convert to mechanical lifters so you can get higher reliable rpm out of the engine. Possibly upgrade the rod bolts if ur gonna be in the engine.

I'd almost say its less intrusive to bolt on a simple super/turbocharger kit.

The Ninemeister hp claims are impressive but converting to Motec isn't too cost effective. Even less so if you can't get ahold of the 9m adapter harness and have to go custom.

aof

mrsullivan- very apt question. I've been mulling the chip ugrade myself;(steveW's) initially, then LWF. I have a feeling that ugrading in a stepwise fashion may be more satisfying-and probably more cost-effective in the long-run. I was amazed at how much difference there is, running the car when the temp drops (~40's), which makes me think minor changes may be pleasantly surprising. I'm following this closely...

poorb0yw

Oh. I almost forgot extensive weight reduction.

I must be slipping in my old age...........................hehehe

akolodesh

regearing, lwf, reprogrammed ecu, weight reduction - I agree with all of the above comments

TheOtherEric

Like others have said, it's not possible to get 40hp without intrusive, extensive mods. If it were possible, we'd all do it. The engine mods seem expensive (to me) to get 30-40hp. You'd be better off supercharging for $12k.

993RS

I agree with this. I would recommend Steve Weimer's gearing. Shorter than the g50/21 transmission.

On my previous car, I did a 3.8L conversion, chip tuning, sport cats, mechanical valve lifters which added up to lots of bucks, but it only resulted in about 30 hp more.

The gearing I have now is about 20% shorter for 3-6, 10% shorter for 2nd, corresponds to about the performance increase equivalence of 50-60 hp. Also, I did the LWF.

Another thing to think about is proper valve opening adjustment. Almost all Porsches delivered from the factory have not had these properly measured/set. Mine was off about 10%. This resulted in my recuperating about 20-30 hp as well.

kary993

If you want to stay out of the engine, which I would for various reasons, I would re-gear and put in the LWF/Clutch as was suggested. I would also redo the exhaust, headers and mufflers to get some more flow. Do those items alone should get you at least an equivalent 50+ HP.

Of course you could be more intrusive like me and take out the entire interior including the sun roof

Craig W.

Buy yourself 10 days of track time at either a POC, PCA, or a professional school. This will make you a much faster and safer driver than any 40 hp mod.

chris walrod

So true!

I feel regearing is the best 'bang for the euro', IMHO.

TheOtherEric

I know that a number of very knowledgable people agree that changing the gearing is a great mod, but it seems to me that a performance increase equivalent to 50-60 hp seems WAY optimistic. Has anyone tried to quantify this, perhaps by quarter mile times? The reality is that a gearing change has no effect on the car's power, just the relationship between power delivery and speed. It might FEEL like there's a big difference, but some (like me) are very skeptical about ascribing numbers to it until somebody makes some kind of quantitative measurements. I do believe there'd be an improvement in quarter-mile times, but I can't believe 50-60 hp worth. My $0.02

993RS

Wish you were close by, I'd let you try out my car. Since that is not possible, unless you find a Rennlister nearby with short gears, try a simulation program.

One way to do some measurements is to use the software program "car test". Go in and change the gear ratios. This is a pretty realistic simulation program, and gives IMHO acceptable results.
Car Test Software

mrsullivan

I appreciate this recommendation...there always seems to be someone to chime in with it. I have been to several driving schools and several track days for BMWCCA in my previous M3s. Granted, the 993 is a different animal....I have been to the track once with it, and intend to do more PCA-type events.

To me, this car would be MUCH more enjoyable with another 30-40HP. I appreciate everyone's recommendations. Seems like for now the way to go is the RS LWF/Clutch set-up, RS SSK, and a more free flowing exhaust. I know those modifications wont yield a lot of HP, but maybe will feel better. Then if I can can just lose about 50lbs, that would be good too! :-)

I do also agree that it would be nice to see some actual performance figures on the re-gearing...it seems to get a lot of great press here...I wonder though whether it is more of a "feel" issue or an actual performance gain (?)