I always love the posts like the one about to follow where some idiot (me) asks all of you to tell them which car to buy. Seriously, if I can't make a decision, the least I could do is refrain from bothering all of you with my silly questions. Oh well, meaningless posts are about half the fun of an internet messageboard anyway.

I want a really fast Porsche that will be about 65% street and 35% track, so it has to be a turbo. What I would love is a car with 500hp that weighed 2500lbs. I'm willing to spend $70 or $80k or so. I'm currently thinking about:
1) a hot-rodded older 930 with 500+ HP with EFI and all the goodies (the single turbo and resulting higher boost threshhold doesn't bother me). This is my favorite porsche of all time, but I've got three kids and don't have the time for the "hassle" factor these cars demand - constant tinkering. If I could buy a "new" 930, I would.
2) a 993TT on a SERIOUS diet - remove the 4WD and other stuff. I can live without heat in South Florida but not A/C. How light can these get and still be streetable? I figure I can get it down to 3000lbs, which means I'll need about 600hp to keep the insane 5lbs/hp ratio.
3) a hot-rodded boxster S with a 996TT engine installed by Stephen at Imagine. I could get the weight down on this thing, I like the water cooling and the convertible, but I like the look of the turbos better. I also like the "sleeper" aspect, but don't like the fact that we would be creating something the factory never made (the 993TT is built to withstand 500hp, the boxster isn't really).

Any way to get a 993TT down to 2700 or 2800lbs and still have an interior? I'm thinking SRD seats, RSA door panels, lighter headers without heat (any good sources?), maybe a carbon panel here or there. Any other ideas?

I don't like the looks of the 996TT, so it's out.

Thank you very much.

-dc

 

You have just described Viperbob's car.

 

I was fortunate enough to ride in Bob's car at Thunderhill in August. The word "brutal" seems like an appropriate adjective. And I mean that in a good way. Tremendous acceleration, braking and lateral g force. Compared to that experience, my own laps around the track in my car ( with about 480hp) were like a Sunday cruise.

Speak with Bob for more details.

 

With some decontenting, and even as far as removing the front drive, I think its totally possible, even with a radio and simple interior...

 

500 HP and about 2,500 lbs? A RUF CTR Yellow Bird could come close. May be a Viper RT 10.

If your're talking up to $80k, then even Bob's car would have costed more. Same goes for my RUF BTR (soon to be 500 Hp, 2,994 lbs).

If you wait for the Z06 version on the current Vette C5, you'll probably get 500HP and 2,700 lbs or so, for much less than $80k.

This is a dilemma.

CP

 

500hp and 2500lbs is pretty crazy, but it isn't totally insane. It's "fairly" easy to get an 86-89 930 up to 500hp, and they only weigh about 2800lbs.

New seats, rsa door panels, get rid of the header heater boxes, CF front and rear bumpers and maybe some other lightweight body panels, ditch the sunroof and you are fairly close...

The question is, what do you need to do to the 993TT? It's about 3300lbs plus right? So, AWD is maybe 150lbs or so, interior is 100lbs. Maybe 50lbs with lighter weight headers and exhaust and some CF bumpers for another 50lbs. That's 350lbs and you are right at about 3000. How do you get it to 2800?


-dc

 

Mr. Viperbob's tt is about 600 hp just a smidge above 2,800#. Don't know how he gets there (by shedding a ton of dough no doubt), but hope that he can chime in.

My RUF is a 995 C2 to begin with, so I'm at 3,000# before anything happens.

CP

 

Here's what I recall about VB's weight reduction program:

CF hood
dry cell battery
RS washer reservoir
remove awd
RS door panels
racing seats
delete rear seat
delete rear wiper
delete cats
delete heat exchanger
delete rear structural bumper (leave cover on)

 

Ok, my 96' TT weights in at 2700 pounds, with 630hp at the wheels,this is my formula:
Delete front wheel drive.
Modified NA 993 tranny with lighter gears,close ratio,etc.
Protomotive headers.turbos,etc.
Bigger & Lighter intercooler.
No cats.
Brembo Gran Turismo brake package.
Aluminum RS doors.
Carbon fiber hood.
Head light washer system deleted.
RS door panels.
Gt3 seats
930S steering wheel (no air bag).
No rear wiper.
No Spare tire.
Thats it!, cheers Sonny.

 

Sonny,
Why did you go with the modified transmission? Did it lower the weight due to removing the 4WD related hardware?

Where did you get the aluminum doors? How much were they?

Thank you very much.

-dc

 

Sonny,

Where did you get the carbon hood from? I would also like to know where the aluminum doors can be bought.

Thanks!

 

Sonny

You have to tell us much more than this 630 hp at the wheels? with the 4WD tranny or after your 2 WD conversion? Any dyno sheets..
Have you done any timed 0-200 or 1/4 mile runs. I found your specs on another thread, very impressive car you have!

Derick, it is not too difficult to get to those weight levels and maintain a decent interior. IMHO you are much better off with a slightly modified and lightweight 993TT for the track than an older EFI beast as the handling is by far superior on the 993 and the power delivery smoother than a single large turbo in general unless it is perfectly tuned, and that can become expensive.

Thanks

 

Pretty impressive, but do honestly think anyone can do this a total of $80K including the car? Even if you could find a "salvage title" car, after all the mods, you have to be over the $80K mark.

 

I agree with Jim

Sonny's setup is very similar to mine, I would expect these mods to cost $60-$70k excluding the cost of the car, if it is outsourced to a builder/tuner. But I think Dereck can get a very fast car for $85-$90k all inclusive without having a beast like Sonny's.

Cutting down weight can be done somewhat inexpensively, sport seats, rear seat delete, interior, mufflers, heater, rear wiper and motor, lexan, some FG parts, 2WD conversion, spare wheel out, tools, battery... would not be so expensive...(around $4-$5k) Finally an ECU, hybrids, oil cooler and some other suspension goodies can be around $10-12k.

 

Just a thought. We listed all these items to reduce weight. Would a car with these mods be hard to sell, thus fetching a lower residual value? If so, that's another cost component to consider. Of course this only assumes one sells.

CP