911SLOW

Actually I was sleeping..

cpepper95129

007DT, thanks ! I get it now, less air resistance = more HP.

what are the easiest / cheapest upgrades one can do to a stock 2003 996 engine? to get a little more power?

mikehelms

It's not a bad question, and I suspect that a lot of people buying headers (for any car, not just Porsche) don't actually understand why they can help improve performance.

An internal combustion engine is an air pump - meaning, roughly, that the amount of air and fuel you can move into the engine, and the amount of exhaust you can move out of the engine will determine its power output. This is contingent on a lot of things, of course, and the real-life application of this isn't as simple as it sounds. But this is the basic premise and it'll work for this explanation.

Increasing the amount of air going in can be done in a few ways. Porting and polishing the intake is one method; a less restrictive air filter is another. Big gains are usually made with forced induction; either a turbocharger or a supercharger. They ultimately do the same thing: compress incoming air to increase the volume of oxygen in the combustion chamber.

The other side of the engine is the exhaust. If the exhaust fumes can't get out of the engine fast enough, then you have a bottleneck. A less restrictive exhaust will, in theory, help this problem. Without getting into a long-winded explanation about back pressures and unburnt fumes that get catalyzed and other exciting details, suffice to say that a header is typically less restrictive and *can* (but is not guaranteed to) improve performance.

This comes with many caveats, of course - not the least of which is that any modification to the vehicle *will* have consequences. People have been debating these pros and cons for as long as vehicles have been modified, but suffice to say that there's no do-all "magic bullet" to make the car go faster and still maintain its reliability, longevity, durability, etc. When you get more power, you're almost always giving up something else. It's up to you to decide if that trade is worthwhile.

By all means, look at the bits and pieces available and do what you like. Just go into it with both eyes open and realistic expectations.

Cheers,
-- Mike

GT3Loco

Did you ever sell those 996 GT3 headers? I'm looking for a pair. You can email me at johnarmstrong5@mac.com. Thanks.