I’ve had my fair share of seat time in GT cars (ranging from 997.2 3RS to 992 3RS) and my personal car is a 997.2 C2 manual.

I get the drive a slow car fast thing, but I find that I need to push my C2 (which isn’t slow, but not FAST unless driven hard) to really have a blast.

There are a few times where I string together a few nice corners all while nailing my up and down shifts and I start to giggle- so I know there’s more where that came from.

Any tips on enjoying more out of a C/S/GTS? I have done some exhaust mods but wondering if a proper FVD setup would wake things up more and give me a bit more excitement?

Roads I feel comfortable doing so on aren’t plentiful, and I’m waiting for my first track day, which I think will give me a lot of what I’m looking for. Important to note, I am NOT a fast driver (my friends put down serious times at BW, Laguna, etc) and consider myself a novice. I know I don’t need (nor IMO can’t warrant) a GT car yet, so I hope answers here don’t point to picking one up, but are pointed towards improving engagement and responsiveness, which is what I’m after.

Mod list so far:

Feal adjustable coilovers with SWIFT springs
Torque solutions motor mounts
19” OZ Ultraleggera lightweight wheels
997.2 GT3RS Shifter- This was an almost imperceptible improvement over stock, VERY different from a 3RS. May look into cup cables or a numeric?
Fabspeed carbon intake
Sharkwerks X-Pipe
Gundo mod

 

Thought about having a 4.1 conversion from Hartech?

 

I would just sell my car and buy a GT3, doesn’t make economic sense to spend that and still be far off from a GT car + incredible resale IMO

 

Engagement and responsiveness (which I understand is what’s you’re after): Get new engine mounts. Maybe rennsport semi-solid if you don’t mind the NVH. Also Numeric Racing shifter seems to be a recommended upgrade here. And in terms of suspension, seeing that you have a .2, switch from PASM to a DSC module is a matter of minutes.

 

Ah I forgot- I have Torque solutions motor mounts. No PASM (base baby) but have coilovers.

The 3RS shifter did not work as intended in giving me something close to the 3RS shift feel (may be different cables) so I’ll definitely be looking into numeric!

 

I really enjoy the Numeric shifter in my car and would recommend it. It's my favorite mod that I've done,
The Numeric in its center setting has a direct feel, but isn't notchy. Otherwise I'm pretty much like you
with a gundo and BB cross over pipes.

I also like using the PASM sport setting, but with the normal shock setting. The sharpened throttle
inputs make it fun when driving spiritedly.

 

Also recommend the numeric shifter and cables. In terms of pure connection to the car it's my favorite mod. DSC box is a close second.

 

Get GT3 front LCA or aftermarket equivalent. Replace rubber bushings on front LCA with monoballs. Get a proper alignment (more aggressive front camber and toe) and good shocks (not a low end coilover kit with questionable damping quality).

Do that and you will have a chassis that's even more rewarding than a stock GT3.

If your car has higher mileage, considering replacing other rubber components in your suspension as well (shock mounts, subframe bushings, etc.)

 

Bilstein B12 kit? I thought about it, but I reached out to the guys at Feal and they really do know their stuff.

They mentioned really trying to be a more affordable version of Ohlins suspension. They are owned by a racer who is very involved in day-to-day ops as well as assembly. Do I think they are as good as Ohlins or even very close? No. Do I think they are better than other budget brands? Yes.

That being said, I am not opposed to selling them (less than 1k miles on them) and going for B12’s, but I must admit the ability to soften dampening for longer drives and road trips (I drive this car a lot, with lots of 8 hour road trips) and then stiffening them up to extreme levels for spirited drives is incredible.

From my understanding, the B12 kit is very stiff. I’m not opposed to it entirely, but I would have to gain a lot over the coils to go that direction.

Would appreciate your thoughts.

 

I found a nice little road in town. Want to try to get the cars out soon?

 

I know nothing about Feal. Never heard of them to be honest. I would ask for shock dyno charts if I were you. Anyone can sweet talk, but data don't lie.

B12 is the shock and spring kit, not the the coilover. It is basically Eibach spring with B8 shocks.
B16 is the coilover kit, similar if not the same as what's on the stock 997 GT3.
Either way, you want DSC controller.

 

They don’t make B16 for my car. But I also don’t want to drop $10K on mods for this car when I could get a GT3 and the value would hold steady while I owned it and require no mods.

B12 kit or I’d stay with my current coils. Here’s the chart and literature I found for your thoughts. They even compare it to lower cost coilovers.

 

That looks pretty good actually! It wasn't clear at the beginning that your car doesn't have PASM--which you made that clear so me and other poster won't bother mentioning DSC controller.

Not sure what you mean by not dropping $10k in mods. A nice non-trashed 997 GT3 is well over $100k these days. Your base Carrera is less than 1/2 if not 1/3 of that unless it has some unique and desirable spec together super low miles.

Anyway, the LCA I mentioned in my first post isn't all that expensive. Parts are $1.5k plus $750 for install and alignment at most. Much better deal than the Fabspeed intake you got... Anyway, not sure what else I can say that would be helpful to you. Good luck.

By the way, your shifter will not feel the same as the Getrag box in the GT and Turbo cars, because they are not the same transmission.

 

PM'ed! 😁

 

Thanks. Helpful re my coilovers.

My C2 was way less than a GT3. They are minimum 130-140 for a .1 and $150 for a .2 like I want.

If I mod my carrera and put another $10K into it, that’s a sunk cost.

If I buy a GT3, I’ll get my money out of it when I sell (maybe more or less depending on macro economic picture) and I won’t need to touch much on the car outside of potentially a LWFW and shorter gearing.

Makes sense- I’ll look at a numeric shifter then.