abe

Okay...drove down highway 1 Sacramento to Ventura in our nearly new 07 Red Targa C4. AND WE LOVED IT. My wife gets behind the wheel....next thing you know she is going 130mph down Hwy 1 (straight portion). "Honey, you need to slow down a little....", all I got was "yeah right!"
Well, this car is going to be used mostly weekends, some commute, no racing.
And for the price we got.....a 08 C4S was not an option. Now I am on a power rush....so the question for 5k +/- what can I do to increase hp. I know that the money is on exaust, header, cat, reprograming.. I did search, but I need help. I also like proven information rather than company claims. I also want to avoid voiding my Porsche warranty.
Fabspeed?AWE?FVD?. All opinions welcomed. Hey, it may better not to even waste
the money to gain 25hp. Frankly, it weren't this site....I would just leave my car alone. That said, I like to hear what you did to your car.

Thanks To All in Advance,
abe

camsoccer

Check out the Admin thread Evo V-Flow Ram Air Induction - 997 Anyone…….. It was my car (just a C2) that had the before and after dynos to show a solid increase in Hp for around $2100.…………

camsoccer

Here are copies of my before and after dynos. The stock dyno was in third gear and the upgrades dyno was in fourth gear. All I did was add an EVO air intake, GIAC chip flash, and fabspeed mufflers. The EVO air intake uses a cloth air filter.........

Edgy01

If you're in Ventura save your money and blend in some higher octane fuel into that lousy 91 we have here. That's the surest way to get your car to perform as it was built to, and not to be forced to compromise its tune based upon insufficient octane (in California). The hardware changes are discussed herein in ad nauseum. Do you really think Porsche would leave the low-hanging fruit for some aftermarket guy to exploit?

dndodd

RSS Plenum and an X-51 Airbox then some cats. IMO

Rivan

$5k is not going to make your car gain enough hp that you can feel the difference. why not just spend around $2-3k to install a nice exhaust system that at least you can hear the difference everyday?

mdrums

Why did they do 1 run in 3rd gear and the next run with mods in 4th gear?

996superfly

I agreed with Rivan. No seat in the pant HP with 5K. Use the $$ wisely. Something I you can feel, hear and touch. Short shift kit is the best bang for the bucks. Next, buy a used PSE exhaust for about $1100. Get RSS Plenum for $900 along with a used EVOMS intake for $500. Headers from Fabspeed or GHL. You still have some mula leftover here. Get some suspension firmest to go with it. Pss9 coilover should do the job. A little bit over your 5K. These are excellent mod. that you can enjoy with your wife many trips to the coast, inland and mountain road. GL!!!

Nugget

The logical use for the money would be to buy a share of BRKB and sit on it until it's time to buy the next Porsche.

The pragmatic use for the money would be to buy three or four "driver's education" track weekends for you and your wife. $5K will go a lot farther if employed to improve the driver than it would towards improving the car.

camsoccer

To be honest the reason that I ran the stock dyno in 3rd gear and the modified dyno in 4th gear was strictly due to operator error on my part. The before and after dynos were done on the same dyno but when I went to do the after dyno on my car I couldn't remember what gear I had done my first dyno in. So I guessed and well I guessed wrong. I plan on re-dynoing my car in 3rd gear once I am home again........

Additionally on the second run I wasn't too concerned with the actual amount of Hp gain but as to how much Hp was going to the wheels. 8haggis (thanks again btw) did an awesome job of looking at the data provided by both dyno's and using some of that new age math and a computer. He was able to mathematically calculate what I would have gotten on the before dyno if I had run it in 4th gear and the theoretical Torque values for both runs.

RonCT

Agree with most of the above. You are not going to dramatically change the performance of the car for even $10k. You can get noticeable gains, though, for around $5k if you do what I did (after extensive research):

AWE headers, cats, mufflers
Revo software

I would not touch the airbox unless it was the X51 with paper filters. I just don't have a good feeling about oiled filters since I had a MAF issue with my M3. The sound of my car is intoxicating and the performance is clearly a step above as proven on the track (telemetry and running with other guys I've run with before - acceleration is clearly much improved).

I don't like the idea of the plenum because it "feels" more internal and that would concern me with respect to warranty. The items I outlined above do not impact warranty per my dealer - some would argue the software does, but not my dealer and others I've talked with. It's very subtle in the fine-tuning . The software really did a great job tying everything together - 93 octane, the freer flow of the exhaust system, the better / more linear throttle response, etc.

Now from what I remember, the potential gains on a 3.6 engine are lower than a 3.8 - so you might go through the above and not really find the gains I did. But understand - the 3.6 is a tremendous performer already. The only reason I did what I did was for track performance - if this were a street car only, I probably wouldn't have touched anything as the car is silly fast already.

abe

Thank You to All. I think I will use my money for something else. I am satisfied with the car and the facts are that I am not going to racing on a track. I am one who will probably not appreciate a 20hp increase, specially at $500/hp. Since I have been a MB owner....I like the sound of a quiet car when I am driving. I do love to hear that ferrari sound down the street though.
thanks again
abe

DJ23

I have to agree with Ron, especially with the Revo upgrade. With the mods I did, Evo air intake, Fab speed headers, ECU Revo upgrade I was able to get 380 HP on the dyno. My car is very fast off the mark and has great torque across the RPM range. As Ron would say yes it's addicting. Too bad two big snow storms are headed for us this weekend. In any event happy driving for those who can. Glad to hear you love your Targa.

Jay

axhoaxho

For $5K, I would opt for a set of nice light-weight wheels. Lower the unsprung weight improves overall performance (even just a bit), and a set of good looking wheels make the car looks even better

With best regards,

Rick in Colorado

[QUOTE=Nugget;4872586]The logical use for the money would be to buy a share of BRKB and sit on it until it's time to buy the next Porsche.QUOTE]

I bought my lonely "A" share for $18K in the 90's and I'm loathe to sell it - so that strategy doesn't work. At least the "cash-it-in" part.