Gibbo

Hi there


As I service my car to keep it in peak running order I've come across sites selling performance intake kits that supposedly give 20-30BHP and panel filters which give 3-5BHP. In my experience such gains simply do not exist, would this be true for a 997 C2S?

My plan is to give the car a good service but whilst I am doing it I am contemplating the following:-

K&N Panel filter or K&N Performance intake
Porsche X51 headers
Porsche PSE

Now I know the PSE gives no power gain, but sounds fantastic.

But has anyone here fitted uprated intakes and the X51 headers, if so any noticable improvement or is it simply a case of money down the drain?

utkinpol

i run k&N panel oiled filter but most people recommend BMC one. do that, and keep stock airbox.

C2S stock headers are not optimal so X51 ones will help. on C2 car stock headers are fine. instead of PSE put on any 200 cell sport cats - fabspeed x-pipe, AWE, etc. keep stock mufflers. then put on softronic ECU flash. that will improve shape of torque curve making it more linear and will give a bit of power increase.

and yes, it is money down to drain to some degree, but usually people do it just for sheer fun of it.

Gibbo

Is your K&N a panel filter type one which goes in the stock box? If so did you notice any difference after fitting it and you had any issues with it?

RonCT

Headers yes, oiled filter never. Had 1 brand new one foul my sensor and having talked with the race shops around about the questionable theoretical benefit of a non-stock filter I won't try another. But don't stop at headers as it's the cats that give you the most bang for the buck. X51 headers and AWE 200 cell cats on my old 07 were a great combination with the stock mufflers.

Gibbo

So would you say its just best to stick with the stock Porsche filter then or is their performance none oiled panel filters one can use?

utkinpol

i noticed difference after doing all the upgrades i`ve done and i dynoed car before and after. my car is 3.6L C2, not 3.8L so i did not do headers.

about oiled filters - i ran them before on non-P cars, it is all good in moderate. I knew what to look at, filter I got was not over-oiled - that is what some people complain about with K&N. BMC seems to do a bit better job.

actual benefit of having increased airflow is difficult to measure. if you have durametric you can try to record MAF sensor data with stock cloth and oiled filters, I honestly do not care, i just did what I did before as I used K&N before and it was fine.

what NOT to do - do not replace stock airbox with any non-OEM cone type housings. it is crap. only good substitute is something like OEM X51 airbox with dual intakes, but it will require quite an effort to put it in.

cbzzoom

IMO if you oil them right and clean them often, oiled filters are okay. But people often oil them either too little or too much. If you've used them before and are comfortable then go for it.

+1

Alstoy

I'm trying to lowe the weight. Swapped out my 19s for 18s. Pulled back seats out. Went on a diet. If I were to do anything more I would just bugger it and supercharge it.

Edgy01

I would not change the air intake side at all. The promises of large gains are vaporware. Clearly, Porsche wouldn't leave such low hanging fruit for some guy to design a kit for $30, charge $200, and get you 20 hp.

I put the X51 headers on simply because I liked the look of them. The stock 997S headers are actually lighter than the X51 headers by a few pounds on each side. The only thing you get by adding the X51 headers is a different sound; better if you have the PSE as well. You may lose some mid range torque because the tube diameters are a bit larger than those on the stock 997S.

It's still a lot of money for no real gain in HP. You have to be getting some other satisfaction from it than merely a perceived HP gain. I just went for the noise.

AWay

Sport cats are definitely going to give you the most bang for your buck in both sound and power. I'd only do the intake/headers if I were still looking for additional/tweaked sound.