sharkster

The 997.2 platform is a firm favorite in these waters. Back in September of 08, we actually rushed out and got the first launch car in NorCal to play with, live with and R&D on. We've had such great support from the community and have worked on so many projects over the years. Since this is who we are and what we do we get a lot of calls, emails and drop-ins each week asking for our recommendations for modifications, often "what would you do if this was your car?" or more specifically which parts we would upgrade etc.

We tell plenty of people, just leave it bone stock and it's good to go, although there's always to make it a bit more edgy.

So we decided to write a tuning and modification guide with brief explanations for what we would and wouldn't change, and why...

This is a good starting point for new 997.2 (don't worry we're also working on a 997.1 version too!) and experienced owners that are new to modifying the car. With all the information available online we decided to summarize and organize our thoughts into one document.

2009-2011 Carrera / S / 4S / GTS:

http://sharkwerks.com/porsche/porsch...09-2012-a.html

PTParks

Very detailed write-up. Kudos to you, Sharkwerks.

fer2367

Excellent job! I wish there was a Miami sharkwerks subsidiary...

f4 plt

Thanks Alex. Great article and very timely, reference our emails back and forth.

mdrums

Thanks!
You might want to correct the paragraph right above the "Exhaust" section that states, "The cars have an optional Sport suspension (called Sport PASM) which is standard equipment on the S, 4S, and GTS models. It gives a slightly lower ride height and active shocks, which can be switched from soft to hard modes (for smooth roads and race-like hardness) with the click of a button in front of the shifter.

It's kind of confusing because it says the cars have and optional Sport PASM which is standard on S 4S GTS.....this is an optional version of PASM and not standard on these cars.

utkinpol

it is nice to see my c2 now is tuned to have more torque than that 3.8l 997.2 car delivers, according to that dyno. at least my last pull on mustang dyno showed 258 and my max torque spot is much earlier than on that DFI motor.

I know it is all bogus about absolute numbers but those old M96 engines can indeed be tuned well, apparently better than those newer ones. Raby`s built motors can be apparently tuned close to 280 and that would be awesome to try out some day. more you learn about this stuff, more it opens up.
it would be nice to see a sample of extreme tuning on those DFI motors like BGB shop does, as they push them to 450 horses but i never saw a chart - would be interesting to see how that torque curve looks like

PHX 911

I read every word...thanks for posting that.

Only trouble is your common sense approach left updating my steering wheel as the only sensible thing left to do.
Gee thanks...

sharkster

Hehe sorry about that! Actually on these 997.2's one has to step back and realize just how good they are from the factory so sometimes less is indeed more

Aye I'm working on the 997.1.. that'll take a while yet but there's plenty to do on those too! I like the whole Autofarm or Raby approach to those but they are indeed quite expensive undertakings Having said that if you're planning on keeping the car for good... I'd be going that route.

Aye mike it comes off a bit confusing let me fix that Thanks for looking out for us!

My pleasure and have a great holiday!

AW thanks! I think Florida has enough Sharks tho

Thank you!

utkinpol

yep, in a long term it probably will make sense to do it eventually.

i think eventually as more and more M96 and M97 engines will come to the point of a rebuild this market should get saturated enough for prices to settle somewhat lower than it is now, somewhat similar to BMW market. right now big bore rebuilds are insanely priced and honestly i see very little justtification to this price level. it is cheaper to find a used Koni motor with some level of rebuilds already done on it than to re-work your own old engine, it is just plain wrong.

mdrums

All in all this article from Sharkwerks is a must read and should be made a sticky on this forum.

utkinpol

it is a good guide but still kinda difficult field to cover.

there are folks that do street oriented tuning - for raw power alone, put in superchargers and turbos, there are folks that do exterior mods for looks alone, there are fanatics like us that rebuild entire chassis for track performance, most of goals and methods in those categories simply do not intersect much and to master this stuff you need to know how to combine different things so they still 'work'.

sharkster

Absolutely correct! I could have gone on forever Lord of the Rings style Having said that I tried to cover the basics of each... Give folks some wiggle room if you will. I'll probably be updating it over time too

Aw thanks man! I guess we could ask Bob Rouleau or the mods?

I think it will... especially with prices coming down. Doing so would make the engine/platform so much more confidence inspiring

slicky rick

Great article but was hoping brake lines would be tackled too in the brake section Those ss brake lines have been aroind for a while and it would have been good to hear alex's impression on this mod

sharkster

hey there.. so actually James has always felt that because the lines are so short they make very little noticeable difference Not like on the older cars ...

PJorgen

Thanks for the info about the brake lines, I was wondering about those as well.

One of these days I've got to get the muffler bypass, especially considering I've got the same Porsche Racing Green launch car as Sharkwerks.

You guys wouldn't be planning a great end-of-year sale or anything like that, would you?