Steve Theodore

For those who have been following my 997.1 GT2 journey, you may recall I bought my GT2 on my birthday in April 2019 and promptly drove it over 2800 miles home. That was one of the best decisions I've ever made, and the memories made from that trip with my wife are forever!

Along the way since I've done a few things with the car, including:

OEM carbon buckets (to replace sofa seats)
custom upholstery to carbon buckets
stereo amplifier rebuild (not by choice)
window tint
vinyl wrap for my hood (GT2 RS look)
new wheel lugs (titanium)
new upgraded clutch/flywheel combination
new spark plugs
engine out service to install welded SharkWerks coolant pipes.
aftermarket RS style door pulls

One of the things that has eluded me from my original plans and goals is an aftermarket tune for more power. Over a year ago I bought a Cobb AP in order to tune it, but the device was unable to read my DME, which led to considerable frustration and my eventual decision to sell the Cobb unit to someone else (and it worked perfectly for them). Cobb was never able to tell me exactly why their unit couldn't interface with my DME (but tried), and so I wasn't sure what I was going to be able to do. I later had a trusted shop use a Protomotive cable to attempt a simulated read of my DME and it worked, so I figured one day I'd likely just buy a Protomotive tune and be done with it. Then I just put those plans on hold while I worked on other cars and opportunities.

OK, so now let's fast forward to last week.

I started the day like most others, looking at Rennlist and answering a few private messages. I then noticed a post advertising a pre-owned SharkWerks exhaust for a 997.1 GT2 which caught my eye, so dug in a bit further. In order to better evaluate the exhaust I rang up my friends at SharkWerks (who won my business and admiration many years ago with my GT3 RS) and we got into a long conversation about exhausts first, and then later software/tuning. I explained my previous issues regarding my inability to tune the car, and they quickly rose to the challenge to say that they would fully support my attempt to do it with their software. So, on a day that started like so many others, I finally bought an exhaust and tune for my 997.1 GT2!

Today I was able to use the supplied tuning software and hand-held device to successfully read my DME, and as I write this the team at SharkWerks is analyzing my current tune and preparing a custom tune for me to apply. Stay tuned as this should be fun!

Steve Theodore

Update: Confirmed it was the stock OEM tune on my DME, meaning my 490 whp reading on a Dynojet 248C from a couple years ago was completely stock. This is cool!

Steve Theodore

More Updates: I already have the new tune back from SharkWerks and am hoping to load it up tonight after getting home. The plan is to take the GT2 to 'work' tomorrow and try it out for the first time tuned. I'm very excited!

ChrisF

This might be an expensive thread to have opened. Damn you Steve!

Can't wait to hear how it goes.

D-Uber Cars

This is exciting, subscribed Steve!

Steve Theodore

Glad to see some excitement surrounding this...thanks guys!

I'm getting the handheld unit ready with the new tune, but will be planning to upload and try it out tomorrow. Good news is that I have quite a bit of data surrounding performance for my GT2 (via Dragy) so it shouldn't be hard to give you all some quantifiable proof of the tune prior to getting the car on the same dyno again for a proper 'after' comparison. I'm quite excited, to put it mildly!

ChrisF

If I was in your shoes, I'd be up all night

Bxstr

Excited to hear the progress and results on this. Can agree regarding Sharkwerks and their customer service. Great guys over there.

Burren

Tune and center pipe, or did you go a little deeper with exhaust options and remove more stock parts? Have you now made a list of other parts, like intake, intercoolers, etc.?

Steve Theodore

At this point in time I'm simply going with the cat-back exhaust and tune option. Considering I've already owned the car for over 2 years, I'm not in any big rush to do other modifications like intake, intercoolers, or larger turbos. In time I may change my mind of course, but this is as far as I want to go other than completing my switch to Surface Transforms brake rotors and a bit of new vinyl graphics that I'm scheming to do.

The update from this morning is that the SharkWerks/EVOMSit tune has been successfully applied and I plan to take the car for it's first tuned drive in about an hour. I'm very excited!

Steve Theodore

Proper update...

it's instantly obvious that the car has more power and torque in the mid-range and top end and I'm seeing 1.4 bar on my OEM boost gauge. I had to suffer through the standard 'I just modified my car and want to test it so traffic won't stop getting in my way' curse, but I found a few spots to do some blasts in all gears up through 4th. Noticeably more powerful than stock, and when I have the time I'll get some Dragy numbers to back this up. It absolutely WOKE THE CAR UP!

I should have the SharkWerks exhaust in about 3 weeks time, and will then give you all a Round 2 update. So far I can report that the flash tuning process was easy and the result is very noticeable!

mchrono

Hey Steve, this is awesome news. Really our cars are hampered by the stock tune. If the Sharkwerks tune is anything like my Protomotive tune (Im sure they are quite similar) then now your car will also be able to benefit from high flow cats and larger ICs. The engine will adapt and make even more power more consistently with these additions with no need for another tune. You have started your journey down the rabbit hole, my friend!

Steve Theodore

Well said. At this point I think the exhaust, brakes, and graphics will hold me over for a bit...until I can finally afford to do the aftermarket wheels I want. Obviously there is always something to do!

Belinko

now put in a long 6th gear for 230mph runs

ChrisF

I think you'll like the SW exhaust...very race-bred turbo flat six sound. Short of headers and HFC's it's pretty great.

Awaiting update patiently (ok maybe not patiently)