QuickOne

TL;DR - If you own a 981 Spyder, buy these parts!! You can thank me later.

Full Review -

First, a quick background - I own (and have owned) many very high performance cars. I also almost always do the work myself as I find it to be both rewarding and educational. It also provides a sense of "oneness" with the car. My automotive history includes things like a 600whp Subaru STi race car (yes, it did sound like the 718 Boxster), 911 Carrera 4 GTS track car, a 600hp Evo, F10 M5, F85 X5M, blah blah blah. Summary, I'm not stranger to high performance vehicles and the experiences they provide.

I'm also generally very reserved and quiet regarding online reviews, but this one is very compelling so I figured I would throw this up here for other owners and to shout out to Fabspeed for all of the help they have provided along the way.

As the owner of a previous 987 Spyder, I was pretty happy when I picked up my 981. It solved most of the power issues the 987 had, and I felt it was the next iteration of the Spyder line. It isn't as communicative as the 1st gen, but what it lacks in feedback it makes up for in power and composure.

But that flat spot at 4500rpm...

I performed a ton of research on how to resolve this. I even went as far as discussing the 4.0 conversion fro Demann (perhaps a future endeavor). In the end I decided to start with some basic bolt-ons as they seemed to be fairly successful.

I called up Fabspeed for the headers and pro-tune and ordered the intake and throttle body from RS1 (cheapest on the intake by far..).

First, the headers - wow, they are gorgeous. I opted for the sport headers (with the cats) as I wanted to feel better about the environment and thought the additional back pressure from the cats might help more in the low-end. I have attached some pics so you can see the quality of work as well as the comparison to the factory headers.

They are clearly a work of art. Beautifully put together with thick flanges, cast ports (I think) and gorgeous welds. I have a lot of faith in these lasting a while.

The install was also a breeze. I was going to put together a DIY on the install, but the reality is these are ridiculously simple. If you can't figure out how to install these, then frankly you shouldn't be working on the car.

Next came the intake/throttle body... Anyone that has read my other thread understands the issues I went through in getting this to work. The summary is that I installed everything and upon turning the key, the car threw all kinds of error codes and wouldn't run properly. I wasn't getting any response from the throttle, though it idled fine. Multiple re-installs of the plenum were attempted to determine what the issue could but, but I found nothing. Letting the car sit overnight caused the problem to become worse - restarting it the next morning showed that it wouldn't idle any longer and sounded like the engine was blown. Ultimately in the end I discovered the throttle plate in the throttle body was stuck. A strong push on the plate broke it free and it seemed to be actuating normally. Reinstalling the setup and it worked perfectly, firing right up and idling as originally expected.

This is the part where Fabspeed was hugely helpful without me even asking them for assistance. I posted a thread to Rennlist to try and solicit some advice from the wonderful community here. I got a number of responses on the thread (all very helpful), but what you couldn't see behind the scenes is that John@Fabspeed PM'd me and offered to help - even calling me personally to walk through all of the possible options and issues.

When we weren't able to determine the culprit, he put me in direct touch with his tuner who was able to help offer further assistance. Note that this is before I ever uploaded the tune or had any issues with their products - they were simply trying to help me out and get the car running.

Frankly, in this litigious society we live in, this level of service is becoming extremely scarce - especially in the car community where the risks are high and reward is low. Fabspeed is forever in my books as one of the great companies in the industry and will certainly get my repeat business.

Upon solving the issue with the plenum, I threw the pro-tune on the car and took it out for a drive...

Holy S***. This is how Porsche should have built this car. I hate that cliche, but damn is it spot on. It pulls brilliantly, throttle tip-in is crisp, it's responsive all through the rpm band and it sound gorgeous with the PSE. I was going to get a video of the before/after, but I don't think my phone will do it justice. It's a minor change in tone, but it just sounds mean!! And now it has the power to back that up.

Granted, it's not supercar territory, but given the handling capabilities combined with the visceral experience of the drive - it's easily my favorite car I've ever owned. Hands down

Now the pics.. Of course there is the gratuitous pic of my car, followed by the headers and a comparison to the stock headers. Also are a shot of the headers installed as they are soooo pretty. I will omit the pics of the IPD plenum as there really isn't anything special to see, but let me know if you want them and I'll post them up as well.

Again, thanks to Fabspeed and everyone on RennList for offering assistance to get the issues sorted out and being a part of this wonderful community. it makes these types of endeavors worthwhile.

If you have a 981 Spyder, I *highly* recommend this setup. Just make sure you check your throttle body during the install!

MagicRat

Great review! How would you describe the sound of the car with the FS headers vs stock?

Zeus993

Super nice write-up! Tku! This now leans me even more over to Fabspeed Sport Headers. They look gorgeous.

QuickOne

I would say the sound is more "throaty". Has a bit of a deeper/more menacing tone. However, I don't find it to be a dramatic difference at all and I'm waiting to determine if that was entirely placebo effort if it's lasting.

Either way, the performance gains alone are easily worth it - regardless of any sound change.

Dr. G

Great review.

I'll be doing the GT450 package which basically adds the filters and the Fabspeed Valvetronic. I was on the fence about it, but when you look at the changes in the dyno graph it makes a pretty compelling argument for going with the exhaust over just the headers. I'm not sure it will sound better than the PSE because I believe the PSE sounds pretty perfect.



Mind you, this graph only shows the sport headers and the sport header + exhaust, not the intake.

kahane18

Hi

Great review.
I'm thinking of doing the the same type of upgrade, plenum, sport headers and Akropovic exhaust on my GT4.
Where did you buy the plenum? Headers and Tune from Fabspeed?
What were the prices?

Thanks

QuickOne

I picked up the plenum from RS1 on here - as part of their promotion. Without the promotion, the prices seem to be universally the same.

Got the headers and pro-tune from Fabspeed directly. The prices are on their website.

kahane18

THANKS

MagicRat

This is what I am thinking of (after a little saving up!) for my Spyder. I back Fabspeed for performance parts and tuning but think I might want Akra to be in charge of the actual noise...!

John@Fabspeed

Steve this is outstanding! Great information to help educate the rest of the community, and I really appreciate the kind words If there is anything else you need give me shout

Josh we also have a nice review of the Sport Headers on the product page of our website, and a few others here on Rennlist as their own threads for you to reference. Will try to accumulate them at one point and post them all up together haha. How you enjoying yours so far?

Thanks Joel! We always try our best to make them are showroom quality as possible. I actually had a guy the other day buy a set of F355 headers for his man cave...life goals

12 days and counting!

PM heading your way momentarily! We offer all the products that Steve is running on his Spyder (Sport Headers, IPD Plenum/82mm TB Package, and Cobb Accessport with Custom Protune).

MagicRat

Loving the headers on my GTS thanks. I think the sound is somehow a little less melodic than stock with the wider GTS-issue cat than with the regular ones, but for 40 lb/ft of extra torque at the wheels (tested independently by me, for everyone's information) at 4,000rpm I'll take it. Steve from FS also sent me a 'base' tune which has turned the car into an absolute animal and upon which he is apparently working further magic now I've sent him back some datalogs.

I will of course post a dyno over in the 991 forum when I have the final version of the tune

Just running the Spyder in for now. Going to put a few thousand miles on and let the engine loosen up before the optimisation starts...

QuickOne

I thought about doing that, but said f-it. The car had 160 miles on it when I violated it.

But it seemed to like it, after the initial hesitance

Dr. G

I like that.

When I had my R8 V10 it went from the dealer to get a full satin wrap and then I immediately did the Statsis tune, Stasis Exhaust and BMC filters. Car didn't seem to mind.

John@Fabspeed

Well said

francis_william

This is my short clip after installing the Fabspeed Sport Header, Really like the sound of it.
Music to my years, it kept the original porsche flatsix noise in the lower rev with slightly more volume,
in higher rev, it just screams like what it should in the first place. Makes reving it even more enjoyable then before. Love it!