Dr. G

Rolled into Fabspeed at around 7:30 Wednesday morning to install the GT420 package consisting of the IPD plenum, 82mm throttle body, BMC filters, Fabspeed's catted sport headers, Valvetronic exhaust and custom tune. Upon arrival I was greeted by the gracious John Gaydos and given a full tour of the facility. Without seeing everything in full swing, there's no way to appreciate the attention to detail involved in the fabrication of Fabspeed components. The whole facility and associated equipment is state of the art.



We started the day by getting a baseline reading of the car on the dyno. I know not to worry about the numbers as much as the change in the curve pre/post modification. Nonetheless, the car started the day at 337hp/299 lb-ft on the Dynojet. Luckily, we'd be able to compare numbers on the same dyno on the same day to appreciate the gains that would be achieved with the upgrades. At this point I was still questioning whether I had made the right choice going with the catted sport headers over the catless race headers.

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Stock exhaust and headers came off the car. Does Porsche coat everything in Teflon? I was shocked how clean it looked under there after 2K miles.



Looking at the stock headers and Fabspeed sport headers side by side it is easy to see how restrictive the stock units are, comparatively.





Same can be seen with the stock exhaust vs the Fabspeed Valvetronic.





Ahh, the elusive IPD plenum. This was almost a major hiccup in the installation. Apparently the machine that IPD uses to fabricate the plenum is currently under repair, leaving a slight back order nation-wide. As of Tuesday afternoon we were without a plenum. Luckily, the guys at Competition Motorsports in Iowa had one in stock and overnighted it to Fabspeed for our install. Crisis averted.





Everything in place. Looks much tidier and streamlined. The only thing left to do was put the car back on the dyno and do the protune. Small problem, though - my car had the most recent Porsche firmware and Cobb hadn't written the program for it yet. This was at 5:30 pm and Fabspeed closes up for the day at 6. A call was put in to Conb and they said they would get it done ASAP, which translated to about 2 hours. Clearly we weren't getting the tune done. Also, I had no way to get back to NJ. John didn't hesitate to give me the key to his Cayman R so I could get back home.

I received a call this morning that Cobb came through and everything was up and running without a hitch. John brought the car back to me tonight and I had a little time to take it out for a spin. The car is much more responsive across the whole rev range. You can definitely feel that the torque dip has been addressed and the car feels very linear in the way it develops power. It sounds fantastic. No video truly captures how this system sounds. It has a very race-like quality to it. It doesn't make as much power up high as the race header setup, but it's still an improvement and the sound...oh, the sound is intoxicating in the higher revs.

I don't regret going with the sport headers over the race headers. Volume-wise the sport headers/valvetronic has a lot of presence. The race headers would probably be way too loud for the street, especially with the top down. Performance wise, there's always a trade off - low end torque vs high end hp. I do tend to run my Porsches in the higher rev ranges even on the street but, again, the volume would be deafening with the catless headers.

All in all, I'm very impressed with the system and the effort Fabspeed made. I wouldn't hesitate to call on them again for future projects.

user1029

Great review! I think may need to head up there soon for the same to get done. The urge is strong to keep my car stock

Leuz

Nice! Now you kinda make me wanna do that.. and I still haven't gotten my car back from the detailer.

Bardman

So do you have the before and after dyno runs that you can post?

mrd_spy

yep this is the what we all want to see ;-)

Dr. G

I'm waiting for the final as they did it yesterday morning. Hopefully John will chime in on the thread.

John@Fabspeed

Sure it is lol. Let me know your thoughts on coming up, you are always welcome

I'll shoot you over a PM momentarily. We can chat about it a bit, and it will certainly take the car up a considerable notch for you

Hang tight guys the dynograph (along with some GoPro videos I took driving the car back to George) should be up shortly, and shooting for today From what I remember looking at the graph yesterday, max power ended up within 5-6hp/2-3tq of Ray's GT4 the other week. Different car different day, although just the humidity yesterday could account for that. Perhaps Ray and George will get together and let the driver mod decide the winner haha

John@Fabspeed

On a personal note...

The drive to NJ in the Spyder was incredible. Valves closed the exhaust configuration is docile and comfortable, with minimal resonance in the cabin even under high gear load between 2000-3000rpm. Valves open and the sound turns into a gorgeous wail into the higher rpms. Enough overall sound level to unconsciously accelerate next to the concrete divider and under every overpass with the windows down for the full experience. However, not loud enough IMO to cause any discomfort when doing so. Perks of the Sport Headers versus the Race Headers with the full package.

Funny story...there was a somewhat annoying Prius next to me on the NJ Turnpike matching my cruising speed too long for comfort. Bringing the rpms up to about 3400rpm in 6th, lifting off throttle, and Just touching the pedal as it fell below 3000rpm caused a series of thunderous burble/overrun that had me busting a gut laughing as the Prius moved over a lane and backed away. What a lovely feature

Upon dropping off the Spyder to George and picking up my Cayman R for the drive home, several things immediately stood out in comparison between the two cars.

1. The shifter in the Spyder is much tighter with shorter throw and a much better feel. My shifter now feels sloppy with throw so long it might have taken a lunch break before reaching the next gear

2. The clutch engagement point is much farther down in pedal travel and stiffer in the 987.2...the quicker and lighter clutch engagement with little pedal travel in Spyder was very nice, although threw me for a loop at first i'll admit.

3. The brakes on the Spyder have fantastic initial bite, and confidence inspiring/progressive pedal feel. Coming up to the first stop sign on my way home, I nearly rolled into the intersection as the CR brakes felt like a brick with little initial bite, requiring a substantial increase in brake pressure to accomplish the same performance as the Spyder. Payday will result in Pagid Yellows or Ferodo DS1.11, possibly new rotors.

4. My happiness with the sound of my 3.4L with Race Headers and factory PSE has reached it's end. Although fantastic in it's own way, I need some more overall sound level and aggressive overrun. This will be accomplished with a 987.2 specific version of the GT4/Spyder Valvetronic Exhaust System.

5. Hill assist on both vehicles throws me off and I don't like it...Pete C. knows what i'm talking about haha.

Overall I am very very impressed with the Spyder. The potential sound and performance is astonishing, and the development of 981 chassis is a night and day improvement over the 987.2. It is worth every penny more in value, but still wish they had kept hydraulic steering for better feedback with the road. To note, the Spyder feels like the more exciting street-driven experience over the GT4 although I personally would always choose the GT4 for it's overall better track potential...I am a track rat and need a roof

Jimmy-D

John - have you all yet weighed the factory exhaust and headers and compared it to your set-up? I have to believe based on the pictures that your set-up has a weight advantage but would be interesting to note by how much

John@Fabspeed

Here are some weights I just measured in the back. To note, we have not developed this system with weight savings as a priority. In that event, we do have the ability to custom make a valveless system with lightweight goals in mind

Factory PSE Exhaust: 39lbs
Fabspeed Valvetronic Exhaust System: 33lbs
Factory Headers (both): 29lbs
Fabspeed Sport Headers: TBD needs to be fabricated
Fabspeed Race Headers: TBD needs to be fabricated

Jamie140

I thought all that stuff was the 450 hp package?

digitalrurouni

Differences between the 450 and 420 packages are the race vs sport headers and the tune to maximize those changes. Race headers have no cats!

Jenner

There is no way cats are worth 30hp in an NA car....

Jamie140

Ah. Good to know. Thanks.

Jimmy-D

I do not think there is any correlation between horsepower but they were just trying to differentiate the available packages.