95m3racer

Looking to hear from some people who have had their Cayman S track cars for a while.

Has the X51 oil pan, and steering cooler (and heat protection) basically been all that's needed? Is the trans cooler necessary, seems that might be a weak point too.

Had a post last year about cayman track car i'd like to put together for my pops, just checking in to see where some people were at with their cars and what problems maybe have come up.

Car would not be driven much, only on the street to get it to some local events for some extra fun track time. Will be gutting it, tires, pads, and maybe a little suspension work...otherwise basically keep the motor stock plus the previously mentioned modifications for oil/steering.

Thanks!

Bill Lehman

I ran a 2.7 Cayman for two years of DE and currently am running a Cayman S. I have had no problems with oiling or power steering and have no mods for these "issues". I believe the power steering issues are because of low fluid levels. From what I've read the oiling issues comes from long LH turns. I have replaced brake pads and rotors.

mooty

yes, most oiling issues are LH turns.
you dont have pwr steering issue? you on east coast?
for some reason pwr str have very little prob on east coast. i personally know of 5 cayman s, together with 10+ power steering rack replaced. i killed off three racks.

Bman

I know of an east coast PS failure, mine! '07 CS and the high temps deformed the fluid line couplers in the rack; major leakage.

stuttgart46

I would ask for reports from people that are running track tires not street tires. It seems that the higher G loads are what usually lead to the problems.

mooty

^
one of us was on hoosiers, one one mpsc, the rest on RA1
everyone had prob.
but i think gen 2 seem to have all issues resolved?

stuttgart46

That's what I hear as well Mooty. It may be a year or two until we know for sure but the Interseries guys have had no problems thus far that I know of.

KS-CS

I know of one guy who has some 76 track days, at a variety of tracks, without any issues or mods (other than track pads and RBF), but he does run on street tires.

I have over 30 track days on my Cayman S and have had no major issues (*knock on wood*); I haven't done any of the oil/power steering related mods. I did experience oil ingestion when I was running on NT01s, and have since gone back to street/track tires (Hankook R-S3s) in the interest of car preservation (since my car is also my DD).

If you are building what sounds like a dedicated track car to run on R-comps, with the gen. 1 motor, then I would consider the following mods:
deep sump oil pan, Motorsport VOS, Accusump or TTP Oil Safe kit (might currently be best solution), Underdrive pulley and power steering line cooler and insulation. I have heard of someone getting a tranny cooler installed, but I don't think it is a very common mod for the track.

Good discussion of the current oil problem solutions for the 987.1 on Planet-9.com here:
http://www.planet-9.com/cayman-boxst...d-tires-3.html

djb_rh

You guys may want to talk to some tranny folks. The One Lap in 2008 appears to be the culprit for lunching my gearbox in my Cayman S, but it's got an X51 motor in front of it, too. It had one of the early crappy diffs (forget which one), though, so it's hard to say for sure. But I've been told there's an oiling issue with those gearboxes under high G loads, and my replacement gearbox has an oiling mod along with a cooler (I'm told the cooler isn't completely necessary, but since you're putting a recirc pump on there anyway, might as well) as well as a much better diff. Can't wait to get it back off the lift...should be soon.

My car was on street tires, but pretty good street tires and with Leh Keen at the wheel for a LOT of testing and a pretty hard week (until I hit the damned deer...ugh).


--Donnie

consolidated

With gen 1 cars you'll want to fortify the oiling system, I lost one motor, suspected rod bearing failure. Oil ingestion can be solved as can power steering leaks due to overheating, I had three, each warrantied. A few have had the "hard brake pedal" issue, some leading to wrecks, do your research before going to tires with large front to rear diameter difference from stock. I ran NT01s and got the "soft pedal" problem, which was not fade, just a long soft pedal, at times to the floor, running SRF, Pagids big rotors, etc.

Gen 2 cars seem to be doing great!

stuttgart46

Nice looking car you got there Donnie.

Krokodil

My car has run probably 9000+ track and race miles (53K total). Started as a street car, then to AX, then to DE type events, then to Time Trial, and now it is raced almost monthly (18 cup races per year). As expected, required modifications developed as the loads increased.

In stock form the car is fine for many track days at a moderate pace. As speeds increase, even on street tires, the AOS and PS should be adressed. Beyond that, most modifications are only necessary if the car is going to be pushed very hard or raced on DOT R, etc.

Must do:

"Motorsports" Air/Oil Separator
Power Steering Cooler

Should do:

Deep sump (Mantis with the windage tray is good)
Replace 997 deaeration tubes with 996 deaeration "swirl pots" - while installing sump
Replace PS reservoir with remote unit - requires tapping the pump - above cooler may delay this
Replace high pressure PS lines with AN type line and fitting - above cooler may delay this
Install 3rd radiator - from Tiptronic

Do when engine is down:

Rework crank to improve oiling (groove main journals)
Replace connecting rods with Carrillo

I lost the original engine (rod bearing). When we built the new engine (tore down a used donor) we made significant changes to the crank, rods, and bearings. Car has now been race hard for 1.5 years without issue (knock wood). Still running the original transmission without issue.

We race in some pretty high temps here in SoCal (105+ at Cal Speedway last year) and the PS modifications, engine, and transmission have held up so far. Just ran two races this past weekend and the car worked great mechanically. We qualified at WSIR at 1:28 on Saturday, but are still working on tire wear and the steering control module.

Cheers,

95m3racer

Thanks for all the info, greatly aprpeciated!

Right now its down to CS and E46 M3 Track Rat (He has a street E46 M3 and my crazy race E46 already lol) another one in the middle would be nice.

whis9

Great information

GTgears

A lot has happened in the last few years. 3 Caymans swept the GX class podium at the 24 Hours of Daytona, one went on to win the class. A Cayman has won its class at the 24 Hours of The Ring. There are over 100 ITC,Interseries,PCA and POC Caymans out there racing now. And dog only knows how many 3.8l swapped ones. I would go out on a limb here and say they've become more popular than Cup Cars for club racing.