996tnz

A good ECU upgrade (reflash of the existing ECU) is the best bang for buck and I would think gets you about two thirds of the way there. Adding a freer flowing exhaust probably halves the remaining gap.

Mine was done to a high standard - combined with a major service with fresh cooler plugs, later model coilpacks, diverter valves, fresh fluids, filters, brake rotors and hoses etc etc.

Retained reliability was my first criterion, performance second. I was lucky with my sourcing so it all came in at well under 10% of the car's current value. Per recent revaluation, upgrading a car sensibly doesn't seem to change it's market value at all, unless you count the bits you've taken off as worth something. Smile value goes up though.

996tnz

Nice list. That RUF R-Turbo time looks rather fast at 11.6. It came in a choice of narrow body or wide body though, and a choice of 2WD or AWD. I suspect that time is for the narrow bodied 2WD version. From hunting around the web a few weeks ago, mine now performs pretty much exactly on par with their wide-bodied AWD 520HP R-Turbo.

kiwi 911

Agreed - chipping a turbo is OK for short bursts on the road - I wouldn't chip a turbo car for the track (without other serious mod's) as they spend too much sustained time at the redline.

I used to chip my old turbo Audi's A4T and S4TT (back in my VASK days) - the extra 50hp was fab.......

Best bang for buck on the track is suspension, tires and weight reduction. I'm only quicker coz of items 1 and 2, I haven't looked at removing weight (yet), other than taking out the spare..........

Also 996TT's don't turn in well (IMHO) - talk to Chris about what he did. He now runs 1.17's............I'm still 1.19's............

kiwi 911

That's Ollies / Clive P's old RS............

kiwi 911

What - you have a budget?? I think I am giving up on these things in my personal life, I stopped with the car 2 years ago, and with the house build 3 months ago.........

Mate - I hope you work to the end of calendar year, and not the tax year (31 Mar) or financial year (30 Jun) - otherwise you will need to go back to mgmt over diner tonight with a CapEx request??

Macca

Fascinating. Id be quite keen to see the dyno plots before and after if you are ok posting them?

Its very good value for around 6-7K. That's a fraction of Johns year 1 budget LOL!

Unfortunately I fully understand how upgrading a car doesnt affect its market value.

mjg

Yep, easy to get big power but not cheap to get it reliably and keep it under control.

FWIW, I wouldn't even consider reflashing a 996TT without replacing the diverter valves, the factory ones were garbage and will be close to (or already) non-functional by now.

996tnz

I am that guy who regularly idles his turbos for a minute or so, even after just commuting (worst thing about the 996T is that it can't take a turbo-timer since the alarm won't arm with one) and idles it around to cool the brakes and turbos for several minutes at track (Patsy does this particularly well too).

So, yes, I sweated this heavily before proceeding (part of the retained reliability first goal). The freer flowing 'race' exhaust gets the heat out a bit quicker. I have always run shorter than factory oil change intervals anyway but am even more conscious of it doing it now. Upgraded brakes and ICs too.

Plug change intervals should be shortened on modded 996Ts but other than that their Mezger engines are more than sufficiently over-engineered to shrug it off. Stock 996Ts have run to beyond 500,000 kms including more track days each year than I've run in 3 years total. One of the most tracked modded 996Ts was run by Rennlist's Mikelly. No issues that I know of.

Like the Mezger block GT3s, the 996Ts only engine related issue looks to be the stupid glued in water fittings which occasionally pop out if not secured first with an aftermarket fix.

I don't yet have the same faith in Audi engineering so my 2.7T Allroad is still stock.

Totally. As I said, the extra HP is almost a nuisance on track. Trying to avoid going the LVV route though so coilovers are out for me. I may get tempted again down the track...

That's an understatement! I trail brake mine heavily which sorts it out nicely (the rear jumps around a bit - as you've noticed) but the bigger problem is the understeer on exit when AWD throws power forwards. You learn to steer well inside the track out point and then let the throttle carry you out there.

My problem is that I want my car to be a good allrounder and non-LVV, rather than a dedicated track rat. Already the stock 'ROW' turbo suspension firmness means my old BMW 750il could take some bumpy corners faster on-road.

What did Chris do? The R-comps or something more serious?

Macca

Walter. I felt the same way about upgrading to coilovers. They suprised me and are so much more compliant than the Bilstein HD & M030 springs on the road as to make the comparison night and day,. The coilovers handle both compression and rebound with aplomb and are fully adjustable. Hands down one of the best road and performance mods I mad to the 993 (and my third go at it too). Firmness and compliance are not the same things as I learnt and you can have both with a modern well designed and built coilover.

So what is the 996TT now putting out in terms of torque and hp?

Chris I think has R888 or similar and some pads and fluid.

996tnz

I took it to Pukekohe to dyno prior to upgrade but gave up. Long story, but I was not comfortable with the Dyno wheels not being mechanically linked (like a rolling road) as I was running AWD with the 996's viscous front diff. Went as far as calling the Dyno manufacturer (NZ brand) from the workshop to confirm whether they would stand behind their dyno if anything bad happened but they said their R&D budget didn't stretch that far. So we didn't get beyond trying to do a low rpm rev calibration and wondering why the rpms didn't match front to rear. No power runs at all but happily paid the $160 odd to just pack up and drive it away. Manual 996Ts can be dynoed in 2WD mode but until someone is willing to back their dyno financially for a tip in AWD I'm not trying again.

Best practical street measure of comparative HP is generally considered to be the 60-130 or 100-200 times - or to 300kph in Germany (yes!). LVV intrudes above a 20 percent HP increase so not aiming higher than 504 anyway.

Thought that might get a rise, but your car is art as much as it is a monument to engineering. Sort of like Porsche's incessant incremental improvement scheme put on fast forward for that lucky exemplar. Rules don't apply.

996tnz

Yep, Dunlop D03Gs I believe he told me. Paul's comment on Chris has got me intrigued on whether there may be something further I can do though to improve my handling...

Macca

Hi Walter. Im pretty sure Chris said his car was otherwise 100% stock. He has alot of track time at HD so 1.16s-1.17s seem reasonable. The 996TT probably has some chassis limits. In the last session of the NITT I was pretty much keeping pace with Chris & Neil in his 997.2 GT3 which demonstrates the NA 2WD advantage given I dont think any of us had driven that track before (maybe Chris?). The 996TT romped away on the straights and was reeled back in quickly on the tight corners and infield. Id imagine Chris was putting in best laps mid-high 1.19s there and most of the racers say its almost 2 seconds slower than HD so figures for mid 1.17s at HD assumes like for like driver.

I think there is a HP cap on this tighter tracks where pauls rule of chassis and weight comes into play. You can throw another 100 bhp at my chassis and get maybe 1.17s at Manfield but if you reverted back to the non coilovers you would loose all that 2-3 second advantage over where its at today...

996tnz

Yes, that's why I did a full pre-emptive maintenance at the same time.

The 996T is a legendarily strong platform though (as is the early 90's Supra).

Motorsport Services successfully ran two remapped 996Ts for years at Hampton Downs and as hire cars in various competitions. From speaking with David when one came up for sale I believe it had a remap, exhaust, suspension, aero etc etc but stock internals. Happy to be updated on that if anyone knows better.

I believe 996Ts won the Targa at least once and also held/hold the NZ 24 hour endurance record (remapped? probably). Most likely with internal mods (money no object) they have also done well at the Nurburgring (Manthey in the VLN series and EDO's 'Maya the Bee' - a 996T with 997 body kit - awesome 'Ring YouTube video)

They are not as track focussed as lighter cars but not too shabby either. Standard shocks are their weakest point compared to GT2/GT3 cars with their factory coilovers.

There are some crazy high HP 996Ts in the US (1000-1500HP, some with NOS) and yes, most of those definitely have upgraded internals (titanium conrods etc) though a few people have ridden their luck up to almost 1000HP on stock internals (not advised - rods likely to bend eventually, especially if run lean). Not sure I'd be entering those ones in an endurance event unless detuned but some have run fast road sprints etc with them.

In short, a competent remap on the original turbos plus some bolt-on's, combined with more frequent plug and oil changes, shouldn't worry a tracked Turbo at all. Once you go too far beyond that though, with bigger turbos etc, the 996T Rennlist crowd tend to agree that over 650HP is counterproductive on track.

996tnz

In case anyone missed it, I am not trying to develop a track weapon so much as renew the joy of driving the car in all situations. I think it was Rohrl who said that the sign of a great car is when you look at it in the morning and are a little afraid to drive it.

A cheaper way of doing the same thing might be to just drop the rim widths down a few inches all round I suppose. Mine's currently down one inch at the rear as I have my spares on (265s on 10" vs 295 on 11") which also livens it up a bit. New set of tyres for my normal rims should arrive tomorrow.

Macca

From all accounts what Ive read about the 996TT suggests is a robust platform for sensible improvements. Overall an underrated car. I enjoyed by time getting instruction in one at Mt Cotton with Garry Brabham many years ago and recall how planted it was. As a road car its pretty difficult to argue against it.

Again though we fall into the trap of looking at cost vs function. Again 85K spent on a 996 GT3 may seem better value than 70K on a TT with 15k of improvements to make it competitive for track, fast road etc.

That said it wouldnt be much fun if we all just bough a car and didnt play with it! I think the 996TT is a good overall value proposition especially when real world driving (daily driver etc) is concerned...