Up to £1.5k to spend....

Afternoon all, As the subject line suggests, I have decided to spend possibly up to £1.5k on my C4S to upgrade it in some way. The logic behind this is that despite only owning the car for 6 months all the while enjoying it immensely, I've been having lustful thoughts about 996 Turbos, which I could at a pinch buy, but would be a v v bad idea! Thusly, I need something extra on my current girl to distract myself [ ] So far I'm considering: - PSE or equivalent (anyone know any relatively accurate prices? Especially for the London area?) - DMS ecu remap - I had email from them that for £799 + VAT, I'll get an extra 30bhp and 25lbft, which would be v pleasing and take me to 997.1 Carrera S levels. Seems like a bit of a bargain. Suggestions/thoughts please? What would you do/have done?! Cheers, Marco

Firstly I would be surprised if 30bhp is achievable on a normally aspirated engine, although saying that I have heard that DMS are superb at remapping. Would it not be more beneficial to look at tyres, suspension or brakes maybe ??? Or nice exhuast is you don't have the sports one already for that extra bit of go faster sound ??? Remapping is not a bad idea don't get me wrong, I just think you could do a lot more for £1500 than squezzing a few more horses out.... Also depends on what your driving style is, if your commuting then whats the point, if you track it a lot then the chassis upgrades would surely make more sense... Also if you do remap, its worth noting that ECU's "self learn" to a degree so if you pootling round town a lot then your ECU will learn this and adjust things accordingly, hence the map will back things off, timing, fuel etc so you need to either "refresh" your ecu by ways and means or you need to give your car a good stretching of the legs to keep the map in tiptop condition. Hope this helps.

Hi RS, As you say, DMS appear to have a good reputation. I seem to perpetually be reading rave reviews about them in Evo. To be honest, as far as the ecu remap goes, it's not so much the extra power that i'd be interested in, but the mid range torque increase - it would go down a treat for everyday driving [ ] Speaking of which, does anyone here have a DMS (or other) ecu remap on a non-turbo Porsche? Although I intend to do a decent amount of track time in it, given that it's C4S and hence has the turbo's suspension/brakes on it already, short of of going ceramic or taking it to Centre Gravity or something, I'm not really sure I'd get any more pleasure out of it as it's bloody quick around the corners to start with!! Regarding ECUs "learning", how to reset it was covered recently in http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=180272&mpage=2 by Richard Hamilton and others. Marco

Howdo Marco Ahhhh yes indeed it has been thoroughly covered !!! sorry matey, new to this [ ] and like you say, the brakes and suspension are no doubt ample enough too !!! The mid range punch is much more impressive once remapped though, maybe thats the way to go then sir. Sorry, i'll get me coat !!! [ ] Cheers Lee

My first choice would be a sports exhaust. My second choice would be an exhaust of a sporty nature. My third choice, if the other two don't appeal, would be something sporty hmm how about an exhaust? The number one option bar none IMO

Agreed. A sports exhaust is [/b] essential [/b] in any Porsche!

You should be able to get an Oettle modded exhaust (or equivalent) for around £300. It won't be switchable but I always wondered what the point of that was anyway. That will leave you £1200 to do other things. I'm not an expert but your options extend to remaps and not a huge amount else at that price. The previous owner of my car upgraded the suspension (KW) and brakes (Alcon/GT2) and didn't have much change left from £6k.

Okay, so assuming i go down the exhaust route, i've been quoted about £2k for a fitted PSE, which is far too expensive. However i have found these 2 DesignTek mufflers which intrigue me on: http://www.design911.co.uk/fu/pt63_398_-cma81-cmo110-ct350/Porsche/996--911--1997-05/996-C4S-3-6L-09-01-2005/Exhausts/Silencers---Mufflers/ they appear to have the option of louder at low and med revs, or v loud at med and high revs. anyone have any experience of these? i'd be tempted to go for the low/med revs one (it's also a bit cheaper). Again, thoughts? [edit] whatever I put on it has to be able to pass MOTs and also track day noise tests (for instance 102dB at bedford i believ) , so bypasses are out i think....

Not sure about any of those... Do muffler bypasses not get through MOTs then? May I ask why?

I think due to emissions and noise. See product caveats on this page.... http://www.design911.co.uk/fu/pt63_399_-cma81-cmo110-ct350/Porsche/996--911--1997-05/996-C4S-3-6L-09-01-2005/Exhausts/Catalyst---Bypass/

I'm not sure any sports exhaust will measure under 102db. I think the PSE and the Oettle version (a copy of the PSE) measure around 104.9dB at 4500 revs (IIRC as I had an Oettle)

does anyone have any further info on noise for sports exhausts? i intend to, initially at least, do most of my track days at bedford, and their limits can be found here given the one strike and you're out policy, i don't want to spend hundreds of pounds then not be able to run the car there!

right, i decided to bite the bullet. having had a depressing week from hell (won't bore you with details) i've cheered myself up a little by ordering a DesignTek 'Sport' Exhaust (as opposed to their 'Super Sound') and am dropping the car off for it to be fitted tomorrow, to hopefully be picked up early next week i am as excited as an excited person can be you would not believe how difficult it is to find out how loud sports exhausts are. no-one seems to test their own products and put the values on the website, or know when you call them. anyway, the 'Sports' one is apparently a bit quieter but sounds nicer than the 'Super Sound' one, and came recommended from the dealer i bought the car off. apparently they fitted quite a few, with happy results, with no mention of cars failing noise testing at tracks. bedford in 2 weeks, so fingers crossed.

Ok ok pleassssssssssssse do us all a favour and video the car now. With the original exhaust. At stand still and drive by. Then again after the new exhaust has been fitted! There are a few clips on youtube about the exhaust swops but a fellow members experiance would be tops! Thanks in advance!

Listen to this man, great idea!

Naturally! lol Seriously though it would be very helpful as it is a road I'll be going down soon! £1500 for the PSE is just a ummmm well ummm joke really!

i'm so sorry everyone! i just picked up these messages but i dropped the car in on Saturday to have the work done if anyone here has a 996 C4S with a standard exhaust and is anywhere near fulham, i'd be happy to take a couple of hours on a weekend after mine new one is fitted to do a video comparison for the collective. sorrry again!

i just picked up the car today and i'm very pleased with the new exhaust it sounds great when you open the taps, just a bit louder when driving around normally, and after driving on a variety of roads and on the motorway, there's no boominess at any point. and even going under bridges or driving with a wall next to you is fun....i can't wait to find a proper tunnel. in short, i'm very pleased, the car finally sounds proper! i personally think it should be illegal for Porsche to sell a 911 without a sports exhaust....it's a crime against humanity

in case anyone is interested, i was at the bedford autodrome on fri with the new DesignTek exhaust on. for the static test (45 degs at 0.5m) the highest recorded sound was 96dB (limit is 101dB, which is a low limit AIUI) so no problems there or with the drive by Anyway, just thought i'd post in case anyone had been having the same noise limit worries as me when picking an exhaust

Good news on the dB front - wonder how it'll fair once it loosens up a bit with use .

yeah, the garage warned me that it might sound a bit tinny for the first couple of hundred miles, but to be honest, i think it sounds great already. if it gets any throatier, growlier etc i'll consider myself very lucky

Changing the subject slightly and knowing that the design is totally different, is there a similar mod to Oettle for the Turbo? Somehow I doubt it.

well, i've now done a bit over 1k miles in it. personally, i can't say i really notice any real difference from how it sounded to start with. as far as i can tell, the sound only changes with engine temperature, anyone got any ideas why?. it sounds really angry and throaty when the engine is cold (lots of fun, but makes it extra hard to wait til the engine is warm before giving it some beans!!) and also best when the engine is nice and hot after being on a track.

Sorry John, I forgot about this..... Gert Carnewal does something with the standard exhaust to make it a bit more roarty. Mr Hall - any comments?