newbie here

hi people i am new to the world of porsches. i am very interested in purchasing a 996gt2 within the next year as in the process of selling my race skyline . now i want this car for track days but also as a car to drive on the road. the questions i am interestedin are as follows and i hope you guys can help me out. tuning wise with the engine. what is the max before having to strip the engine and rebuild, also who would you lot recommed and some sort of costing for parts and what parts are needed for some proper hp and torque. also bodykits, ones that make them look a bit meaner, but not ott and have a purpose. sorry if these have been asked before but i am clued up on cars just dont know nothing about porsches and esp gt2's dean

Hi Dean. Just to let you know they call the GT2 The Widow Maker for obvious reasons. A beast of a car.

as with most things automotive, a few test drives could reveal some interesting results, and possibly answer your questions.

get a turbo with a x50 pack on, then get it remapped, you have a very quick car and one that does have a bit more safety than a gt2, but thats just my opinion, as a gt2 is well renowned for being a fantastic car, but you do really know how to handle it[ ]

Buy this one as it ticks all of your boxes and let us all know how you get on with it. http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/703560.htm

I'm also new to 996 ownership and tuning but I'll can give you the benefit of my first few weeks looking into it. (plus a bit of background info for someone who doesn't know the cars well) The car has an extremely tough and well designed engine. It seems, budget allowing. The sky is pretty much the limit and you get a lot of advantages as standard that you need to upgrade to with a Skyline to get to the bigger hp numbers. Firstly I'm not sure whether the rods are the same, perhaps someone can confirm but I believe otherwise the engine is the same one used in the 1998 GT1 le mans car which was designed to run 750hp at race pace for 24hrs. The design is certainly the same, Porsche didn't trust their new water cooled unit for the GT3/2 and Turbo models so given the relatively small production numbers it was cheaper to use the watercooled design they had already than to develop another engine to suit the purpose. I read somewhere recently that the rods are only good up to 580hp but that doesn't sound right to me and RUF don't list rods as included with any of their packages. Even the most severe examples running well over that figure. RUF are not the kind of tuner to skimp on something that is necessary so I am assuming it is not true. The X50 later spec 996 turbo and GT2 share exactly the same engine with K24 turbos. Only the early turbo is different with smaller K16 turbos. The car runs extremely modest boost levels to achieve the standard production figures (between 0.6-0.7bar on the 420) this means the figures for just a chip are quite impressive. DMS quote 520hp for the K16 equipped cars and 550hp for GT2 and X50 models. I'm not yet sure what limits it to those figures; whether it's the size of the turbos, the natural caution of tuning companies working with these cars or something else like cooling but it makes sense to me that its probably down to the size of the turbos which would have been designed down as small as possible for the intended output to reduce lag. Secondly I understand the temptation to go for the GT2, it was where my thougths first landed when I started looking at the 996 but I would strongly recommend you look into the turbo and perhaps take a test drive on a dry day. The 4 wheels drive system on the car is a real gem and I think it ads far more to the car than it takes away (many magazine reviews of the time agree). It's very RWD for a 4wd car, perhaps sometimes too RWD as it lights up the back wheels very easily with PSM off and ocassionally even with the traction control on. In fact the 4wd only really starts to ditract from the driving experience and feel more like a traditional 4wd when its wet.. but then you get the advantage of the confidence and pace that comes with it. Here is an example of how not to treat your car but gives a good indication of the 4wd ballance compared with something like the Skyline which takes some space to get into a tight circle. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q84jfWC1mT8 There was very little in it for me as to whether to get a turbo or a GT2 but if I were to choose again knowing what I know now I'd still take the turbo. For one thing the early carbon ceramic brakes (standard on the GT2) are less suited to road use than the standard steel items which already feel like they need quite a lot of heat in them to really work efficiently and really have no problem at all with fade. My only other temptation would be a GT3 but you have to take a big hit in straight line pace and you have to consider the types of owners the two cars are likely to attract. My turbo at 45k miles feels like it left the showroom yesterday, I can only imagine and stories from owners on piston heads agree that you'd be hard pushed to find a GT3 that has had an easy life! As for how far to tune your car, the standard car at 420-450hp is a seriously car by any measure. In cold weather like this the acceleration even of my 420hp car is savage. They are obviously strong horses! For the peace of mind factor, knowing you can still work the car hard without fear of something breaking and the spiraling cost of tuning a car further I have come to the conclusion that 520-550hp delievered with such a wide rev band would be more than enough for anyone and I can't imagine a lot in the real world that could challenge you for pace either. Whatever you choose to do I will be very interested to hear other peoples input into this topic and also to hear what comes of your story so please do report back here and let us know as things progress.

thanks people for your inputs, its nice to know peoples thoughts. the reason for wanting big power is cos i am used to my skyline which was 684bhp and 554torque and i am worried i wont enjoy the buzz . the skyline was totally setup for track with solid mounts and adjustable everything so want something with some thrill which bought me to the the gt2 as rear wheel drive so its a drivers car and with car racing experiance thats what i am totally after..lol. but like i have said its a case of looking first and test driving as said to feel the car etc. so from what is being said to get to my target of 650bhp its an engine rebuild. or stick to around 580bhp. now what companies in the uk offer tuning packages and setups packages etc. i am from south east london so poss not to far like scotland.lol once again thanks for replying, feel free to add plenty more info please.

Dear god! Near as makes no difference 700hp and 550lb/ft torque! That must have been insane. I'm assuming R34? I would have loved to have seen that, my friends R33 is nutty enough with its comparatively mild 450hp and that's running at 1.4 bar! What on earth was your car set up with?! Anyway back to topic I feel extremely embarrassed to have forgotten but I do actually know someone in the UK who you could speak to. I have known Andy Fearns from Fearnsport since he was recommended to me many years ago by a friend. You may have to accept his slightly blunt northern attitude on occasion but listen carefully too what he says because if you don't you'll only come to realise his wisdom several months later when you've learnt the lesson for yourself! He is extremely knowledgeable with a background in competition and racing but beyond all he is a trust worthy and moral individual in a way seldom seen. When I first dealt with him he was working as a mechanic for another company who tried to shrug off responsibility over a mistake they had made, he has never admitted to me the truth for obvious reasons but it doesn't take a great stretch of imagination to guess what happened. However after he was forced to inform me of the companies stand point about my wrecked engine he personally and totally independently made sure I came out well from the situation, selling me his own car at less than half its market value when I was at a real low point with my own project. He had no more obligation to me at the time than any other mechanic working for a company but when his employers closed the door on a customer to save themselves the financial consequences, he took it upon himself as the one who had been recommended to me and rectified the situation out of his own pocket. I am recounting this story here because a mere recommendation can be quite meaningless but his good deed makes its own recommendation and any good that comes of spreading this tale would be justly deserved. http://www.fearnsport.co.uk/ Give him a call and speak to him, I'm sure he will have some worthy input on the subject.

thanks mate for your time, much appreciated. i have been on there site as seen a few people have used them. i will defo at some stage give him a call. as for the skyline she was a beast but in parts now and selling for bits as worth more. was a 33 gtr but was running nitron race suspension all round with performance friction with 6 pot front brakes. solid bushes, engine mounts etc. was more to do in my project but i want a change now really. would love a lambo but out of my budget right now so the next best for me is the gt2 which i will keep prob for 3-4 years then move to a lambo. either way it wont stay standard and will be taken on the track and used as it should be used...lol. but well maintainerd and looked after to.

Do you have much left? I know someone who could be interested in parts for an R33. I thought about an early Gallardo myself (for the sound) but the reliability frightened me off, too many stories about how frequently expensive things break if used properly. A Porsche is built to be driven, and if its maintained with the same comitment as it is driven with, should live just as long as one taken out of the garage once every 6 months. High mileage 944s actualy tend to live longer as they can take the miles without issue but don't incur the same problems with rust as cars that have sat around. All the evidence I've seen so far suggests the 996 is similarly capable of taking the miles. Just one thought I forgot to say. The 996 even if it is as fast or faster will not give the same excitement as a GTR in a straight line, it pushes you into the seat just as hard but builds speed in a different way. Less fuss, more efficiency (and that is a shame because I rather like fuss).. but that is really not what the 911 experience is about. It's about cornering and that is where the comparison is the exact opposite. No matter how fast a skyline can get round a corner it will never be as enjoyable or thrilling as doing the same thing in a 996.