987.2 Before-After Dyno Results IPD, Headers and Pro-Tune

In looking for performance upgrades for our cars there are only a few option (intake, headers , tune) and in reading various posts, I saw mixed results. As I navigated the options over the last couple of months I wanted to capture the stats and share my upgrade path. With the disclaimer that your mileage may vary... overall I gained a calculated 25 HP peak at the crank or 340 vs 315 stock. Included below are dyno charts and the numbers in detail. I also did some before and after 0-60 and 1/4 mile runs. I choose to install the IPD competition plenum with 82mm TB, FabSpeed sport headers 200-cell cats, Cobb access port and a ProTune from FabSpeed and K&N air filter. I left the factory cat-back exhaust as-is, most show little improvement in HP/TQ and I wanted to avoid exhaust drone as I drive the car on the street occasionally and to/from the track. The car is a 2011 Cayman S PDK with 78K on the clock and completely bone stock. All of the Dyno runs were performed at National Speed in Richmond VA. Recently opened, National Speed has a climate controlled dyno room that supposedly adjusts for humidity, temp etc so runs on different days are more comparable? There shop is very cool and all the guys are gear heads and easy to work with. If you're in the Richmond area I recommend (no affiliation). The baseline and final runs were performed three months apart. I installed all of the performance parts except the headers . I had my local shop (Lufteknic) install them and put a set of fresh spark plugs in. Here are the measured performance stats before any performance mods Average of 4 runs using Launch Control 0-60 4.77 sec 1/4 mile 13.04 After IPD and Headers , Plugs, and Air filter (no tune)* 0-60 4.40 sec 1/4 mile 12.41 + Protune* 0-60 4.09 sec 1/4 mile 12.07 * all of these runs on the same day were at low temps (45 F) and I had issues with wheel spin at launch and it took about 10 runs each to get the 4 good runs. This to say, if I could keep the wheel spin down I may have been able to get below 4.0 and 12 sec on these runs. Dyno Chart, three runs. Baseline (3 months prior)-yellow, Performance Mods no tune-red, and with Pro-tune-blue (same day). 93 octane from the same top-tier station. Note how the Mods without tune shows a marked reduction in HP & TQ below 5K RPM. I'd read several posts where only hardware were installed and resulted in worse performance. I think this shows without a ProTune, the investment in parts is not fully realized. Also note the baseline run shows 286HP peak at the wheels. I think this number is high, in fact I'll assume all of the numbers are higher then they actually are. So better to compare % increase rather then raw numbers. Otherwise 286HP with a rough 18% drive train loss = 337HP at the crank and 308 = 363 and I'm not buying that. Peak % Increase Results Performance Mods no tune 5% Performance Mods w/protune 8% Calculated HP@Crank 315*1.08=340HP Product Reviews IPD is a quality product. I'd give it 4.3 out of five stars. The casting in some areas on the outside seemed rough and the install instructions were awful! There is a much better guide on planet-9. Time to install, 4-5 hours. Pay attention to the vacuum lines its confusing, double check 3 times cut once! Or, you will be out at your parts store looking for 3mm hard vacuum line. Buy some small angle picks or you will break plastic stuff. FabSpeed Headers Top quality, material and welds, exact fit, sound is perfect. 5 stars. Wife approved and just throaty enough to let you know something is not stock. Cobb Access Port I'm a tech guy and so the access port itself and the software gets just 3.5 stars. Mostly because I expected more based on cost. Yes it does what you need it to do. I like the performance measurements and I can now monitor oil pressure on the car. But for the cost.... I expected more. Still buy it again mind you. Side note I bought the PDK option also but having trouble with it. Need to flash PDK controller with PIIWIS to get it to work. I plan to post about this in another thread. ProTune FabSpeed It was a simple and easy process, connect Access Port, collect data, fill out form and email to FabSpeed. Wait two days, get tune in email. Done! Overall Impression The combo of intake, headers and tune definitely wake the car up. It's more responsive and the seat of the pants feel is great and the numbers support this. At about $6K was it worth it? Yeah I'd do it again. While just 25 peak, you have to look at the whole power band and it makes a difference. First track date is end of March so as long as I don't burn this car up like the last one I'll post an update. Questions I have?? Is the mid-range dip in power something to live with or could it be improved with another round of tuning? Is there something in the graphs that look wrong or should be corrected? Fuel Air Ratio is decidedly different on the protune. I assume this is a good thing (not too lean?). Hope this helps others looking to improve performance. K

Thanks for sharing! Do you have a comparison of bolt ons only to bolt ons with tune?

For a aftermarket cat-back exhaust , I recommend the Soul Performance exhaust . I have a 987.1 with both the Soul headers and exhaust and get very little drone.

Wrongway. Thanks for posting this. I have a 2101 BS with the exact same upgrades, but I was never able to find a dyno in the KC area, so no hard data. So thanks for giving me some objective data as to where my Boxster is. I was hoping it was more. But looking at the performance numbers you gave, the increase in low end HP and torque appear to make more difference than the changes in peak-to-peak. Thanks. I also added the PSE . It's stupid expensive, but the sound is glorious when open. One very nice thing is running it open in the country-side, then flipping a switch to close it when I get back into my neighborhood. Joe Henley

Solid gains, thanks for sharing. We've seen the IPD Plenum / GT3 TB, full exhaust and tuning do some pretty good things on the 3.4 DFI (roughly a 12-13% increase in power). Dynos read different, but we've seen a better delta in the 5K+ RPM range with our tuning and the addition of a cat-back. Obviously a cat-back will add some noise, so I understand the tradeoff. Just thought I'd mention it. A full second drop in 1/4 mile time from some basic bolt-ons is pretty amazing. A 12 flat Cayman is a really nice place to be.

I am installing the COBB tuning on my '12 Cayman R (PDK) this weekend; soon I'll be adding headers, etc. I am curious about your experienced with the PDK sw from COBB. I have thought about opting for that as well, but I'd like to hear your experiences first. Thanks, DJM

Thanks for writing this up, over the top!

Anthony, yes if you look at the dyno chart, the red is bolt on only and blue is bolt on with tune. K

DJM so far I have not been able to install PDK tune. Problem is my PDK controller has a Q61 software ROM and the Cobb access port will only work with a Q66. I have to take it to a dealer and have it flashed with a PIIWIZ. Problem is my local dealer says "there is no upgrade" for my car after checking VIN. Cobb says it can be done and sent me a "how to" to take to the dealer, but my dealers says it will not work. So i'm in contact with another dealer 3 hr away, and I think they will be able to do it. Just need to work out time to make it happen. Apparently there is no way to tell if the ROM is the right version until you try to install. Cobb support was quick to respond and advise of the problem. So hats off to them. Good luck on your install. K

Phil from Fabspeed here. I was just doing this write up. You beat me to the parts that I would have done as well. More air more air out!! Next , let's tell the computer what we are doing and get the most out of it. Opening up the rest of the exhaust might help with the dip in the mid range as well.

Nice gains ! I'm surprised at the big drop with the mods only (before the tune) under 5k rpm. Most of the dynos I've seen show a gain throughout the rpm range but that's a pretty significant drop. Do you have any insight as to what could have caused the power loss ? I suspect it could be the plenum . The tune solves everything though.

Looks like it was the tune to me.

Thanks for the post. Very impressive numbers! I have an 09 Cayman S 6 speed and looking into upgrades as well. Could you post trap speeds associated with those three 1/4 mile runs? (13.04 s, 12.41 s, and 12.07 s).

Just stumbled on this. Great post and sharing! I'm looking at something similar for my 2010 987.2S. So far I'm firm on a tune from FVD, thinking of Carnewal 200 cel cats due to local inspection requirements but now am thinking if I do the 200 cel cats, do I do the plenum and throttle body as well. Did you manage to test gains of the pre and post plenum?