Reliability Upgrades for Track Duty - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Hello all, I'm hoping to get some advice on upgrades for my 2001 986S. It's my weekend car, with 80% of my driving in the canyons and doing 100-200 mile drives with my car club. I've started the tracking the car more, running in the novice groups at Streets of Willow, Big Willow, Buttonwillow and AAA Speedway. So far I've had no issues- I'm driving to the track, running my sessions, and driving home. Currently running PS4s on 18'' twists. Completely stock set up, minus GT3 brake ducts. It does have the M030 option. If I plan on sticking with the stock setup, is it advisable to get an oil baffle solution or would that really only be useful if I'm running slicks or something like Cup 2s? IMS is done per the previous owner, currently has 90k miles and runs like a dream. Is there anything else I can do to help with reliability? Thank you!

Since you list AAA Speedway, the sump baffle would be a good upgrade. The factory baffle is like a cofferdam, so oil can spill over the top of the cofferdam under certain circumstances (like driving on long banked corners). The upgraded baffle walls go all the way to the top of the engine, eliminating the oil from spilling out. I'm not sure if this is true with the 986, but on the 987 the rod bolts are weak and don't like extended runs at redline. They'll stretch at redline, causing the rod bearings to slip (known as a spun bearing). I shift at 6K rpm. Max torque is 5300, so you give up a little hp by shifting at 6 rather than going to 7 but no loss of torque. And since no one else cares how fast or slow you go, you'll save your engine by shifting earlier. Another wear item that takes a beating on rovals is the lower control arm (lca) bushings. When you transition from flat surface to the bank of the oval, it's esp tough on these bushings. The factory bushings are rubber and age out and crack. Tarett makes an excellent replacement monoball bushing. You may also want to buy their rear toe arms. They're a turnbuckle rather than an egg shaped washer and keep the rear toe in line much better. There are a myriad of items available from Tarett. They make high quality parts, but be careful - their site is very addictive and you can run up a lengthy list and bill. My strategy has been to buy a few Tarett parts ea yr. Last yr I added Pedro's technobrace2 and felt it improved the handling of my CSS. It's a bar / brace that connects the bottom of the left and right rear suspension arms. In theory it keeps them from flexing in hard corners. $100 and took less than an hr to install. And finally, you may want to consider a race alignment. Depending on how many DEs you do per yr, a race alignment will save the outer edge of your tires (but at the expense of the inner edge). I would recommend starting with your stock suspension rather than going full boat with GT3 control arms. The stock suspension should give you a -1 to -1.5 camber adjustment. You can see if that is a nice compromise between track and street life for your tires. Having (more) negative camber gives you more tire contact in the corners. Welcome to the slippery slope.

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Thank you for the detailed breakdown. I've realized this is all an extremely slippery slope that I can't wait to fall down. I think the advice about shifting at 6k is great and something I'll be keeping in mind for the future. When I bought the car in March and had the PPI done the bushings were in surprisingly good shape but I'm sure the way I'm using the car they won't last. Do you have any recommendations on an upgraded baffle? And what is "CSS"? Any opinions on running a squared setup for street and track? Thanks again!

I used an EBS baffle. The kit can be purchased on Pelican. It does need a bit of modifying (at least mine and others did). Maybe EBS has improved their design, but don't button everything up without doing some test fitting first. CSS = Cayman S Sport I forgot to mention you should purchase an extra AOS and take it with you to the track. If you blow the one on your engine, you'll have a spare and your w/e won't be over. Others can respond about square tire setup. For some cars it's frowned upon because it messes up PSM, but if you don't have PSM it won't be an issue.

An underdrive pulley is also a good idea if you don't have it. It will help your power steering not get overheated on the track and not have any downside on the street. If your flexible rubber brake lines are original, upgrading them to flexible braided stainless steel ones is a good idea, and at the same time upgrading the brake fluid to higher temperature boiling point DOT 4 fluid is a good idea too. Race seats and six point harnesses hold you firmly in place so you can focus on driving instead of holding onto the steering wheel and bracing yourself for dear life in the corners.