FWIW, my 996 performance upgrades and first impressions

Wanted to share my story regarding the performance upgrades that I've done to my '02 C4S. Intention is not start arguing whether the claimed hp gains are true or not but simply to shed some light into what I did and what my first impressions are. Background: Bought the car late last year. 2002 C4S with all maintenance records and receipts since new. PO replaced the IMS (LN), clutch, RMS and other misc stuff during the brief time he owned the car. Car is mechanically and cosmetically in very good condition and I've been very happy with her so far. 50k miles. Original owner installed Gemballa mufflers. Other than that, car was stock when I bought it. My mods: Round 1): The very first upgrades I did were the LN spin-on oil adapter, magnetic drain plug and a 997 GT3 SSK. At that time, I also found a used IPD plenum for a great price that got installed at the same time. Round 2): Later on, also bought a set of Schnell basic performance headers and a used EVOMS V-flow air intake. The headers and intake were installed today. Performance of the car now? Honestly, car already sounded pretty good with just the mufflers when I got it, but the IPD plenum made it sound perhaps a little better in the mid range. Also felt that perhaps the mid range torque was more readily available. After round 2 (evoms and headers), the mid range torque seems to have improved further and the intake sound is now pretty aggressive. In summary, I feel the car is now more responsive with better mid range (3-5k) torque. Hard to say about high rpm hp gains... Wasn't really looking for top end hp gains anyhow as I was more interested in improving the car's responsiveness and torque (daily driving improvements), so I guess you can say that the mods were successful. Does the car now have 15-25 more hp? Perhaps, don't know but I honestly believe it's more responsive and has better mid range torque. I think I found very good deals for all the parts (total <1k), so there was very little to lose. Would I have spent full retail value on the parts? Hard to say, maybe not, but for the money I think it was a reasonable investment. Not sure if this was helpful to anyone but wanted to share my story in case this helps anyone else in deciding what to do with their 996 upgrades. Ive also looked at FVD Brombacher's ECU tune but have not made any decisions yet. Other than the above mentioned upgrades, I plan on keeping my car stock.

+1 - Thanks for the impressions, well balanced and un-hyped!

Thanks for sharing... I guess a good test would be to run it against your 997 but to make it fair have the C2 in non-Sport mode and run the C4S from a roll 40- 90mph ? I've had the pleasure of decent seat time in both .1 & .2 997 C2's and it's the TQ delivery that sets it apart from a 3.8 M96. FWIW- my plan is to focus mainly on suspension , but to run Vivid's cat less xpipes into the stock cans and the IPD plenum like you did. My good friend Tony Chick owner of EPL will be tuning the DME. Just make sure you go to Mexico to do the runs ; )

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I thought about suspension too but it gets pretty expensive with the parts, labor and balancing etc. However, I believe it would make a big difference in the end. Hard to compare my 997.2 with PDK to the C4S. Both are fast but the PDK shifts so quickly that it really sets them apart already there. And WOT in normal mode is not fun at all, it feels like driving my wife's Touareg And as you said, the DFI engine is overall pretty smooth...

" also looked at FVD Brombacher's ECU tune " Had you considered combining an ROW reflash with the tune? Might be interesting for you to discuss in a separate thread ? There is more info in 'search'.For example. http://www.ecudoctors.com/our-ecu-dm...r-process.html

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Can you give more insight into ROW reflash from your perspective? Did a quick search and found a few topics but nothing conclusive. FVD states that their tune accommodates NA and ROW octane levels automatically. I'm sure there's more to your point but maybe I'm not following you 100%. thanks!

Update: Had my FVD tune done today and have to say that it made a pretty big difference especially in the usable RPM range. Before, I had a noticeable flat spot on my torque curve at below 3k but that's gone now. Car pulls very strong from 2600 RMP on. Overall, very satisfied. The whole process was very easy. Received my flashing device last night, read the old file this morning (took 2 mins), emailed it to FVD and received the modified file back an hour later. Upload, again took maybe couple of minutes, and it was ready to go.

When I first got my 996 in 2010, I did what you did except I also installed the FisterD cans. Later, I completed the exhaust with the Speed Venture X pipe and 200 cell high flow cats Damn, I love the sound of my car

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Good to hear the gains are noticeable. was the FVD tune off the shelf , or did they tune based on your mods ? Also how much was it ? I imagine they need a deposit for the uploader cable. Thanks for sharing

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It's not a standard tune. You email them your mods and they create a new file based on your old file and the mentioned mods. Their list price is 995. As a Rennlist member, they usually give you an "enthusiast" discount as well. No deposit, you pay the whole amount an they send you the flashing device., cables and instructions. Modified ile comes after you have read your old ECU file and sent it to them.