anyone dyno tune their 996

Hello All, New to the forums but not to the Porsche life style. Here's info the on my car, I currently have a 2004 996 6 speed with around 50k on the motor. The car currently has EVOMs air intake, GT3 TB and matching IDP plenum, fabspeed headers, fabspeed super cup exhaust, FVD 200 cell CAT and has a fabspeed box tune. I've heard from Jake Raby with flat 6 innovations state the best intake for this car was the 997 intake. Would that be the 3.6 or 3.8 intake? Also I'm about to get the car dyno tuned for my current mods and was thinking of taking off the 200 cell CATs and getting a test pipe. I've head you lose bottom end but gain top end power. Will they be able to make better HP and torque with a better power curve on the test pipe or my 200 cell CATS? I'm hoping maybe Jake from flat 6 innovations sees this post and replies. Ultimately I would love one of his stage 2 4.0 liters in the cars but that maybe awhile. All 2 cents are welcome, nice to be on the forums and thanks for the replies.

I'd remove about 2/3 of the things you have mentioned being currently fitted. That's where I would start.

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Thanks for chiming in. First what 997 air box do you recommend the 3.6 or 3.8? Second with a dyno tune can more power be made with a 200 cell CAT or a CAT delete? Third what other items besides the airbox and box tune are hurting performance? Thanks for your answers.

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I so want to know as well.

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What do you want to accomplish? Is this for street or track or both?

Hey there GC996, its more for the street its a cab so not the best track package from the start but I just want the car to run at its absolute best knowing I pulled every drop of performance out of the car with the modifications I have installed. I eventually want FSI 4.0 liter put in the car but since my car has around 50k on the clock its hard to justify a rebuld at this time and also that engine albeit an amazing engine its still quite a bit of money. I've thought about upgrading the car to a newer 911 but I keep finding ways to stick more money into my 996. Its just like my 87 Carrera I have also, I cant seem to part with it.

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My area of specialty isn't making more performance from a stock displacement engine. That has never been my focus, as I find it quite boring, and a waste of my efforts. The only time I did any work like this from a performance stand point was in the earliest days of my wife's Land Speed racing, where she still had a stock displacement engine. My work begins with engines that are at least 200cc bigger than stock, where all the rules have changed. I haven't ever tried to offer a performance package, or tune for a stock engine, so I would not be the best person to recommend what is best for your current scenario. Find a local dyno and buy a day of time, tune for torque and average HP, forget about peak values. What you will learn will be priceless. The engine is your instructor, you must make it happy.

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Welcome to the 996 family. Have had my 02 for 19 years and it has 57k miles on it. Let me first say that Jake is 100% right. Most of the items you list are a waste of money as it pertains to performance for many reasons. I know...the advertisers claim all kinds of "big" performance numbers with "air" upgrades, software, exhaust, etc., but if you go thru the exercise of adding up the advertised performance claims, you will get over 100 HP and TQ in performance boost for your car. 🤪 It's hogwash. 😂 None of us are running 400-420 HP with these upgrades. When you ask them why, the manufacturers are unable to give you an answer. The good news is that you may be able to squeeze out 10-15 HP/TQ at most with a good exhaust system and software. The bad news is that anything more is a pipedream due to the engineering constraints of a normally aspirated engine. You nailed it, the only way to get a real performance boost on a normally aspirated engine is with a rebuild that takes your engine from 3.6 to 3.8, 4.0 or higher from an experienced engine builder like FSI or others. IMHO, the best money you can spend on your street car is to first make sure everything is done to your engine that will facilitate durability and longevity. Bore scope, oil test, UAOS, fuel injectors, ignition coils, spark plugs, water pump, RMS, IMS, deep sump, etc. ​​​​After that, sky is the limit with enhancements to suspension, interior, exterior, exhaust sound and weight, brakes, tires, track preparation, and yes engine rebuilds. You get the idea. Enjoy the car and be smart with your money. ​​​​​​ ​

[QUOTE][ The engine is your instructor, you must make it happy. /QUOTE] That sentence should be on the very first page of the owner's manual, quite succinct.

Thanks for the replies all, I've had the car over a decade and like most just got the mod bug. I have no dream of grandeur as I know the money to HP ratio on these cars are null. But......since I've already serpent thousands of dollars on these parts and there already on the car I'm going to get it dyno tuned to make the best power curve they can get the car to. Glad to finally be on the forum though.

@996fried love your avatar, one of my favorites. Almost near PA? that mean NJ?

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My apologies thinking you were a new 996 owner. Your decade of experience with the 996 and future projects will be a tremendous addition to the RL threads. Be very curious to hear your findings with the dyno and mods. Did all my mods mid 2000's thru early 2012. Now going thru second round of replacements and enhancements to keep it in top form. Did not do headers the first time and kept them stock, which was recommended as best configuration to run FVD cats and muffler. However, there may be viable choices today that may add a couple of horsepower in combination with cats and muffler. Probably will remove the plenum and throttle body since they really add no benefit other than an incredible "sucking" sound. I had them dynoed and revo software tuned but at the end of the day, they just looked pretty and messed with the powerband without any performance enhancement. However, I certainly would like to know if there is any benefit individually for either or. Take a look at Zbombs threads. He has gone to a catless pipe which may be of interest. My power boost will come from an engine rebuild. But in the meantime, my goal is engine durability and prolonging engine life. Performance comes from suspension and brakes on the track. Good luck.

ECU tuning is a topic I would like to see explored in a lot more detail. When done on a dyno, the results, if the process is transparent make for interesting data points. Coming from a turbo charged background - ECU tuning was a requirement as the most easily accessible free power (boost) was exploited. On the NA side, there is no easy button and the expected results, in my opinion, need to be scaled appropriately. My opinion on a lot of the bolt on mods is, for the money / my expected power increase - they�re not for me. Coupled with my use, I want the car to be as reliable as possible and any unintended consequence from that shiny widget are just not acceptable. Now, if I had those shiny widgets laying around and a good engine tuner willing to spend a couple days dialing in combinations on a steady state dyno where all load cells can be exercised, I would jump at the opportunity. I would likely choose a stand alone ECU as a basis to start from, if I could ball out, something from Motec that would allow max configurability to the engine tuner and provide huge amounts of logged data to assess each iteration of change. The above would all entail a very large investment to what may amount to be�nothing from a power perspective. Now for me, it would entail a configuration tailored to my use which is where I would see the primary value drawn from. A dyno with steady state ability, which is the dynos ability to hold the car at a set RPM while load is increased allows all areas of the various tables (ie. fuel and ignition) to be targeted and optimized individually assuring there are no �dead spots� in the tables. A dead spot being an area of RPM and load that is difficult to replicate and thus configure on the dyno and something tuners working on standard inertia dynos need to account for. This is where a combo of road or track tuning and dyno tuning would make a lot of sense. And really, it would always be a good idea to have logs of actual use be captured post dyno for the engine tuners review to make sure the expected behavior is what is happening in real use.

Got my 87 Carrera going in the shop this week for a complete suspension replacement and once its done Ill be getting ready to take the 996 to the dyno tuner. Too many cars to have money for both at the same time. I'm hoping for at least 290 plus at the wheels. Maybe that's achievable, well see.

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That performance package is pretty much the best you can do on that engine in terms of bolt-ons, n easy 35+ WHP bump without the hassle. IMO better to leave everything on until you fully commit to a build

Thanks John, Yeah Im done after the tune, off to suspension next!!!!!

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It would be interesting to see if someone found the right software/ecu with the right set of bolt-on induction and exhaust parts to boost HP and TQ meaningfully. If anyone will be able to figure it out, it will be you Jason. However, it's damn tough to spend another 6-8 grand on any incremental improvement that is minimal at best. Rather put it towards additional cooling/oil starvation and then my future engine rebuild fund. At least I know that I can get 80-100 HP more plus another 20 years of operating time. 😁 The 996 is a very expensive vice isn't it? More fun than any middle aged man is supposed to have!

I plan on getting mine dyno'd when I get back home in Oct, the car has light bolt ons and really don't plan to do much more unless the engine dies in which I'll opt for a larger displacement rebuild. It currently has: 997.1 Airbox Fister D exhaust Agency Power Headers IPD Comp plenum w/GT3 throttle body I'm sure it's not going to be much at all but it sounds amazing.

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Be an interesting dyno with your combination of stock cats, stock muffler, stock software with agency headers, IPD and TB.

Agreed it probably wont be a large gain but at least you'll know that you squeezed all the power you could from the parts you added. I've installed all these bolts ons and I'm stuck wondering if the box tune is doing much besides keeping the codes off the car and just generally keeping it happy. I'm planning on doing the same with a dyno tune. I'm on the lookout for a 997 airbox and will probably get a larger oil sump installed and then I'm off to the tuner as well. I truly don't care about the haters that say there's no power to be gained....I can tell you I have basically the same mods as you with a box tune and my car felt awhole lot different once I put everything on. I added everything at one time not a piece at a time. Now granted the money to horsepower was not worth it but between the sound, extra little bit of power and weight loss there was a difference. I'm hoping I can see maybe 295 plus to the tires with a dyno 93 octane tune and my bolt ons, well see. When are you planning on doing this, October you say?

My car's engines was modified based on numerous previously modified engines, just same 3.6L M/T 996s. Similar type components and a tune based of gains made from dyno tuning sessions from a reputable tuning shop. Differences would be personal choice in muffler within allotted parameters. Headers, cats all same, 15/8" long tube equal length single piece (not spliced/welded) 2 1/2" collect of at least 6" and the pipe between the 2 1/2" collector and the opening to the front of the cell cat, needs to maintain 2 1/2". Then into about 5 or 6 different mufflers that give similar back pressure and maintain equal diameter throughout the entire muffler. There was no need to reinvent the wheel with my mods and tunes. They combined for exactly the wide torque band a small incremental gains in hp This was about 70,000 miles on the clock when this dyno was run. My results were exactly what was explained to me one year previous when my 1 year build started. I did all that was suggested, like, plugs, new style 997 coils, high quality front pulley, intake system. And bingo. Got the dyno I was looking for. It takes the right guidance, the right parts and yes you can squeeze a longer torque curve and higher hp gain throughout the rpms. No you will never make a whopping 100 or even 60 hp gain without increasing cubic inch. But, make no mistake, you can get increases at different points in the rpm range. You Tube

Yes I agree 100%, you arent going to put on crazy HP/torque like american cars with bolt ons. Porsche did a really good job at pulling out most everything the M96 had to offer. But there are gains to be made. Plus the sound and loss of weight are gains in there on rights. You just need to decide are the gains worth the money, because make no mistake you will pay to play with these cars. If you dont mind would you PM you final dyno numbers?

I plan on getting my 4.0 dyno tuned once the break in period (and summer fun) is over. I'll post results here

4.0.......be still my beating heart.