What are the best basic upgrades for a 2001 C4S?

I have a 2001 C4S 996 with the 3.6 liter that I have owned since new. It's gettng a little stale now and I'd love to upgrade without impairing the basic relaibility of the car. Right now it is bone stock. The obvious choices are to remap the the software, install a performance air filter element; maybe replace the stock exhaust, and I am looking for advice. 1. The software upgrade- any recomendations on a good vendor? Fabspeed, Automotion all advertise chips and OBD II remapping, but who is best? 2. I assume I would go with the K&N air filter product as the best candidate. 3. Headers/exhaust- this is a C4S, it has the half-oval tips. I like Fabspeed but someone said that B&B headers/mufflers were better. Opinions? The stock system is pretty decent. But this is the normally aspirated 3.6 liter. 4. Who is a good shop to do the install in the Washington/Northern Va region? 5. Is it possible to find a set of used ceramic disks? I could not find anything on the internet, and buying them new is way too expensive. The car already has the big reds, so unless I can find the CCB disks, not really sure it needs any other upgrade. Thanks for any advice.

01 C4S?

1. giac 2. EVO CAI - you can do K&N but if you read further some have problems with them... 3. Headers/Exhaust... there's lots of choices.... everyone is going to give you a different answer... i have miltec... love them... not too cheap though...... 4. don't know..... im in socal 5. don't know i don't have them....

Its an 02MY but i took delivery in Dec 01 due to some string pulling with my dealer. Rgds, Richard

"string pulling"? The 02 model was available for purchase in fall of 01. Not sure I follow. FYI....nobody refers to the model year of the car based on when you took delivery. As for your questions: 1. Not much at all to squeeze out with a flash on the 3.6L NA motor. If you want more power then supercharge it. 2. No reason to replace the filter as there is NO benefit to NOT using the OEM filter unless you don't mind more particulate getting through. That's a throw your money out the window kinda mod. But you will gain a few hp since your wallet is lighter 3. No gains really here but slap on the oem sport exhaust (PSE) and you will FALL IN LOVE with the music that flat-6 sings. Fabspeed is another good choice if you want to save a couple hundred bucks. 4. Not sure on the DC stuff. There is a specific DC board if you don't get an answer here, jump on over to www.dorkiphus.net and that is a NOVA focussed site. 5. Why in the world do you want ceramic discs? You would need to upgrade the ENTIRE assembly to get them to fit and that will get very pricey. If you do find a used set you will still pay dearly and there is NO benefit to having them unless you are trying to save weight for the track. And for the GenI sets there are some serious mixed reviews for their performance on the track. And if you have a C4S you are already at a huge disadvantage in the weight category.

B&M SSK - should be No. 1 on your list Dell!

Oops. Should have ADDED that to his list. The SSK is awesome! Well let me caveat that with the fact that it SUCKS in the GT3. That lasted all of about 1 week in my car before I ripped it out.

I think you will find the general concensus is... 1. Not much to be gained by a flash, but it "may" help maximize exhaust and intake mods (we are talking +/- a couple of ponies, NOT night and day differences). 2. EVO Cold Air Intake w/non-oiled replaceable paper filter. The bad experiences reported with the K&N kit faroutweigh those with something positive to say. While you almost only good stuff about the EVO unit. Again there probably isn't much HP (a few hp at best) to be gained, but the aural enhancment is supposedly worth it. 3. Porsche Sport Exhaust (PSE) is generally considered the best sounding. Fabspeed and GHL also seem to have a good following. Probably not much to be gained power wise (am I sounding like a broken record yet?), but once again the aural enhancement is worth it. I have to think that headers would also make some difference, probably with helping shape the torque curve, but I haven't heard enough feedback to even draw anecdotal conclusions. 4. Go to Home Depot/Lowes/Sears or wherever you buy your tools, and tackle the job yourself. Seriously. Nothing you mentioned is that hard to install. Take your time, pay attention to detail, and you will find yourself even more satified with the results. When people hear the car you can say "I did all of the performance mods myself", and everyone will think you are THE MAN. 5. I think Dell covered this well enough. I don't think you want to go down this path. HTH

ditto

Net: (And this is a question) There are no performance upgrades (Excluding SSK- which really is not a performance upgrade) other than supercharging the car?????

The answer is yes and no. Yes, because we're talking about a 320hp strong n/a sportscar engine, so no turbo. Porsche knows what to do to get power out of the engine and at this power level you don't really feel +/-10hp. No, because the Chip, Exhaust and CAI can optimize the work of the engine. Not by much, but I believe by some 10-25hp (latter stands IMHO more for the 3.4l engine). Why, Porsche has to fulfill regulations in terms of noise, exhaust gas, ... so they have to use sub-optimal technology in terms of performance to be able to sell their cars in different jurisdictions. Aftermarket suppliers have therefore a better starting point to optimize the output of the engine. Reseach on this forum and you'll find a lot of pros and cons; just one hint: listen to the ones that have actually done the mods themselves and not the ones that know it theoretically better.

You could the suspension, though the C4S already has the Turbo suspension - OEM X73 or Bilstein PSS9 adjustable are the most popular/best. and ditto the SSK.

Wow, what has happened to this board 4 posts and nobody has jumped all over his **** about posting a photo? Beuller? Beuller? Dell? Dell?

The deer whistles are de rigeur.

Where ya been? That is Tim's job. He took over that post months ago!

And Tim's broken his ride, so he's all distracted

How can he post a photo of his car, he doesn't actually own a Porsche.

err hem.... "I have a 2001 C4S 996 with the 3.6 liter that I have owned since new" I think that means he has a car NOW WHERE ARE THOSE DAMN PHOTOS!

Orange cap mod

I recommend the fabspeed exhaust. Much cheaper and a lot lighter the the OEM sport exhaust. Asside from adding a super charger you could add the OEM Carrera Powerkit an increase in power output from 320 to 345 hp x73 would change the whole feeling of the car and would also lower the car. Gt3 seats look good and save weight.

Dammit! I didn't get the memo! I'm out for a little bit and everybody gets promotions!

hehehehe

good info, LVDELL

thanks BC.

You guys are forgeting one awesome mod.....X73!!

M3!!!!!!!

^ | | |-----------TROLL ALERT TROLL ALERT!!!

Why would anyone want to perform a weight gain mod?? If he wants to add weight he could always throw a bunch of cement bags in the front trunk. No need to buy an M3 for that.

See post #12

Great post Rob!! I missed it.

+1 for the X73 suspension or any kind of suspension.

Swap it for an '01 TT! Seems like it should only cost about $10k or so at today's crazy low prices!

IMO, the stock P-cars are more than fast enough to get into trouble and to hang on the track as well. You have plenty of go and plenty of stop. I can't justify $5000-$10000 to get 2/10ths of a second (or whatever the small performance gain is). The engines are tuned to almost their max right from the shop - so to go from 90% max-output [made up number] to 95% (or higher) output is just too expensive to me. If you are going to spend the money to supercharge it, you should consider trading it in and upgrading to a TT. If you want to fall in love with your car all over, take some of the money you would spend on upgrades and rent a Chevy Malibu for a month. Then go back to your C4S. Even bone stock you'll be grinning again -td

^^^^^^ sounds like good perspective.....

Rich, I have the Billy Boat headers & mufflers and the EVO cold air induction system on a 99 996 (3.4 engine with a tiptronic transmission). I absolutely love this set up. The sound is incredible. The headers & mufflers are a work of art. I do not know how much power that I have gained from these modifications. It sure sounds faster! I do know that my fuel economy has suffered as a result of these modifications...I'm always stomping on the fun pedal just to hear the engine sing.