E-Gas Tuning: Evolution of a 996

Hello all. I just purchased a 2000 996 cab, and want to share with you a project I am working on. This car is going to be our "test mule" and will evolve from ordinary into the extraordinary. Stock 996's are great, however, they are far from reaching their full potential. In our "evolution of the 996" we will address various aspects of the car including computer tuning & air induction upgrades for the initial development phase. In future developmental phases we will improve on the OEM exhaust system, suspension system, aerodynamics, brakes, and wheels. In the final phase, we will increase the power output well beyond your expectations. Stay tuned, as this project will revolutionize the 996 as you know it! DAY 1-2 The first day I owned the 996 (3-weeks ago), I installed the B&M shifter (very short and precise shifter) and our EVO high flow intake. The next day I took the car to the Dyno (Technodyne: Tempe, AZ) to test the power. The stock car made 249 HP at the wheels and 218 TQ. With the EVO intake it made 263 HP and 231 TQ at the wheels. We did back to back runs both stock and with the intake to verify the results (Dyno temps were at 106 degrees). The power and sound show a significant and noticeably pleasurable increase. Day 3-5 The third day I had the vehicle, we went back to the Dyno to test some custom computer upgrades. I had GIAC (Garrett Lim) tune us some custom chips for the car to try and increase the power even further. After 3 days on the Dyno, we increased the power to 274 HP and 238 HP at the wheels (249 HP 218 TQ stock) I hope you all will stay tuned to see the transformation of our 996

Rear Wheel HP Dyno

Rear Wheel TQ DYNO

" In the final phase, we will increase the power output well beyond your expectations. Stay tuned, as this project will revolutionize the 996 as you know it! " for those of us who are about to receive a call from TPC re: the SC promised for what seems like whatever, can you tell us what your goals are and what kinds of mods in general you expect to employ to achieve them?

All I can say at this time is it will be about 400 HP. For those who will be at the German Auto Fest in Ventura, CA Sept. 12-13 will have a first hand look. Sorry to be vague, however we have to keep it under wraps for now. take care

Hey gang, this is the Chip and intake package I was talking about a few weeks ago. This kit takes your 3.4 all the way to 320HP(FWHP). The torque is brought up to 277(FWTQ). That is up from 291(FWHP)and 256(FWTQ). Until now no one has really offered a full tuned package to utilize the whole potential. This is it. Todd has spent a ton of time on this and best of all it is his car that is driven daily. Like me I feel this is the only way to really develop something and know for sue it works.

Pardon my skepticism, but isn't this the same evo hi flow intake that leaned out the engine and caused the check engine lights to come on a few years back? Perry

Pretty amazing claims. Fourteen hp just from an intake on a well-tuned production car. Hmmm. The claims with intake and re-mapping are even more amazing. Personally, I would want to see an INDEPENDENTLY performed evaluation by someone before putting down any money. Of course, I'm always the skeptic, but I've found it to be a good way to protect my pocketbook.

Actually just the opposite, it richens up the motor just a bit. Occasionally, we have seen a check engine light ( maybe 1 in 30). The system has recently gone through some revisions including being manufactured out of injection molded plastic. It is a worthwhile upgrade for $380 that will give noticeable power and sound gains. More gain for the money than any other upgrade available on the market. Take care, Todd

The tests were independently tested by Technodyne in Tempe, AZ who participates up on this board (see heading on the top of the graphs) I understand the skepticism, I was surprised myself however Garrett Lim of GIAC made us a fantastic chip that works very well with the EVO intake. Please also note these tests were done at about 110 degrees with 91 octane fuel. Anyone interested also gets a 30 day money back guarantee to protect the pocket book if not satisfied. Thanks

Todd, graphs are nice and the fact that you tested a stock 996 and then one with the new intake on the same dyno DOESN'T PROVE ANYTHING! What you have to ask yourself is, Are the results STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT. That means can you, 19 out of 20 times find the same results. In order to prove these results you must have a larger data, or sample set. That means testing the same vehicle STOCK, ove rand over again on the same dyno to get an average HP output. And then do the same after the mods you do. I am in the field of testing and I know from YEARS of experience that results can vary test to test day to day, that is where statistics comes in. I can almost guarantee you that if you dyno the stock 996, let's say, on 20 separate occasions, you will get 20 different readings. So to say that you had a higher BHP output after you placed the intake on the car really proves nothing, the chances are that the stock car also may have or could have given the same output. Unless you account for ALL variable that affect BHP, there is no way you can say that this intake increases the BHP for the stock 996. Again the only way to do this is to sample the stock cars BHP many times over and then do the same after you performed the mods. When you take into account large sample sets what you are in effect doing is minimizing the chance that there is an external varibale that is affecting your BHP gain or loss. Until you do this, you are misleading everyone here.

RR, As a matter of fact, I have personally dyno tested well over 20 stock 996's and found that they all dyno between 248-252 RWHP. I am not sure what you test, but to achieve anything over 265 RWHP on a 996 motor is very worthwhile. I am not attempting to "mislead" anyone. If you read the original post, I am showing the community our "Evolution of a 996". Hope you can understand now BTW, what do you test?

You're right in a way but there is no way a stock car is going to vary by 14 horsepower unless the dyno is broken. 14 horsepower is almost 6%, dynos aren't that inaccurate. You might see a variance of 3 or 4 but not 14. If his numbers are true there is no need to do a test like you described just to determine that it ads horsepower, it certainly does. However, to determine HOW MUCH it ads you would need a test more like what you described.

todd, i think i'm going to go ahead and send the car to you. you can dyno it stock, post clutch/lighter flywheel, and post... we can post all the results here.

BRH986, your wrong. Tests can vary daily depending on atmoshperic temparature and pressure, and there are countless, repeat countless unkown variables that can affect as an example air fuel ratios, CO, O2, and HC levels. In testing CO levels as an example, I regularly come across CO levels that change second to second, or hour to hour, even though everything else SEEMS equal. All I am saying is that the general layperson has no idea what a manufacturers claim or test result entails. Eg..we have all seen these commercials with Tide laundry detergent vs the other leading brand. In those commericals we visually see that Tide has cleaned the white shirt much more thoroughly than the "leading brand". But the backround to this is as follows: Each brand washes, lets say 1000 shirts for sample sake. What happens is that Tide washes lets say 80% cleanly whereas the "leading brand" (LB) washes only 50% cleanly. Therefore Tide is the brand which "cleans better". What we dont see is that it may have also been that with the first 200 shirts the LB actually cleaned those ones better than Tide but on the other 800 Tide came through and cleaned better than the LB. So if Tide would have based the test on only 200 shirts it would find results that would be, in this case UNFAVORABLE, whether right or wrong, but UNFAVORABLE. Now it may be the case where this intake actually does improve perfromance but WITHOUT a strong sample set, that is without a statistically signifant result, no council or consumer forum would ever back such claims. BRH, would you spend 2000$ on an item which claims that it just adds HP? For 50HP you would. For 20 HP you might. For 2HP, I doubt it. So that is why it is important to back claims.

I really don't know what to think anymore...I clearly remember posts from other people who said their local tuner would not install air-intakes because they actually lost power from them. I was told that air-intakes are not effective in cold weather as the air is denser and the standard air intake can take in more than enough air.

There have been all sorts of claims by many people in the industry. Snake Oil on the corner is the most bought product in the Porsche industry. What is sad is that the public has become skeptical to the point that even real dyno sheets and real results are disputed. Both Todd and I work very closely on the 996 chassis. The NA and the turbo. I personally have near 100 pulls on my own personal TT in the name of development. The one thing that is hard to dispute and separates the likes of Todd an myself is the fact we post and fax real dyno sheets. This is unheard of anymore. This project on the NA car has been one of the most exciting we have done yet. Sure, the TTs are great and we expect outstanding results. But when we revisited the 996 EGas cars we never expected back to back results like this. In fact going back to the dyno was a must so we knew that it wasn't a fluke and neither one of us was delusional. The results were overlapped time and time again. Garrett Lim is unparallel in the industry for Porsche computer tuning. He carries over 13 years expense in the market and remains far above anyone in the learning curve. As owners Todd and I have the choice to use who ever we want. The goal is not to build something for our cars that doesn't work. If anyone actually wants the dyno sheets faxed to them let Todd or I know. We will get them right over. Also call the dyno and ask for Chris. He will confirm as we did that the results were real.

This is from a posting by Porsche PHD In June 2001 : ImagineAuto, GIAC and EVO Motorsports would like to introduce the very first switchable ECU via a remote key fob. We should be all go by the end of this month. How is that coming along ? perry

Porsche Phd, The results may be real, but are they statistically significant?

Perry, The hardware is completed. The last thing to complete is the software. Each program is written specifically for each car. There are several variables, but the program has to be specific for each car. In light of that Garrett spends almost 15 hours hand writing the software. Until the conversion software is finished so he doesn't have to write each one it will not be released. It wouldn't be fair to him to hand 50 IBEs and say we need them by the end of the week. The system is complete though RR, yes they are statistically significant and more importantly have proved to be consistent. The TTs react in the same manner. We still do back to back testing to confirm with the same procedures. This ensures nothing ever hits the market until it is ready. An example of how we do things...Those that frequent the TT broad know that the IBE switcher has been in my car since last winter. GIAC, EVO and ImagineAuto will not release anything until it is 100% good to go. I drive my car daily....I don't know about you, but I don't want anything that will not produce results or leave me on the side of the road.

I think you missed the point. Your post on the key fob unit, coming by the end of the month was June 2001 over 2 years ago... Perry

Sorry I bought my car in Nov(02) of last year. It would have been impossible for that posting to be the case. Especially since I was the first to run it. The original posting was in Feb of this year. The second posting was in June.

Sorry it was Jan of this year.

My apologies, it was january. it's still a long way from the end of the month. Any plans to release it ? perry

RR, What do you test?

I am always skeptical of this sort of thing, but the facts are right in front of me. I'll vouch for Todd on this one. Over a period of a few days, he brought this car in and made it make about an additional 20hp. I was really, really surprised. As he stated the weather conditions were abominable. Then he gave me an intake to try on my racecar and it gained about 13 hp. This product really seems to work. Both cars repeated endlessly within 1.5% as long as the coolant temp was kept under control.

I think because there have been so many claims of horsepower gains from other less reputable tuners we are all a little sensitive. Todd to his credit has offered a 30 day money back guarentee and has posted authentic dynos. This is a lot more than most tuners have offered. There is really no risk to find out if Todd's claims are valid or not. Personally I hope it's all to the good and finally we NA guys will have some upgrade paths.

Go look at 986.org or the babblers board and you'll find Boxster S owners that are getting great results with their 3.2s, a very similar engine. Starting at 215 rwhp on a dynojet, they're getting mid 240's (about a 14% gain) with intake, headers, and a chip tuned for that setup. Mufflers show no gains, and many of them show losses. If we could get a similar gain out of the 3.4 (stock 250hp) and 3.6 (stock 270hp) engines, we would be at 284hp and 307hp respectively! In addition, headers tend to significantly improve the 3.2's torque curve, so hopefully the same will happen for the larger displacement versions. Keep your fingers crossed! Brad

I am like you guys, I bought a 996 because I Love Porsches. I also realized that there are not many options for the 996 owner when it comes to power upgrades. I understands the skepticism, I don't take it personally and quite honestly don't really care about it. I offer the 30 day guarantee because the last thing I want is an unhappy customer. If someone spends hard earned money on something, I want them to be totally satisfied. We offer this with all of our products and not just this one. As a business owner, the last thing I want assoiated with my business is pissed off people. There are many other things to be pissed off at these days than a tuning package that didnt make exactly 22.24817 HP at the wheels.

Brad, The reason the 986 S aftermarket headers show major gains is due to the restrictive design of the OEM header. The OEM 986 2.7 & 3.2L headers have a catalytic converter built in to the header which significantly reduces exhaust flow. This is the reason that the headers work so well on these cars.

I installed the evo high flo intake for the sound and I installed the fabspeed exhaust for the sound. I do believe this combo gave me noticable increases in hp & tq. It sounds awesome but what a noticable difference when you nail it in second gear at 3000 rpm. If you do this combo you will feel the increase in power in every gear. I bought both of these from Todd and I'm very satisfied and I absolutely believe the dyno charts he posted. Keep up the good work and don't let these "Doubting Thomases" get you down bob