I'll start out by disclosing I've worked a bit with Chris who is 997-Research in figuring out what drivers might find useful in his creation. I also did a bit of editing on the V1 installation manual. Chris provided me with V2 - a greatly improved version of what already was a great product to test.
Installation took me about 3 hours. I'm old and have bad arthritis, and working on my knees with my head under the steering wheel can be a bit challenging. And it was 90F/90% humidity in the garage. Some time was also spent removing the V1 system that I already had in the car. Someone young - who reads the manual or
watches
an available video - should be able to install it considerably quicker, probably about 1 hour.
Chris sent me the "vent" mount full-size round display. The vent in question is the tiny vent on the left side of the dash that blows air on the window near the side-view mirror. The mount partly obstructs the vent, but I've seen no ill effect due to that. It seems to function exactly like it was without the gauge mount. I believe I might have been the person who suggested that location to Chris when he was engineering the V1 setup. For people without the SC Pod - it's a great option, and angled toward the driver, it's in your line of sight (almost) when driving. A quick glance at it is easy and safe to do.
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So - what do we have?
On a 987.2
PDK
, we can monitor/display values for;
Oil temperature
Water temperature
Oil pressure *
Battery voltage (aka Terminal-15 in Porsche speak)
PDK oil temperature (believed to be involved with distance-sensor failures possibly..)
G-force meter
0-40, 0-60 times
Headlights on?
Very cool. Following are the 6 displays available for my 987.2:
I'd call this the "ALL" display.
Like newer Porsche cars - you can turn individual lines on and off.
Top to bottom:
Headlight on - not displayed since mine weren't on
Oil temperature
Water temperature
Oil pressure
PDK temperature
System voltage
Shift-point display (a linear graphic of small blocks that incrementally light up as temperatures normalize)
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Everyday:
This is the display mode I'll very likely use day in, day out. It has the significant numbers I want to know at a glance, and unlike the instrument cluster numbers for temperature - these ones are real. They're the same numbers the ECU uses to control the engine. We have:
Headlights on (not displayed since mine weren't on)
Oil temperature
Water temperature
Voltage
Oil pressure (thermometer type display)
The nice part is the graphic display - the size and color of the ring around the display will change color to RED if there is any issue with either temperature. The voltage display will turn RED if the system voltage drops below 12V. This saved my engine one hot afternoon when I was farting around with a PIWIS seeing what I could do (screw up everything actually) and I had the engine idling in my garage without a fan in front of the car. The water temp turned RED at some point, which caught my attention, and I shut things down very quickly.
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Simplified gauge - just gimme the basics!
Headlights on (not showing since mine weren't on)
Oil temperature
Coolant temperature
System voltage
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Gotta PDK?
Headlights on (not showing since mine weren't on)
Water temperature
PDK temperature
System voltage
Oil temperature (thermometer display)
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Drag-race!
The 0-40, 0-60 display. Pretty much self-explanatory- except it automatically switches to 0-60 once you hit 60.
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G-force meter
Again - pretty self-explanatory, except you don't have to watch it continuously; it records the peak G-force reached (which is resettable) for display when stationary.
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My considered opinion - this is one of the best toys I've added to the Boxster - helps keep me amused and interested in the car. Some of the features would be most useful for a car that's tracked, especially PDK cars. Chris does track his car - and it shows in the design of the unit and the capabilities he included. There is some level of customization enabled on several of the displays that I won't get into here.
His kit to install it is astoundingly good - everything you need to install it except a Phillips head screwdriver (to remove the panel), and a pair of wire snips to notch the fuse box for the wire is included. You might want to add a few tie-wraps (not included) on harness wires, but that's really optional.
The installation video - which includes how to add oil-pressure sensing to your 987.1 (which didn't come with it.):
Where to find it?
Standalone Water/Oil temp and oil pressure gauge for 997 and 987 V2.0 — 997research
BTW - Chris is being VERY fair to people who already purchased and installed V1 - he's offering a quite significant discount on a replacement V2 system. Big kudos for that!
UPDATE: I believe I mentioned how impressed I was with the quality and completeness of the kit that Chris provided.. and of course I forgot to take pictures of it before I tore into it, so I asked Chris for a photo of the kit - as shipped:
All neatly packed into a compact box.. the care given is evident.
Chris also offers the same sort of kit for the cars with the Sport-Chrono pod on the dash. The display replaces the useless stopwatch, and he claims a 15 minute installation, since no tapping of wires is needed - it's all right there (the SC "clock" runs off the CanBus, and has power, so it's all right where you want it to be.) Instead of the remote-button control for the display, I understand if you have the OBC option on your car - that lever can be used to control the unit. You can find more details on it at
997research
.
