How much have you spent modifying your Cayman?

Hey everyone 👋 This is something I find genuinely fascinating, so I’m keen to hear a wide range of opinions and experiences. I’m in the middle of building a true dual-purpose 987.2 Cayman S — a car I can daily, but also progressively grow into as I learn proper track driving (with tuition, not hero laps). I bought my 987.2 S (manual, PASM, 47k miles) about 6 months ago, and since then I’ve probably gone a bit overboard with modifications — but honestly, I’ve loved every step of improving such a brilliant base car. For context: Purchase price: £27k Mods so far: ~£19k Final build cost (all in): ~£50k Sounds mad. Feels mad. But the car is now a completely different animal to how it drove stock. The goal for next year is a properly balanced dual-use setup — road-friendly, reliable, but capable enough to grow with me on track. Performance-wise, I’m targeting roughly: ~250 WHP per ton (effective) ~300 bhp/ton “felt” performance That’s factoring in drivetrain efficiency improvements, moving from 19s to 18s, ~20kg rotational mass reduction, and a further ~60kg static weight loss — not just chasing headline power. What I’d love to hear from you: What areas of the car you prioritised (suspension, brakes, weight, power, tyres, etc.) What you’d do differently in hindsight Where you think money is best (or worst) spent on these cars And whether my approach makes sense — or if I’ve lost the plot 😄 Mod list below 👇 Really interested to hear how others are building these cars. 987.2S, Manual, PASM Drivetrain & Gearshift Function First solid shifter cable ends Function First short shifter Function First adjustable shift linkage rod (heim joints) Function First weighted classic shift knob Function First engine mount insert Numeric Racing short shift cables Gearbox linkage installation & setup Heim joint repair & insert Red Line MTL 75W80 gearbox oil Result: significantly tighter, more mechanical shift feel with reduced drivetrain slop. Totally changed dynamics of my manual car. Exhaust, Intake & Engine Top Gear 200-cell headers + valvetronic Top Gear exhaust Fitting of headers & exhaust Vibrant 1792 bottle resonators (x2) + welding (car sounds premium now) ECU retune (post headers/exhaust) BMC performance air filter Decibel Slayer exhaust inserts (x2) (track driving backup) Brakes & Geometry Pagid Street+ pads Brembo rear discs Fast road geometry (RennWorks, Stevenage) Wheels, Tyres & Spacers Michelin Pilot Sport 4S: 235/35 R19 fronts 265/35 R19 rears Wheel spacers: 7mm front / 14mm rear Michelin digital inflator Longacre tyre pressure gauge Interior & Driver Interface Cobra Nogaro Circuit bucket seat (Amalfi / Dinamica) Super-low seat base subframe Cobra T6 lightweight alloy side mounts Universal low-profile seat runners Steering wheel spacer (50mm) Recaro airbag resistor / bypass Custom flat-top/bottom steering wheel (carbon/Alcantara) Audio, Infotainment & Electronics TEYES CC3 2K Android head unit BOSE fibre-optic amp bypass & sub retention Hertz Cento CK165L component speakers BR7 Bluetooth audio unit TEYES TPMS TEYES OBD II module Sony ECM-LV1 lav mic Lighting & Exterior Details Philips Ultinon Pro LED interior & exterior bulbs OSRAM Cool Blue / Night Breaker bulbs Dynamic LED side indicators LED tinted rear lights LED tinted headlights Floating centre caps (gold Porsche crest) Cayman badge refinished (black + chrome S) Genuine Porsche bonnet badge Registration plate “V2 CAY” Detailing & Protection Full stage-one paint correction, including jeweling + 5-year ceramic coating Detailing equipment Window tint (fade) Dodo Mat sound deadening Electrical & Battery PS-30 JWM LiFePO4 battery – (failed) Antigravity ATX30 restart battery + tray Tools & Track Equipment Norbar Pro 300 torque wrench (60–300 Nm) Sparco Arrow+ race gloves Shark D-Skwal 3 helmet Total Spend to Date ~£19k (including labour, consumables, tools, and sold items) Planned / Upcoming Modifications 18” lightweight apex vs-5rs 18x8.5/9.5 wheels (saves 3kg per corner over Turbo I) Continental SportContact 7 tyres (saves 4kg over 19 inch Michellin 4SPS) Track-focused brake pads Pre-cut racing PPF and applied by professional GT3 or similar brake air duct B6 Bilstein Dampers Rennline - Carbon Fibre Upkick Spoiler Total expected spend on mods: £25,000

Wow. That’s detailed and a good chunk of change. For my 981 base. Tune - 1250 X73 - 1700 Soul headers - 3900 PSE - 1300 Summer wheels and tires - 3000 Man it adds up fast. This mod disease is real.

Not nearly that much, but more than I realistically should. It’s been relatively simple stuff like CarPlay /backup camera, wheels, and a couple other small things. Questions: • what’s the story with the multiple exhaust setups (and lambda sensors)? • What is deal with the leather dashboard cover and inserts? (I’m on a leather interior upgrade journey) • finally - what is your favorite mod, since you are now apparently an expert?

So you're single eh?

I’ll have to sort of guess on a couple prices, I haven’t kept up with but it’s interesting to think about. This is basically my year one because I will not be doing anything else next couple weeks. Black Porsche and Cayman lettering - 100 Clear LED side markers - 180 Black Headlight washer caps - 80 Colored logo center caps - 70 ECG valved exhaust - 1600 I was lucky the car was extremely maintained when I got it and had a lot of tire left, so it’s cosmetic stuff. I’ll probably do a lot this next year though. Still mostly cosmetic, steering wheel, etc. the car drives so good as is.

While I have all of my records, I haven’t put everything into a spreadsheet. But im guessing im at 25-30k in mods. The biggest ones being a complete Soul exhaust at $7k. Suspension upgrades at $8-10k. Two sets of aftermarket wheels at $5k. Brakes. Softronic tune . $5k for Recaro seats . Roll bar at $3k. it’s all worth it. I wouldn’t change anything. Love the car. It’s a track and street beast. 🏎

Hey! Ignore leather dash. I'm getting a Teyes 2K head unit which will come with the whole centre console plastic area. I got the Carnewal but tbh it wasn't loud enough for me. I prefer valves exhausts and this thing howls about 8/10'ths of a GT3. "Expert" - ahaha I just do a lot of research and utilise ChatGPT which helps massively. it's so hard to pick. In no particular order: 1) 200 cell headers with valved exhaust and Vibrant resonators (sound very premium) 2) Entire gearbox linkage assembly from Function First and numeric cables (huge improvement) 3) Detailing, jewelling and ceramic coating. 4) Wheels 18 inch (20kg rotational mass lost) --------- "Expert" - ahaha I just do a lot of research and utilise ChatGPT which helps massively. it's so hard to pick. In no particular order: 1) 200 cell headers with valved exhaust and Vibrant resonators (sound very premium) 2) Entire gearbox linkage assembly from Function First and numeric cables (huge improvement) 3) Detailing, jewelling and ceramic coating. 4) Wheels 18 inch (20kg rotational mass lost)

you guessed correctly 😂

-------- Sounds like we are two peas in a pod. Have you started targeting any weight loss directly? I'm focusing on reducing Rotational Weight and improving drivetrain efficiency. With those things worked on you can expect 350whp per ton. Real whp: ~324–326 whp Effective whp (with 20 kg rotational treated as 2×): ~337 whp Effective whp/ton: ~269 whp/ton 269whp/t at efficiency of 0.88 = 305 bhp per ton This is enough to keep up with a GT4 981 and beat any other Cayman ever That's a sense of achievement the perfect dual purpose car.

Tell me about it 😂 But then you realise you practically have a mini-race car, you can daily. And analogue and will never be produced again like this.

That looks super rich! Love the detail.

2016 981s Manual w/ pse , sport chrono 33k miles Aerokit front and rear + Paint $5800 Custom upholstery $5500 PCM 4.0 upgrade $1200 ish OEM reverse camera $250 GTS tail lights $1200 Gauge Faces $300 Rear Light bar $300 New style rear view mirror $150 (eBay) Window tint $300 Retrofitted light design package $350 Misc $500 next up: Steering Wheel X73 suspension Matrix style headlights Wheels I’ll be $25k in mods when I’m done. Certainly more than the car is worth 😂🤣

Thanks fellas (I’m guessing), I’m sharing this with my wife. You’re gonna earn me a lot of breathing room.

Or confirm you are as crazy as the rest of us. This mod disease is real.

The disease will spread

This is posted on the other forum too, so I will post here as I am trying to understand why we are comparing how much we spent? I am confused. I read this few few. Ignored, and see posts keep happening. I am curious, why does it matter, how much you spent on modifying? A few of the "mods", are they really mods? Buying tires that are not racing tires , is this really a mod? And oil change, or air filter, etc... are these really mods? I have been modding cars for years, and too many cars, and I never considered these as mods. Also, why does cost really matter? If anything, I would love to see the flip, how cheap were you able to mod... And properly mod. Some thing, I pay people to do, others, I don't and do myself. So really, I saved money, not showcasing how much I spent. Also, I plan and search. I was able to get my Bilstein B8s on sale thru RockEuro for $150 a shock, $600 for all 4. I was able to get Carvanas warranty to conver a lot of things that needed to be fixed. I was able to negotiate savings, and buy used some items, all to keep my cost down. Also, are we really considering apples to apples. For example, I bought my CircuitWerks x-pipe for $187 after shipping before all of the tariff issues. Now they are $500+. What people were able to buy before tariffs and even a couple of years vs today is not the same. Regions are different. Labor rates are different. Not knocking anything, just confused, why are people comparing, how much you spent vs, what did you do and learn what works and does not work. Here for learning. Thanks.

There is an opportunity cost to these mods. And honestly almost all mods are lost money. Not making it back on resale or making some back if you revert to stock and sell parts which is a pain. So the key learning for me is to make sure you are getting the pleasure and fun out of the mods. Headers were my most expensive mod. Every time I hit higher rpms it makes me smile and tells me it was not a waste of money. It’s good to take an accounting and see where you are with spending.

I’m going fairly light on the mods to my 2014 Boxster S so far, but I think I have one answer to the desire to quantify that you ask about, since I’m prone to quantification myself. When you really enjoy something deeply, counting up what you do and how much it costs adds richness and detail to your enjoyment. It’s another layer to the whole experience of the car, and it sits alongside the pleasure in driving it (foremost, I hope), in listening to it, looking at it, washing it, etc. For example, I keep a log of how many miles I drive in each of my cars each month, because I’m curious about the seasonality of my driving. Do I drive the Porsche less in the winter? Yeah, sure. But I work on it more and enjoy it no less. If I heard the modification quantifies suggesting that they enjoy tallying up the costs more than they enjoy the overall experience of the car I might wonder about their priorities, but I don’t hear that really, and hell, we all get to enjoy our cars the way we want to, right?

Smiles per dollar, I feel we can all agree modifying vehicles is an atrocious use of funds but gearheads get it, others don’t!

Thank you all for the feedback. Trust me... Gear head here. I have built out too many cars and still have a few recently built in the driveway. Happy to discuss. Don't get me started on the Q7 that some would laugh at in the cost spent in this car. But I just never compared costs. If anything, my social circle in the past was not talking about how much we spend, if cost were discussed, it was who we knew and how much less we spend vs the next to get the performance that competed ... Of course all withing reason. There is the true cost to zero which means you may have bought crap products. For me, not about how much is spent, but did I get value for what I wanted out of it to achieve the goal. Example, I have been privately chatting with the forum member on how his audio shop is basically trying to give him the quote un quote Porsche tax and trying to sell him something he really does not need, and telling him things that are not technically true. At the end of the day, it's up to him, the market, and the region if it makes sense to continue with that audio shop. But that's where the question lays... Are we really comparing the dollars effectively, or are we just comparing who has more money to spend and talk about it. I agree, with some members who posted, smiles per dollar. As long as your happy with your outcome, who is it for me or them to rain on your parade. 😁 I also agree, for some, accounting people... And my wife is a former accountant, so I get it... Calculating dollars to understand value, I get it, although true accountants would say otherwise 🤣 , it is fun to see all of it. Thank you for the different perspectives and my wife will say, my brain operates differently than most. So while this may seem... Wft guy ... It is for me to understand and learn.

When I bought my 977.1 S, I had plans for bigger rotors, cast iron (common mod on my bikes) , headers , coil overs, and a bigger spoiler. When a shock started leaking, I went with Cayman R shocks and springs. (A$10k including full refurbish) I’ve fast realized that the car is more capable than I am. The Carnwell exhaust really is loud enough. (Almost bought an X pipe due the performance claims….. decided the claims were probably optimistic.) Love the idea of long tube headers . The $$s and the CELs not so much! I was lucky enough that it came with a 3.8 FSI engine and a LSD . ( GT3 throttle body , etc,) The stock look has grown on me. I even have a new set of stock rotors to go on it.

@skypig thanks for sharing. 3.8 in a Cayman, I can only imagine how that feels?! That's a rocket. Do you expierence or had ownership with the OG engine at all? Thoughts on the OG vs the 3.8? I talk to people about their GT4s and some that have put in the bigger motors, of course that then comes with bigger everything else, and at the end, many have said while they love their car, they sometimes miss the OG. The bigger the engine, tighter the suspension the less city and long travels they can do comfortably. I have a lower spine issues, and even the 2.9 popping it around from time to time definitely reminds me that my back is jacked. And I am youngish... I love the Cayman, but sometimes wonder would I really get to enjoy that much power and tightness again. I did the Cayman R springs and Bilstein B8S with a complete suspension refresh as well. No GT3 LCAs, not tracking it, as of today. I really want the carnewal exhaust. That's next. Headers, I am so torn on what to there.

I have nothing to compare. I didn’t even test drive other Caymans. Found the one with the 3.8 FSI engine fitted and bought that one! The previous owner thought it was geared lower as she “didn’t have to change down to overtake”. Gearing seems stock. I suspect extra power, especially mid range.

You car looks clean! To your question - more that I should've I bought the car for around 26k EUR and initally only spend 1k to for an apple car play unit + replacing the speakers... then I decided I want another engine in it and I've already spent about 25k on a 4.0 gt4 engine, a gt4 gearbox, electronics and random parts for the conversion, will probably end up spending like 10k more for the work and parts to finish the project and will probably add another 6-7k for suspension upgrades. Now that I start calculating, I don't like it haha. For your build though, from the perspective of someone who used to be a racing driver once upon a time but is now a broke track day enjoyer - there is no "proper balance" for a dual use car. You can either make it feel good on track and it'll be absolutely terrible on the road, or you can keep it nice for backroads and liveable with daily and it'll be way too soft, too heavy and too slow on track compared to a track build. I get what you want - good on track and good on the street, I want the same, it's just impossible, so you have to figure what you're willing to compromise. You're current plan with the Bilstein B6 , 18in wheels and SC7 tires is basically very much leaning to the good on the street side. For a street build that's a solid improvement for trackdays I'd say check out Ohlins road & track or KW V3 (for my build I'll probably get the ones that I can find a better deal on at the time) and semi slicks - Nankang AR1s, or CRS if you wanna drive them on the street as well, are cost effective options. Honestly, only the tires would be already a night and day difference on track, with a bigger difference in lap time than adding 100hp on most tracks. I don't think you should go beyond that if you still want to use it mostly on the street. Good luck and hope you enjoy that car for a lot of trouble free miles!