I am not in the automobile industry, I'm am about to be (Tuesday, 6:30pm) another Croc owner. In any event, my nephew lives in Riverside, CA and does custom work on Porsche's, Audi's and VW's. Well of course I very excitedly told him about his Uncle's Cayman S that I'm about to acquire, etc. Since he's in the tuning and customization business I selfishly asked him if there is any way he could make a one off chip for my Croc, they've done it in the past, not cheap but the results are head banging. After some more discussion he and his Engineers are willing to do it. If anybody else is interested let me know. I am told it would be 3 to 6 weeks out, add another 30HP and cost about $2,500 to $2,750. So, I am retired so this isn't a business venture but I am lucky enough to have a close relative in the industry andhis folksdo this stuff for a living so I thought if anybody else is interested I'd let him know. If you think you might want in, drop me an e-mail and I'd give him a rough head-count, I know I'll be chip changing soon.
Regards to all, riamga
Riamga,
No offense to your nephew, but people don't change chips in Porsches, they reprogram them which means they need to develop updated software and then test and tune their software tweaks. There are companies already in the business of doing so, GIAC for example, and who have years of experience tweaking Porsche programming. I think GIAC's programming for the Cayman S is $995 and adds around 15hp with a hi-flow intake. I've never seen ECU programming alone net 30hp gain on a naturally aspirated Porsche, not from any tuner no matter how much experience. If your nephew is able to develop some software and show that the software does in fact increase HP by 30, and the software isn't detectable by Porsche (and thus voiding your warranty with respect to the computer and electronics) then we should come back and revisit that. Again, no offense to your nephew but I'm not sure that could be done in 3-6 weeks, let alone 3-6 months.
K:
As I mentioned, I'm not in the auto industry so in fact I don't know if you're right or wrong. I do know this, my better half has a PHD in Electrcial Engineering and she works on sensative projects, again, not automotive related, but I will tell you this much, you would be amazed at what can be done in 3 days let alone 3 to 6 weeks. I don't know the firm you are referring to, but, they are probably a handful of folks who do many things automotive for a living, how well they do it and what they can do all depends on the ability of the folks working there, not unlike any other industry. As for Porsche's Warranty, I'd be willing to bet that half the the cars on this web-site have done at least one thing that could be considered a possible void of their warranty. It seems to me, most folks buying Porsches as well as other type cars are more concerned about going fast than they are about their warranty and the care of their cars. No hard feelings, just my opinion.
Agreed, I'm not trying to be negative and if your nephew wants to give it a go I say great, but let's see the results first and then decide if it warrants getting a group buy together and other logistics, etc.
Let me know the before and after 1/4 mile ET. Thanks.
Agreed, the proof is in the pudding. In the meantime, tomorrow at 6:30pm(est) I will finally be getting my Croc. First thing Wednesday morning it's off for a visit to the Berkshire Mountains, nice windy roads and no traffic. By the way, the trip is about 200 miles. Think there's anything to worry about doing a steady 70mph+ on an engine with 20 miles on it. I don't think so, I even read an article in one of the auto magazines where this guy wrote 3 pages which boiled down to, if you don't drive your car like hell (very fast and very ham handed) you will not brake in your engine properly. You might have seen the article yourself, I was amazed after reading it. He wasn't joking either, said thats the way he's broken in every car he's had. Didn't mention how many miles the engines lasted. I figure a new car, any car, can handle 70mph for 3 hours straight without any permanent damage. K, what do you think.
Break in is a topic that has been discussed over and over on this forum. Do a search here and most importantly <u>read</u> the manual (there is a pdf copy inthe files section here) and see what Porsche recommends.
