The Best Cayman Modification

Unfortunatly, the Porsche Cayman is such a poor car as it comes from the factory, modifications are necessary. There must be something wrong with those who don't modify their Cayman . It is imperative to squeeze every additional HP, by flashing your ECU , putting on a larger plenum, de-snorking, installing an underdrive pulley, changing your exhaust so it your car sounds like it is a donkey passing gas through a pipe, etc., so you can beat that hot rodded '68 428 Mustang at the stop light. We change wheel and tire sizes, upgrade the suspension, so we can take that clover leaf .2MPH faster. We constantly see threads on this site about all of these upgrades, and those who want to know what they have to do to turn their Cayman into a race car. The truth for the vast majority, to find the best modification to improve how your Cayman handles, and how fast you can drive all you need to do is go to the powder room and look in the mirror. YOU, are the best modification that could be made. In all probability, your Cayman is better than you are. YOU need to learn how to drive it well. Masking your lack of driving skill by increasing power or handling of your Cayman although, you may look better, drive faster, and pass more cars does not benefit you. Learn how to drive. In another thread some one posted how his ABS and PSM was disconnected for a DE, and how hard it was to control the car in certain situations. It is similar to when you were a child, and your parents took off the training wheels off of your bicycle. You, learned how to ride a bike. Now you can learn how to drive. My most enjoyable on track experiences where when I was driving my non-turbo, non-PSM, non-ABS 944, and I would catch up and pass much higher HP cars. Our Caymans are awesome cars! There are some members on this site that do need some modifications thier Cayman for specific reasons, and there are a few members on this site whose driving ability exceeds that of our stock Cayman . Bottom line, save your money, and seek out those who can guide and teach you how to be a better driver, and learn. In my regional chapter, I preach that the club should buy some old 911SC's and have every novice driver learn how to drive them. Then when they are proficent at driving a SC they get to go into their own (probably more modern) car and drive. The best drivers that I know are those who learned on older, technology deficient cars. Those who learned on more modern, technology laden cars, may be faster, but not better drivers. Let the friendly discussion begin....

Yes, best modification and first one should be a driving school. But that does not mean we can not play around with our cars too.

Sure, driving skill accounts for a major part of track performance but hey we don't all want to be a track hero. Sometimes you just want to punch it in a straight line for 5 secs and thats all

And here I thought the best mod was the Flux Capacitor??? Just an interesting side note, but we did not turn off PSM on my car last weekend at the track but did have the car in sport mode and not once did the PSM light come on, if driven properly you never run into PSM intervention so turning it off does nothing for you. (this is with a Quaife TBD btw, obviously an open diff hammered in a tight corner is probably going to spin the inner wheel and PSM will kick in)

+1

Ypu do what you want with your car and I will do what I want with my car.....isn't that what is great about America.........choices and the abillity to make your own and not others. My favorite mod has been my headers and exhaust. Love the sound and the improved performance. Could live without the lowering it is getting harder to get in and out as I get older and only time will tell since I just had Ruf install my LSD.

Is this a mod thread or just someone's magic moment for preaching? Maybe its the choice of avatar, but I feel this maybe is in the wrong forum section? Nothing wrong in the message, but maybe put it where we know it belongs.

Take a look at this video and you'll see what a stock CS in the hands of an extremely good driver can do... http://www.planet-9.com/cayman-competition/22652-thunderhill-2-07-7-video.html brad

mods are fun, mods make me happy, mods give me more ownership of my car...if your happy with yours then what's it take from you that others don't share the same? some people like what their given, some people think differently

The best mod one can do to the car is improve the driver. No question about that. OTOH, the cayman S has a lower output/litre than other Porsche cars including the 2.7. Someone had put up a table of that in these forums some time back. Ahha here it is: This does not surprise me a bit. As I pointed out in the "Engine Displacement Increase" thread, the Cayman S has by far the lowest specific output of any Porsche sports car - lower even than the base Cayman. Repeating here... Model--------Disp.--Power--BHP/Liter-- Bore-- Stroke Cayman-------2.7--- 245----- 90.7----- 85.5--- 78 Cayman S---- 3.4----295----- 86.8----- 96----- 78 997---------- 3.6----325----- 90.3----- 96---- 82.8 997 S-------- 3.8----355----- 93.4----- 99---- 82.8 997 S X51---- 3.8----381---- 100.3-----99---- 82.8 GT3---------- 3.6--- 415---- 115.3---- 100---- 76.4 IMHO this is NOT an accident. This was accomplished by specifically detuning the Cayman S engine. This detuning process likely included Variocam timing, intake manifold tuning valve schedules, etc. It not surprising that Scott has been able to get the Cayman S engine back to the specific output levels that other Porsche engines achieve. It's impressive, and my hat's off to Scott, and I don't know anyone else who could pull this off, but it's not surprising. Note that the seriously "oversquare" bore/stroke of the Cayman S is second on this list only to the GT3, and with proper tuning the Cayman S engine should be able to get close to the GT3 specific output (might require a cam change, though). In any case, 345 HP is over 100 HP/L, and is pretty durn good. Fort Felker Post #57 here: http://www.planet-9.com/cayman-modifications/16380-free-upgrades-info-3.html The usual mods are attempts at uncorking the engine so it outputs what some believe it should have been from the factory. Beyond that, it's really what one wishes to do with ones car. Some like the bling, others like the stuff of the track junkie............etc etc Some are horrified at any mods to the car - but thats all personal taste really. :cheers:

The best mods I've done, after a year of tracking my stock Cayman (i.e. "adjusting the nut behind the wheel") were mildly upgraded brake pads (Ferodo DS2500) and GT3 seats with 6-point Schroth harnesses. The car is still far more capable than its driver.

I have a stock Cayman , and I like it that way. I have some Ideas of the upgrades I want to do to it with respect to suspension,...... later. I am taking my time and driving it stock so I will have a point of reference....

I completely agree that the Cayman is usually more sophisticated than the driver. If someone chooses to track the car, and I'm instructing, I'd much rather have a novice drive it bone-stock initially. When I moved from a 951 on track to a Z3 M Coupe, I kept the car on street tires the first year, going to six or eight schools, at four different tracks. That's after having driven DE's for about five years at that point. OTOH, how can anyone say objectively when the time comes for any one person to start to modify? And a related question, what is the first modification that should be made to a Cayman? Just adding more gasoline to the fire. John Cuellar

I learned more about driving in 1 season of road racing motorcycles than the prior 15 doing AX and DE type events. No traction control, no ABS, much faster, much smaller contact patches, more vehicles fit through a corner, real racing for dollars, sectional lap time improvements, braking points, penalty for screwing up, etc... Since most of you would not give up your steel cage because you are smart , in that vein, I bet you would learn more in 1 season of racing Spec 944's than 10 years of DE's.

I think the best mod for the sake of looks and no loss of reliability is a wheel upgrade!

I totally agree that the most important software mod is the driver. But to those who are not able to upgrade the driver due to lack of capability or desire, they have no choice but to upgrade hardware. But having said that, I think that in reality they both go hand in hand. Modding is actually tuning. U need to balance everything nicely for the purpose that needs to be achieved. I think if modded properly, there will be some improvements.

As it was asked before what is the first modification one should make on a cayman , should it be the tyres? Any suggestions?

After having spent a season with a 2.7, I think the most important modification is a track alignment. Without doing this, you will waste your tires . I've also changed the brake pads after the first event to Hawk HT-10 which I like (I change them out between events). I recently got another set of Cayman S wheels and will run R comp tires next season. The other item on my list is the GT-3 lower control arms which will go on before the R comps.

I recently drove my 2006 Cayman S from Colorado to California's coast. Dropping 5500 feet in elevation added 20(?) horsepower to the car!

By far, the best modification has to be getting the best tires you can afford. The tires control just about all aspects of the cars performance and the foundation of all other mods. With the tires chosen, then the suspension and braking items to sprinkle in become more focused. Jpr