dan212

I have used Fabspeed headers and Mufflers on my 996/GT3 for years. The build quality gets better and better and I have been thrilled with the results. I also gutted the Cats to relieve back pressure and pick up a few more HP. (Keep in mind that all of this does make the car much louder).. The trick to gutting the cats is to relocate the O2 sensors properly. The Stock standoffs will work, but you will end up with CEL's from time to time. There is an "extended" L shaped standoff that will take care of this. The combination of Fabspeed headers, mufflers and gutted cats returned a remarkable improvement in power according to before and after Dyno runs. The car is not flashed. I've been running this configuration for 4-5 years. 52K miles and at least 140+ track days. At some point last spring, one of the headers developed a crack. Fabspeed offered to pay for repair (fastest turnaround solution and would have been fine) by my local shop or replacement. Instead, I asked for BOTH headers to be replaced. They did that instantly with no questions asked. I can't ask for more from Joe at Fabspeed. About the headers: These are somewhat custom made e.g.. They do change over the years. I always repair items like this in pairs. In the case of the cracked header, I felt if one cracked, the other might as well and I didn't want to replace with a new one that might have a slightly different form (changed over years) than the right side header. Again - things do break and this track car has seen HARD use. Fabspeed customer service could not have been better and replacing both of the three year old headers that had seen heavy track use - no questions asked speaks volumes for their customer service. Another comment. My car actually came in 2007 with Fabspeed mufflers and some goofy aftermarket ZTEK headers that "looked" like fabspeed's. An accident 4 years later destroyed one of the mufflers and I replaced them as a pair with new Fabspeed mufflers. The build quality and design of the newer mufflers is an order of magnitude better. At that time I also put Fabspeed headers. The point is that they are continuing to tweak and enhance their products. They get better and better. By the way.. I stay away from the aftermarket high flow oiled style air filters. Yes you can maintain and clean them, but if you don't they will actually impede airflow and the paper air filters are cheap enough to replace from time to time.

I changed out all of the rubber on my GT3 (motor mounts, shocks etc), the twisty bits like links etc. Those changes make a big difference. The OEM shocks are just too soft for the track and the dampers not well matched. Moton's are glorious but expensive. Fantastic, but beyond my reach. A very effective and inexpensive upgrade is to swap out the springs and just have the OEM shocks revalved to match by Bilstein. I think the shocks were only about 600 dollars to revalve. I changed to 650/850 springs with shocks matched by Bilstein. With that kind of spring rate, you might as well remove all the rubber mounts (engine and suspension). I can really feel the improvement from the solid mounts and don't find the car less comfortable for it. The car feels very connected without the rubber mounts. After 55 track days on the OEM springs and shocks, I am absolutely SHOCKED by how much easier the car now is to drive on the track. Yes... 650/850 is bit stiff on the street, but quite tolerable on all but some of the horrendously pot holed pavement around NYC (and most other cars are challenged there too). By the way, the transmission mount is a wear component. Its very common to see those crack after some amount of hard duty. It should be checked. Mine was cracked. Wevo is working on a solid mount, so for now I replaced it with a new stock unit.

Grip/traction and Tyre wear are very different. 2.5 camber in the front. That kind of camber won't help tire wear on the street. I assume you have this set up for the track? What do you have the rear set at? What do you have your sways set to? Toe? If on the track - what Hot pressures? What effect are you trying to get? (what makes you think you have a problem?) dan

Matt - You are spending money on chipping the engine and changing the exhaust but then putting on cheap replica wheels? Aside from the weight eating up the power you might be getting and the negative effect on handling, there is a safety issue. These are cheap knock off wheels. Unless the entire exercise is for Bling (and I am not criticizing Bling), put the chip money into the rims.

Thats the worse kind of over-rev you can get.. The engine is being pulled externally. The load is different. The stuff of broken hearts. The harm is less the revs than the source. But before you really make yourself nuts: What did the engine really peak at? If you don't know, get a reading from the DME.

Of course they spin the engine up at the factory. That doesn't mean that you should hammer the engine on the street. Take a nice long road trip. Makes keeping the revs down easier and is a better break in anyway. There is a lot that needs to loosen up. Get it aligned after the break in. They are never spot on from the factory. Interesting comment from LBP.. With older cars you absolutely had to change the oil after break in. Sometimes the even the break-in oil was different. Not any more. Modern cars are designed for minimal service. I am amazed at how little is called for at the even the major service intervals. Essentially nothing. But I'm old fashioned - and like LBP feel better about changing the oil etc after break in. I got an MB a few years ago. The dealer absolutely refused to change the oil. Said it wasn't necessary. I told him I didn't care, I would cheerfully pay for it. He still refused. Idiot.. So - I found a new dealer. They asked me one question: Did I own or lease the car? Thats your answer to break-in and oil change. Its your car. Be patient.

There is probably a lot of fudge in there. They tell you 4200 because you will go past that sometimes and they want you to take it easy. You will probably hit 5K from time to time. If they told you 5K, you would hit 6K and so forth. What is most important is getting as much break in time with the engine and systems warmed up. They really mean it when they tell you to take a few long trips. I took a 1,000 mile road trip the day after I got mine.. It was a pleasure. Keep in mind that many systems need break in. The steering loosens up. The transmission does too - noticeably after 2K. You always need to baby the engine and tranny when cold - but especially during break in. And get the car aligned. They are never spot on from the factory. Might as well do this after break in. The suspension may settle a touch and you will be taking it easy in the meantime...... RIGHT????

I got mine from my dealer. They service a lot of GT3's and had them on hand. You can also order them online. Some Porsche parts are insanely expensive. The shims are strangely inexpensive. I think they were 25-35 dollars e.g.. not much

Follow up from my previous post. Installing the 996 control arms transformed my 4S into a great handling balanced track car. I was able to better align it for track use. Worth every penny I paid - especially because I stopped eating my front tires.

The HP and torque are not linear. They don't just keep going up as the engine winds up to max. And you don't want the car to hit the rev limiter anyway. It disturbs the car balance.

I can't say enough about the PS2's.. They are great. They wear well and are actually VERY good on the track. They work very well on the street, in rain and even on the the track (for novice / intermediate driving). Do keep in mind that these are high performance summer tires. They are not designed for very cold weather. I live in NYC. I use them year round anyway and don't drive in the snow.

For what its worth.. I was going that route to carry a set of wheels on my GT3. I live in NYC and alternatives are limited.The combination of wheels and rims get right to the limit of what the roof is designed to carry, but I could live with that. I could even keep my track wheels in my NYC apartment. (I am not married). There is also the effect of so much roof weight to consider for handling. But I was still going that route. BUT my mechanic and three others pointed out something that I had not considered. In the event of an accident, the roof wheels are more likely to come loose and become very dangerous projectiles. The real risk to others is something that I had recognized. So I am having a trailer hitch installed right now and will put my wheels on a small tire trailer from Trailex. I know a few people who do this and they say they the tire trailer isn't noticeable on the road. Plus I can keep my full kit - tools, compressor, jack, impact wrench etc all together. I have 8 tracks within 500 mies of me. All but one or two are not a morning drive for me anyway. Whether or not the tire trailer option has its appeal - the danger to others from the tires on a roof rack coming loose in an accident should be considered. dan

There are plastic shims that you can install on the wing mounts. There is a 4 way and 8 way adjustable pair. They are very inexpensive. Changing the wing angle without the shims won't work because the wind will push the wing back down.

I have a 997/C4S. I have put about 12K miles on it in the last 5 months, with at least 15% of that on the track. I have NEVER had a problem with blipping the throttle while heel and toe. I Do know that the throttle will cut if you hit the brake while in gear, but NOT while the clutch is depressed, which is when you would blip. I heel/toe using both my right side of my foot or by heel depending on circumstances of down shift. Thats always on the brake. Sometimes, I do just blip on downshift without braking... And of course I sometimes have to blip on upshifts. But blipping while on the brake always works. NEVER EVER ONCE have I NOT gotten the response I needed. NEVER EVER. I sometimes double Clutch (old habits die hard) while on the brake, and I am able to do that. The E-Gas CPU must know that even with the Clutch out, the tranny is in neutral. The car would be undrivable if you couldn't blip the throttle with or without braking. But you DO have to engage the clutch or be in neutral.

Some shops install the 997 GT3 arms. Those are about 900 each. The bearings / bushings are teflon/steel and intended for racing. The ride will be kind of harsh, but perfect for track. You can use the 996 arms which have a stiff rubber mount instead of all metal. They are half the price. No matter what, you are looking at about 2 hours of labor and then alignment. According to my dealer, the 996 and 997 arms look the pretty much the same except for the all steel or teflon mount points. I am having the 996 arms installed next week. So I will let you know how that goes for me on my 997/CS4. Yeah, that's one of the threads I've seen. Unfortunately, all RonCT knows is that his shop charged him $1300 to do the work. He doesn't know any of the details about what was actually done. I'm looking to do the work myself so I was hoping that someone here would have more technical information.

If it really sticks only when cold does it bother you that much? My 997 with Sports shift option is very stiff in 1 and 2 when cold. I just double clutch before going into first and sometimes second. Goes in like butter and its easier on the transmission.

I have the same model year and config. Had the same problem. The Dension does NOT work with the older iPods and original Nano's. My 4gb nano and 30gb ipod didn't work. But my next generation 8gb nano DID. My 30gb ipod was a couple of years old. I checked the fine print and realized that my older ipod. Won't work. Gave me an excuse to get an 80gb ipod (but any smaller current generation ipod will work). Both my 8gb (secon gen - metal) Nano and new 80gb ipod (5th gen) works well.. Word of warning, the PCm / Dension / iPod user interface is nothing short of deranged. I have worked in software for 22 years but even after reading the manual and fiddling with it for an hour or so, it took me a while to grock how it works.. My 18 year old daughter is utterly disinterested in my porsche. But she did think that I traded in my MB because the PCM ipod UI is better (in some ways).... No dear..... Daddy likes to drive. How to use the UI. I can't get the rotary knob to select / drill down. I have to use the number pad scroll buttons (=> <=) to drill down. Scroll with the knob, and press and HOLD the scroll button for about two seconds to drill down.. Its dopey for sure, but it works. As an added bonus, you can switch to the ipod UI and work with that. Great if you have a passenger (teen age daughter) who wants to pick -dan