Cayman side vents

[TNT]

Are the side vents real? my driver side vent seem to be covered inside the vent grill.

[djantlive]

On the Boxster, one side of the vent is functional IIRC. I'd imagine same is true with Cayman.

[White987S]

Both of my vents are functional on my 987S. The drivers side is for air intake, and the passenger side is exhaust for cooling. The dirt on both is proof enough that they are functional!

[azcay]

Sure is, like white987s said. You would think with the deflector plate on the intake side it is not functional. I don't know how it could breathe with it. I removed mine, and dyno seems to suggest it has measurable HP increase in the upper RPMS. Ken at caymanclub.net (where you can learn to do it too) got a 13 rwhp increase between total stock and then removing the plate. Results will probably vary, but I believe it does provide a positive difference on mine, so I would reccomend it.

[francis c]

Sure is, like white987s said. You would think with the deflector plate on the intake side it is not functional. I don't know how it could breathe with it. I removed mine, and dyno seems to suggest it has measurable HP increase in the upper RPMS. Ken at caymanclub.net (where you can learn to do it too) got a 13 rwhp increase between total stock and then removing the plate. Results will probably vary, but I believe it does provide a positive difference on mine, so I would reccomend it.

Porsche states that the plate over the air intake does NOT restrict airflow, and removing it does not provide HP gain.

[francis c]

Sure is, like white987s said. You would think with the deflector plate on the intake side it is not functional. I don't know how it could breathe with it. I removed mine, and dyno seems to suggest it has measurable HP increase in the upper RPMS. Ken at caymanclub.net (where you can learn to do it too) got a 13 rwhp increase between total stock and then removing the plate. Results will probably vary, but I believe it does provide a positive difference on mine, so I would reccomend it.

One dyno run does not prove a significant difference. The 13 HP is probably within the dyno measurements limit of error. I find it hard to believe that Porsche spends millions of dollars designing/maximizing a car, and would fail to boost HP by 13 just by removing a splash guard. Do you really believe some backyard car enthusiast in 30 minutes found something that 100s of Porsche engineers somehow overlooked/ or did not consider?

Show me the averages after 10 dyno runs with and without the deflector plate - I'm willing to bet there is no significant HP difference.

[PTEC]

The cover this there to prevent debris and water from being sucked up into the airbox. The early boxsters didn't have one of these and numerous cars burnt down due to sucking up cigarette butts. Its there to provide maximum reliability and safety. I highly doubt removing the plate will give you any power gains. The difference in horsepower may or may not be insignificant when bubba puts his cayman on a dynojet but it is completely insignificant to Porsche. What I mean by that is Porsche could make the boxster with 400 bhp if they wanted to, but they choose not to, and the reason definitely isn't the little plastic piece.

[berty987]

This subject along with K and N filters seems to emerge time again on these forums. There is no benefit to adding more air , unless there is fuel to combine with it and the ignition timing altered to compensate. The only time you need mod the air box or filter is if you have an ECU remap to take advantage of it. Adding too much air makes the fuel mix run weak and overheat the engine causing damage both short and long term. The dyno figures don't mimic the car moving through air , where there is a forced induction process taking place. On the DYNO the ECU overfuells by its allowable tolerance , giving a very marginal gain for the additional air being drawn in. On the road , in real life you actually get too much air as the baffle isn't there to limit the ram air effect , resulting in a weak mixture and the engine running hot . This is particularly evident after extened speed and high rpm runs. An overhot engine means the oil doesn't do its job properly and things can start to warp or crack. You're wasting your money and taking a risk , fitting a performance air filter or worse still removing the baffle without an ECU remap. The CAYMAN uses the same air box and filter to supply a 3.4 L engine producing another 15 bhp , the differences between engines are in the intake manifold / throttle body, not the airbox part of the induction system. The 9ff modified boxster 3.2 uses a modified inlet manifold , air filter , cams , exhaust headers and ECU to produce close on 340 HP. The ECU remap with performance air filter alone gives close to 300 HP , suggesting the baffle isn't really doing much to restrict power.

Edited April 16, 2007 by berty987