997.1TT Upgrades

[speeddemon]

I am looking for opinions of the Softronic Flash upgrade for a 997.1TT and will it cause premature failure of any OEM parts? Have read past blogs on upgrades as some are skeptical on most. Has the 480 to 615 BHP by Softronic been verified w/o additional mods? I am also looking to perform upgrades to suspension,exhaust, and motor. Which give you the most bang for the buck?

[phillipj]

I have done the Softronic flash, Tech Art exhaust, GT2 spark plugs, BMC filter and a larger Cayenne Turbo throttle body. The flash alone will transform your car. It makes a HUGE difference. The other mods add more perfomance. I drive the crap out of my car almost everyday. I'm not concerned about damaging anything. I have a good relationship with my dealer so the flash is not an issue. Many dealers do not have a problem with the Softronic product. Just make sure you go through Softronic and not Vivid Racing for the flash.. Trust me on this.. Or if you have a good relationship with your dealer and the car is still under warranty see if they will install it for you..

As far as HP gains I doubt that the flash will give you that much of a gain (135 hp.) But it does transform the car into a beast.

If you want even more power after these mods you have to upgrade the turbos and intercoolers. This additional HP usually means and upgraded clutch as well. It gets very expensive if that is an issue. And of course it puts more strain on the engine, But the car will be an absolute rocket if it is set up properly. Question is ... Do you need 650 hp? Or just want it..:rolleyes:

A friend of mine that races P Cars told me to upgrade my sway bars to improve handling. This is relatively inexpensive mod and is supposed to make a huge difference in the Turbo's tendency to understeer. It makes the car much flatter in corners and they are adjustable. This will be the next mod for my car. Here is a link.. http://www.championm...oduct-p/321.htm

You can go to coilovers but you will lose the PASM feature. Bilstein makes a coilover that works with PASM but some say they are not worth the hefty price tag..

I love all my mods. I recommend them to any Turbo owner,,,

PM me if you have any questions...

:cheers:

Edited March 21, 2011 by phillipj

[PAULSPEED]

I added a rear sway bar to my car. Very easy

thing to do. The car tracks alot better.

The stock sway bar caused the inside front wheel

to raise above the road so it did not help withgrip.

I also added some shims to the bottom toe arms to

give it a more than stock race setup. This helped with

high speed turn ins. The high speed turn-ins are now

more crisp then before.

Paul

[phillipj]

Great info Paul. Thanks!

[speeddemon]

Phillipj, thx for the info. I am a former vette owner, so I trying to sponge as much information as I can. Only owned 911's for a couple of years now. Have talked with Softronic directly about flash. They recommended doing major mods first i.e. turbo upgrade before flash. Did you personally install exhaust, plugs, and sway bar yourself? Difficult or easy? Thx for any help you can give.

[speeddemon]

PAULSPEED,

Thx for info. How difficult of a job to install sway bar time wise?

[PAULSPEED]

Adding a sway bar to the rear took about one

hour. Not very hard at all.

I did not do the front one. I was told by a race mechanic

that you have to remove the radiator hoses to get to the

bolts that hold it on. I also heard that you can push the hoses

out of the way to get to the bolts. It is not as easy as the rear.

Paul

[Loren]

Be a little careful here folks - Paul is driving a C2S with about 355 Hp and a 997 TT at 480 Hp -- plus 4WD plus a lot more weight.

Apples and Oranges - best think about the whole car and maintaining the balance.

[phillipj]

Phillipj, thx for the info. I am a former vette owner, so I trying to sponge as much information as I can. Only owned 911's for a couple of years now. Have talked with Softronic directly about flash. They recommended doing major mods first i.e. turbo upgrade before flash. Did you personally install exhaust, plugs, and sway bar yourself? Difficult or easy? Thx for any help you can give.

Strange that Softronic would say that... Anyway I didn't do the labor myself on my mods. When I bought the car I requested the 40k service be done and at the same time the flash and plugs were done. I had my tech install the exhaust. I was going to do it myself because of my experience working on my 996 and 997 Carreras. My tech convinced me that it was quite a bit of work so I let him do it. The bumper cover has to come off as well as the Wheel liners, Y pipe and intercoolers. I was there and observed the install and was glad I let him do it. It would have taken me a long time to say the least. I did of course replace the filter myself and myself and my tech did the Throttle body and plenum. Not a hard job but you need some special tools and my tool box is not that extensive. ( Lots of swivel / stubbies etc..) I put the exhaust tips on myself. That's a 10 minute job.

As far as the sway bars I haven't done that mod yet. My tech tells me the same thing that Paul said. The rear sway bar is easy but the front is a PITA. I may do what Paul did and do the rear first and see what kind of results I get..

Hope this helps and let us know what you end up doing.

If you decide to go for the big turbo's etc. do your research. I have a friend who sent his stock turbo's to Champion Motorsport. They rebuild the Turbos and send them back to you. He also added larger intercoolers and silicon boost hoses. He aslo changed to the upgraded diverter valves. Softronic then wrote a program for th mods. That car is sick fast. Fastest car I have ever been in. About 600 RWHP. Champion does great work albeit pricey. Stay away from Vivid Racing.

Here is a power kit form Champion http://www.championmotorsport.com/product-p/cms-997t-1-pk.htm Only $26k without install :cursing: A lot of stuff you don't really need in that kit. Carbon fiber airbox, Carbon plenum and carbon Y pipe. All engine bay "eye candy" really . That's about $5k you can deduct right there..

Good luck with whatever you do!

Edited March 22, 2011 by phillipj

[orcfromthesouth]

Anyone know if the 997.1 GT3 rear sway bar fit the 997.1 Turbo?

[Loren]

Anyone know if the 997.1 GT3 rear sway bar fit the 997.1 Turbo?

Narrow body vs. widebody, 2WD vs. 4WD - Apples and Oranges.

[r93mdue]

This information is great! I have very little experience with my 997. I have yet to test the limit of this car in its stock form. So I am not sure if any of these mods are of much use to me yet. I used to have base corvette with Lingenfelter mods (730 HP and 720 torque) and this car in its stock form is still better in handling and acceleration than the corvette was. So I might wait to see if I can really get the most of the car before any mods. I have been told by several porsche mechanics that a lesson with PCA would probably yield more for me out of this car than 10,000 dollars worth of mods.

[Loren]

This information is great! I have very little experience with my 997. I have yet to test the limit of this car in its stock form. So I am not sure if any of these mods are of much use to me yet. I used to have base corvette with Lingenfelter mods (730 HP and 720 torque) and this car in its stock form is still better in handling and acceleration than the corvette was. So I might wait to see if I can really get the most of the car before any mods. I have been told by several porsche mechanics that a lesson with PCA would probably yield more for me out of this car than 10,000 dollars worth of mods.

I could not agree more - the most power increase you can get from a Porsche is usually driver training.

[gpt817]

I reflashed my 997tt with a softronic. You'll realize the difference after you download the reflash. It will be a different car when you drive it and step on the gas. Its worth the $1500+ price tag. Together with an exhaust and free flowing air filters, you'll love your 997tt more. :king:

[phillipj]

Davao City ? Talaga? I spent a lot of time in the Philippines...

What's it like driving your Turbo there? Where and when do you drive it? Only very early in the morning I bet...

I agree with you on the flash and the exhaust.. Worth every penny.. :thumbup:

Edited January 24, 2012 by phillipj

[custie]

New 997TT owner as of yesterday, first Porsche. Talked to Softronic, that will be first. I really want to do something with the exhaust. This will take some educating for me, not as simple as upgrading my Mustang :) I assume you all have some preferences. Anybody want to lead me one way or another?

[phillipj]

If you really want an awesome exhaust call the guys at BBI Autosport. I have the TechArt now which is nice. But their exhaust sounds soooo bad a##. It is also much lighter. It's black powder coated and all hand made at their shop. About $4200 to $4500.. German 200 cell cats. Not a bad price considering a new Tech Art is $6,000..

I'm getting one in a few months..

Here is their link. The owners name in Betim. He's a really nice guy.. http://bbiautosport.com/

Oh yeah... Congrats. on the Turbo!!! You think it's awesome now wait til you do your ECU and exhaust.. :jump:

Edited February 22, 2012 by phillipj

[custie]

Those do sound good. Here's a dilemma I have, I had the dealership check it out said the ECU has been flashed. So most likely it has a tune already, but I wouldn't know, and the dealership said they could put it back to stock. But if it has a tune I'll be spending $2k on maybe a slight improvement. So should I say F it and just do a new tune?

Edited February 23, 2012 by custie