To remap or not to remap... that is the the question

[jasonmo]

Hey y'all I'm still settling down with my new (to me) 987.1 3.4, it replaces my previous 987.1 3.4 which was carnewal GT and an air filter (and a few cosmetic bits).

I'm getting a wheel, handbrake, gear knob fitted at Royal next week and then a service and new AOS at Portiacraft to hopefully stop the smokey starts (old car never did that)

Once thats sorted I have to decide on an exhaust upgrade...

I'm leaning towards a spyder valved job and thinking about getting it remapped at the same time.

So my question is - would you guys remap? or not bother. Anyone actually remapped at .1 3.4 and how did you find it?

And finally - who has a sprint booster fitted and how did you find that?

Thanks guys and have a great Sunday!

[Menoporsche]

Remaps; all I hear, you’ll get a handful of extra horses, but you should get a smoother stronger power delivery through the range. Value for money is up to you. I don’t know if that applies to a 3.4 with its variocam plus, or just older 3.2s. 
Sprint booster was discussed here recently, people seemed happy, but to me it sounded like my Sport button which mainly just shortens pedal travel. But they seem to like it. 

[jasonmo]

Yeah - i don't have a sport button on mine. just thinking in terms of cost, getting a remap at the same time as exhaust fitting prob makes sense... 🙂 unless its a waste of time... 🙃 

[bally4563]

Mine has the spyder valved exhaust,carnwal 200 cell manifolds, under drive pulley, design tec air filter and a GAN tuning module and sprint booster …. And it goes very well!!! ( some say the sprint booster is smoke and mirrors but I like it for the immediate response, in fact had to turn mine down a bit, wheel spinning everywhere!!!)

 

 

[Ninesomething]

Didn't remap but have a GAN tuner which works pretty well. Everyone takes the p*ss out of sprint boosters until they get one - then they love them. I'll probably give in one day and get one.

[½cwt]

51 minutes ago, JonSta said:

Didn't remap but have a GAN tuner which works pretty well. Everyone takes the p*ss out of sprint boosters until they get one - then they love them. I'll probably give in one day and get one.

Once you've done all the Hartech or MRN stuff? 😉

Edited September 18, 2022 by ½cwt

[deanmr2]

I got my previous Porsche which was a 3.4 Cayman S remapped and although I tried to kid myself that it seemed a bit livelier I don’t think it made any noticeable difference so I would say in my experience don’t bother and spend your money on something else.

 I think you need a turbo engined car for a remap to make any noticeable difference 

[backinaporscheagain]

Try a sprint booster first. Cheap, transforms driving experience. Could not go back! 

 

[bally4563]

Well @Buzzfox has recently being hanging on my coat tails in his 981 GTS ask him how well mine goes !!

[Codfanglers]

1 hour ago, deanmr2 said:

I got my previous Porsche which was a 3.4 Cayman S remapped and although I tried to kid myself that it seemed a bit livelier I don’t think it made any noticeable difference so I would say in my experience don’t bother and spend your money on something else.

 I think you need a turbo engined car for a remap to make any noticeable difference 

^This. The way to get more power from engines is to get more air in. Modern engine management systems should already be doing their best to trim to the perfect mixture and advance the timing as much as is safe to do so with the fuel grade you put in, so a remap alone won't help much for a stock normally aspirated engine. 

 

[jasonmo]

OK so think i'll probably go spyder exhaust (have a BMC filter already in) skip the remap and see how it feels, then sprint booster and finally remap, maybe cats if needed. 

[Buzzfox]

9 hours ago, bally4563 said:

Well @Buzzfox has recently being hanging on my coat tails in his 981 GTS ask him how well mine goes !!

Well if you ask me I would say yes, it's not too shabby!  When I was following you down that road it seemed pretty much like for like and let's be honest we were pushing a touch over 59mph! I think the only difference was that my GTS didn't me a little wake up call around that tightening left hander!

[bally4563]

16 minutes ago, Buzzfox said:

Well if you ask me I would say yes, it's not too shabby!  When I was following you down that road it seemed pretty much like for like and let's be honest we were pushing a touch over 59mph! I think the only difference was that my GTS didn't me a little wake up call around that tightening left hander!

Nothing like a bum squirrely bit to focus your attention when you are doing 59 mph on a tight left handed bend when initially entering at 74 mph , I also lie like cheap watch !!

[Ninesomething]

On 9/18/2022 at 11:13 AM, ½cwt said:

Once you've done all the Hartech or MRN stuff? 😉

I've realised that the quoted 500hp is at the crank not the wheels so it might need a bit of help.....

[Ninesomething]

23 hours ago, Codfanglers said:

^This. The way to get more power from engines is to get more air in. Modern engine management systems should already be doing their best to trim to the perfect mixture and advance the timing as much as is safe to do so with the fuel grade you put in, so a remap alone won't help much for a stock normally aspirated engine. 

 

Manufacturers leave a fair sized safety margin between how an engine will run and how they actually configure them - both in terms of timing and mixture. I can feel the difference between dynamic and eco and eco and off on the Gan tuner. Then again I did fit a more open exhaust at the same time. 

[usman10316]

For those who have the sprint booster or the GAN tuning module, is there any way you can reduce the HP. I understand this is a controversial question and I may need to run out, but the reason for asking is sometimes you don't need all that power and it would be nice if you could use that for better MPG.

 

And does the sprint booster/GAN work with the 996 or is it only for the newer cars? I do have a 991 as well which may benefit. 

[½cwt]

De-tuning is essentially free, use less throttle, lift and coast more.

As said above tuning and detuning is a lot easier in forced induction engines, with a n/a/ motor you tend to get what the manufacturer has programmed unless you change other things too like induction and exhaust systems, cam profiles and porting.

[Codfanglers]

5 hours ago, JonSta said:

Manufacturers leave a fair sized safety margin between how an engine will run and how they actually configure them - both in terms of timing and mixture. I can feel the difference between dynamic and eco and eco and off on the Gan tuner. Then again I did fit a more open exhaust at the same time. 

The safety margin is more to do with forced induction engines then normally aspirated.

Manufacturers set engine management for all grades of fuel the car is likely to be presented with across the world, to work in all temperatures and altitudes. But they have knock sensors, temperature sensors and closed loop mixture feedback in the form of an oxygen sensor to "learn" what fuel is being used, local conditions and make the best of it over time, then dial the timing back if it detects detonation. True, a little safe margin will be built in but running lean, rich or too far advanced will all damage an engine long term and where else is there to go with the engine management to produce more power in a NA engine.

It has been said that Porsche "hobbled" the Boxster with a restrictive exhaust and that's probably true. The mechanicals will no doubt take a fair hike in power but you need to get air and fuel in then gases out in the most efficient manner with least friction losses within the engine to maximise the power an engine will produce. Tweaking the engine management can't really improve on any of that.  

Edited September 19, 2022 by Codfanglers

[Menoporsche]

2 hours ago, usman10316 said:

is there any way you can reduce the HP.

Don't push the right pedal so hard.

[944GS]

2 hours ago, usman10316 said:

For those who have the sprint booster or the GAN tuning module, is there any way you can reduce the HP. I understand this is a controversial question and I may need to run out, but the reason for asking is sometimes you don't need all that power and it would be nice if you could use that for better MPG.

 

And does the sprint booster/GAN work with the 996 or is it only for the newer cars? I do have a 991 as well which may benefit. 

The sprint booster has two low power modes, lock which stops the accelerator working completely and valet mode which just makes it a really slow car.  I’ve never tried valet mode but have been along the road in lock mode due to pulling away and forgetting to put my code in to unlock it, can’t recommend that for getting anywhere faster than walking pace though!

[MickH]

Every engine is slightly different, even same engine in the same car.  Mapping will account for those differences and make the car more efficient.  Manufactures also have to detune cars to make way for emissions laws so that has an effect too.

A good remap on one of these cars with supporting mods will not make a huge BHP difference, but will give a really smooth power band with more torque.  That alone is worth a remap.  But only if its a custom map.  Generic maps will not get anywhere near the best out of your car.

I've tried to contact Wayne at chipwizards 3 times now, as he has been recommended on here as a Porsche guru.   But still waiting on a reply.

Still torn on keeping the car or not, maybe if she is still with me next year Ill pursue it again

 

Mick

[Ninesomething]

22 hours ago, 944GS said:

The sprint booster has two low power modes, lock which stops the accelerator working completely and valet mode which just makes it a really slow car.  I’ve never tried valet mode but have been along the road in lock mode due to pulling away and forgetting to put my code in to unlock it, can’t recommend that for getting anywhere faster than walking pace though!

The Gan tuner has 3 modes - off (standard), eco - which definitely more economical than stock but still kicks a bit harder and dynamic which is very responsive but does like to guzzle the juice. I put it on eco when the fuel price went daft a couple of months ago and it's still there. I might go back though - it kicks noticeably harder around 4k and doesn't quit til the redline. Fuel is back down to almost reasonable so why not?

It's a bit of a faff changing. It doesn't hold both maps in it's memory so you need a decent internet connection. Just using the phone takes ages - on the drive within reach of the router it takes 4 or 5 minutes but the engine has to be running. Then you have to drive it for a while for it to learn the settings. Bit of a design error IMO.

[Ninesomething]

4 minutes ago, JonSta said:

 

 

Edited September 20, 2022 by JonSta
Quoted my own post. Worrying.....

[Codfanglers]

2 hours ago, JonSta said:

The Gan tuner has 3 modes - off (standard), eco - which definitely more economical than stock but still kicks a bit harder and dynamic which is very responsive but does like to guzzle the juice. I put it on eco when the fuel price went daft a couple of months ago and it's still there. I might go back though - it kicks noticeably harder around 4k and doesn't quit til the redline. Fuel is back down to almost reasonable so why not?

It's a bit of a faff changing. It doesn't hold both maps in it's memory so you need a decent internet connection. Just using the phone takes ages - on the drive within reach of the router it takes 4 or 5 minutes but the engine has to be running. Then you have to drive it for a while for it to learn the settings. Bit of a design error IMO.

12% power increase. You can't really argue with the before and after dyno graphs on Gan's website. 

Edited September 20, 2022 by Codfanglers

[Del_tl1000r]

On 9/20/2022 at 5:33 PM, JonSta said:

The Gan tuner has 3 modes - off (standard), eco - which definitely more economical than stock but still kicks a bit harder and dynamic which is very responsive but does like to guzzle the juice. I put it on eco when the fuel price went daft a couple of months ago and it's still there. I might go back though - it kicks noticeably harder around 4k and doesn't quit til the redline. Fuel is back down to almost reasonable so why not?

It's a bit of a faff changing. It doesn't hold both maps in it's memory so you need a decent internet connection. Just using the phone takes ages - on the drive within reach of the router it takes 4 or 5 minutes but the engine has to be running. Then you have to drive it for a while for it to learn the settings. Bit of a design error IMO.

So you reckon it's worth fitting it?