9974S Sports Exhaust?

[timhum2002]

Had my PSE fitted yesterday, same price as paid by Neil.I would agree entirely with his comments, lovely sound although expensive, but then its only money!!! Switchable option is great, my wife doesn't know the exhaust has been changed yet so no questions like 'how much'.
Neil what did you do to cancel the quiet middle range set up?

Tim

 

[Alex L]

For those thinnking of getting PSE retrofitted, here are the official figures from the Tequipment Price List. I believe there is a push for PCGB to get 10%+ discount off the parts for the PSE (which are £1020.37 normally), but I don't think that has happened as yet.

I had my 997 C2S Cab retrofitted the other week, and despite some resulting rattles from the mufflers (which have now been fixed by my OPC), the PSE is simply awesome!! []

I have also put in place one of the hack options going round (exact method advised by my OPC). I will post this on request if anyone wants to see it. Basically it means the PSE 'on' noise is about 20% louder that stock PSE, there is no cut off, and you can have the PSE on in normal (non sport) mode too.

I also have the Official PSE fitting document the internal Porsche engineers follow if anyone wants it.

Just let me know!!

 

[nsm3]

Tim, look under the engine cover and attached to the motor at high level on the right hand side, you should see an electrical connector block.

One half is grey (bottom), the other half is brown (top). The top or brown piece has a spring retaining clip. Push the spring clip in as far as you can and separate the 2 connectors (pull on the terminals, not the wires!). They can be quite stiff..

For safe keeping, I have just pushed the terminal blocks back together but not allowed the spring to re-engage, saves the loose top wire/terminal from floating around the engine bay and maybe touching something hot.

Hopefully you will find it easily enough, assuming that the installation method is standard for all OPC's?

I'm not in car today, but if you are struggling I will post a photograph of mine for you tomorrow.

 

[Alex L]

Neil, this method also indeed works but you have to be very careful not to get dirt etc in the resulting exposed connector heads. My OPC said this could be disastrous should this happen.

My OPC devised the following. For it you need a small rubber cap about 2cm long and a long plastic thin (hollow) tube about 10cm long. You basically pull out the side connector, and then plug each resulting end. Takes under 10 seconds to swap over and there is no chance of dirt etc getting in the system. The resulting setup looks like the following pic. Note, the long tube is normally tucked down the back to tidy things up, just pulled out here for illustrative purposes.

 

[nsm3]

Alex, the disconnection I was told to make by the OPC, is the actual electrical one (the brown and grey connectors in your photo).

The blocks virtually re-connect but without engaging the spring, so the electrical contacts are protected anyway. I may wrap a piece of insulating tape around them just for security?

Your diagram seems to indicate disconnecting what looks like the pneumatic side of the system and I can see how dirt ingress there would be a disaster.

I think your solution allows the PSE switch to work (ie: quiet or loud) but without the quiet mid-range. My solution disables the switch altogether.

 

[Alex L]

Alex, the disconnection I was told to make by the OPC, is the actual electrical one (the brown and grey connectors in your photo).

Yup, I think the electrical plug / vacuum hose disconnect methods are about 50:50 implemented globally from what I have seen. I don't think there is a definitive way.

The blocks virtually re-connect but without engaging the spring, so the electrical contacts are protected anyway. I may wrap a piece of insulating tape around them just for security?

I think you should be good then

Your diagram seems to indicate disconnecting what looks like the pneumatic side of the system and I can see how dirt ingress there would be a disaster.
I think your solution allows the PSE switch to work (ie: quiet or loud) but without the quiet mid-range. My solution disables the switch altogether.

My PSE is loud ALL the time with my solution, no matter whether switched on or off. So I think the different methods effectively do the same thing. With your method there have been 2 concerns. Firstly, if the plug heads get dirty then that could lead to some nasty knock-on effects - which you seem to have solved. Secondly, that the ECU would be notified of the electrical disconnect and log a warning which if Porsche sees 'could' invalidate your warrantee - given your OPC recommended this way I doubt that this can be the case though.

 

[YvesD]

Just a thought but the Tubi mufflers are 'always on' about £1150 inc VAT fitted, supposedly better quality than stock, much purer noise, up to 8bhp more max power and also should not give rise to any warranty issues ( 2003 EU block exemption rules etc ).

Surely thats got to be a better option then PSE ?

 

[Alex L]

Just my personal point of view, but I would never put anything non-Porsche on my car, no matter how good it was reported to be.

Also, I have heavy doubts about any "˜big' BHP gains some manufacturers like AWE/Tubi/Gemballa claim from just switching the exhaust. Look what Porsche had to do to get a 26BHP gain with the X51 Powerkit option....


Modified cylinder heads
Aluminium intake manifold
Revised exhaust manifolds with larger bores
Uprated engine management system
Carbon-fibre housing for the air filtration system
Sports exhaust unit[/LIST]
Also, Porsche are notorious for understating power figures. I believe most X51 cars which should be pushing out 381bhp are actually achieving 400+. From what I've been told most car manufacturers only have to by law produce something like 90% of their cars to hit the claimed BHP values. Porsche uniquely go with 100%, so I wouldn't at all be surprised if the PSE did indeed add a few BHP. Without dyno'ing before and after it would be difficult to tell.

As for sound, I really couldn't see how I could be any happier than with my PSE []

 

[nsm3]

ORIGINAL: YvesD

Just a thought but the Tubi mufflers are 'always on' about £1150 inc VAT fitted, supposedly better quality than stock, much purer noise, up to 8bhp more max power and also should not give rise to any warranty issues ( 2003 EU block exemption rules etc ).

Surely thats got to be a better option then PSE ?

Yves, I almost went the Tubi route, mostly due to the lack of PSE availability, but to be honest, the insurers were less freaked out when I confirmed that the PSE was a "Standard Porsche" fit item and the "guarantee" that there would be no warranty issues from the OPC contained the phrase "should not cause any issues".

All in all for a few hundred quid, I didn't want to be caught out "if" I had some kind of problem in the future - and believe me the PSE sounds just fine (especially when teararsing through the B'ham city centre tunnel system!!)

 

[timhum2002]

Alex, Neil,

Thanks both the great advice, I'll get into the engine compartment and try the mods. Alex the OPC instructions would be very interesting, can you e mail them?
OPC Cambridge gave me my 10% club discount on the parts with no quibble at all and also provided me with great service as I've found is usual with them.

Tim

 

[timhum2002]

I've tried the method advocated by you Neil, no suitable plastic tube etc to try that of Alex, and the effect is brilliant, louder noise and all through the rev range. I would like to be able to switch to quiet mode though on occaisions. Its great to be a grown up child []

 

[Alex L]

ORIGINAL: timhum2002
Alex the OPC instructions would be very interesting, can you e mail them?

I assume you mean the PSE install instructions?! Can you please PM me your email address so I can send you the PDF attachment, I can't upload it on this site I don't think as the format is not supported []

 

[Guest]

Tried unplugging the grey/orange switch - works perfectly and midrange noise MUCH better, what would be really nice if the switch on the dash was a simple on off switch so that you didn't get the midrange abatement - I leave early hours some days and don't want to disturb too many people, plush on motorways the exhaust is a bit too loud on sport for long trips (I have a cab) so i do like to be able to revert to standard exhaust
So as I see it short of either plugging / unplugging every time i want to turn the exhaust on and off then the only other option is to wire an additional on off switch into the system so that the PSE midrange shift can be controlled - assuming the PSE is the natural state and power needs to flow to suck a valve into the exhaust flow to block the PSE: - this would seem to be the case as cutting the power supply opens the valve; Ie the sport "on" switch is actually an "off" switch
Sport switch New switch
off ( elec flows) on (elec flows) = quiet (sports valve closed)
on off = Loud - PSE with no midrange abatement
on on = sports with midrange abatement
off off = Loud - PSE with no midrange abatement
Alternatively is there anyway of reprogramming the PSE control module??? or taking it out of the system and making the dash switch a simple on / off switch??

If I'm completely wrong then let me know...

 

[Alex L]

Some Swiss guys on the Rennteam website have added PSE switches either where the cab open/close button usually goes or extra switch under the tray just below the normal sport on/off switch. They haven't been too descriptive over what exactly they did, but suggested any Porsche engineer should be able to work out how to do it - even if it is unofficial.

Personally I am fine with planning ahead as to whether I am taking a long motorway trip (hack off) or just a normal drive (hack on). If I get somewhere residential then I just feather the throttle and all goes quiet. The hack only requires 10 secs at the beginning of (the occasional) motorway journey to put back to stock. So for me at least, this is not a big deal.

 

[Guest]

What are The Porsche Centres currently quoting to retrofit the Sports Exhaust system

 

[nsm3]

Timhum and myself both paid £1,600 incl VAT, this should be the maximum?

 

[Guest]

Which Porsche Centre was that ?

Was that with PCGB discount ?

 

[sidicks]

ORIGINAL: dwhatley

Which Porsche Centre was that ?

Was that with PCGB discount ?

Do you get the original exhaust system back, and if so, what is that likely to be worth on ebay?

Sidicks

 

[Guest]

I'd suggest trying to sell the original exhaust to Simon at Essential Styling www.essentialstyling.com

He bought the standard exhaust from my old Boxster S when I had the Sports Exhaust fitted

 

[Alex L]

ORIGINAL: dwhatley
What are The Porsche Centres currently quoting to retrofit the Sports Exhaust system

See my post above for a scan of the latest Tequipment prices. If an OPC says higher than this, tell them to look in the pricelist guide in their own showroom.

I would assume though that you could aslo get 10% parts being an PCGB member, but I joined a little too late to confirm that.

-Alex