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New Spyder 987 owner - some help!

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FlatsixMik

New member
Hello all,

Just picked up my 987 Spyder last week - been driving it ever since despite it supposedly being a garage queen!

I've swapped a Lotus Exige V6 for the Spyder, having owned a 981 Cayman GTS before.

Have to say I absolutely love the Spyder - It is my perfect, perfect car - beautiful balance on the throttle, sounds fantastic with the full soul system it has, as well as obviously the looks!

I don't want to modify the car - but think it would benefit from a few modifications - I have done a search but not a great deal came back so please forgive if I've missed them

1. Underbody bracing

I think the car could do with a touch more rigidity - I was thinking the rennline underbody brace as well as potentially a strut brace (tha doesn't involve cutting plastics)

2. Bluetooth streaming / aux in

My car doesn't benefit from either as it was specced quite rightly as god intended! I would quite like to listen to my music in the car though. I've been told that I can have a Bluetooth module added - but needs Porsche to activate the Aux out. The kit is coming in at around £500 as it is without Porsche activating it.

I'm tempted to just go the Aux in route from design 911. Has anyone managed to fit a Bluetooth streaming module with any success?

3. Intake / Plenum

Have to say I'm really confused by the reviews I've seen online - some praising the Gt3 plenum others saying they see little gain. Given my car has a full system / deleted secondary cats I think it might benefit significantly from the inlet. Would be interested from anybody in the real world that has experience of one!

Any thoughts / help gratefully received !

Mike




 
I will have a go at 1

I agree the torsional rigidity is nothing special and certainly significantly superior on the 981, I had the spyder. The tough reality is not much can be done to improve it.
I fitted a strut brace on my 987 and it did very little - dont bother.
The wisdom is to fit the 997 front brace that ties the towers back to the bulkhead and then fit a tie rod that links the rear lower wishbone attachment points together passing under gearbox. Its an easy diy if you search for it.

The only real fix is a 981 spyder or lotus :rolleyes:.
 
3. My 2.9 has the IPD Competition Plenum with 997 GT3 Throttle Body with a Bespoke Remap, I don't know the numbers but the car feels faster to me and I just love the sound the extra air makes but then again I also have a Sports Cat and Exhaust by-pass so have a freeflowing exhaust too.

 
legin said:
I will have a go at 1

I agree the torsional rigidity is nothing special and certainly significantly superior on the 981, I had the spyder. The tough reality is not much can be done to improve it.
I fitted a strut brace on my 987 and it did very little - dont bother.
The wisdom is to fit the 997 front brace that ties the towers back to the bulkhead and then fit a tie rod that links the rear lower wishbone attachment points together passing under gearbox. Its an easy diy if you search for it.

The only real fix is a 981 spyder or lotus :rolleyes:.
Click to expand...



Many thanks for that! So you are basically saying the only fix is two cars I've previously owned;)

When you fitted your brace did you also fit the under body brace? I think you have to fit both ti make sure there Is no movement on the turrets from either end.

I'll have a read up about the 997 brace! Many thanks
 
M40WST said:
3. My 2.9 has the IPD Competition Plenum with 997 GT3 Throttle Body with a Bespoke Remap, I don't know the numbers but the car feels faster to me and I just love the sound the extra air makes but then again I also have a Sports Cat and Exhaust by-pass so have a freeflowing exhaust too.
Click to expand...
Many thanks - where did you get the car mapped?
 
FlatsixMik said:
legin said:
I will have a go at 1

I agree the torsional rigidity is nothing special and certainly significantly superior on the 981, I had the spyder. The tough reality is not much can be done to improve it.
I fitted a strut brace on my 987 and it did very little - dont bother.
The wisdom is to fit the 997 front brace that ties the towers back to the bulkhead and then fit a tie rod that links the rear lower wishbone attachment points together passing under gearbox. Its an easy diy if you search for it.

The only real fix is a 981 spyder or lotus :rolleyes:.
Click to expand...



Many thanks for that! So you are basically saying the only fix is two cars I've previously owned;)

When you fitted your brace did you also fit the under body brace? I think you have to fit both ti make sure there Is no movement on the turrets from either end.

I'll have a read up about the 997 brace! Many thanks
Click to expand...



No I stopped at the strut brace.
Reason is that having done extensive chassis stiffening to my Z3m which involved welding in two new chassis rails front to back and took me 3 months its just not worth it. It added 50% to the torsional stiffness about 7500 Nm/deg but still useless.

The issue is really the lack of stiffness across where the doors are, this is where the torsional stiffness is won or lost. On the boxster fitting a hardtop does it but not such option on a spyder, the cayman lid fixes this of course. I likewise have had the Lotus with its deep sills and only the 981 gets close. SLK 55 with rood up wasnt so bad. Have a look at 996 brace as a cheap supply, I think they are the same from memory.
 
I fitted an IPD and GT3 TB with a remap to my 981. What I learnt was do the headers and cats. Jury out on the map. Forget the ipd and TB or at least treat as icing on the cake. Appreciate that was on a 981 but I would start with headers and cats on a 987 and see if its enough.
When I looked at the IPD closely I didnt really buy the flow mumbo jumbo plus its heavy ali vs light plastic and a big heat sink. The advantage if there is one just comes from being able to fit the large TB something a diy adaptor could achieve.
The 981 already had the y piece in take though so maybe make a y piece.

 
Mike,

On the subject of strut braces I'd agree with Nigel's comments, in particular his comment about lack of torsional stiffness in any drop-top due to the lack of a roof. Think about the torsional stiffness of a shoe box with and without its lid.!

As he's pointed out, unless you get into some serious chassis bracing you're not going to get any worthwhile improvements by just bolting on some struts. The weak point is always going to be the bolting points. Best to ditch the Spyder and buy a Cayman..!

With any naturally aspirated engine you've got to spend serious money to get a worthwhile power/performance improvement, although a remap probably will give you better throttle response and driveability - and possibly better economy - if it's set up to run on premium fuel. You'd be better purchasing a turbocharged 718 Boxster which will be much simpler and cheaper to tune - a 50hp increase is readily available. Plus the 718 Boxster torsional stiffness is around 19,000 Nm/deg compared with a (relatively) lowly 12,600 Nm/deg for your 987. [For comparison, torsional stiffnesses for the 987 and 718 Caymans are 31,500 and 41,000 Nm/deg respectively].

Jeff


 
Thanks for the replies !

Its all obviously a balance and I was umming and arring between the Cayman R and Spyder - but went for the spyder as it was a little more special - knowing that there would be some compromise in chassis stiffness. On the whole I'm really happy - If I could just make it a touch stiffer I would be immensely happy.

I will try the 911 braces on the front, and buy the rear underfloor chassis brace. if it improves it 10% I would be happy.

In terms of the intake I'm not really after more power - just seems a shame that my car has manifolds / and back box not to optimise with the intake side.

I think i'll go with the chassis braces first and report back. Your replies have helped in managing my expectations of what I will get with the braces so thank-you!
 
I tracked my Spyder all over the place, no need to fit braces.

Also try just a manifold and see and see how you go.
 
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