Retro Fit X51 Power Kit

[YvesD]

ORIGINAL: Alex L

Really!!

Well from new, the powerkit is £8241. So taking off PSE (£1160) that would be £7081.

I would be very suprised if to retrofit it it would take less than 3 hours (at £100/hr) - assuming you already have PSE fitted. So if you got a lot lower than £10k they almost must be doing the labour for nothing!

Perhaps we ought to take this off the air, we dont want to instigate a war between OPC's over pricing structures, they are not all singing off tje same hym sheet it seems. Oh well, can only be good for us.

Labour time is approx 25hrs I have been told, it is an engine out job afterall.

Work that out if you can !

Yves

 

[YvesD]

X51 can only be retrofitted to cars made after Aug 2005 according to the Tequipment guide and also Reading OPC.

Alex, just check the documentation with your car, the above statement is slightly misleading.

They are actually saying that you need a MY06 car to fit the kit to, the earliest ones of which were built in July 05.........

Check it out

Yves

 

[Alex L]

Thanks, I will double check but I'm sure my OPC used my VIN number to establish that I have an MY05 car.

 

[YvesD]

Alex,

Excellent news !

It seems you have been advised incorrectly. X51 is available for all 997 C2S's, the technical bulletin supplied with the kit confirms it.

I respectfully suggest you give Simon Beech at OPC Mid Sussex a call and have your credit card handy ! ( I have primed him that you might be on the blower shortly, hope you dont mind ).

Regards

Yves

 

[Alex L]

Thanks Yves.

My first port of call though is my mate Dan at OPC Reading. I want to triple check the possibility and see how much they would charge.

If it is then possible.... I also need to have a hard think whether to:

a) Do the retrofit, and subsequently keep my car for a lot longer than I had originally planned
b) Save the money and wait for the facelift Turbo with PDK to come out in 2008/2009 and trade in then (although there would be a lot of depreciation on my car by then).

Hmmm, tricky one.

I'd also like to hear from you after you get yours back to see if there is a considerable difference. I have left a message with OPC Reading to call me back, but in the meantime I will indeed call Simon as you suggest.

Thanks again []

 

[Alex L]

Wow, Simon really raves about the powerkit upgrade!! He says the difference is amazing. Apparently it turns a C2S into a 'comfortable' GT3.

He's getting me a quote and then will come back to me.

Don't suppose you got an extra 10% PCGB discount for the parts did you?

 

[YvesD]

Alex,

There is no PCGB 'discount' on the upgrade but you wont need it Im sure.

I went through all the same thought processes as you with regard to trade in for the turbo etc.

Basically my perspective is that fabulous as the turbo is, it is not £50-60k more enjoyable than the C2S. We musn't confuse speed with enjoyment, the latter doesnt increase in parallel with the former. Of course if money is no object then go for the turbo.

Methinks X51 C2S is going to be a bit of a classic in years to come offering stunning performance, sensible running costs and practicality to boot.

Go on, do it !

Yves

 

[Alex L]

Well let's see what Simon comes back to me with.

I have just come off the phone with OPC Reading. They have been officially told not to retrofit any cars made before Aug 2005 by Porsche GB. They are going to double check though to see if that position has changed. They said they wouldn't want to do it and get caught by them wandering around the factory floor as they are right next door to the OPC.

OPC West Sussex couldn't see any reason why engines models after M97-01 couldn't have the powerkit fitted, so it will be interesting to see what Porsche GB technical dept. comes back with.

Will update when I know more"¦

 

[Alex L]

Yves, I tried sending this to your email account but it failed. So here is my mail:

Hey Yves.

Can I enquire what ballpark your quote was? I won't use it as leverage at OPC West Sussex but I want to know if they made a mistake with yours at offering it to you too low or something (given your reaction to the £10k figure I showed you).

I would guess that OPC Reading would be around the £10k mark also, but I am still waiting to hear back from them.

Just doing the numbers myself:

Powerkit parts minus PSE = £7081 (as listed from Porsche UK site)
10% parts discount for PCGB membership = -£708.10
25 hours labour (plus 17.5% VAT) = £120 x 25 = £3000
TOTAL = £9372

I don't see how they can do it any cheaper than that (assuming that it take 25 hours)

Given you never really get your resale money back on options, the price is going to be a big lynchpin as to whether I have it done or not. That money could be better saved towards a Turbo otherwise.

Many thanks,

-Alex

 

[YvesD]

Alex,

Just sent you a private message.

I would guess X51 is going to be worth around £5k on the cars value when installed, should know a bit better later as have made some enquires on this.

The thing is, by the time your turbo slot comes around it will have its own power upgrade as an option which just has to be had, PDK and goodness knows what else, £120k anyone ?

In short, if its not really affordable now it wont be in 2/3 yrs time either.

Choise is a wonderful thing isnt it !

Yves

 

[Alex L]

Just replied. Hopefully you will get this email

 

[YvesD]

Going off air for a while now. Catch you later.

Yves

 

[Alex L]

Damn, damn and errr damn!

Seems although it is unofficially fine to retrofit the Powerkit to a pre-Aug05 build car, they cannot give it an official sign-off so adding it would invalidate my warrantee. This is straight from Germany. This is not something I would ever want to mess with so there is no way I can do it.

Suppose I better get saving for a Turbo after all....

 

[YvesD]

That's ridiculous, the engines have exactly the same code and are in fact the same.

How could one be so different ( and fragile ) that it could not handle the extra power ?

I will see if there is more to add to the saga tomorrow.

Regards

Yves

 

[Alex L]

No it's not that it can't handle the extra power, it's that the Powerkit was released at a later date than my car was registered in Stuttgart. Therefore, as some engine parts changed after this (relevant to the X51 or not), Porsche never tested and thereby never certified cars made prior to Aug 2005 with the X51.

Germany unofficially said that the car would be fine, but that they couldn't put that in writing and therefore it would not only affect the warrantee of the X51 but also affect the core engine warrantee it's going onto. So I'm not going to go anywhere near that as I wouldn't like to fork out for a new engine down the road if something goes wrong (X51 related or not)"¦

Politics for you! []

 

[richardgilbert]

Well after reading this thread I took the bait and phoned Simon at West Sussex and booked my car in for the 27th of November. What a good bloke Simon is, he has even sorted out a transporter for my car as I live in Newcastle as my local OPC priced it at nearly double!!!!

 

[Alex L]

I'm SO jealous of you guys!

I decided not to waste £50k on a new Turbo though and stick with my glorious C2S Cab for now - which is why the X51 would have been perfect. Nevermind.

Perhaps when the 998 TT comes out I will change my mind...

 

[richardgilbert]

I have only had my 4 S for about 4 months now so could not justify spending another £30 - 40k on the turbo, which after driving I thought it was to quick to enjoy as you were quickly moving your foot from the accelerator to the brake, so I opted to get the X51 fitted and TRY and keep the car for a couple of years. But the prices that differant OPC's quoted was huge and put me off the idea untill I found this thread.

 

[YvesD]

Nice one Richard,

We will be able to compare notes in a couple of weeks time. Mine is booked in for 13/11/06.

As for Mid Sussex, only good things to say so far. I have a brand new Basalt Black, 3.2 Tiptronic Cayanne as a 'courtesy' car for the week to play with. Do as many miles as you like in it Sir !

Regards

Yves

 

[Sunil]

I got a call from my OPC yesterday to say that it was time for me to spec my TT for a January build and March delivery. I hadn't driven the car till now because I didn't want to get excited about it till I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Well, I've driven it now and I'm not excited at all. Yes, it's blazingly quick and especially so with the sport button activated but I like my 997S more. I was surprised at how light the clutch was, how light the gear shift was, how much understeer there was and how generally sterile the whole experience was. I just felt mechanically detached - if you know what I mean.

Apart from being amazed at just how quickly this car passes other cars, trucks and just about anything else there is on the road, I was left feeling relatively uninvolved. The 997TT is quick yes but nowhere near as involving to drive as the 997S. I have to give the dealer a final answer tomorrow but it's unlikely to be yes despite the fact that they're supposed to be selling for a healthy premium over list.

Leaving the OPC, I drove on some of the same roads in my car which just reinforced my opinion that the 997S is a GREAT car.

Anyway, I started considering the X51 but I have the same issue as Alex as my car is a Jan 05 build and, besides that, my OPC has recommended that, if I'm to go for an X51, I should have it factory fitted. So, I'm left with a 997S but wanting more than I have now. I may order a 997S with X51 for September 2007 delivery with PDK. Actually, I don't know as I'm very confused right now but it seems like a decent prospect or do I go GT3 ..... *sigh*

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Sunil