911 Tuning

"The Real Porsche."

The 911 represents the epitome of everything Porsche.

One of the most reliable supercars around thanks to the impeccable German engineering it is loved by prestige fleet hire companies and city brokers alike.

You buy into a lifestyle when you get a 911, and you certainly get one hell of a car.

The 911 has enjoyed a long production run, giving Porsche time to perfect the engineering. Companies like RUF have come along and taken the 911 to new levels. The performance is certainly matched by the handling.

Because the styling has changed little over the years you get the same emotional response from a classic 911 that you get looking at the latest one in the showroom. Some of our members have used Porsche engines in other projects including a Morris Minor and a number of Classic VW Beetles.

The engines were built for power and the sheer reliability of the engine indicates that although powerful, Porsche were playing it safe with the power figures. So what should be on your 911 tuning projects parts list?

Fast road cams offer one of the biggest performance gains as far as a bolt on part goes. Don't forget to uprate the fuelling when you are increasing the power - it makes the car more thirsty. Improve your cars response to the throttle with a Fuel pressure boost valve. Uprated injectors will enable you to supply sufficient fuel to the engine. When increasing your fuelling you will also need to get a bigger fuel pump to supply it.

Porsche 911 Intake and Exhaust.

The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust. For small 911 engine sizes go with a washable panel air filter. On larger engines and turbo vehicles an induction kit will help increase power. Do not go with the biggest exhaust you can find - the best for power gains are usually between 1.5 to 2.5 inches.

When you start tuning your 911 you will find that the standard clutch starts to complain so get an uprated clutch. Turbo engines are just begging to be custom remapped.You will see big power gains on most turbo engined cars including diesels making a remap one of the most cost effective modifications.Adding forced induction will see big power gains but this is usually too expensive to be cost effective. It is easier to bolt on a supercharger than it is to get a turbo working. It is harder to map a turbo as the boost comes on exponentially with engine speed. It is easier to map a supercharger because the boost is proportional to engine speed on a linear curve. Decreasing the engines compression ratio will allow you to add forced induction, water injection may also help prevent detonation.

Porsche 911 Wheel modifications.

The benefits of alloy wheels include a lower unsprung weight and more efficient brake cooling. The downside to large alloy wheels on your 911 is that you alter your effective final drive ratio and this will have a detrimental effect on performance. For this reason we would advise sticking to a maximum wheel size of 18 inches, although we know some of our members have gone larger than this with no problems.

Please join us in our forum to discuss the 911 options in more detail with our 911 owners. It would also be worth reading our 911 tuning articles to get a full grasp of the pros and cons of each type of modification.