Porsche 997 Turbo Does Big Things on a Dyno by VR Tuned

We often get asked what is the difference between our ECU flash at VR Tuned compared to others.  Having worked with others tuning and seen others tuning on the dyno, we can affirmatively say that not only is our ECU flash client easier to use and our customer support is far superior, but our power has been dyno proven back to back to beat out competition.  But when it comes to a basic ECU flash for a turbo car, your gonna get anywhere between 80 and 130 horsepower from most all tuners.  We know our power gain is up there, but our service is unparallel comparatively.

One of our customers was so excited about our passion for Porsche ECU tuning, he bought not 1 but 2 ECU flashes for his cars.  His first was his Porsche 3.4L Cayman S.  This is a basic as they get with tuning but the performance gains, improved driveability, and enjoyment is all there.  But where he had fun was with his Porsche 997 Turbo.  The 3.6L turbocharged monster comes stock with 480 horsepower.  We rate the ECU flash as gaining 135bhp taking your car to 615bhp which we have reviewed how on this other customers 997 Turbo here.

His first dyno session went well.  Running 93 octane, he broke the runs into 3 sections.

• 1 = full stock car, no mods
• 2 = top-end mods only:  IPD y-pipe, GT3 TB, IPD Plenum, ETS intercoolers, IPD turbo blankets, FabSpeed Cold-air intake
• 3 = All mods above plus NHP 200 cell exhaust, new-plugs (1 heat range cooler), VR tune with increased secondary O2

One thing that many 997 Turbo owners don’t realize is that Sport Mode will LOSE power if you run it consistantly back to back to back.  There are EGT sensors right in the turbo exhaust housing that measures your Exhaust Gas Temperature which works with the VTG to give you that increase boost of power.  However if the EGTs reach to high of temps, the ECU pulls back timing and you lose top end power.  Anytime you drag race or do dyno sessions, you should really run the car in Standard Mode.  Running it consistantly in Sport Mode, you will feel the faster throttle response and see the boost pressure go up, but on a plot and looking at times, the car will get sloer and slower.

On his dyno runs, they allowed 10-15 minutes between runs to let the car cool down.  As long as you have proper cooling fans on your intercoolers and radiators, this is acceptable.  Run 2 showed a max torque of 569 ft/lbs which is very strong, but the next run was 545 ft/lbs which is directly related to the Sport Mode issue. Horsepower averaged about 500 all wheel horsepower for all runs.  The Mustang Dyno typically has a 20-25% drivetrain loss.  We have seen baseline dyno runs on a 997 Turbo anywhere from 340-380 wheel horsepower.  Based on drivetrain loss, this would put power anywhere between 460 – 490 awhp.  Some modifications are not always cumulative and are more efficiency under driving and track conditions.  Things such as intercoolers and cold air intakes would best be represented by PerformanceBox times.  If the car was dynoed in standard mode, the power numbers would go up a bit.

Another factor that can happen with any Mustang dyno run is the RPM calibration and running through the full test.  Here at Vivid Racing we always do a full test from 2500rpm to redline.  On the 6speed manual cars, we can raise the RPM 500 revs taking the redline to 7300rpm which would see the horsepower most likely continue to around 550awhp making this a 675bhp car!  Below is a video along with pictures, dyno charts and a review from our customer.

“I am happy with the results in terms of the performance curves from the dyno.  More HP, even more torque…….but more so, the plots show steeper power curves and peak torque over a wider rpm range, that translates to performance on the road and track. – VR Customer Matt”