Oh no, its finally happened, and earlier than expected

[pikey]

My Cayman S does not have enough power

Yes, whilst hooning it over the weekend on some particularly fine roads I decided I wanted, no NEEDED, more power!

I yearn for that violent shove-in-the-back OOOOMPH!

I have now officially entered the camp that says "Cayman YES, 295bhp NO".

Right, now how can I get somewhere to increase the power to what the engineers designed rather than the marketing department designed AND keep my warranty intact?

Ben

PS. The chassis does make up for this as once it's going, it stays going and can carry amazing speed through corners, however I just want more grunt to propel me out of the slow ones.
PPS. I lurve the noise when hooning. Ooooh, it's so much fun

[rumplestiltskin]

Its like any car, you get used to the power very quickly. I often crave more from my 996TT, which would be easy enough to do being a turbocharged car.
With a NA car there is not much, ECU tweak perhaps for an extra 20bhp ?

Maybe change it for something thats quicker & more of a challange to drive, perhaps a Mk2 GT3 ? Second hand one osts about same price as your new Cayman I would expect ?

R.

[pikey]

rumplestiltskin said:

With a NA car there is not much, ECU tweak perhaps for an extra 20bhp ?

On no, I'm after much more. I reckon its not too much for a 3.4 Variocam plus engine to give 400 reliably. After all my S2000 engine gave me 240 from a 2.0 quite well.

rumplestiltskin said:

Maybe change it for something thats quicker & more of a challange to drive, perhaps a Mk2 GT3 ? Second hand one osts about same price as your new Cayman I would expect ?

Nope! I love it too much! Just a bit more power please Dr.P

[supermono]

pikey said:

I reckon its not too much for a 3.4 Variocam plus engine to give 400 reliably. After all my S2000 engine gave me 240 from a 2.0 quite well.

That's a bit over simplistic. What was the rev limit on the Honda? BHP is bogus, take a look at the respective torque graphs and you'll probably see the cayman is making better torque most places, just doesn't hold on to it at the top end like the Honda does.

Even if you could tune it with cams etc to rec to the same amount or higher and to make an arbitrary 400bhp when it gets there, you'll have to shorten all the gears to make use of your new peaky motor.

In any case, Mr P doesn't want lesser Ps to have power figures that compete with the flagship models.

SM

[cyberface]

supercharge it. I don't think you'll get meaningful torque increases whilst keeping the original warranty.

Alternative is to spend large cash at somewhere like Ruf who will warranty the work themselves.

[jeremyc]

Take a visit to that nice Mr. Ruf: he'll have a range of solutions for you from the sublime to the ridiculous. I can imagine everything from supercharging to fitting a GT3 engine.....

It'll all be warranted, but it'll cost.

[meno-porsche]

Change the set-up, bigger springs, uprate the struts, etc. You might not actually go any faster, however it will be better in the corners and you WILL feel that you are going faster.

[mindgam3]

And i'd add an LSD too (they dont come with one as standard right?)

[DanH]

Without forced induction I see no way that engine could produce 400 bhp reliably. Even the GT1 based ones are only just about that level, and thats a 30k engine full of titanium this and nitrided that. As mentioned above, the S2000 engine has a good headline bhp, but the torque is distinctly lacking...

If it's any consolation, the GT3 feels too slow at times too. You can get used to anything.

>> Edited by DanH on Tuesday 16th May 14:13

[kayc]

Pikey,i seem to think mbutchers and myself said the car lacked grunt and consequently got slagged off for saying that months ago...we are now proved right,the car is very compromised therefore has to be mega quick..pikey get yourself a tt and you will be happy..

[pikey]

kayc said:

we are now proved right

Cheers kayc - glad you've pointed out that what you say has no value until I concur

kayc said:

get yourself a tt and you will be happy..

I did consider the TT and even with my comment I am still very happy with my decision to get the Cayman and have no regrets. Bear in mind that an important factor of my purchase choice was it being brand new and having a full warranty. However, warranty and newness aside it is such a good car and I absolutely love it. It's clearly very fast, but as I'm starting to get used to it and explore its limits I do find myself thinking "come on...".

There is a flip side of course, that the handling is so good that a numpty like me can get to a stage of thinking more power is required. For example I had a Cerbera which was supposed to have 420. I don't know if it did, but I couldn't use more than 300 (unless on a track) as it was fundamentally a pile of sh*t (although a fun one ).

Still love the car, still intending to keep for 3 years, still think it's superb, highly unlikely to have it modified... BUT as a comment... MMmm, it should really have more power.

Pikey

[Merritt]

DanH said:

If it's any consolation, the GT3 feels too slow at times too. You can get used to anything. >> Edited by DanH on Tuesday 16th May 14:13

I think you need to push that right foot harder Dan

Get used to it, yes.... feeling slow - can't say ive suffered with that!

Steve

[kayc]

Pikey a car that you can live with without getting bored has to be extraordinarily good,i drove the cayman for an hour ..i was desperate to buy one coz i love the looks,newness etc but knew it was too capable compared to its grunt...however after buying c4s,csl,gt3 over the last 3 years i wasnt prepared to make the same mistake again and had to be sensible by buying a tt,which contrary to most of the comments i read is without a doubt an awesome car,and the only car i have owned in 20 years (and 50 cars later)that exceeds its reputation.

[cyrus1971]

there are Boxster S supercharger kits out there. I really can't see it taking long for a Cayman S one too.

[johnfm]

If al you want is more 'push in the back' lighten the car and have the fnal drive changed if you can. While you ae furtling final drive, get the clever engineer types to install an LSD. Top speed will be lower, but you don't need to do 165+.

Get it re-geared - many, many US 993 owners do this, as their US gearing is different to Euo gearing. Failing that, sell car while residuals are still high and buy somethng more powerful.

[slippydiff]

One word, Techart.
Apparently they're doing a 380 -400 bhp "big bore" conversion, won't be cheap mind you...................

[sammy]

I've been talking to TechArt. I want a BoxsterS for summer months because I love soft tops but think 911 cabs. look ugly. Sadly, like Cayman, Boxster has sublime chassis but after a 997S and GT3RS not enough power. TechArt are in the final stages of developing a 3.8 (I think) 375bhp conversion for both Boxster and Cayman. They reckon it's a couple of months away. I'm thinking a good spec. year old BoxsterS at maybe £35K plus engine, susp. & brake mods say £20K (no firm price yet) and you've got a Boxster or Cayman at £55k that might just confuse a few 911s at a track day!

[DanH]

Merritt said:

DanH said: If it's any consolation, the GT3 feels too slow at times too. You can get used to anything. >> Edited by DanH on Tuesday 16th May 14:13 I think you need to push that right foot harder Dan Get used to it, yes.... feeling slow - can't say ive suffered with that! Steve

Ok slow isn't the right word. How about 'could be faster', and generally only really get this on wide open tracks where you can never have too much power

[willr]

At the moment the Sportec phase 2 conversion (380PS/425NM) from a 3.8l engine sounds like the most interesting option.

Manthey will be selling Cayman enhancements from July onwards - not sure if they will include an engine upgrade.

You can apparently get around 20hp increase, simply by removing the baffle on the air intake (nearside) vent...

[mbutchers]

pikey said:

kayc said: we are now proved right Cheers kayc - glad you've pointed out that what you say has no value until I concur

Pikey - joking aside, you ARE right - I'm sure there'll be many satisfied Cayman owners for years to come.
The only reason I thought it lacked power was because of it's extreme composure - it's a bit like when I went from a C2 3.4 to a C4S 3.6, and found the C4S lacking (although that was a rather dull car!)
Is yours an everyday car, or weekend toy? I reckon I could live with one everyday, but as a weekend plaything, as Kayc says, it has to be rather special in all departments, because it has to be fun all the time.
Good luck with the power upgrade...

BTW - I told you so....