Cayman twin turbo build ideas
Discussion
Well this is my return to PH after many years of not visiting the forum.
I’ve been scouring the internet for around 18 months and speaking to the odd individual to try and get bits of of info to try and build my ideas up as to what I want to do with my cayman.
A little bit about my cayman so a couple of pics first
I got the car 2 years ago at around 86k on the clock, I didn’t know a great deal about caymans at the time, I was just a big fan of 911 GT2’s and RWB’s 911’s and they were always way out of my price range, so it was all put in a tiny box in my mind as I’d never get into the Porsche marque.
One weekend my other half randomly comes in to my garage and says ‘There’s a really nice Porsche for sale up the road do you want to go see it?’ She knows me far to well. I looked at the pics and straight away thought ‘man that’s cool, but it’s cheap so it must be a s
t porsche’ I then look up the specs and was impressed!
Did I do anymore research? Of course not ??
We went up the road, late afternoon so it was bright but not direct sunlight, we turned into the road where the car could be seen straight away with a perfect side view showing it’s silhouette, straight away I thought ‘that thing has classic 911 shape to it’
The guy was selling it due to a house move and had been messed about by quite a few people with silly offers, I had a test drive and it was amazing, my other half said she knew we were buying it as soon as she saw the smile on my face, we got it for 1.5k less then asking price so I was happy with that.
That summer we had quite a few trips out in it, loving every minute of it. As time went on I began to delve deeper into the m97 engine and all of its misgivings and issues but also rectifications.
I didn’t touch the car for the first 12 months as I began to build an idea of where I wanted to take the car, which ended up being to go for track based, wide arched over the top, plenty of power but all setup properly.
Pricing everything up I knew this wouldn’t be an over night kind of deal I don’t have that kind of capital to just make paper planes out of, so making the acknowledgement that I’d be ha-put for it to take as many years as it needs because this is going to be my Porsche.
So over the past 12 months I’ve slowly began doing jobs and looking at problems.
Problems were - stone chips littering the front end - smoke at start up after being stood - crazy whine noise at start up when warm.
Front end was bare metal’d and repainted, left for 6 months and then ppf’d.
Noise/whine at start up was starter motor not retracting - replaced
Smoke at startup - replaced AOS and put new injectors in
So since then I have completed the following work
Black polybush control arms
Black polybush sway arms
Black Polybush roll bar
Yellow polybush engine mount
RSS semi solid gearbox mounts
BC Racing Coilovers
Aasco lightweight flywheel
Sachs sprung uprated clutch
Lightweight underdrive pulley
RMS seal
IMS flange seal
Spark plugs
Coil packs
Water pump
Low temp thermostat
ITG air filter
Custom headers and exhaust
CAE shifter
Likewise shift knob
NRG Hub and quick release
Renown dish wheel
Custom bucket seats
Simpson harnesses
BBI seat mounts
Custom built half roll cage with harness bar
Joe Toth front splitter
This list doesn’t include all the little bits I’ve done cleaning old parts, vapour blasting, powder coating etc, I’m not a mechanic by trade but an artist so I like being able to try and be creative when it comes to my cars trying to just get a certain feeling back from it.
So at the moment it’s currently awaiting having a wide arch body kit to be fitted, 13x19 + 11x19 work m1 wheels and a 993 GT wing with carbon banana wing on it. That will be fitted once the body shop is reopened with later plans to build a little more aero with a diffuser etc.
So now you know a little about me and the car I can get to my post!
I really like the idea of going twin turbo, to be somewhere in the 5-600bhp range.
The engine is now on 94k still smokes at start up and drinks some oil but I haven’t done enough miles to calculate its usage, it hasn’t been borescoped but I did check the IMS when replacing the leaking flange and the bearing was seemingly very smooth, so much so I left the bearing face on.
Thinking big bhp turbo I know an engine rebuild should be the starting point of the build, or should it? I’m in a bit of limbo with steps as to how to approach it, what I could do myself, are there any experts near me that could help or partake in some of the build?
I’m speaking to a guy stateside that’s got similar engine plans and he’s done a rebuild that’s steel liners at 3.8 reborn, forged arias pistons at 9.5 compression, race bearings, Carillo rods and remedied the IMS bearing, chain guide and deep sump. He is now running the engine with this configuration breaking it in and saving towards the turbo setup.
Sounds ideal to me, fresh engine, breaking it in. Is it an ideal turbo prep? Anything that could be added? I’ve read hours of posts about which liners would be best and I honestly don’t have the knowledge and wisdom to know what liner/piston setup would be ideal for such an idea. Specking the engine do it’s ready and can be run for maybe say a year whilst I can rebuild my funds for the next stage is far more appealing then sending a truck of cash out the door, I can probably pull the engine myself and strip it’s ancillaries just trying to save a few quid where I can but spending it where it’s needed.
Does anyone know of individuals located in the north east that have backgrounds in building turbo setups? Some make it sound relatively straight forward while others go out of there way to make it sound like it’s witchcraft so I go in between - it’s straight forward to get it working but more thought involved to make it run at its optimum.
Just a conversation around the idea would be great!
I’ve been scouring the internet for around 18 months and speaking to the odd individual to try and get bits of of info to try and build my ideas up as to what I want to do with my cayman.
A little bit about my cayman so a couple of pics first
I got the car 2 years ago at around 86k on the clock, I didn’t know a great deal about caymans at the time, I was just a big fan of 911 GT2’s and RWB’s 911’s and they were always way out of my price range, so it was all put in a tiny box in my mind as I’d never get into the Porsche marque.
One weekend my other half randomly comes in to my garage and says ‘There’s a really nice Porsche for sale up the road do you want to go see it?’ She knows me far to well. I looked at the pics and straight away thought ‘man that’s cool, but it’s cheap so it must be a s
t porsche’ I then look up the specs and was impressed! Did I do anymore research? Of course not ??
We went up the road, late afternoon so it was bright but not direct sunlight, we turned into the road where the car could be seen straight away with a perfect side view showing it’s silhouette, straight away I thought ‘that thing has classic 911 shape to it’
The guy was selling it due to a house move and had been messed about by quite a few people with silly offers, I had a test drive and it was amazing, my other half said she knew we were buying it as soon as she saw the smile on my face, we got it for 1.5k less then asking price so I was happy with that.
That summer we had quite a few trips out in it, loving every minute of it. As time went on I began to delve deeper into the m97 engine and all of its misgivings and issues but also rectifications.
I didn’t touch the car for the first 12 months as I began to build an idea of where I wanted to take the car, which ended up being to go for track based, wide arched over the top, plenty of power but all setup properly.
Pricing everything up I knew this wouldn’t be an over night kind of deal I don’t have that kind of capital to just make paper planes out of, so making the acknowledgement that I’d be ha-put for it to take as many years as it needs because this is going to be my Porsche.
So over the past 12 months I’ve slowly began doing jobs and looking at problems.
Problems were - stone chips littering the front end - smoke at start up after being stood - crazy whine noise at start up when warm.
Front end was bare metal’d and repainted, left for 6 months and then ppf’d.
Noise/whine at start up was starter motor not retracting - replaced
Smoke at startup - replaced AOS and put new injectors in
So since then I have completed the following work
Black polybush control arms
Black polybush sway arms
Black Polybush roll bar
Yellow polybush engine mount
RSS semi solid gearbox mounts
BC Racing Coilovers
Aasco lightweight flywheel
Sachs sprung uprated clutch
Lightweight underdrive pulley
RMS seal
IMS flange seal
Spark plugs
Coil packs
Water pump
Low temp thermostat
ITG air filter
Custom headers and exhaust
CAE shifter
Likewise shift knob
NRG Hub and quick release
Renown dish wheel
Custom bucket seats
Simpson harnesses
BBI seat mounts
Custom built half roll cage with harness bar
Joe Toth front splitter
This list doesn’t include all the little bits I’ve done cleaning old parts, vapour blasting, powder coating etc, I’m not a mechanic by trade but an artist so I like being able to try and be creative when it comes to my cars trying to just get a certain feeling back from it.
So at the moment it’s currently awaiting having a wide arch body kit to be fitted, 13x19 + 11x19 work m1 wheels and a 993 GT wing with carbon banana wing on it. That will be fitted once the body shop is reopened with later plans to build a little more aero with a diffuser etc.
So now you know a little about me and the car I can get to my post!
I really like the idea of going twin turbo, to be somewhere in the 5-600bhp range.
The engine is now on 94k still smokes at start up and drinks some oil but I haven’t done enough miles to calculate its usage, it hasn’t been borescoped but I did check the IMS when replacing the leaking flange and the bearing was seemingly very smooth, so much so I left the bearing face on.
Thinking big bhp turbo I know an engine rebuild should be the starting point of the build, or should it? I’m in a bit of limbo with steps as to how to approach it, what I could do myself, are there any experts near me that could help or partake in some of the build?
I’m speaking to a guy stateside that’s got similar engine plans and he’s done a rebuild that’s steel liners at 3.8 reborn, forged arias pistons at 9.5 compression, race bearings, Carillo rods and remedied the IMS bearing, chain guide and deep sump. He is now running the engine with this configuration breaking it in and saving towards the turbo setup.
Sounds ideal to me, fresh engine, breaking it in. Is it an ideal turbo prep? Anything that could be added? I’ve read hours of posts about which liners would be best and I honestly don’t have the knowledge and wisdom to know what liner/piston setup would be ideal for such an idea. Specking the engine do it’s ready and can be run for maybe say a year whilst I can rebuild my funds for the next stage is far more appealing then sending a truck of cash out the door, I can probably pull the engine myself and strip it’s ancillaries just trying to save a few quid where I can but spending it where it’s needed.
Does anyone know of individuals located in the north east that have backgrounds in building turbo setups? Some make it sound relatively straight forward while others go out of there way to make it sound like it’s witchcraft so I go in between - it’s straight forward to get it working but more thought involved to make it run at its optimum.
Just a conversation around the idea would be great!
How are you findiing the BC Racing coilovers? I've seen a few people running them on Caymans/Boxsters and all reviews have been positive (which is a bit of a surprise given that they are at the budget end of the price spectrum).
I'll be refershing the shocks on mine soon so just trying to get a bit of a feedback.
As to the twin turbo jobbie, that sounds like a big undertaking and I would question whether the standard engine could take the added boost... reliably.
I'll be refershing the shocks on mine soon so just trying to get a bit of a feedback.
As to the twin turbo jobbie, that sounds like a big undertaking and I would question whether the standard engine could take the added boost... reliably.
LennyM1984 said:
How are you findiing the BC Racing coilovers? I've seen a few people running them on Caymans/Boxsters and all reviews have been positive (which is a bit of a surprise given that they are at the budget end of the price spectrum).
I'll be refershing the shocks on mine soon so just trying to get a bit of a feedback.
As to the twin turbo jobbie, that sounds like a big undertaking and I would question whether the standard engine could take the added boost... reliably.
And even if the engine lasts, the gearbox is likely to melt away, I'd reckon. It would surprise me if the 987S gearbox was designed for huge torque figuresI'll be refershing the shocks on mine soon so just trying to get a bit of a feedback.
As to the twin turbo jobbie, that sounds like a big undertaking and I would question whether the standard engine could take the added boost... reliably.
The engine wouldn’t be standard running the turbo setup it would be a fully forged, big bore resleeved engine.
Gearbox should be fine, few of these engines running a single turbo setup at 5-600bhp with no issues.
BC coilovers - I cant review them yet as the tracking isn’t being done until Monday and that will be the first time I’ve driven it with the geo being properly setup, I’ll have a bit of a drive through some back roads for a spirited drive on be way home and give a little insight then but it’ll be a while before it’s got some decent miles on them to really tell.
If I was going to keep it NA I’d sell and buy a GT4 and be done with it but it’s just not what I’m about 😂
Gearbox should be fine, few of these engines running a single turbo setup at 5-600bhp with no issues.
BC coilovers - I cant review them yet as the tracking isn’t being done until Monday and that will be the first time I’ve driven it with the geo being properly setup, I’ll have a bit of a drive through some back roads for a spirited drive on be way home and give a little insight then but it’ll be a while before it’s got some decent miles on them to really tell.
If I was going to keep it NA I’d sell and buy a GT4 and be done with it but it’s just not what I’m about 😂
If you want to go big power cayman I would imagine it’s cheaper, easier and more reliable to just graft a crate V8 engine in it (or used from a crashed car to save money). I know it’s been done to a few 911.
Personally I owned a 987.1 (s), mine had the dreaded bore scoring. If I was going down the route of making the car better then I would look at making it lighter. Strip out everything. I never thought the 987s really needed a huge increase in power. The chassis was fantastic. Just add lightness.
Personally I owned a 987.1 (s), mine had the dreaded bore scoring. If I was going down the route of making the car better then I would look at making it lighter. Strip out everything. I never thought the 987s really needed a huge increase in power. The chassis was fantastic. Just add lightness.
Have a good look at the engine capacity upgrades that Hartech offer. I suspect you could take this to 3.8 litres with a closed deck & no risk of bore scoring. Big power increase combined with elimination of bore-score risk, and probably roughly cost-neutral in comparison with the mods you'd need to turbo the 3.4.
Of course, you could then turbocharge the 3.8
Of course, you could then turbocharge the 3.8
Magnum 475 - That’s exactly what I was thinking of, I’ve seen quite a few of Baz’s posts from Hartech and have read quite a bit regarding their rebuilds.
Would be great and I’ll possibly trying to pop over to speak with them/him about this, Really it will be a rebuild to strengthen everything, run it for 5-10k to make sure it’s right and then turbo it.
My thoughts revolve around what’s going to be better for boost though alloy liners or steel/iron liners? My reading tells me that for average use the ally liners would be great and allow me to go to a bigger bore but are they as strong as steel? I could go steel/iron but it has issues around fitting/slipping if done incorrectly, heat exchange is different but surely the steel is stronger?
A guy I’m speaking to in the states who’s doing a TT m97 cayman build has gone steel liners done by golden eagle mfg as has a drag racing background and he’s saying it steel all the way for power but he’s aiming at 1000bhp not 600.
Once I have a better idea of liners it’s then piston choice along with compression because ideally I want a lower compression to be able to run more boost down the line.
There are probably plenty of good builders out there but it’s cost wise it needs efficiency, so someone who’s built a lot of these engines such as hartech can probably be cost effective as they know what they’re doing, can they defer from what they know to build one for a turbo build in mind? Can’t say yet as I haven’t spoken to them, could they build the turbo setup? I don’t know but could someone who’s done TT conversions before maybe able to build that side up more efficiently.
Hence why I’m pottering around just trying to gather info.
I also don’t want just a fun cayman I want a scary one 😄
Would be great and I’ll possibly trying to pop over to speak with them/him about this, Really it will be a rebuild to strengthen everything, run it for 5-10k to make sure it’s right and then turbo it.
My thoughts revolve around what’s going to be better for boost though alloy liners or steel/iron liners? My reading tells me that for average use the ally liners would be great and allow me to go to a bigger bore but are they as strong as steel? I could go steel/iron but it has issues around fitting/slipping if done incorrectly, heat exchange is different but surely the steel is stronger?
A guy I’m speaking to in the states who’s doing a TT m97 cayman build has gone steel liners done by golden eagle mfg as has a drag racing background and he’s saying it steel all the way for power but he’s aiming at 1000bhp not 600.
Once I have a better idea of liners it’s then piston choice along with compression because ideally I want a lower compression to be able to run more boost down the line.
There are probably plenty of good builders out there but it’s cost wise it needs efficiency, so someone who’s built a lot of these engines such as hartech can probably be cost effective as they know what they’re doing, can they defer from what they know to build one for a turbo build in mind? Can’t say yet as I haven’t spoken to them, could they build the turbo setup? I don’t know but could someone who’s done TT conversions before maybe able to build that side up more efficiently.
Hence why I’m pottering around just trying to gather info.
I also don’t want just a fun cayman I want a scary one 😄
Good luck with this. Would be a great project. 500-600 would be nice to make it scary.
Have you looked at bisimoto? He has a tt set up with the turbos hanging off the back like a set of nuts.
The guy is an engineering marvel so would have thought he could give good advice. Or even do a build and just ship over for install to the UK.
Have you looked at bisimoto? He has a tt set up with the turbos hanging off the back like a set of nuts.
The guy is an engineering marvel so would have thought he could give good advice. Or even do a build and just ship over for install to the UK.
TPC Racing might be worth a look - no idea whether their prices after import costs are sensible but they do sell a 'solution' v bits
https://www.tpcracing.com/product-category/turbo-s...
https://www.tpcracing.com/product-category/turbo-s...
Meisho said:
Magnum 475 - That’s exactly what I was thinking of, I’ve seen quite a few of Baz’s posts from Hartech and have read quite a bit regarding their rebuilds.
Would be great and I’ll possibly trying to pop over to speak with them/him about this, Really it will be a rebuild to strengthen everything, run it for 5-10k to make sure it’s right and then turbo it.
My thoughts revolve around what’s going to be better for boost though alloy liners or steel/iron liners? My reading tells me that for average use the ally liners would be great and allow me to go to a bigger bore but are they as strong as steel? I could go steel/iron but it has issues around fitting/slipping if done incorrectly, heat exchange is different but surely the steel is stronger?
A guy I’m speaking to in the states who’s doing a TT m97 cayman build has gone steel liners done by golden eagle mfg as has a drag racing background and he’s saying it steel all the way for power but he’s aiming at 1000bhp not 600.
Once I have a better idea of liners it’s then piston choice along with compression because ideally I want a lower compression to be able to run more boost down the line.
There are probably plenty of good builders out there but it’s cost wise it needs efficiency, so someone who’s built a lot of these engines such as hartech can probably be cost effective as they know what they’re doing, can they defer from what they know to build one for a turbo build in mind? Can’t say yet as I haven’t spoken to them, could they build the turbo setup? I don’t know but could someone who’s done TT conversions before maybe able to build that side up more efficiently.
Hence why I’m pottering around just trying to gather info.
I also don’t want just a fun cayman I want a scary one ??
At the moment, I'd give Baz a ring (lockdown & all that). What Hartech don't know about these engines isn't worth knowing. Their liners seem to be the best out there, and the closed deck is a hugh improvement over the standard design. If you take their advice on board, you could build a very reliable and very powerful engine that would give you years of reliable service with a massive performance increase over the standard car.Would be great and I’ll possibly trying to pop over to speak with them/him about this, Really it will be a rebuild to strengthen everything, run it for 5-10k to make sure it’s right and then turbo it.
My thoughts revolve around what’s going to be better for boost though alloy liners or steel/iron liners? My reading tells me that for average use the ally liners would be great and allow me to go to a bigger bore but are they as strong as steel? I could go steel/iron but it has issues around fitting/slipping if done incorrectly, heat exchange is different but surely the steel is stronger?
A guy I’m speaking to in the states who’s doing a TT m97 cayman build has gone steel liners done by golden eagle mfg as has a drag racing background and he’s saying it steel all the way for power but he’s aiming at 1000bhp not 600.
Once I have a better idea of liners it’s then piston choice along with compression because ideally I want a lower compression to be able to run more boost down the line.
There are probably plenty of good builders out there but it’s cost wise it needs efficiency, so someone who’s built a lot of these engines such as hartech can probably be cost effective as they know what they’re doing, can they defer from what they know to build one for a turbo build in mind? Can’t say yet as I haven’t spoken to them, could they build the turbo setup? I don’t know but could someone who’s done TT conversions before maybe able to build that side up more efficiently.
Hence why I’m pottering around just trying to gather info.
I also don’t want just a fun cayman I want a scary one ??
I admire your lunacy and if you don't mind spending a lot of money on something that is for you and won't ever be worth what you have spent on it then go for it!
I am sure you have seen this but if I were going your route I'd be looking to find out as much as possible about this car and replicate.
Good luck and keep us posted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdSdaMhAdN4
I am sure you have seen this but if I were going your route I'd be looking to find out as much as possible about this car and replicate.
Good luck and keep us posted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdSdaMhAdN4
Gassing Station | Boxster/Cayman | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff