Porsche 986 Boxster S Air Intake Modification Results from Dyno (Fabspeed + IPD)

[@jackmitchell5187]

Excellent vid!! 🙏🎯 In my experience the best gains still* come from using stock intake assembly but with better drop in filter.... I picked up a bmc from fabspeed and I can't say enough good things about it. Fit very snug like everybody said it would. I de-snorkeled my intake, decided to leave the black fins, but cut an air opening in the lowest quarter(I had heard to do that) to optimize crucial air flow. Now the car chills at 3,000 rpm in 3rd, 4th, or 5th and has so much more power down low(more than ever) that every gear feels like an adventure. Honestly glad I kept stock intake assembly and utilized a high quality drop in product.😆 Definitely satisfied for now ✨💯

[@mikepetersen3]

Nice work. Did you have a chance today? I know it before and after the work?

[@jackmitchell5187]

@@mikepetersen3 no, not today. Ha! My original comment was from over a year ago. I was referring to my experience with my 2001 Boxster S I was experimenting with in 2021. Mine was equipped with the sport design package. (bolstered seats and GT3 look wheels) It also had the standard Borla bolt on cat back exhaust for 986 actually bought it from the dealer that way. It's a real coincidence I made a dealer inquiry about a 99 5-speed base model in Black😅 today!!

[@FueledBy.Passion]

No HP gains! I wonder what IPD is saying about this? ARE THEY SELLING A PLACEBO EFFECT? 🤷

[@unclewithasportscar]

Thanks for another thorough breakdown. I am seeing alot of English guys claim those 20-30HP gains on their Cars but I, like you, am skeptical because NA. DB performance is where I got my WRX tuned and I feel like instead of chasing numbers they focus on reliability realistic gains.

[@mikepetersen3]

The numbers don't lie :-)

[@jasonjones7355]

thank you for producing the video... incredibly helpful and well done !

[@mikepetersen3]

Thank you!

[@doctortruth4094]

Great series of videos. I have an 02 S [same color, too] on which the previous owner had installed a full Fabspeed exhaust and tune, and I was considering the ipd plenum as well. now I’ lol spend the money on something else.

[@mikepetersen3]

Good luck! Fun car ;-)

[@joeyoung3319]

Great video, I appreciate above all your candor. First-time visitor to your channel, I will subscribe and follow as I also have a 2001 Boxster S.

[@jimohara4796]

My general line of thinking on these mods is: Porsche engineers aren't going to leave extra horsepower "on the table" without the mod taking from some other pile - Much more expensive to produce, negative impact to emissions, negative impact to drivability, and to a lesser extent lowering of fuel economy. I really, really, really appreciate the dyno at the end, because it takes the human factor of "louder must be more powerful" out of the equation.

[@luckywilliam]

Great video Mike, appreciate you sharing your results. Through my readings it seems modifying exhaust only or intake only produces good gains, but doing them both negates some of the other. Would be interesting to see if you dynoed the car again with the stock exhaust how the intake mods would compare to the runs you have already done.

[@mikepetersen3]

Having one negate the other does not make engineering sense, but stranger things have happened. I too would like to dyno the intake with stock exhaust, but it’s time consuming and somewhat expensive to swap exhaust and retest. That is not likely on the to-do list.

[@aservclive]

May or may not work, but in all fairness this video serves no purpose. On a carburettor as air is sucked in fuel is also sucked in at exact rate provided jetted right. On injection mixture is from two different sources, air through MAF sensor and intake and fuel from injectors controlled by ECU. Unless you have physically forced ECU via remap to provide more fuel, initially you are running lean with this mod, you would have to drive at least 100 miles of hard driving to let the ECU to catch up and learn to give more fuel. Then do a dyno, you cant just bang on a larger intake and expect instant gain, unless remapped.

[@danielwillett7164]

I agree but even better is getting an ECU tune. I don't know the exact number but I know I feel a difference..I also enclosed the intake system on the top to section off hot engine air. I have the original EVO intake with fabricated piping to the 74 TB and 997 plenum. The EVO intake cover is a perfect fit, with no gaps. Fabspeed is a copy of the EVO. This along with the Softronic ECU software, race headers, and by-pass pipes..This thing flys like a bat out of hell.

[@mikepetersen3]

Your theory is correct, you need to have the correct air to fuel ratio for maximum torque/power. This car has been re-mapped, and during the dyno runs we always monitor the air fuel ratio through the wideband sensor in the exhaust pipe. You can see it on the chart at the bottom. For most engines the optimal air fuel ratio for performance is between 11-12:1. The chart shows the car is running at its optimal fuel ratio range for both dyno runs. BTW, The dyno runs were done 1year apart, the car had settled in with driving after the install and before the testing.

[@jessethompson3609]

Youre a legend.

[@mikepetersen3]

Tell my wife please

[@PaulCuenin]

Now have you done any ecu tuning? I wonder if that might help to take advantage of your changes. That is pretty disappointing as it stands sorry to hear.

[@mikepetersen3]

Hi Paul, there is a deeper discussion on this specific topic here: 986forum.com/forums/performance-technical-chat/75484-ipd-plenum-best-performance-mod-3.html. Net net, we might pick up a 2-4 HP with a tune, at best. The car is already "tuned" and I do not expect much upside. Car is running ~ 11.8 A/F @ WOT, might be able to lean it out to 12:1 or 12:5:1 and pick up a few HP, but it will not change to overall results that the upgrade is not making the claimed performance gains.

[@ett_baer]

@@mikepetersen3 There's more to it than just leaning out the mixture on a modern car. You'd get better power across the entire rev range as ignition timing can be tuned as well. I reckon you could see another 20hp out of a tune.

[@mikepetersen3]

@rumpii. You are correct, it is theoretically possible to advance the timing and gain more horsepower, but that assumes the existing tune is poorly written. Most cars are tuned to advance the spark to deliver maximum torque and horsepower, this also delivers maximum efficiency. They will advance the spark to the point that it detects slight knock, and then pulls the spark back. This engine, like most modern engines, has several knock detectors, so one has to assume they are functioning properly and the car is advancing the spark to its most advanced realistic point. When I do the dyno test, I do run 93 octane to allow the program to deliver as much spark as possible. Furthermore, as this car has had both a stock tune and several aftermarket tools, none of which delivered more than 2 or 3 hp, I am confident that or horsepower could not be found simply by advancing the spark table.

[@ett_baer]

@@mikepetersen3 I think you'd be surprised with the results if you went for a tune with the combination of spark+mixture, but if you're happy with your current results then I guess there's not really any need! Awesome car anyway, hope to mod my 986 similarly!

[@mikepetersen3]

Hi @rumpii, take a look into the attached link and we have a deeper discussion on the topic in the blog. Net net, the car is tuned for both spark and A/F, in fact it was tuned twice. It is not a factory tune. 986forum.com/forums/performance-technical-chat/75484-ipd-plenum-best-performance-mod-3.html .

[@miketjoeng3857]

Hi Peter thanks for die video! quick question. Here in Germany they offer that mod as well however this goes together with adjustments on the ECU. If u'd do that maybe it has a positive effect overall.

[@mikepetersen3]

Hi Mike, per my comment below... there is a deeper discussion on this specific topic here: 986forum.com/forums/performance-technical-chat/75484-ipd-plenum-best-performance-mod-3.html. Net net, we might pick up a 2-4 HP with a tune, at best. The car is already "tuned" and I do not expect much upside. Car is running ~ 11.8 A/F @ WOT, might be able to lean it out to 12:1 or 12:5:1 and pick up a few HP, but it will not change to overall results that the upgrade is not making the claimed performance gains.

[@fabioantonucci4626]

Same resul with my 2.7. Lost 12 hp and overall paerformance degradation. Of course I did take the car to the dyno to test the "results".

[@mikepetersen3]

Very helpful. Thanks for sharing!

[@FueledBy.Passion]

Was that ipd plus larger throttle body?

[@tropifiori]

There is less resistance to the flow of air with laminar flow vs turbulent flow. Anything that increases turbulence increases flow resistance. Resistance is a function of gas viscosity and the diameter of the tube to the fourth power. Frank

[@mikepetersen3]

You are correct.

[@bikeracr]

I'm wondering if you went to E-bay bought a $60 OEM 996 plenum to mount your 74mm throttle body and ran it on the dyno to see the difference from an OEM plenum and the IPD plenum would it be the same or better than the IPD

[@mikepetersen3]

The only downside of the 996 plenum is what inlet tube to use. Im sure there is a solution out there, but I have not looked for it.

[@frederickschulze8014]

To be fair, I add a whole 150 lb passenger to my car and got maybe 0.5 seconds added to my 60 second laptimes in autocross (where weight and handling are extremely important). Adding weight to the back is worse than adding it to the center, but a few lbs is probably countered by the addition of 1 horsepower. Any more than that is purely positive gains. Edit: I hadn't watched the whole video yet when I made the comment, but that power loss is rough. Maybe a tune is needed to fully take advantage of that intake.

[@mikepetersen3]

There is a longer discussion above, but I can assure you that the loss of horsepower down low is not a tune in issue. Is this car is designed for track use, I’m less concerned about low rpm performance. And the modest gains above 4000 RPM still make the solution livable.

[@thesillyhatday]

It's almost like Porsche knew what they were doing when the intake system was designed. This is enough proof for me that the IPD thing is a waste of money.

[@mikepetersen3]

I would agree with that sentiment... I do think a low restriction air clean and removing the snorkel helps.

[@hawkinsjd11]

Are you sure you bought a real IPD Plenum? Mine looks extremely professional. That looks rather knockoff with the quality. I see you got a replacement. You lose me at duct tape and foam though.

[@mikepetersen3]

yes, it was real IPD.

[@briansturgill5905]

Sorry it’s a loss of HP and torque. Sadly for $1000.

[@mikepetersen3]

If you look closely we actually added HP at the top end (albeit slightly) but lost in the mid range. I’m other words, slightly better for the track but a loss for the street.

[@04stiger]

Great video. I reckon the boffins at Porsche might have got it right first time. We all love a bit more power, and as far as intakes go, you were very thorough. Now if some of those clowns that rip out their intakes could do their homework before posting BS on youtube, it might save some gullible enthusiasts from wrecking their cars. Moral of the story... get an expert's advice before you make things worse.

[@mikepetersen3]

Agree!

[@greggreg3446]

😉😉

[@frederickcook87]

No matter how many videos come out of ipd products sucking people just can’t let it be that Porsche engineers know more than them snake oil guys over at ipd 😫😟😫

[@mikepetersen3]

There are still many ways to improve the engine, it's just the IPD is not one of them.