We just got finished installing our StopTech Big Brake kit on our project Porsche. We like going fast just as much as anyone, but when you’re adding hundreds of horsepower to a vehicle, it’s always good to plan on upgrading your brakes. Our car had over 60k miles when we purchased it, so the brakes needed some added attention right off the bat. We went with Stoptechs 380mm/6piston kit on the front and their 332mm/4 piston in the rear. We will be using the car for DE events and the Texas Mile so I wanted to make sure that the brakes where properly bedded and will be up the heavy braking the car will experience.

Just as important as upgrading the brakes themselves, is carefully following the bed-in procedure for the pads and rotors. This is a very important step and it should be preformed right after installation to ensure a consistent friction surface and prevent warping of rotors from pad deposits. Before you begin the process you want to make sure the rotors are clean and free of and oil or debris. For non-plated rotors a bath in soap and water, then brake clean should do the trick. For our application we had the rotors zinc coated to prevent rusting of the fins. If you opt to have the rotors zinc plated, drive a few miles with light braking until the plating is worn off. Do not use the brakes aggressively or begin bed-in procedure until this has been completed.

To begin the bedding procedure find a long stretch of level roadway or a skid pad. It is best to perform the exercise at a time when traffic is at its lightest to make sure you can complete the procedure without compromising safety. I was fortunate to have a long 4-5 mile access road for the airport near our new location to perform the bed-in. To properly seat the pads and rotors evenly you will perform 2 series of 10 consecutive decelerations from 60mph to 10pmh. You want to be sure that accelerate back up to 60 after reaching the 10mph decelerating point. You should be using consistent 80-90% braking force and expect some smoke and brake smell from the brakes. Be sure that you do not come to a complete stop during the series of 10.

For this procedure in the 996tt I found 2nd gear to work quite well as it allowed me to reach the designed RPM and still be able to accelerate from the lower RPMS. Complete the first 10 series in sequence, when you are finished be sure not to come to a stop as you want to let the rotors cool completely without leaving hot deposit. Once the brakes have cooled to a near ambient temperature (usually after 10-15 miles of driving at 50MPH or more without using the brakes) repeat the series of 10 stops and let the system cool again to ambient temperature. For higher performance track pads, Stoptech recommends you add 4 80-10mph decelerations to the end of each series. Full race pads should always be bed-in on the track.

Once you have completed the 2 series the rotor faces should have a faint blue appearance covered by a polished, light gray film. The blue tint indicates the proper brake in temperature has been reached and the pad material is evenly transferring onto the rotor face. Perform this procedure at your own risk, don’t necessarily be concerned that you are reaching the speeds exactly, but you want to make sure you are using consistent brake force throughout. Check out the Gallery Below to see before and after pictures of the rotors for comparison.

With the PRI show in Orlando this past week, we had the pleasure of hosting an open house for the great vendors who serve Titan Motorsports. The open house was hosted at our new location which is currently under construction on Boggy Creek Road, and displayed a handful of street and race cars. This state of the art 25,000sq/ft facility is being designed and built from the ground up with extensive planning to ensure growth for each of Titans divisions for many years to come.

The exterior shell has been complete for some time, however permitting for the interior buildup has held up construction progress. As these conflicts are now resolved, we are getting much closer to moving to our new home, and look forward to posting many more updates as construction continues. Our current expectations anticipate a smooth transition towards the end of quarter 1 in 2009.

We reached a major milestone in construction this week with the hanging of our massive new sign. The sign features 42” tall brushed aluminum letters which are backlit by thousands of amber LEDs. A big thank you to Nick and the crew at Diamond Electric for creating such a master piece and having it hung in time for our open house.

After a few crazy weeks of traveling, we finally got the Porsche paintjob completed.   4-5 hours in the paintbooth behind our shop, probably 15-20 cans of Krylon camouflage and enough fumes going to my brain that I’ll be high for weeks.  Overall I am very happy with the end results, and the opinions of those who have seen the car have been 50/50.  It’s a love hate relationship but that’s exactly what I wanted to achieve and either way it draws 100 times more attention than the factory silver.

This weekend Nero and myself had the pleasure of heading to Las Vegas for the annual SEMA show. SEMA is an industry event that encompasses the aftermarket performance industry. After 3 days of walking the show and meeting with suppliers and contacts in the industry, I was exhausted. The gallery below has some of our highlights from the show.

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Check out this great looking Porsche Carrera RS clone that stopped by the shop while I was away at SEMA. Everyone in the office could not stop talking about how great the car sounded after we installed a new custom exhaust. If the car sounds as good as it looks I can understand why they where so ecstatic with the results, I just hope I’m here the next time the car comes by for more work. I also wouldn’t mind taking pictures of the exhaust, as the only pictures of the car are while it was on the ground!

I Just returned from the SEMA show to find a good bit of progress to our Porsche Project.   We are fortunate enough to have a small body shop located behind us called Pars Autobody.    While I was away at the show they handled the wet-sanding, prepping, and painting of the door jams on the car.  If all goes as plan she’ll get a nice coat of olive drab camouflage tomorrow night, with more pictures to follow.

Just got the paint in today for the Porsche project, it may not be what you think….

Standard Issue Diverter Valves where designed with the Porsche 997TT in mind, using a side vacuum pipe to allow for easy routing inside an already crammed engine bay. These units are a direct bolt-on to the factory VTG turbochargers allowing for easy installation. These valves dump charge-air back into the air intake system and keeps external noise to a minimum. Featuring a piston design which is superior to the factory rubber diaphragm, this DV allows for quicker throttle response, higher clamping load, and more reliable control of boost pressure.

The units are machined from billet aluminum and come in your choice of stealth black anodized or machined silver finish. As with all Standard Issue products we pride ourselves in function over form, with products guaranteed to perform.

Purchase them online at Titan Motorsports :

It’s been a few days since we have done anything with Project 996TT, the main reason being we where waiting for our replacement differential to arrive. The stock differential decided to destroy itself on the dyno 2 weeks ago (we sent the car to a local AWD dyno and the car was run with the rollers unlocked, causing this carnage). We managed to find a replacement diff on 6speedonline.com and hope to have the car back in action later this week.

Next up: More track testing and a custom homegrown paintjob you won’t want to miss.

Many thanks to RC for sending us a set of their 60lb injectors to test in Project 996TT. These injectors will require minor modifications to the rail for a tight fit, but we hope to have available full instructions and possibly a modified rail if necessary. Larger injectors are available to test as well when the larger turbochargers get bolted on the car.

As of right now we are awaiting 2 front tires, the modifications to be completed to the K24s for the 18G upgrade, a replacement differential, and suspension to proceed to the next stage of our project. We hope to have everything completed in the next 2 weeks.