After a few busy weeks we finally got a chance to get Project 996tt on the dyno for some initial tuning with our new K24/18G+ kit. After a few busy weeks in the shop working on customers cars and a short weight for a few final missing parts we strapped her on our in-house dynojet in RWD format to begin tuning and get some power to the ground.

We’ve slowly been turning up the boost on the car and dialing in the tune with the help of Tony Chick from EPL’s using their new dealer flash tool. The flashing has been flawless and the process of uploading a new file to the car takes mere minutes. We’ve seen great results so far at lower boost levels and will be turning the boost up a couple ticks in the next week or two to get even more power out of the setup. Using our new fuel system is working great and ad 1.31 bar we where only at 55% duty cycle on the injectors, so we have plenty of room to go for more boost, we’ll likely stop at 1.4-1.5bar on race fuel as this should be a good point for hard usage on the stock engine.

First Pass on low boost (1.15 bar):

60′ 1.729
330 4.889
1/8 7.404
MPH 100.83
1000 9.535
1/4 11.293
MPH 126.79

Second Pass with a bit more boost (1.31 bar)

60′ 1.882
330 4.957
1/8 7.306
MPH 105.99
1000 9.344
1/4 11.051
MPH 130.34

We’ll be doing a bit more tuning this week, hopefully turning the wick up for a bit more power. Chris Green @ USP Motorsports is sending a set of his intercoolers for us to use on the car, that should help keep the intake temperatures down as the boost gets turned up. Now that we’ve gone quicker than 11.5X twice, the track has also requested we install a roll bar. We’re going to take some time to install our GMG cage and new Status seats and try to get rid of some more dead weight in the interior. Progress is always a good thing and with a near 10 second pass on only our 2nd pass, I’m quite happy with where we’re heading.

This past weekend we were invited to watch the Nascar Truck-Series from the FedEx suite for the first race of the season. I am no stranger to Daytona International Speedway, having been there for many Rolex24’s as well as SCCA races and various other events however this was the first time I have seen the action from the famous “Super-Stretch”.

After arriving to the suite and putting our cameras and jackets down we made our way to the buffet. They had a great selection of various goodies including stuffed chicken, steak in a wine sauce, salad…and even fried mac-n-cheese. It was a good meal and a nice way to start off the evening. Beer and soda were graciously provided by our hosts and the suite was decorated with various images of the FedEx fleet of cars, trucks and planes as well as the race cars they sponsor.

We watched the first 30 or so laps of the race from the suite before moving down to the grand stands so we could get right next to the fences. Around the half-way point of the race we decided to take the shuttle over to the infield and watch from the garages (something I would latter regret). The shuttle that took us from the back stretch to the infield was a pretty long ride as you have to go half-way around the track, change busses and then go infield thru the turn 1 tunnel. It was actually pretty neat to take that route as the shuttle drives on part of the road course that I just saw the Daytona prototypes and GT cars of the Grand-Am series running less than a month before.

Once we got to the Fan-Zone we made our way to the roof top of the garage’s to see the action. You get a good view of the cars coming off turn 4 onto the front stretch as well as a decent view of the pits. The moment I started to regret coming over to the fan zone was when one of the trucks spun out coming off turn 2 and smashed into the wall RIGHT where we were standing just a few minutes before. It’s not that I want to see anyone get hurt, but I will admit that I enjoy seeing some the pile-ups in Nascar.

The race was over shortly after that and the night came to a close. It was great to get to hang out in a suite again and watch the race. The last time I was at the track in a suite was for the 2006 International Race of Champions (IROC). Watching from a suite is a totally different animal than being on the infield, or even in the grandstands. You can still hear the wail of the cars as the go by (especially in the tight packs that the stock cars run in) but it is fairly subdued. Also, having multiple TVs to view all the camera feeds that you would see at home is nice and you never have to worry about the weather.

I’d like to thank FedEx for the tickets and the hospitality (and the free beer!).

-Geoff

As project 996 evolves, we’re finding that with more power, we need more grip. This applies to both street and track, as the 600+ HP we anticipate to make will overpower our 19″ PS2s with ease. This car will be used for highway racing, drag racing, road racing, and still needs to be streetable enough to drive to local shows and select events. We decided it was time to get a track wheel setup for the car in a 18″ sizing that offered a much wider tire selection.

We’re fortunate to have CCW Wheels located less than an hour from us in Daytona. We’ve used CCW wheels on many of our personal and customer Supras in the past as they offer very aggressive fitments in a lightweight reasonably priced package. We’re trying to get the car ready for a track day at Roebling Road this weekend and wanted some wheels quick, we gave John @ CCW a call on Monday and had our new wheels here on Wednesday. The wheels are the CCW C2K, the latest in the forged Corsair line which is machined from a single 6061-T6 aluminum forging. This wheel takes some inspiration from the original CCW Classics and applies it to the forged track wheel lineup available in a 18″ size allowing for plenty of tire choices. We needed a sticky tire for this application and gave our good friends at Toyo a call, they supplied their latest R Compound tires the R888s in 235/40zr18 and 315/30ZR18 sizing. I’m anxious to get the car tunes and put our new track wheel and tire setup to the test, results to follow.

We finally got the car back from the exhaust shop yesterday afternoon. We didn’t have time to do much with it because it was close to quitin’ time so we left it till this morning to strap it down to the dyno and see what this engine can do once it can breathe.

As you can see from the photos of the exhaust, it can be tricky to route the piping properly under the car. At a glance everything looks symmetrical, but that is far from the case. The differential is off center and the spare wheel recess in the trunk is also a bit different from one side to the next. Either way, Hector at Exhaust Depot took care of the Challenger and everything fits together perfectly. We decided to go 3″ from the header manifold all the way back. This includes a pair of Catco 3″ hi-flow catalytic converters and a Magnaflow muffler which has the X-pipe inside of it. Stock tips were reused, and the pipes where painted black with high heat paint so that people wouldn’t think anything out of the ordinary at first glance. Sleeper style…(if an SRT8 could ever be considered a sleeper)

If you look at max power and torque gains it really isn’t that impressive. But the gains across the rev range were impressive. At 4200 RPM gains were 15hp and 20 ft-lbs, not to shabby, and right in the area where it’s usable.

STATUS Racing sent over there new 5 point harnesses today to put in Project 996. I had high expectations after originally seeing their product at SEMA, however the quality of their delivered product has blown my mind. Every detail from the outside textured box with recessed logo, to the branded carrying bag, to the quality stitching and brand was top notch. You can tell a ton of though has gone into every aspect of the product, something that I find very important given the products is intended to save lives. These harnesses are currently available in 4 / 5 / 6 point offering in Red and Black. Limited edition versions in Blue and Silver are on the horizon. All versions are FIA approved which should meet or exceed most sanctioning bodies requirements.

Titan Motorsports is now the East Coast distributor for Status Racing, we will be adding their line to the site soon and will stock their seats and harnesses once we move to our new location. If you are looking for a great seat or harness setup for your car give us a call and we’ll get you setup with a set. Custom colors and options are available, and Status Racing takes great pride in offering a 1-2 week or less turnaround time on custom seats, something unheard of from most seat manufactures. We’ve got a custom set of seats on the way for our Porsche project, keep any eye out on the blog as I’ll be posting pictures as soon as they arrive.

We headed to Colonial TownPark for the 5th annual Cars for the Cure show. The show is an annual event held in Lake Mary that benefits the American Lung Association. It is their largest local fundraiser for the year, and Nero and myself are both on the committee for the past few years. The show features a great variety of cars with the majority being customs or exotics. It’s free to the public and normally fills the outdoor shopping complex to capacity. The event has become a staple in our event calendar and usually marks the start of a busy few months of regional shows and testing for the upcoming race season.

This year we where blessed with temperatures in the mid 70s and blue skies throughout the day, a far cry from the morning showers that have plagued this event in years pasts. We had the pleasure of showing Greg Aukscunas 4 digit horsepower Supra in our booth this year. Greg had flown down from Pittsburgh to pickup his car after yet another round of modifications and decided to stay and extra day to take part in the show. We also brought my yellow 996tt and our Camouflage 996tt which had a fresh round of upgrades done just in time. The response to the camouflage car was phenomenal and it had plenty of fans and haters throughout the day. Overall the show was a great success, even though we didn’t win any awards as a group, we all had a great time and got to see plenty of cars we don’t see every day, all while raising money for the ALA.

12►

There’s always some exciting things going on around our office here in Orlando, but today it was mother nature providing the excitement. Brett was working on our Scion chassis cars and noticed a big of smoke from behind the building. After further investigation our neighboring building had a nice fire going that no one seemed to noticed. We made a call to 9-1-1, and Orange County Fire Rescue was quick to the scene to extinguish the blaze out before it got a chance to spread to the neighboring buildings.

We recently installed a GT2 bumper on our Camo 996tt Project. This conversion appears to be fairly straight forward, however as others have experienced there are a few hiccups here and there that may give you headaches. I spent many hours trying to find the best solution for these particular headaches and decided it was time to do a proper write-up on a functional GT2 Nose conversion. I skipped the details on how to remove and re-install the bumper cover itself as these have been covered previously and is pretty much straight forward.

It is always a good idea to test fit everything prior to painting the cover itself. Once you have the bumper painted use the 25 Speed clips to secure the black trim pieces on the center, right and left side. This is pretty straight forward, just mount the trim panels to the inside of the bumper and slide the speed clips on the plastic tabs to tightly hold these in place. These interior trim panels will line up with the newly added radiator shrouds on all 3 radiators when you go to install the bumper cover onto the car. The center grille attaches using 6 Allen screws and bolts which I ordered from Porsche. The lower lip clips into place and is secured on each side by a screw and clip. Once you’ve completed these steps the bumper itself should be ready to be re-installed onto the car, you just need to prepare the car for the bumper.

The biggest problem with this conversion lies with the center radiator. The GT2 features a tilted center radiator allowing the airflow to enter in the center and evacuate up through the grille which is added in front of the hood. It sounds straight forward, however do to the difference in cooling systems between the GT2 and 996 there is some custom modifications require. Be prepared to spill coolant all over the floor and yourself, but it’s all part of the gain (it’s a good idea to drain the coolant system as much as possible prior but you’re still going to spill quite a bit with the removal of the radiator).

Start off by removing the 996tt lower radiator brackets and replacing them with the GT2 counterparts. You will want to loosen then up, pop the clips off the radiators and press hard against one side to get the radiator out of the original bracket. It’s a bit tricky and will take you a bit of time, but it’s just the start of what’s to come. Holding the brackets up side by side you will notice that the GT2 units are nearly identical except for the angle on the lower mount, this gives you the pitch you need to make the radiator functional). While you have the brackets out, it’s a good idea to move the horns as well, we removed the front horn and bent the bracket to allow enough room for our re-routed hoses to fit nicely in their place).

The new shroud for the GT2 requires the radiator to be flipped. Flip the radiator over and install both the new interior ducting and front air duct as well (this is pretty straight forward as just 2 metal strips hold the front duct on, and 2 clips and 3 plastic tabs hold the air duct in place).

There will be 2 metal spacers needed behind the shroud to properly space the mounting brackets out, this will space the 996tt upper and lower surround brackets out enough to make them work with a bit of tweaking). Using M8x16x80mm bolts (check Ace hardware for these cheap) attach the upper radiator bracket through the frame, through the spacer (which is inserted inside the interior shroud) and into the mounting point on the car). This should line up the radiator just as you need but will leave quite a gap between your hoses and the radiator

As a result of the different cooling systems, we needed to make modified coolant hoses to make this work. The factory hoses where pretty cheap (under $15 each I believe) so we ordered 2 new ones from Porsche. Our plan was to cut the factory ends off the original hoses, use a 1.0″ hose connector and some worm clamps to attach the new hose pieces we bought to the exposed hoses on the car. This takes a bit of patience and mocking up on the car, but after a few tries and cuts to each hose you will end up with a path that works. Clamp the new hose onto the extensions, the extensions to the existing hose coming from the car, and the connectors should bridge the cap to the now flipped radiator.

Once you have the center radiators fabricated up and the hoses connect, it should be pretty straight forward from here as far installing the GT2 bumper just as the original one came off. Using OEM parts it should make for a very easy conversion, I’d expect 7-8 hours for the install if you have all the parts lined up and ready to go (which we didn’t as a complete parts list wasn’t something readily available previously). I also want to thank Stevem Russell @ Suncoast Porsche for helping me throughout the process with multiple parts shipments. They’ve got the best prices on OEM parts if you’re looking to do this conversion I’d suggest giving Steven and the gang at Suncoast a call.

Parts Needed
—– AESTHETIC ——

Front Bumper Cover 996 505 311 30
Air Inlet Trim for Bumper (left) 996 505 563 30
Air Inlet Trim for Bumper (right) 996 505 564 30
Air Inlet Trim for Bumper (center) 996 505 561 30
(25) Speed Nuts (secures trim) 999 507 258 02
Headlight Trim Bracket (left) 996 505 539 03
Headlight Trim Bracket (right) 996 505 540 03
Headlight Trim Gasket (left) 996 505 741 30
Headlight Trim Gasket (right) 996 505 742 30

Center Top Grille 996 575 326 31
(6) Allen Screw (secures grille) 900 623 012 07
(6) Hexagon Nut (secures grille) 999 084 120 02

Lower Bumper Lip 996 505 555 30
(2) Tapping Screw 900 144 101 02
(2) Speed Nut 999 507 072 02

Front Wheel Well Liner (left) 996 504 123 90
Front Wheel Well Liner (right) 996 504 124 90

——- FUNCTIONAL ——-

Left Air Duct 996 575 321 30
Right Air Duct 996 575 322 30
Center Air Duct 996 575 325 30
Center Air Duct to Grille 996 575 141 30
(2) Spacer Sleeve 996 504 679 31

Lower Radiator Bracket (left) 996 106 131 72
Lower Radiator Bracket (right) 996 106 132 70

Coolant Hose 996 106 638 75
Coolant Hose 996 106 639 75

(2) 1.0″ ID Hose Joiners
(4) Worm style hoses clamps
(2) M8x16 x 80mm headbolts

Just wanted to remind everyone of 2 great events coming up this weekend that Titan Motorsports will be attending.

The first is the Cars for the Cure show at Colonial TownPark in Lake Mary. This event benefits the American Lung Association and is Free to the public and runs from 10AM-4PM.

Sunday is our Titan BBQ / Meet and Greet at Central Florida Road Course. Come check out Central Floridas newest road course and meet plenty of enthusiests. The event will run from 11AM-5PM, food will be provided and there will be parade laps for those who want to checkout the course first hand. Mapquest 201 Parcel Ln Orlando,FL 32824 for directions and don’t forget to BRING A HELMET!!!