Vivid Racing Project Car, 2007 997 Turbo

New Coilovers Installed on VR Project 997TT

Its pretty much a standard practice around here for Vivid Racing Project Cars. Get car, add wheels, do JIC suspension. Whether it is the JIC Magic for our JDM cars like the EVO X, or the JIC Cross for our 996 C2, Audi A3, and 996 TT, we pick these coilovers because they are the best. This JIC Cross coilover seperates itself from the competition in many ways. Having run these coilovers on probably 10 of our own personal cars, I am very familiar with how they ride and perform. I know that this coilover is just not another off the shelf make, but is truly tested. Jon the owner of JIC Magic in Southern California works very closely with his partners in Japan to develop this suspension system. Every coilover he comes out with for the Porsche models he tests, races, and proves in his own Porsche. His most recent white 997TT (I almost bought!) was setup with the JIC Cross suspension and H&R sway bars. Jon has tested these in many different Time Attack events and even caught some air time on Speed TV for his vehicle test.

As you know, one of the biggest differences with JIC Cross compared to say a PSS10 or a KW is that it includes front camber plates and rear pillowball mounts. The front camber plates allow up to negative 3 degrees of camber for those serious track guys. But, eliminating the factory rubber strut tops that are used on the PSS10 and KW gives the JIC better steering responsiveness. However, this does offer a bit stiffer of a ride since the tops are made of 6061 aluminum and use a monoball bearing.

The coilovers feature full adjustable height with helper springs. You can set your coilovers to be the same as the stock height or as low as 2.5 inches. Jon was nice enough to duplicate the same setup he had on his 997TT with the 8/12KG spring rates and ride height. This is great for street driving which is mostly what my car will see. However, having had this same spring rate on my 996TT and tracked it, this coilover performs amazing on the course. It has a fast reacting damper that works very well and when balanced with the proper tire setup, will improve lap times tremendously.

1 disadvantage is that it does not work with the factory PASM system. It does have 16 way adjustable dampening that is manually done. For me, this was not a big deal. Having sold many sets of Bilstein PSS10 which work incredible on the street or track, that is a good alternative if you want to keep your PASM.

When it comes to alignments, doing a full corner balance is the way to go. However we have a great alignment shop we use that does a basic setup and to be honest, car rides great, runs straight, and instead of $400, it is $150. Soon we will be adding a set of front and rear GMG adjustable sway bars to improve the balance as the car still pushes slightly. We could go further and add our Agency Power front adjustable drop links and rear adjustable control arms, however this is a great setup for our purpose.

So final verdict... If you don't mind getting rid of the PASM system and want a more aggressive suspension, JIC Cross is the way to go. If you want an OEM compatible system that handles excellent on the street and will perform well on the track, Bilstein PSS10 are great too.

Special thanks to Mike at AWE and Brandywine Porsche for their "How To" on disabling the PASM. Thanks to Garey at IAutohaus for helping us as well. Worked great and took us 15 mins.

Enjoy the pics! You can see all project car pics here - http://www.vividracing.com/forums/gallery/browseimages.php?c=342

65+HP Added with the Softronic ECU Flash

Our next stage in performance modifications for our Porsche 997TT was the Softronic ECU Flash. Many others have proved their softwares potential and now it was time for Softronic to show why it has some serious power. Because our car already had the JIC Cross exhaust installed on it, we did 3 different tests to show where the ECU stood in performance.

First, lets discuss about Softronic a little bit. Softronic has been doing Porsche Performance for 20+ years. As the former PCA technical advisor and now working with Porsche Motorsports and even well known race teams for data checking and tuning, Scott Slauson brings a convenient, well thought out, and proven form of ECU Tuning to Porsche. Vivid Racing has had strong success with the Softronic ECU Tuning in the 996TT community. Softronic has been flashing 997TT's on the East Coast since the cars release and now Vivid Racing is bringing the proof to the mainstream. As everyone knows, the CAN software the 997TT uses does not allow for Client OBDII flashing. The ECU must be removed and sent in for a bench flash. What makes Softronic different is their ability to tune off the factory timing and lambda tables instead of "Global" changes like others may do. Another strong factor is that Softronic ECU Tuning is adaptive to race fuel and bolt on components such as an exhaust and intake, so there is no need to re-reflash the car. Softronic has also gone so far to have ECU maps developed for GT30 turbo kits, GT2 Turbos, and more.

As tested here at Vivid Racing, after installing our new flashed ECU, we connected the factory Porsche PIWIS tester to check for any faults or signals that the data has been tampered with. Many users are concerned about warranty. The PIWIS tool showed a ECU program was installed, but no other info about what was done. This could be a factory Porsche software update or anything. So no worries on the warranty being voided.

Before the car was dynoed to show the results, we did a variety of street and highway driving. We looked at characteristics of gas mileage, partial throttle driving, acceleration, and overall impressions. Gas mileage was only changed under full throttle circumstances. During normal driving characteristics, the gas mileage stayed consistant with what it was stock. Partial throttle driving had the car feel like a normal vehicle without being to "punchy". When you exceeded that throttle point and the boost kicked in, the car hit hard and was litterally a land rocket. For only having an exhaust and flash on the car, this car was as fast or faster then some of the 996TT with 650HP kits and over $15,000 invested in them.

Once we were happy with the cars performance on the street, we wanted to see how it would perform on the dyno. We strapped down our 997TT to our Mustang All Wheel Drive dyno. This dyno is also known as the "The Heart Breaker" for its low readings but more accurate results for tuning. With proper fans on the intercoolers and radiators, we ran the car in the summers 105 degree room temperature. We compared the car with sport mode and off. We did about 6 runs to make sure we had consistant results.

The first dyno graph shows a comparison of what the Softronic ECU Flash added for power. The car was first tested with the stock ECU and exhaust then tested with the flash ECU and exhaust. The Softronic ECU Flash added 66HP and 54ft/lbs of torque.


The 2nd dyno compares the Softronic Flash with JIC Exhaust to the Stock 997TT. This was a gain of 104HP and 83ft/lbs of torque. Now this is a hard one to compare to other products and companies because of 2 variables. Exhaust brand and temperature. The 997TT is very finicky in sport mode with different exhausts. Most aftermarket exhausts are running 200cell cats. So you have to have the ECU flash done to turn off the CEL caused by the cat inefficiency code. The JIC exhaust uses 80mm piping and is much more free flowing then other systems, so it adds alot of power.


The 3rd and final dyno compares the Softronic with and without Sport Mode turned on. Watching the boost gauge on the dash, in sport mode, the car held a constant 17psi to 6800rpm. Without sport mode, the car ran 15psi. These runs were done back to back. What was interesting is that without sport mode, the car made more peak at redline power. But if you look at the curve the initial boost from Sport Mode gave the car a TON more torque and mid range. It could be possible that the Sport Mode which caused the EGT to rise on a back to back run cut out at the high RPM. The inital torque and midrange is good as that is one thing you can TRULY feel when driving.


Baseline test of the completely stock vehicle was done on 91 octane. Exhaust Test and Softronic ECU test were done using a 93 octane map. These are all my opinions and observations from my own tests. If you are interested in the Softronic ECU Flash, http://www.vividracing.com/catalog/softronic-m-390.html View the 997TT Flash Product Here.

You can view more pictures from our Project 997TT and tests here - http://www.vividracing.com/forums/gallery/browseimages.php?c=342

GMG Sway Bars Installed on Project 997 Turbo

To maximize the performance of our JIC Cross coilovers, Vivid Racing hooked up with GMG to install this front and rear performance sway bar kit. The GMG sway bars are both 3 way adjustable and feature new polyurethane bushings. The sway bars allow you to gain up to 70% more stiffest compared to the stock sway bars. When handling the bars, they are very light and feel to be hollow. Like the factory Porsche GT3 bars, hollow sway bars are known to be more rigid.

Installation of the rear bar is very straight forward. The bushing mounts unbolt easily and then you remove the sway bar links from the sway bar. The factory bar will then drop right out. The GMG Sway Bar will fit back into place and simply grease up the bushings and tighten everything down.

The front sway bar is much more difficult. It definitely requires proper tools and some elevation to the car. You have to unbolt quite alot of the braces, front toe arm, and even loosen a bracket on the steering rack. Once done, no problem!

Having drove the 997TT before the sway bars on fast mountain rodes, the car did feel ok but definitely still pushed alittle. You could feel the car want to become unstable at higher speed turns even with the great Michelin PS2 tires and the JIC Cross coilovers. Having driven with the GMG Sway Bars, the car is much more responsive. The under steer has been eliminated and the car feels balanced. When driving an AWD car, I like to have the rear end kick out a bit more like a RWD car and then have the front wheels pull you through the turn. I set the rear sway bar link on the stiffest hole and the front in the middle. Once I hit the track, I will be able to fine tune this setup in conjunction with the dampening on my JIC Cross Coilovers. Overall, the GMG Sway Bars is a great modification to the suspension. To further enhance the car, we plan on adding the Agency Power Rear Control Arms and Front Adjustable Sway Bar Links down the road.

Vivid Racing stocks the GMG Sway Bar Kit for the Porsche 997TT. You can view other pictures and order online here - http://www.vividracing.com/catalog/...way-bar-set-porsche-997tt-c4s-07-p-46279.html

View all the pictures of our GMG Sway Bar Install on the VR Porsche 997 Turbo by CLICKING HERE.

There is alot of controversy and talks about the IPD intake plenum kits for the different Porsche models. RSS the distributor of IPD Plenums has gone so far to dyno test some of these units to prove the claims they state. Knowing the ability Vivid Racing has to gain traction for products, RSS hooked up with us to add a http://www.vividracing.com/catalog/ipd-m-417.html IPD Intake Plenum to our http://www.vividracing.com/forums/project-997tt Project 997 Turbo.

Having used the intake plenum in our previous http://www.vividracing.com/forums/project-996tt Porsche 996 Turbo project, we were familiar with the butt dyno results the IPD unit gave. Because of the stage of our 996TT, we were not able to get a good before and after test on this unit. However with our 997 Turbo, we aim to show the quality, power, and reason why every 997 Turbo will benefit from using the plenum.

The first process is to install this unit in the car. Though it looks challenging because you have NO room to move, it actually took our technician only 2 hours to do the complete swap. All you have to do is remove the factory Y-Pipe and then access the stock plenum. Because of the tight space, getting some of the vacuum lines off is the only difficult part. You can see in the side by side shot how the stock plenum is a T Shape. The IPD is in the form of a Y which helps improve air flow efficiency. When the air flow is directed in a more efficient manner, this will help reduce turbulence and improve your power. One thing we decided to change out was the factory black ridged rubber pipe that connects the throttle body to the Y-Pipe. We took one of our Agency Power silicone reducers and swapped it out. This part has a smooth internal surface to keep air flow as optimal as it could be.

Once everything was back together we fired up the car and checked for leaks and CEL's. Install was perfect! Driving the car around the streets you can immediately notice some of the turbo lag reduced because of the improved air flow efficiency. Being that our car is already flashed with http://www.vividracing.com/catalog/softronic-m-390.html Softronic and has the http://www.vividracing.com/catalog/...l-sport-exhaust-porsche-997tt-07-p-53308.html JIC exhaust and http://www.vividracing.com/catalog/agency-power-headers-porsche-997tt-06-p-46159.html Agency Power headers, it already moves well! But the http://www.vividracing.com/catalog/ipd-intake-plenum-porsche-997tt-07-p-47489.html IPD plenum did add to the mid range like they describe.

Stay tuned for the dyno results we will post up tomorrow!!!

Enjoy all the installation pictures here - http://www.vividracing.com/forums/gallery/browseimages.php?c=342

Are Vivid Racing ECU flash products available via a UK retailer?

steveheath said:

Are Vivid Racing ECU flash products available via a UK retailer?

Click to expand...

there are no longer a UK operation

please speak to either

https://www.nineexcellence.com/

https://rpmtechnik.co.uk/

https://www.design911.co.uk/

steveheath said:

Are Vivid Racing ECU flash products available via a UK retailer?

Click to expand...

A quick google seems to imply that they aren't and 'VividRacingUK' hasn't posted on here for 11 years.