2009 Carrera S "ZTADPOL" SharkWerks Project Car w/ full TechArt Type I

We were lucky enough to snap-up an early launch car (one of the first new 997's in the US) with the sole purpose of developing and testing some serious hardware for this new generation of 911. The 09 MKII 997S and in stock form feels like much more than just a "refresh".


The first order of business was to improve and liven up the sound. The stock exhaust system wasn't cutting it and so we set about creating/developing our own in-house solution. The new SharkWerks 997S muffler bypass system has been methodically designed, tested and proven on our own 2009 997S PDK car during the first few months of ownership. Whilst we were excited to own and drive the new generation of 997 one of the areas we felt needed more attention was the exhaust note. In stock form the sound was extremely quiet inside and out. The goal with our center exhaust replacement was to achieve a PSE-like sporty Porsche sound that we all know and love and yet retain factory fitment and be emissions legal.

Designed in-house and manufactured in Northern California the muffler bypass utilizes high-grade 18 gauge T304 tungsten inert gas welded stainless steel and sports a high glossy electropolished finish. The center replacement improves upon the factory unit by eliminating the sharp and tight left/right u-bends in favor of a straighter flow for a real world 12HP and 14TQ gain (see dyno plot below). Retaining the side mufflers maintains an appropriate sound level for daily driving (especially in a PDK car which is subject to droning). There is NO additional drone or resonance. Should you ever want an even more aggressive sound you can also combine our bypass with aftermarket mufflers designed for the factory center section (e.g. Cargraphic).



The dyno testing revealed some really good gains as well!




As with any SharkWerks car the ECU upgrade came calling and with the EVOMSit software our car was the first 997S.2 DFI car to get tuned. We have been running/testing the EVOMSit software on the car for many months both on the dyno and in terms of feeling/testing on the street. Armed with a pair of SDI3 (Siemens) ECUs, a PIWIS, AWD Mustang dyno, our EVOMSit Software/Hardware toolkit (came with the Tuner) we eked out a bit more power. Make no mistake the process wasn't easy (hence I believe nobody else is yet offering software for these cars). With the EVOMSit software a typical 997S PDK car can expect to gain 13HP and 12TQ on 91 octane. The nice thing was that we were able to create, test, tweak and fine tune multiple files on the car and on-site with these tools and gathered a plethora of data. The throttle response is also much-improved as far as drivability is concerned.

Here we are physically flashing the ECU from our car.


Next we swapped out thestock wheels in favor of some 19 inch HRE Monoblok P43's in brushed....

The next phase was an entire TechArt Type 1 Aerokit installation as the car was used for the CEC/TechArt Booth for the SEMA 2008 show to debut their new aero package along wth TechArt lowering springs (car sits 20mm lower)


I'm really surprised at how well this car now handles _with_ TechArt springs. For anyone that knows me, this might well come as a bit of a shock (no pun intended) because in general we will not install H&R spring kits on any 996, Cayman or 997 based car. It's coil overs or else type of thing... But whatever changes were made to the stock shocks they seem to be very compliant and a great match for the TechArt springs on these .2 cars. It seems like we really do have another less expensive option that works well on .2 997. I'm still scratching my head!

More mods on the car today as we installed RSS' new front/rear sway bar kit today. We used to use H&Rs but one thing that was a pet peeve with those kits was a) they were NOT adjustable in the front b) they were solid-design/heavier and noisier with the polyurethane bushing kit. RSS' kit is a hollow-design but still 50% stiffer than stock, fits using the factory bushings and is also 3-way adjustable in the rear _and_ front (yay).

Here's a comparison of the front stock (bottom) vs RSS:


The rear bar is super-easy to install (wish I could say the same for the front):


In order to do the fronts a bunch of panels and parts need to come off but at least you can see the physical size of the PDK tranny. It didn't stop there installed as the goal was to tighten up the car's handling and provide better road feel/feedback.



We installed our new track-orientated suspension components:

1) Adjustable Rear Link Kit

This kit replaces the four upper links (two per side) on the rear end of all 996/997 models. The RSS kit allows for sufficient adjustable camber on lowered cars (the factory adjustment is insufficient on lowered cars, resulting in improper camber settings). The links also replace the neoprene bushings with steel monoballs, reducing movement in suspension components and increasing road feedback and "feel".


RSS adjustable rear link compared with an OEM link from a 2009 Carrera S (and a hammerhead shark).

Here's a picture of this kit installed on our project car:




There is more info here on our product page:
http://www.sharkwerks.com/products.php?pid=204

2) Adjustable Toe Steer Kit
On lowered Porsches with a factory toe steer link, the limited adjustment results in incorrect toe geometry in the rear. This kit is designed to fix that problem. It also replaces the inner neoprene bushing with a steel monoball.

Adjustable toe steer link vs. stock



For more info on this part please see:
http://www.sharkwerks.com/products.php?pid=205

3) Monoball Lower Contorl Arm Bushings
This kit replaces the four pivot bushings (one per corner) on the inner side of the lower control arms with steel monoballs, increasing the precision of the pivot motion of the control arm as it travels up and down under cornering.

Note: Four are included in a set.

This is a pretty wacky picture, but to the far left you can see the bushing installed in the control arm:

On the right side of the control arm, you can see the Adjustable Thrust Arm Bushing installed.

Additional info on this item is available at:
http://www.sharkwerks.com/products.php?pid=206

4) Adjustable Thrust Arm Bushings


The aluminum adjustable thrust arm bushings replace the neoprene factory units on the other end (outside) of the control arms. This allows for adjustable caster.

Two are required per corner, and sold in a set of four for the front or rear.

For more info on this part, please see:
http://www.sharkwerks.com/products.php?pid=207

With all of these parts installed, our '09 was noticeably tightened up and has significantly improved road feedback. It's hard to determine what additional noise or discomforts may have been added by the installation, but we must re-emphasize that these are track-orientated parts and not for everyone.

You can view the suspension components for 997s here:
http://www.sharkwerks.com/products.php?model_id=6&type=Suspension

NOTE: these work on any 997 narrow body. Gen 1 or 2.

Now on to the two piece rotor upgrades. The 997S 09 comes with 330mm front and 330mm rears so not only are we going with a lighter weight two piece slotted/drilled rotor but these can actually bolt on with caliper spacers to fit 350mm ones (also still lighter).
All four stock vs new:

Front RSS one comes in at 22.16 pounds:

Smaller stock one is still heavier at 23.24 pounds

New larger rears at 17.7 pounds:

Old smaller stockers at 19.86 pounds:

Fronts installed:

Rears installed:

Hey guys just another small update today... James fabbed one of our fire extinguisher bracket and kit set ups to work with our manual sport seats. Not sure what you guys think but if there's enough demand we might make them.



As the finished article she's not only featured in the TechArt 2009 catalogues (and calendar) but also We had Mike Febbo (of European Car, http://motorlust.com/) shoot our car a little while back near the James Dean Memorial in central California and wanted to share some of the photos he sent our way.