AWESOME POWER | AWESOME PRICE The 996 Porsche market is evolving every day, and to keep up with it, Switzer Performance has revamped its BEST VALUE tuning packages to include new, billet-wheel K16 turbo upgrades capable of delivering a smooth and flexible 700 hp on 93 octane pump gas!
P700 BEST VALUE PKG ON THE DYNO Switzer's new P700 Best Value PKG for 996 TT includes the following:
This is a next-generation tuning solution that does away with a conventional 5-bar fuel pressure regulator, replacing it with a high-flow injection system that allows more precise and efficient tuning that what is possible with the 5-bar.
The P700 Best Value PKG for 996 TT is available now from Switzer dealers, starting at $9995. Contact Switzer Performance for more.
CHECK OUT THAT 4-5 SHIFT AT THE END Last week, the crew at Switzer Performance went down to David Buschur's Mustang Dyno to put some new development turbos through their paces.
The result? 806 HP | 723 TQ That's right: a staggering eight-hundred-and-six wheel horsepower. Even assuming a hugely conservative 10% driveline loss, that's OVER 895 HP at the crank!
We'll have full details and more technical info. coming soon - stay tuned!
PORSCHE 997.2 TT MEETS SLEDGEHAMMER Since it hit the ground running 9-second quarter miles back in 2008, the 997 TT-based Switzer SLEDGEHAMMER has been making big waves on the online forums. Recently, however, Porsche introduced a new "997.2" version of the TT, featuring a new engine, new turbos, and a new dual-clutch "PDK" transmission.
Porsche's new 997.2 TT has been covered elsewhere, and our initial driving impressions mirror those of most testers: the PDK is slick, and the car is reasonably quick fresh out of the box. Of more interest to you, I'm sure, is that we'll be using this white-over-red ("cocaine-over-cherries") TT as our in-house development car for a new range of 997.2 tuning programs.
SWITZER P700/R750 VTG KIT | MOSCOW The latest Porsche 911 's variable-vane turbochargers (VTG) are marvels of modern performance engineering that allow the 911's relatively small 6-cylinder “boxer” engine to deliver incredible horsepower, and help keep Porsche's flagship competitive with supercars boasting 10, 12, or even 16 cylinder engines. Even with nearly 500 hp from the factory, however, Porsche turbo owners still want more – more power, more speed, more everything. These performance enthusiasts demand superior performance, and have lofty expectations.
In order to meet those clients' lofty horsepower goals, it is necessary to increase the flow of air into the Porsche's engine – and since the primary function of any turbocharger is precisely to force air into an engine, upgrading the factory-provided VTG turbochargers is a logical step in the process of building additional power ... but Porsche clients don't want to sacrifice reliability to have more power.
This is the real problem faced by the modern tuner: clients want more performance, without more trips to the garage.
In order to provide a thrilling experience that is reliable enough to thrill time and time again, day or night, Monday through Sunday, we here at Switzer Performance have to deliver a package that is simply better than what the factory offers. We need an exhaust that flows more air. Intercoolers that remove more heat. We need turbos that are more efficient – that compress more air, and make less heat than the stock Porsche turbos.
How did we do it? By working closely with some of the industry's leading engineering firms and OE suppliers.
Switzer Performance' close relationships with our development partners allow us to produce larger-than-stock compressor wheels with unique aero profiles specifically designed to achieve the airflow rates required for our P650/R680 and P700/R750 Porsche tuning packages. The new wheels are 11% larger than stock, and allow the Switzer turbos to move more air than the factory Porsche turbos, while generating less heat. MORE AIR + LESS HEAT = MORE POWER + LESS MAINTENANCE The Switzer VTGs have other competitive advantages, as well – all due to Switzer's unique ability to specify exactly the component characteristics required to meet our needs, as determined by our clients.
All of this is made possible through the incredible advances in engineering and design software, and lessons learned from decades of aggressive aftermarket turbocharger development. These are lessons that have taught us to build both power and reliability into a given system, and given us the ability to deliver cutting-edge performance upgrades that meet or exceed OEM-levels of component fit, finish, and quality.
“Quality” is a word we take very seriously. On that note, I'd like to point out that every VTG turbocharger Switzer upgrades is built to be as solidly reliable as the OEM component it replaces.
When we upgrade these turbochargers, every component is cleaned, refinished, and checked for proper tolerances. Every backing plate and compressor housing is CNC-machined for precise matching to our compressor wheels. We use only brand-new seals and bearings in our cartridges. We individually balance all shaft and wheel assemblies during assembly, then verify the final product with a high-precision cartridge balance, ensuring that there is no self-destructive behavior once the turbos are put into service. These are rebuilt cores, for sure, but they are so thoroughly reconditioned that it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to call them “new”. SWITZER TUNED VTG PORSCHE TURBO Sadly, however, there are number of companies that are trying to sell simple wheel swaps with little or no regard to additional machining and quality-control procedures. They are telling their clients that these steps aren't necessary, swapping in some billet wheel, and calling it a day ... and there are a lot of billet wheel options on the market, being produced with reasonably-priced and readily-available alloys.
That's simply not the case here, as every compressor wheel we use is built with aerospace quality alloys specifically formulated for use in high-performance turbines. 5052 or 6061 aluminum simply will not perform consistently in the brutal, ultra-high temperature world inside a high-performance turbo housing, and even laymen can spot the cheaper wheels after a few heavy duty cycles. Combine objectively inferior alloys with anything less than best-practice machining and assembly programs, and it becomes easy to see why the resulting products tend to self-destruct over time.
Our client's cars are just not something we at Switzer are willing to take a chance on.
We demand and use only the best material technologiess and manufacturing practices; and we work diligently to deliver products that perform better than anything else available anywhere. These VTGs certainly aren't the cheapest turbo upgrades available to Porsche enthusiasts, but they represent the best value for dollar argument in the aftermarket today: the best of everything, at a fair price.
Switzer VTG turbo upgrades are available as direct replacements for the factory VTGs, or as part of our comprehensive tuning solutions for Porsche's 997 TT and GT2. Contact Switzer Performance for more.
WHAT 800 EMISSIONS-COMPLIANT HP LOOKS LIKE Porsche's 996 model was, arguably, the most significant product launch in the company's history, making the flagship 911 a modern car, instead of an air-cooled anachronism.
The 996 was initially shunned by many Porsche purists, but quickly became a favorite tuning platform for tuners. As we mentioned before in these pages, the 996 featured an engine derived from Porsche's cost-no-object GT1 program, which was shelved at the end of the 1990's, and the engine's bullet-proof construction has allowed us to push the stock internals of the 996's successor - the 997 - to incredible power levels, far beyond what was possible with the older air-cooled cars.
A robust platform is just one part of the puzzle, however - rapid advancements in both machining, software, and rapid-prototyping technologies is another, and development partners like TiAL Sport have made the most of these new tools, providing us with state-of-the-art turbine housings that manage airflow and heat more efficiently than even the most advanced racing turbos of just a few years ago ... which got us thinking.
Our primary focus has been on the newer 997 model Porsches (more on those, later), but what if we revisited that platform with current knowledge, using a new turbo based on TiAL's latest Alpha housings (plus a few Switzer tweaks to optimize it for the 996 TT)? What would that car be like?
The results (below), speak for themselves ... SMOOTH AND LINEAR AND NEVER STOPS PULLING ... over 670 whp on 93 octane with 200-cell catalytic converters in place, and a super-smooth curve that gives the car a "Jekyll and Hyde" duality of smooth cruising and easy driving around-town, followed up by Veyron-baiting performance when the nanny-controls are off and the pedals hit the metals.
Considering the current market prices for 996 turbos, Tym feels a car like this delivers the ultimate daily driver/weekend track-day experience by offering a reliable driveline, capable suspension, and excellent braking with the stability and confidence of AWD. He says it best himself,
"This is an 800 hp pump-gas Porsche that can be driven to the track, run hard all day, and driven home. In short: I couldn't be happier with the results, and - most importantly - neither can our clients."
Pricing for this new "P800" 996 TT PKG starts at 18990 USD for Tiptronic Porsche 996 TT, and replaces our existing PREMIUM POWER 996 packages. These prices reflect the same "best bang-for-the-buck" philosophy as our BEST VALUE POWER packages, which start at $3995.
Designing, developing, and building high-horsepower exotics is a complicated business, and nobody does it alone. Here at Switzer, Tym has always worked to establish relationships with the most technically qualified specialists in every field, in order to deliver the best possible product to our customers.
With that in mind, we'd like to officially welcome Dodson Motorsport - widely regarded as the foremost experts in R35 GT-R transmission and driveline tuning, and well-known in the tuning community at large.
Above, you can see a near-final design rendering for Dodson's latest heavy-duty clutch assembly, which we'll be using in some of our upcoming high-horsepower Nissan builds ... but I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. We'll be posting specs and prices on the upcoming Switzer/Dodson transmission builds in the coming weeks.
The 996 market is changing fast, and we all need to adapt to the new breed of 996 customers. To that end, we're now offering "BEST VALUE" and "PREMIUM POWER" tuning lines for the 996. Both lines feature aggressive package pricing while remaining true to the high levels of quality we've established as a Switzer standard, but the "BEST VALUE" options are really something else. Consider:
$3995 for PKG1
Switzer exhaust, BMC filter, and DME flash
$5995 for PKG2
Upgraded Switzer K16 hybrid turbos, 5 bar regulator, iridium performance plugs, Switzer exhaust, BMC filter, and DME flash
We're still offering our Premium line of 996 products to those customers that want the very best of the best. You can see more on our 996TT page here: SWITZER | Porsche 996 TT Performance.
Our Russian dealer, Tuning-Technologies, has recently updated their website with new graphics, photos, and more (home page shown, above).
It's still something of a work in progress, but they'll be 100% by 01 June. Click the link above to visit the site. It's got lots of great information (assuming you can read Russian!!).
Our good friend Mike from Tuning-Technologies Russia just got back from last weekend's informal top-speed tuner event in Russia, where he took his Switzer 700/750 997 out to "race" against twin-turbo Ford GTs, Ferraris, SLR McLarens, and more.
The pic above shows the car in motion, leaping off the line ahead of a twin-turbo Ford GT from Heffner - our own VBox shows this package produces over 1.5g under acceleration, so maybe this shouldn't be such a surprise?
You can get a quick glimpse of Mike in this photo, below. More links to the action below - and we'll post video as soon as it's available. Enjoy!
Switzer Announces SLEDGEHAMMER 1000 hp Porsche Conversion Package Tym Switzer has been quietly running Switzer Performance Innovations (SPI) in Oberlin, Ohio for several years, building show-quality exhausts and bolt-on performance products for twin-turbo Porsche 996 and 997 models.
With his latest project, Tym and the crew at SPI wanted to test the limits of what would be possible with stock 997 internals. “When the customer first came to me with his 997, we talked a lot about about pushing the limits the new engine and what might be possible using stock internals. I had already been inside the 997 turbo engines, and felt that 700 wheel horsepower seemed well within reach on pump fuel, and that we might be able to go a bit further.”
That “bit further” eventually led to what Switzer calls the SLEDGEHAMMER. Named after candid comment from an SPI tech, the SLEDGEHAMMER is a bolt-on performance package for 997 twin-turbo Porsches that delivers over 850 all-wheel horsepower on race fuel. That's over 1000 hp at the crank!
Getting Bugatti-baiting performance figures from a bolt-on prepared 997 is no easy task, though. Switzer explains he and his crew “have always prided ourselves on attention to detail and delivering exactly what we promise to our customers. We have a saying around here: performance, not excuses. So during the original SLEDGEHAMMER build we looked at every part of the system, constantly metering and testing every component, on our in-house chassis dyno.”
A finished Switzer SLEDGEHAMMER is certainly an amazing car. Switzer reports that (despite backing off the throttle early) the first SLEDGEHAMMER went almost 195 mph at the Texas mile. Additional performance figures read like the stuff of legend: consistent 0-60 times in the mid 2's, less than 5 seconds to go from 60-130 mph, and 9.8-second quarter mile elapsed times with trap speeds regularly in excess of 145 mph. “With performance like that, these cars really speak for themselves - I have another one on the dyno now, and expect to post the results of those runs shortly.”
In addition to extensive ECU tuning, the SLEDGEHAMMER package includes SPI's in-house developed headers and sport exhaust, as well as SPI's MONSTER intercooler package and SPI-massaged GT30R turbos. More details on Switzer's SLEDGEHAMMER conversion can be found on SPI's website. The SLEDGEHAMMER package retails for 49990USD, and is available through SPI. Contact SPI for more information. CLICK HERE for more information.
