Project : Boxster R

With my Boxster R project I've been trying to replicate the ethos of the 911R - a pure driver’s car with emphasis on sensations and engagement. What is the 911R recipe and how close or far am I from it? 911R Recipe: Light weight : 3021 lbs Short gear ratios Magnesium roof Lightweight clutch Single-mass flywheel Lighter battery Double wishbone front, multilink rear Magnesium wheels Carbon ceramic brakes Thinner glass Carbon roof, doors, wings  (1) In it's lowest weight configuration 911R would have no radio or air conditioning which is not something I am interested in. So, in reality a 911R with bucket seats would be closer to 3100+ lbs. My car is already at 3087 lbs ands I have a plan to get under 3000 lbs. (2) I have been waiting patiently to get shorter gear sets from Guard Transmission. Tariffs have been the main reason for the delay, as far as I can tell. With 50% tariff on imports from Australia the import charges are a bit too high and the parts would be priced higher th...

In its plain white color my Boxster GTS 4.0 looked quite understated and elegant. Although I felt my car could be dressed up a little for a more polished look without going overboard toward a flashy appearance. I am generally indifferent toward carbon fiber but do like the contrast it provides to a a light colored car.  Upon some research I came across an Asian company named Frog Venom. They make direct replacement carbon fiber parts for Porsche 718 cars. While still not exactly inexpensive, their parts did not feel to be prohibitively out of reach. I ended up getting the following: 1. Weissach style hood 2. Sideview mirror covers 3. GT4RS style side air inlet covers 4. Spyder RS style ducktail  5. Rear diffuser It took a few weeks for the well packaged parts to arrive but once I received them I was generally pleased with the quality. I'm sure Porsche OE carbon fiber parts are made to higher standards but I think these Frog Venom parts are decent quality for what they cost and...

The rationale for the thoughts and ramblings in the following chapters is to document my path to making as perfect of a driver's car that I can within my means and enjoy the process of this pursuit. The intended audience for these chapters is no one else other than myself. These chapters are more of a reference for the future and a consolidation of my decisions and reasons and timelines. Someone who lands on these pages by accident or as result of a a keyword search, may or may not agree with my thoughts or reasons or decisions. And that is totally OK. To the person who disagrees with me, please do what you like or prefer. You'll find joy in that. Just as I am finding a lot of joy in my project Boxster R . Next Chapter

After the first drive in my car with MCS 3-way dampers and Dundon's geometry improvement parts I knew it was a fantastic start and I felt that with some tweaks to MCS settings and car's alignment I could make it feel even better than it already was. Mike Kojima of MotoIQ is an expert at this and I watched several of his videos and read his articles and took notes as diligently as if I was back in school and preparing for an exam. The man is a wealth of knowledge on these matters and I followed his nuggets of wisdom to the letter. Went out for a few drives and made adjustments to various settings one at a time. Each time I would go drive a section of pavement where I felt the OE dampers and suspension were lacking and each time I made tweaks to either High Speed Compression, Low Speed Compression or Rebound. After about eight iterations, I felt I got it dialed in.  So, today I went out again to drive my usual 60 mile twisty route. I drive this route very frequently so I am extre...

So ... after such an extensive and expensive suspension upgrade the question remains - a re the MCS 3-way dampers and other Dundon suspension components worth it? Prior to my decision to get MCS 3-way when I was researching, I came across a forum post where someone described MCS 3-way as  "they change gravity" - I was intrigued. Today after coming back from my first hour long drive in the twisties and over some terrible sections of pavement, I now understand what that poster meant.  I was quite afraid that perhaps I might have made a very expensive mistake but not only am I relieved, I am actually a bit proud to have taken this leap of faith. This car has now entered a different category in terms of capability and enjoyment. It was already a very very good sporty car and is now an exceptional sports car. This car is now worthy of the Boxster R moniker. The word visceral is over used when talking about cars but visceral is what this car is now. Not harsh but visceral. With r...

In 2 years of ownership I felt that Boxster GTS 4.0 has a pretty comfortable suspension most of the time but whenever I encountered a road section with successive bumps/waves/ripples, the car would not feel planted and would become a bit unsettled/unpleasant even at 60 mph. Also even being moderately aggressive in tight hairpins would cause the car's rear to hop/skip/shudder sideways. Not a drift, just an unpleasant juddery behavior and my way to avoid this has been to be less aggressive in hairpins. Boxster GTS is extremely enjoyable, but I wondered if these shortcomings could be dialed out to make it even more enjoyable.  I shared these concerns with Dundon and they diagnosed  bump steer being  the issue with car's behavior in the rear. My  car was likely steering the rear away from the direction I wanted it to go. They  said their suspension setup package would help but the main fix would come come from the powerful MCS 3 way damper package. Dundon recommende...

I think every endeavor to shed weight from a sporty car must inevitably come to learning about the importance and advantages of shedding rotational mass versus unsprung mass versus static mass and usually wheels are the first stop on that journey. I am no different. I measured the standard Porsche wheels that my Boxster GTS 4.0 came with, to be: Front: 23.34 lbs and  Rear: 25.16 lbs With the desire to shed some rotational mass I started exploring magnesium wheel options. They are twice the cost of an aluminum wheels of the same design, so they can be quite expensive. There were a couple of magnesium wheel options that promised shedding up to 6 or 7 pounds per wheel but  I ended up ordering a set from VT Forged as their prices were a bit more reasonable. It took a few months but in the end when the wheels arrived, they looked very nice. I was happy when I weighed them to be: Front: 17.7 lbs and  Rear: 20.34 lbs So, front wheels ended up being 5.64 lbs lighter and rears 4.8...