PREFACE

A lot of time and money was spent to perform the tests outlined below. My own $ and not freebies given for a more favorable review. All tests were conducted strictly to satisfy my curiosities and maybe help some people make a more informed decision when deciding what modifications to purchase for the car. I stand to gain absolutely nothing from the success or failure of any companies associated with the research, development, production, distribution and sale of the RS350 kit.

That said, let's get started.



BACKGROUND

I currently own a 2006 Cayman S (manual), purchased from the dealership as a CPO vehicle about 6 months ago, 100% stock and currently with 13,xxx miles on the clock. The wheels/tires combination were factory (lobster claw) 19's wrapped in PS2. The car came equipped with every option in the book minus the PCCB option.



BASELINE

The car was dyno-ed to establish a proper 'baseline' on a dyno dynamics chassis dynometer on October 17, 2008 by JBA Racing. JBA Racing is an exclusive domestic tuner in San Diego specializing in Ford Mustangs and do not carry any of the products found in the RS350 kit. At the time the dyno was conducted, the car had zero modifications.

2 tests were made 15 minutes from one another in forth gear with the following variables:

Gear Ratio: 58.33:1
Ambient Temperature: ~81.3 degrees
A-Factor: 1.011
X-Factor: 1.170[/b]

test 1: 284 rwhp // 252 rwtq
test 2: 277 rwhp // 254 rwtq



The car ran exceptionally well, logging record numbers for a stock Cayman S. There's no way to know if doing 5 additional runs would result in lower numbers. Either way, just keep in mind that the numbers themselves don't matter as much as the difference under the curve before and after given the same X-Factor and similar testing conditions.

Now onto the fun stuff....



MODIFICATIONS

On the same day(October 17, 2008), CayGirl's used Milltek catback arrived and was promptly added to the car. (Thanks Marilynn!!!)

Exactly 1 week later, on October 24, 2008, the following modifications were installed:


- IDP Competition Plenum
- OEM 997 GT3 Throttle Body Parts # 99760511601
- EVOMS Intake/Filter
- EVOMS 'RS350' Software



INITIAL IMPRESSION

The car felt extremely torquey especially between 2-4k rpm. Having seen the enormous torque dip from the baseline dyno, I immediately noticed a difference while puttering around town. I took the car to redline while merging onto the onramp and for the first time, the 987S had me pressed against my seat. First gear went by like a blur and second, third and forth flew by in a heartbeat. By the time I was merging, I realized I was already traveling at go-directly-to-jail speeds.

Passing the noticeably torquier rpm ranges down low, the horsepower immediately picks up where the torque left off screaming to 7000. Above 5000 or so, not only can you feel the variable cam change, you can hear a distinct change in engine note just behind the driver seat. Things are looking very promising. Having owned a NA tuned E46M3, a K16 996TT, E60M5, and a 997C2S before the Cayman S, the best way to sum up my initial impression is this:

the car pushes you forward like a 996TT down low, and extremely very eager to rev to redline like the 997C2S up top.

Okay.. Back to more technical analysis/testing...


'AFTER' DYNO

The very next day, October 25, 2008, the car was once again tested at JBA Racing, by the same person who tested the car a week earlier. The same fan setup was done with 2 shop fans pointing in front of the car and no other fans pointed at the side vents.

Everything was done to try and get the before/after runs as identical as possible. I waited at JBA Racing for close to two hours while monitoring the dyno to ensure that the conditions were almost identical to the runs conducted a week earlier. This is evident in the nearly identical A-Factor, and Ambient Temperature. Once again, 2 tests were made, again 15 minutes from one another in forth gear with the following variables:

Gear Ratio: 58.33:1
Ambient Temperature: ~81.6 degrees
A-Factor: 1.011
X-Factor: 1.170[/b]

Run 1: 297 rwhp // 264 rwtq
Run 2: 300 rwhp // 264 rwtq



The Overlay:





The dyno graphs confirmed my theory that the car gained a substantial amount of torque down low. I chose to use the more powerful baseline for the overlay to show that even with the stronger peak numbers, the gains down low were still significant. Notice in the overlay, the car gained as much as +30-35 rwtq down low, and continue to make substantial gains all the way to redline. Max horsepower gain was also around +30-35rwhp. While it flattens out up top, the area under the curve over the entire rpm range is significantly improved.

I am curious as to the stock power of my car since the first run and the second run differed by over 5rwhp.



COMMENTARY

My personal thoughts on why it didn't make radical gains up top: different 91 octane fuel (CA 91 is equivalent to <91 elsewhere in the country), different Catback Exhaust (Milltek v. Cargraphic), and stronger base run may also skew the data as the % gain is also minimized. Had the car put down ~ 265rwhp, which is uniform across most stock Cayman S, the car would've shown a 35 rwhp gain up top, not to mention an insane amount of torque gain across the range. But these are all guestimates. is the car slower than the white Sharkwerks RS350 on a different dyno on a different day tested by a different person? who knows?

To help put things into perspective: My friend's E46M3, with GruppeM Intake, and Eisenmann Catback put down 276rwhp on the same dyno 30 minutes before me. With M3s advertised at 333 crank hp and traditionally putting down between 268rwhp-275rwhp, the numbers appeared to be within reason. After the dyno, we conducted several rolling first to 4th gear comparisons with the same consistent result of me pulling 3-4 cars after third. This is the same M3 that I could just barely keep up before the modifications were made.

Sidebar... With the power and weight difference, the Cayman would've came out further on top had the car been equipped with similar gearing ratio as the M3 and the 997S. Some research revealed that the Cayman was given taller-than-997 gearings first through fifth to reduce straight line acceleration, and a shorter-than-997 6th gear to keep the top speed just under the 997. Damn marketing department



CONCLUSION

A lot of people will ask,

Is it worth it? For me personally, yes. I've had a number of cars, all but one were quite a bit faster than the Cayman S. If they made a Cayman Turbo/GT, I would've bought one. This is as good as it gets in my opinion without getting something significantly more costly or play with fire (force induction).

Is it enough? No. Pullies, Race Cats, Headers and a software update is next. Probably not immediately as the car is still putting a ear-to-ear grin on my face every time i hop in and out. Most likely in a few months.

Will i consider Softronic for my next round of upgrades? Of Course! I go with the best product regardless of brand, with $ being the limiting factor of course.

Who should i go to get this done? I used to go to a shop called Mind Over Motorsport in San Diego with previous cars. Unfortunately, since buying the Cayman S, they are no longer in business. If you're looking at getting this setup, you're covered on the west coast. Sharkwerks in Northern California, Evolution Motorsport in Arizona, and Stuttgart Performance in Southern California. I did the exhaust install myself, and could've handled everything else except the software. We have plenty of DIYs on this great forum that most people should be able to do self-installs.

Why the RS350 and not Softronic? To be completely honest, I was on the fence for a while like most of you reading thread after thread about the two products. Just before purchasing, I was set on Softronic because i figured if I'm going to risk losing a lot of $, I might as well go with the one that's cheaper. After being suggested by K-Man S to find a vendor willing to give a $-back guarantee, I decided to give the RS350 a shot knowing that if it didn't perform as advertised, I can always return it.



THE CHALLENGE

I am curious how this kit fare against its Softronic counterpart as well as a stock Cayman S. if you have the Softronic SRP installed in your car or have a stock 3.4, and wouldn't mind meeting up with me in Southern California to do some comparative testing, please contact me in private and we can set something up. This is of course just for curiosity sake and will only be shared in this thread if the tests were satisfactory conducted to all parties involved. Thanks !



MY THANKS

Stuttgart Performance, especially Anthony who installed all the parts for me within my stringent schedule. Had a great trip and definitely looking forward to future installs. Thanks for the wonderful hospitality Greg, your shop was incredible. Will definitely start another thread to share the pictures i've taken that day.

Evolution Motorsport, especially Todd and Ian for handling the flashing of the software while I waited with the DME out of my car at Stuttgart Performance.

Gator Bite(Mike)@caymanclub for his stellar exhaust removal DIY. Without it, I would've never been able to get the Milltek installed. Not to mention the very informative FAQ on the Softronic setup which gave an in depth look at the product offered.

K-Man S(Ken)@caymanclub for making the suggestion to about some vendors offering the $-back guarantee. If he didn't say to give it a shot and return it if I didn't like it, I would've never done this, and potentially never experience the epic transformation of my Cayman.

Caygirl@caymanclub for the great deal on the Milltek and going through all the trouble getting it to California for me. Thanks a bunch!

HighTT@6speedonline for his thread comparing the Softronic software compared to the RS350 software on the same hardware setup.




THINK BEFORE YOU POST

Please think about the work/$ that went into the testings cited in this review and then think about what you've PERSONALLY done to invalidate those results. DO NOT post hearsay information. If you want to question my analysis, feel free to bring your car down to San Diego, CA for some friendly comparative testing. I will supply the beer and hospitality. :cheers:

 

You need to ride in a TPC Turbo Cayman before you spend more money on mods.