Q on Porsche's 3.4-liter

The 3.4 in the 981 Boxster S delivers 315hp, 266 lb-ft.

The 3.4 in the 981 Cayman S delivers 325hp, 273 lb-ft.

The 3.4 in the 991 delivers 350hp, 287 lb-ft.

Does anyone know what Porsche adjusts to get more power out of this engine in 991 guise? Can it be as "simple" as an ECU swap?

 

Could very well be ECU but might also be a combination of intake and exhaust.


Or marketing.

 

usually it's ECU/intake/exhaust differences.

you see the same thing with the same engines in various VW/Audis, Mercedes, BMWs, etc.

 

I would hazard a (wild-ass) guess at engine mapping. Take MINIs for example, 2001-2006 the naturally aspirated MINIs (the ONE and the Cooper) were identical in every way except for the engine mapping. Above 4,000 rpm, the ONE only allows 50% throttle body opening, thus limiting the performance in the upper rev range.

ONE: 90bhp
Cooper: 118bhp​

Without making ANY changes to the mechanicals, you can remap either a ONE or a Cooper to ~125bhp. Changing intake and exhaust, people on the MINI forums have gotten as much as 135-140bhp from the naturally aspirated engine. After porting and what not (crazy folks), people have seen 150-160bhp. The supercharged MINI Cooper S is 163bhp (2001-2004) and 170bhp (2004-2006).

Of course, I could be wrong and Porsche could be using different internals. I'm only guessing without any technical knowledge of Porsches.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

Thanks, all!

I forget which variant of the GT-R boasts of having a little more power than the more mainstream model(s). Ends up all Nissan does is set aside otherwise standard engines that register higher than expected numbers during their dyno break-in.