Tuning the Porsche 718 Boxster

"Thank you for reading our Porsche 718 Boxster tuning guide."

The fourth Generation Boxster took up the classic 718 name and were fitted with the lovely sounding flat 5 engines.

Released in 2016 the Cayman and Boxster shared much in common but the roadster Boxster carried a higher price and looked more sporty with top down, but the 718 Cayman is the more practical of the two, so became a great selling Porsche.

The 718 Boxster is a awesome car modification project to execute. The key to 718 Boxster tuning is finding the right mods - a lot of money can be wasted if you do it wrong.

Handling/Suspension upgrades

Handling modifications are top of many to do lists for the 718 Boxster.

Fully adjustable suspension allows you to fine tune the handling of you 718 Boxster radically enhancing your drive.

We suggest that you fit motorsport suspension and lower the car by 25mm - 37 mm. Larger drops require arch work - especially on models already equipped with performance suspension.

Turning our attention to the 718 Boxster's engine we need to get a bit more power out of the top end.

With our recommended mods you can turn your 718 Boxster into a really fun car, beating bigger engined cars on the track.

Smaller engines do not provide much of a return in terms of power so start with a bigger engine. Engine swaps are a good option if you have a small engine size.

Power mods.

This list of the stages and motorsport mods are usually fitted by our members, decide how far you want to go before you get going.

Getting the best sports mods for your planned usage of the car is vital. Stage 3 (competition) mods just don't work well on the road making the car difficult to drive.

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Modifying to Stage 1:

 Suspension upgrade (drop 25mm - 37 mm.), Remap, Lighter flywheel, Panel air filter, Sports exhaust, Alloy wheels.

Modifying to Stage 2:

 Power/Sport clutch, Ported and polished head, fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam, high flow fuel injector.

Modifying to Stage 3:

 Sports gearbox, Engine balancing, Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Competition cam, Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves).

You really need to keep as much low end power as possible and aim for a long power band across the rev range rather than a narrow top end power hike.

The point of our advice is to give a brief overview of tuning upgrades and point you in the right direction, our forum is the place to go for detailed advice and tips on your tuning project, the best motorsport mods and all aspects of modding cars.A fast road camshaft often proves to be one of the best NASP power mods you can do mechanically to your engine.

It maximises the intake and exhaust durations and increases the power if done right. Ideally you'd add other mods and finish up with a performance chip. TorqueCars would caution you not to go with a motor sports profile cam as this upsets the engines idling and general town driving characteristics.

Don't forget to increase the fuelling when you are increasing the power - it makes the car more thirsty.

Using higher octane petrol is another option if you find you are suffering from pinking or premature ignition on your Porsche project after fitting other kits. To get sufficient fuel you may need to upgrade the injectors on your engine.

Uprate the fuel pump to cope with the extra fuel requirements of your tuned 718 Boxster's uprated injectors.

Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust. Air induction kits will only help to boost power if your cars air intake is restricted! Adding an induction kit to most stock engines will see NO LOW END POWER GAIN AT ALL. If you have heavily modified your engine and it's need for air INCREASES DRAMATICALLY then an induction kit is the answer and will help remove this restriction.

Derestricting the flow of air into the engine is a primary goal of tuning so get a freer flowing air filter if you find that the car is running lean only if you find the car is running lean. Induction kits can sound great but due to the warm air in the engine bay they will not really increase power and usually rob you of power on most cars.

Do not go with the biggest exhaust you can get this will slow up the exhaust flow rate - the best exhausts for power gains are usually between 1.5 to 2.5 inches. It is the shape and material more than the bore size.

Head porting and polishing the head will allow you to maximise your air/fuel charge. Leave this to a professional though with a proper flow bench and machine tools In nearly all cases of 718 Boxster tuning your clutch will start to slip and this needs to be uprated - read our tips on clutches for more information. The best mods in our experience for your 718 Boxster are remaps, sports camshafts and induction improvements.

NASP engines do not achieve big power gains if you remap them, unless you have done extensive modifications. With turbocharged engines this is another story. A remapped turbo will give phenomenal power gains and take full advantage of the strength of the block.

We've also seen some tuners playing with twincharging applications and making some very high power figures.

The most significant power gains for NASP engines usually involve the addition of forced induction. It is often cheaper to bolt on a supercharger than it is to get a turbo working. With a turbo the boost curve is related exponentially to the engine speed making it difficult to map fuelling with.

The nice directly proportional boost and rpm characteristics of the supercharger make them simpler to map. Decreasing the engines compression ratio will allow you to add forced induction, water injection may also help prevent detonation.

Alloy wheel upgrades.

The benefits of alloys include lowering your unsprung weight and better brake cooling. If you are serious about performance then you will need to carefully choose your tires - ideally with a track legal slick tire. Large 718 Boxster alloys can decrease performance. If you get big alloys you will be changing your final drive ratio.

Due to this we would advise sticking to a maximum wheel size of 18 inches, although we know some of our members have gone larger than this with no problems.

For more information on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss 718 Boxster options in more detail with our 718 Boxster owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Porsche tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

Please help us improve these tips by sending us your feedback in the comments box below.

We love to hear what our visitors have got up to and which mods work best for them on each model of car. Comments are used to improve the accuracy of these articles which are continually updated.

This article was written by Waynne Smith on TorqueCars, and I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. This entry was filed under Porsche. You can leave a response below or join TorqueCars forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

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