Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Schnell Autosports Now Carries DSC Sport Controllers!


Schnell Autosports now carries the DSC Sport V1, V2, and Stand Alone suspension control modules!

If you have a 996, 997, 987, 991, or 981, with PASM (Porsche's electronic suspension dampening controls), you may feel that it doesn't respond as well or as quickly as it should to varying road conditions or situations.

Fortunately for you, DSC Sport makes simple plug and play controller modules for your car that allows you to make significant changes to your PASM system to allow for improved feedback and responsiveness. DSC's race-developed algorithm allows for it to adjust the damping level for each individual shock in real time. What does this mean for you? It means that when you drive, your tires will grip better, your ride will be easier to control and more stable, and even makes your ride more comfortable, no matter what the road condition is, or how you're driving.

On top of that, the DSC Sport allows drivers to use the DSC Sport Tuning software to create their own suspension tuning maps, to give you a truly custom suspension feel to tailor to your driving styles and locations.

What if your car didn't come equipped with PASM? DSC Sport has you covered there!

With the DSC Sport Stand Alone Kit and electronic dampers, you can have the same type of control over your car's suspension that you get with the V1 module. The Stand Alone Kit includes a Stand Alone DSC Module, as well as a wiring harness to connect the DSC Module to your electronic dampers.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Schnell Autosports Quick Tip - GTS Rear Diffusers, GT4 Rear Diffusers, And You

For those of you wanting to give the rear end of your 981 non GTS/GT4 Boxster or Cayman, changing the rear diffuser is a simple mod that gives great results.

Our GTS rear diffuser can be found here, and our GT4 rear diffuser can be found here.

The GTS rear diffuser gives our 981 Cayman S a little more visual oomph in the back.
We've had a few questions however, from customers wondering why they wouldn't be able to use the GT4 diffusers on their car that came equipped with parking sensors.

Simply put, the parking sensors that are equipped on many Porsches require that when they are mounted, they are pointed outwards and parallel to the ground. The stock, as well as the GTS rear diffusers, have a flat area in which the sensors can be installed into and maintain functionality; the GT4 diffusers however, lack a flat surface, and do not have enough space to DIY mount the sensors cleanly.

When you compare the two diffusers side by side, it should be easier to see why the sensors work on one type, and not the other:

GTS on left, GT4 on right. The holes in the GTS diffuser are where the sensors install into.

The mostly open design of the GT4 diffuser means there is very little available space to work with.

The GT4 rear diffuser even lacks the clips needed to keep the sensor in place.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Installing The New Schnell Autosports Exclusive 981/991 Brake Master Cylinder Brace!


We're excited to show off our latest product that we have in production, our brake master cylinder brace!

If you have a 981 or 991, your braking performance isn't the best it could be.

Under heavy braking, your firewall will actually flex from the pressure, which allows your brake master cylinder to move. As with brake lines, any unwanted movement in your braking system means that you're reducing brake pedal feel and responsiveness, because the force that's being used to flex the master cylinder, is force that's not going to your calipers.

You can see this movement for yourself in this quick video we made:



Our master cylinder brace is designed to remove the majority of that deflection, by bracing the master cylinder to another point on the car (in this case, the wall that separates the front luggage area from the rest of the front trunk area). With that deflection removed, you'll be able to brake harder, and improve your pedal feel.

Friday, September 11, 2015

981 Cayman/Boxster GT4 Side Scoop Installation Guide!

Did you buy our GT4 side scoop kit to give your 981 Cayman or Boxer a little more oomph in the visual department, as well as increasing the air going into your engine?

The installation process might seem daunting, but Planet-9 member Voyager6 did a fantastic writeup on how he installed them on his own 981 Cayman S (seriously, if you get a chance, check out his thread on his beast of a car).

He was gracious enough to allow us to repost it on our blog for the benefit of other 981 Cayman/Boxster owners, so here's Voyager6's 981 GT4 side scoop installation guide:

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Schnell Autosports Project 1970 911T Targa - Part 2: And I Thought They Smelled Bad On The Outside...

When we last left off, we had just rolled our new project 911T into the shop, and were giving it the once-over to assess how extensive the work would be to get it back into shape.


For those wondering if the rough exterior of our Project 1970 911T was perhaps hiding a gem of an interior... prepare to be disappointed.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Schnell Autosports Project 1970 911T Targa - Part 1: Don Johnson Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Restoring a car to it's former glory is as equal parts frustrating as it is rewarding.

Those of you following the pictures we post on our social media accounts, or have see the build pictures on Planet-9 already know what this car is (or was), but for those of you who don't, let's get you introduced to our Project 1970 911T Targa.

The long and the short of this car's background is this: someone bought a nice new Conda Green 1970 911T Targa, drove it for awhile, got in... a few minor fender benders, and then during the 80's, attempted to "update" the looks to give it that Miami Vice chic that was all the rage, and then parked it in a garage to rot for 25 years.

Our first impressions of this car when we saw it, looking unloved in a garage, were not entirely shall we say, positive. Right off the bat, the white spray painted body, and black spray painted trim, and the huge swaths of body filler that covered the panels made us have doubts as to whether or not this would be a project worth undertaking.

But like an old sofa, or your second favorite child, we knew that with a little time and effort, we could bring out it's full potential.

So, money was exchanged, the car was loaded up onto a trailer, and it headed to it's new home at our shop, so we could properly evaluate it on the lift.

To say that this car looked rough would be charitable. The more we looked, the more we realized how much work would be needed to get this into shape. While being structurally sound, all the exterior panels had been subject to "modification" of some sort, intended or otherwise, the interior had been "reworked", and all in all, there were a lot of hacks done to this car to suit whatever the previous owner's whim was at the time.

The car as it first arrived. We had to use wheel dollies to move it around, because unsurprisingly, all 4 tires were flat and rotted from decades of non-use.