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.

Schnell Autosports 2015 Holiday Sale!

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.

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:

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.

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.

Check Out Our Latest Product: Titanium Brake Shims!

For the 981 S driver trying to wring out every last bit of performance from their car, we have just the thing for you!

What's the number one nemesis of your braking system? Heat.

When you use your brakes, your calipers squeeze your brake pads against the rotors, using friction to convert your kinetic energy into heat. That heat is ideally absorbed by your brake rotors, where that heat can then be dissipated.

That heat, however, doesn't want to just go to your rotors and pads; it wants to go anywhere that it can. If you're driving your car hard, or if something is wrong with your braking system, you'll find that your brakes are generating heat in excess of what your rotors can shed.

Excess heat causes things like brake rotor cracks, brake pad glazing, and brake fluid boiling, with the end result being a loss in braking performance, or even outright failure of your brakes.

One simple way to help keep that heat away from your calipers and brake lines is to replace your stock brake shims with our titanium brake shims.

Our titanium shims are laser cut to be the same size as your stock brake shims

It's no secret: titanium is a good insulator for heat, especially when compared to steel. Using titanium brake shims instead of steel means your brake pads will transmit less heat to your calipers, which in turn transmits less heat to your brake fluid. As your pads wear down from use, they allow more heat to be transmitted to anything in contact with them, which makes having a way of mitigating that heat with our titanium shims more important.

Even with pads that are a little thicker than stock (such as Pagid's RS29 Yellow pads), there is plenty of space.

If you like to track your car, or just like to take your car for "spirited" drives, our titanium brake shims will help you to drive harder with less chance of your brakes fading, and will help make your braking system last longer.

We have titanium shims sets for both the front and rear of your 981. Check them out here!

Front shim set: http://www.schnellautosports.com/specials/titanium-brake-shim-set-front-981s-991-997.html

Rear Shim Set: http://www.schnellautosports.com/specials/titanium-brake-shim-set-rear-987-981.html

Schnell Autosports Thursday Quick Tip!

We've had plenty of customers buy our GT3 control arm upgrade kit for their 987 or 981 Boxster/Cayman, and love the extra amount of camber they're able to get with them installed.

Some of you were so excited of the prospect of being able to better tune your suspension settings, that you took the outer control arms out of the box without checking to see which side is which, prompting a call or email to one of our friendly techs to point you in the right direction.

The problem with figuring out the orientation of the outer control arms (the longer of the two halves of the control arm), is that the actual control arms themselves (i.e. the bodies) are identical, with identical part numbers (same with the thrust arm bushings), and what makes them left or right is the orientation of holes of the thrust arm bushings.

As for the inner control arms (the smaller of the two halves), they will work on either side.

Just for clarification: Left - US driver's side; Right - US passenger's side.

The outer control arms in their boxes. Not all boxes will have both stickers on them.

The outer control arms themselves. Please note the orientation of the offset hole in the thrust arm bushing.

Left outer control arm. Note the orientation of the offset hole in the thrust arm bushing.

Closer view of the thrust arm bushing on the left side.

Right outer control arm. Note the orientation of the offset hole in the thrust arm bushing.

Closer view of the thrust arm bushing on the right side.

Project 981 Cayman S - Installing A 981 GTS Rear Diffuser

Looking to give the rear of your 981 Boxster or Cayman a little more flash?

When the 981 Boxster and Cayman GTS were introduced, they brought with them some new styling cues, most notably a new bumper design, and a rear diffuser that works in conjunction with the front bumper to change how the air flows underneath the car vs the non-GTS models.

Putting on the GTS rear diffuser may not give you the same benefits that you would get on an actual GTS, it will however, make things a little more interesting looking for everyone you show your taillights to (whether in traffic, or on the track).

While changing the front bumper is an expensive and time consuming process, putting the GTS' diffuser on your non-GTS 981 is a fairly simple and quick process.

This is what the rear diffuser looks like on a non-GTS 981 Cayman or Boxster.

Installing A Center Radiator On Your 981 Boxster/Cayman - Part 2: Flushing Your Cooling System And Installing The Radiator

When you remove your front bumper, this is what you're left with:

This is what's behind the bumper for PDK and PAS equipped 981 Caymans. Your vehicle may differ.

Or at least for us, this is what we have going on behind the bumper. What may be lurking behind your 981's face depends on what options you have. As our Cayman S came equipped with PDK and the adaptive cruise control, our side radiators have the "open" ducts that channel air from the front trim piece that clicks into a frame attached to the bumper and surrounds the PAS radar sensor.

Other 981 Boxster and Caymans may have the same "open" ducts that we do, but do not have a frame attached to the bumper, as the block off plate eschews that frame and connects to the bumper itself. And still other 981s have "closed" ducts with the block off plate in the center.

Installing A Center Radiator On Your 981 Boxster/Cayman - Part 1: Face/Off - Removing Your Front Bumper

For most 981 Boxsters and Caymans, the stock cooling system is adequate enough for day to day use with the occasional romp on the loud pedal.

However, if you have a highly modified 981, live in hot climates, or like to take your car out for track days or otherwise extended "fun" driving sessions, you might find your coolant temperatures going up to a level that's too close for comfort.

The stock radiators are two units located on the left and right side of the car, and by adding an additional 3rd radiator to the center of the bumper, you increase your cooling capacity and ability (as well as extra peace of mind in hot weather).

The stock side radiators on the left and right sides of the bumper. Also: rock and twig magnets.

New! Adjustable Rear Sway Bars For Your 981 Cayman/Boxster!

For many 981 Boxster and Cayman owners with PASM suspension, a popular upgrade to make, is going from the stock hollow rear sway bar, to the solid rear sway bar as found on the X73 suspension package.

In fact, our 2014 Cayman S was running the X73 rear sway bar, and we even made a blog post before showing how easy it was to install.

Well, some time has passed, and our Cayman has seen a bit more suspension modification since then.

For others out there like us, who are running GT3 control arms, and a GT3 front sway bar, as well as aftermarket adjustable suspension on all four corners, you might find that the X73, while being a great mod for stock to moderately tuned cars, may suddenly become the weakest link in your suspension set.

This is where our new adjustable rear sway bar enters the picture.

Want to have your rear sway bar perform similar to stock? No problem. Want it harder than stock for when you're attacking the twisties and trying to get the most out of your car? It's got you covered. Now you have the ability to set your rear sway bar to where you want it, to match your driving style and needs.

The rear adjustable sway bar come with new bushings (the bar itself has a larger diameter than stock), as well as clamping shaft collars to prevent lateral movement (there have been some instances where the welded rings on the stock bars have broken during hard cornering).

Our old X73 rear bar on top, with the new adjustable rear bar on the bottom.

And installation is just as easy as the X73 installation; 4 bolts, 2 nuts. You can also use this bar with your stock drop links, or with adjustable rear drop links to really get things dialed in.

Check out our new adjustable rear sway bar on our site!

Schnell Autosports Weekly Sale Thread - 1/19 - 1/25

Is it that time (or worse, already beyond time) for you to change your oil?

For you DIY'ers out there, make your life a little easier and save a little money by picking up the things you need to do your oil, in one handy bundle!

Our 981 oil change kit contains an oil filter (with o-ring), an oil filter wrench, LN Engineering's magnetic drain plug, and a new drain plug seal ring. All you need is your oil of choice (we prefer Liqui-Moly over here), and you're good to go!

981 oil change kit sale price: $71
If you're interested in this kit, please call us toll free at 1888-978-9899, or visit us at schnellautosports.com
Sale prices do not include shipping or tax.

Schnell Autosports Weekly Sale - 1/12-1/18

Pagid Brake Pad Package - RS 29 Yellow Front Pad Set, RS 14 Black Rear Pad Set

Looking to get a set of brake pads to use for aggressive street driving or occasional track days?

We've got the popular combination of Pagid RS 29 front pads and RS 14 rear pads together as a package set for sale this week!

RS 29 (front)

RS 14 (rear)

Here's what Pagid has to say about these pads:

RS 29
Combines the outstanding wear rate of the RS19 with a slightly higher initial bite and torque.
RS 14
Medium to high friction ceramic type compound with good initial bite, excellent release characteristic, very good modulation and controllability.

Pagid Brake Pad Package Sale Price: $625

These sales are phone order only, and not listed on our website. If you are interested, please call us toll-free at

1-888.978-9899.
Sales prices do not include shipping or tax.