[alee@usma]

you're not likely to get any performance upgrade out of chipping - that's mostly for forced induction, not natural aspiration. What I've been told is that most people see an increase in performance after they chip only temporarily. The reason is that the onboard computer resets and has to establish the correct air/fuel mix again. I'm not sure about this, I'm not a porsche tech, but that's what I was told from the folks at TPC (turbo performance center)...and they race 996's.

don't bother with increasing intake flow or getting a better flowing pipe - porsche's intake (I've been told) has a "velocity stack" design...and is pretty good. The exhaust pipe is designed to apply the perfect amount of backpressure to the engine.

I've been seriously shopping around to see what could be done myself. You have an expensive car...designed by people who are relatively passionate about racing. The low end (pricewise) upgrades are:

1) sport cams. I'm yet to see a dyno chart on how much these REALLY increase HP/torque, but cams are the best way to upgrade NA cars. Of course, THEN you need to get the ECU reprogrammed. FVD (fvd-web.com) has both of these services.

1-2000 dollars total.

2) high flow cat converters. Again, I've never seen a dyno chart on this upgrade.

1-2000 dollars.

then you step into the middle grade (because this option is cheaper than the next step...but it's all relative)

supercharger. ~8k installed.

then the (gah) high priced options:

3.4/3.6L engine upgrade.
twin turbo upgrade.

20-30,000 dollars.

I'd advise against high flow intakes like the EVO intake - they use special oil filters to get the increased flow - it's not just the pipe. The oil on the filter generally tends to screw up the MAF. In any case, the filter shape or difference in material (oil vs. lots of paper) realistically is not going to do anything to increase HP significantly...at least to any point that you'd actually notice.

I'm wavering between keeping my engine basically stock by just adding the sport cams and sport header and high flow cat converters w/ ECU upgrade...total price probably around 5-6k.

or

roock motorsports 3.6L upgrade w/ new header, high flow cats, exhaust, ECU, brakes and suspension...close to 35k.

I honestly don't know what to do, but considering that my 03 still only has about 15k miles on it (in the service, don't drive it in the winter, etc) I can't bring myself to tinker with warrantied items like the engine/powertrain. What to do...what to do...