Khiem Dinh, Author at MotoIQ

The 4-banger turbo 718s haven’t gotten much love from the aftermarket because they are just the lowly 4-cylinder engines instead of the all-mighty 6-cylinders in the Porsche lineup. Those of…

View Post

Tech

Porsche’s T-Hybrid System: Formula 1 Technology for the Street

Posted on July 28, 2024July 31, 2024
byKhiem Dinh

All images from Porsche. “Hybrid is the devil!” Waterboy voice. “Not so fast my friends!” Lee Corso voice. I think most people associate the concept of a hybrid car with…

View Post

Project 718 Cayman T: Part 9 – GT4 Undertray Vanes and Water Pump Mod

Posted on July 7, 2024July 24, 2024
byKhiem Dinh

It was time to dig into the low-cost OEM+ upgrade goody bag again. Aerodynamics has become increasingly prevalent on cars straight off the showroom floor. Everyone can see the front…

View Post

Project 718 Cayman T: Part 8 – BMC Air Filter

Posted on June 9, 2024June 16, 2024
byKhiem Dinh

I only have a bit over 3000 miles on the car, but I had some free time, so I figured I would go ahead and install the BMC air filter…

View Post

Project 718 Cayman T: Part 7 – COBB Accessport

Posted on April 28, 2024April 29, 2024
byKhiem Dinh

The awesome thing about turbo cars is the ability to easily adjust the engine calibration for more power. Importantly for California, COBB provides off-the-shelf maps that have CARB EO numbers.…

View Post

Project 718 Cayman T: Part 6 – Third Radiator, Center Grill, and GT3 Vent Installation

Posted on March 24, 2024
byKhiem Dinh

I did say I was going to tackle the suspension next in order to optimize tire usage, but life threw me a bit of a curveball. So, I decided to…

View Post

Cayman T

Project 718 Cayman T: Part 5 – AP Racing by Essex Big Brake Kits

Posted on March 4, 2024
byKhiem Dinh

The stock 718 Cayman T brakes with Brembo calipers are the best stock brakes I’ve felt on any stock car that I have driven. However, they are not sized big…

View Post

Project 718 Cayman T: Part 4 – Track Day Baselines

Posted on February 11, 2024
byKhiem Dinh

With 1400 miles on the car, the engine exercised through its full load and rpm ranges, and two oil changes in, I thought it was time to do some track…

View Post

Cayman T

Project 718 Cayman T: Part 3 – Custom X-Pipe and Liftbars

Posted on January 21, 2024June 11, 2024
byKhiem Dinh

The 4-cylinder turbo engines in the 718 Cayman and Boxster are not that high strung, only pushing out between 300hp-365hp. So, Porsche did not have to optimize the exhaust tip…

View Post

Tech

Nerd’s Eye View: LA Auto Show 2023

Posted on January 9, 2024
byKhiem Dinh

It’s been a minute since I last went to the LA Auto Show and wrote about it. COVID shut the show down for a bit and I was too busy…

View Post

Project 718 Cayman T: Part 2 – Oil Change Mod, GT4 Scoop Install, and Increased Octane

Posted on September 24, 2023September 24, 2023
byKhiem Dinh

The 718 Cayman T is not the easiest car to do an oil change on. I did one modification to make doing an oil change quicker at least. The first…

View Post

Cayman T

Project Cayman T: Part 1 – Intro and Must-Do Mods

Posted on September 3, 2023April 21, 2024
byKhiem Dinh

For all of those wondering why I sold Project S2000 shortly after I FINALLY got the turbo installed and running well, this is it: a 2023 718 Cayman T. The…

View Post

S2000 (AP2)

Project S2000: Part 36 – The Finale

Posted on March 21, 2023March 22, 2023
byKhiem Dinh

-ed note: I have always given Khiem crap about his overly complicated turbo system and lack of peak power for all the work he did but, I had never driven…

View Post

Project S2000: Part 35 –Dyno Tuning, Finding Problems, Retuning, and Math

Posted on January 22, 2023March 20, 2023
byKhiem Dinh

If you have been following the progress of Project AP2 S2000, to prove my motor and turbo combination, I drove the car around for a while avoiding boost to test…

View Post

Project S2000: Part 34 – Fuel System Install and Dyno Tuning for 500hp

Posted on November 30, 2022
byKhiem Dinh

The last major part of the puzzle before getting the car tuned was installing the fuel system components. Smaller bits included wiring in the Hondata boost solenoid and 4-bar MAP…

View Post

S2000 (AP2)

Project S2000: Part 33 – Turbo Installed (Not Yet Boosting) and Sorting Things Out

Posted on October 3, 2022
byKhiem Dinh

I have been driving the car around with the turbo installed to help troubleshoot all the small issues. That, and I just like driving the car because of all the…

View Post

Project S2000: Part 32 – Fitting and Installing Turbo System Parts

Posted on June 28, 2022August 21, 2022
byKhiem Dinh

Firstly, please excuse the phone pics. I brought my camera but forgot my memory card in my laptop. Oops. So anyway, it’s been a super slow burn on this project…

View Post

Project S2000: Part 31 – Oil and Fuel System Updates

Posted on May 25, 2021
byKhiem Dinh

To make my low-mount turbo setup work, I would need to relocate the oil filter to make space for the turbo compressor inlet pipe. Of course, that means mounting the…

View Post

Tech

Nerd’s Eye View: Mercedes AMG M139 Engine with E-turbo and Liquid Immersion Battery Cooling

Posted on April 11, 2021
byKhiem Dinh

When we last looked at the Mercedes AMG M139 engine, it was the highest output 2.0L engine to go into production at 416hp. Increasing horsepower out of a small displacement…

View Post

Project S2000: Part 30 – Cooling Upgrades and Packaging Improvements

Posted on February 2, 2021
byKhiem Dinh

In deciding to go with an air-to-water intercooler setup, there are extra component and packaging challenges compared to a typical air-to-air setup. The S2000 already has a tight engine bay…

View Post

Sportbike Easy Upgrades: Accelerating Faster and Decelerating Better

Posted on January 20, 2021January 20, 2021
byKhiem Dinh

Motorcycles are relatively basic machines which makes them easy to upgrade for performance. I’m not doing anything nearly as cool as Rob with his Ducati 998, but just a couple…

View Post

Project S2000: Part 29 – Investment Cast 347SS Turbo Manifold

Posted on December 6, 2020December 8, 2020
byKhiem Dinh

It’s been a long journey, but the most important piece of the Project S2000 AP2 turbo build is finally here. The original plan was to 3d print from Inconel 625…

View Post

Project S2000: Part 28 – Test Fitting Cooling Components For The Air-To-Water Intercooler

Posted on September 10, 2020
byKhiem Dinh

I had some concepts in my head on how the parts for the air-to-water intercooler setup would fit. As is often the case, things don’t quite work out the way…

View Post

Project S2000: Part 27 – Building the F22c for Turbo Boost and Manifold Test Fit

Posted on April 28, 2020November 11, 2020
byKhiem Dinh

The stock block F20c/F22c is well-known for being very stout. Many S2000s have been turbocharged to over 600whp without ever being opened up. However, our base target is 500 crank…

View Post

Features

Devin’s Time Attack S2000: Continuous Improvement

Posted on April 5, 2020April 5, 2020
byKhiem Dinh

Photos provided by Devin Stiglitz Giles Our buddy Devin has been busy reinventing his time attack S2000 in his garage. Aside from changing the color scheme on the car from…

View Post

Features

NC HAMR – One Extremely Fast Time Attack Miata

Posted on March 3, 2020March 4, 2020
byKhiem Dinh

Photos provided by Jenson Little A year ago, we came across this cute little 2008 NC Miata at the 2019 Super Lap Battle USA at the Circuit of the Americas…

View Post

Tech

Porsche Taycan: Changing the EV Performance Durability Standard

Posted on September 18, 2019
byKhiem Dinh

Porsche is known for track cars. Tesla made electric vehicles quick, but they had no thermal durability. It’s well documented that the Model S can only handle a lap or…

View Post

Tech

Nerd’s Eye View: Mercedes AMG M139 Engine

Posted on September 9, 2019
byKhiem Dinh

Photos from Mercedes A few months ago, the automotive media went nuts over the M139 engine from Mercedes. It’s the highest horsepower 2.0L engine ever to go into production making…

View Post

Tech

Sneak Peak: Unidentified Garrett Advancing Motion Motorsports Turbo

Posted on July 22, 2019July 23, 2019
byKhiem Dinh

I was browsing Facebook or LinkedIn and, on my feed, a Garrett article popped up about some e-turbo stuff; I snagged these pictures from the linked article. The Garrett Motorsports…

View Post

Features

Trans Am Racing with Burtin Racing

Posted on May 27, 2019May 28, 2019
byKhiem Dinh

I remember watching Trans Am back in the day when Tommy Kendall was dominating. In 2019, Lawrence Loshak won the first two races in the Burtin Racing Camaro. Teammate Tomy…

View Post

Project S2000: Part 26 – Air to Water Intercooler Setup

Posted on March 25, 2019March 31, 2019
byKhiem Dinh

For my low-speed/max-response turbo S2000 project, I decided to go with an air-to-water setup. Auto-x is the environment I’m designing for where you’re sitting idling for long periods of time…

View Post

Project S2000: Part 25 – Designing a Custom Turbo Setup With 3D Scanning, CFD, FEA and 3D Printing!

Posted on February 28, 2019October 27, 2020
byKhiem Dinh

I’ve owned Project S2000 for about a decade now and it is finally time to boost it. I have a particular set of requirements and none of the existing turbo…