We love Porsche's mid-engine platform 987-generation Cayman and Boxster. The chassis is just the right size for a proper sports car, the engine sounds absolutely delightful, and it handles like a dream. The "S" model's nearly-300 horsepower flat six is adequate power to propel the car to a five-and-a-half second 0-60 time, but we knew from the outset that the 6-speed transmission wasn't geared properly to match the joy of the rest of the car. The gears are set just a little too far apart for maximum acceleration, and sixth-gear is useless for anything but low-RPM interstate trundling. If you're looking to get the most performance out of your mid-engine wonder, you need a shorter final drive.
We now offer a 4.44:1 ring and pinion set for the first generation (2005-2008) 987 Porsche Boxster S and Porsche Cayman S equipped with 6-speed manual transmissions. This final drive set is the simplest and easiest way to set your Porsche up for proper racing applications. With an approximate 15% reduction in gearing across all six forward cogs, this new ring and pinion will provide a tighter feel to your gear spacing, and provide much more appropriate acceleration specs for a proper mid-engine racer. Of course, this change in gearing can also be appropriate for street driving, though will likely result in a fuel economy reduction depending on driving tendencies.
From the factory, a 6-speed equipped Boxster S or Cayman S is theoretically geared to about 185 miles per hour. In practice, the engine runs out of power to push through the air at about 165, leaving 20 miles per hour of gear unused. Porsche does this on purpose to provide a low RPM cruising gear for long stints on the interstate. By reducing the final drive to a 4.44:1 unit, the car is now rev-limited to about 160 miles per hour. This results in a minor reduction in overall top-speed, but makes more efficient use of the gears to get you to that top speed much quicker.
By reducing the effective rate of each cog in your gearbox, you also experience the added benefit of reduced rev drop between shifts. With the gears spaced closer together, you can keep your car in the powerband more of the time. Keeping your engine working within its optimal range makes for a vastly improved track experience. You can select just the right gear for each corner exit, and put the power down properly for competition-beating acceleration.
As it was originally delivered, your Porsche 6-speed box had a 3.875:1 final drive ratio, a 3.30 1st, 1.95 2nd, 1.41 3rd, 1.13 4th, and overdriven 5th and 6th (0.945 & 0.81 respectively). In stock form, the car runs up to 45 mph in first, 75 in second, 105 in third, 130 in fourth, 156 in fifth, and a theoretical yet impossible 183 in sixth. Those are some pretty high speeds for each of those gears, far more than you'd ever truly need to run. Providing a 4.44:1 final drive swap, first is reduced by 5 mph, second by 10 mph, third by 14 mph, fourth by 17 mph, fifth by 20 mph, and sixth is reduced to an actually useable 160 mph, down 23 mph.
This ring and pinion set is crafted from a superior steel alloy developed by Albins, then shot peened and REM isotropically polished for a seriously quality finish and long-term reliability. It's even cut on a Klingelnberg machine, the same kind of machine the Porsche factory units are cut on. You can rest assured that this unit will not only provide you with the best acceleration performance, but also the quality componentry your Porsche deserves. At this time, we only have a version to fit the first generation 987 6 speed transmissions.
