Owner Ships His Porsche Spyder From Germany to California
Build: Porsche 718 Spyder
Performance Hybrid Upgrade to 515 HP
The 718 Spyder as equipped from the factory is no slouch, but what if you want more power? Like… a LOT more?
Germany to California
A gentleman in Belgium, Germany wanted more power in his Porsche Spyder… a LOT more power. He inquired about our Shadow Drive performance hybrid system and after a few phone calls he decided to pull the trigger and send it over. International customers are no problem, for this car we worked out shipping from Germany to California but we can also provide installations in the home country if desired.
The Spyder made it’s way to New York by ship, and then cross-country by truck here to California while we prepared for the installation in our San Fransisco bay area facilities. The transport unloaded it at our doorstep where we took delivery and drove it into one of our installation bays to begin the installation.
Let’s Get To It
This 718 Spyder arrived to us with a 4.5 ltr engine swap previously installed. This swap upgrades the vehicle’s base performance however the owner wanted more power whilst maintaining factory reliability and street manners minus finicky, radical engine mods.
Our Shadow Drive performance hybrid system fills the need perfectly. Shadow Drive adds massive horsepower, without any engine mods, and any Porsche dealer/shop is able to perform future maintenance as required since the engine remains factory stock.
The Motor
For this Spyder, we start by removing the engine & transaxle for access to the flywheel and starter. Shadow Drive’s electric motor is fitted in place of the factory flywheel and bolts directly to the engine’s crankshaft. Since the new Shadow Drive electric motor performs dual duty as starter and boost motor, the factory starter motor is no longer necessary for this application and can be re-purposed.
Once the electric motor is installed, the engine & transaxle can now be re-installed in the car. The electric motor housing flange is 24mm thick to provide space for coolant ports & electronic connection, and uses the factory engine-to-transaxle mounting bolt pattern to locate it in the proper position.
The Battery
Moving to the front of the car and at only 11″ tall, Shadow Drive’s high-voltage battery pack is sealed inside a custom protective case and mounted in the lower cargo area leaving ample cargo space for use as the owner desires. There is plenty of room for luggage, picnic/beach supplies, etc…
The Inverter
Hybrid electric systems requires an “inverter” to convert DC electric current to AC. The inverter can be placed in a variety of locations and for this car the customer wanted it hidden for a stealth installation. From this Spyder’s exterior there are no visual clues that it contains a high performance hybrid system.
Now with the major components installed we run system coolant lines and then electronics from the battery pack to Shadow Drive motor. The Shadow Drive coolant lines are completely separate from the vehicle’s own cooling system and keep the electric motor, battery pack, and inverter from overheating.
The Brains
Lastly we plug in the brains of the system which keeps everything in check. It monitors the factory vehicle components, protects the hybrid system from overheating, and controls the performance level as set by the driver via the Shadow Drive smart phone app.
The Shadow Drive app supplies driver feedback and real-time system status, plus also allows the driver to select one of three performance levels for any given conditions. Additionally, the system can be turned off to allow valet’s or other persons to operate the vehicle without granting access to the extra horsepower.
Header Turner to Jaw Dropper
Before we return the car to the owner we run it through it’s paces, tweak anything that may need attention, and drop it on the dyno to get final numbers with Shadow Drive turned off and then turned on.
For this Spyder, the final numbers were jaw dropping, a whopping 515 total horsepower…21 more horsepower than the Porsche GT3. Max torque now measures a whopping 418 lb-ft, 72 higher than a GT3’s 346 lb-ft.
All this power with the reliability and low maintenance of a factory stock engine is possible. Hybrid performance is here, it regenerates itself, and it is by far the biggest step forward in performance over the last 75 years.
Shadow Drive doesn’t have to be a singular option… a car can still have turbo, superchargers, nitrous, etc. if that’s what the owner desires. However to gain maximum horsepower today and going forward, a performance hybrid system is a necessity.
