One thing I've always wanted on the Cayman since I put back PASM and got the Bilstein B16 Damptronic suspension installed was to get the DSC Sport Controller. It's supposed to offer better damping response and make use of the full range that the dampers are capable of. Unfortunately, the kit for the 987.1 was backordered for some time so I forgot about it until I suddenly saw it in stock earlier this year so I jumped on it.
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| DSC Sport Controller and 3-axis accelerometer. |
The 987.1 (and 997.1) only has a 2-axis factor accelerometer for PASM so the first step is to install a new 3-axis accelerometer. This sits on top of the factory unit and only has 3 wires to hook up; CAN high, CAN low, power and ground. This sounds super easy but the location of the wire loom and the fact that you ideally want to solder it together after you splice into the wiring made it a multi-hour install. I knew I was in for an adventure when the first step, which should've taken all of 5 seconds, took more minutes than I care to disclose. You were simply supposed to attach the new accelerometer via velcro to the top of the factory unit. Well, the space above it was so tight that you couldn't even slide it in there. I had to unbolt the factory unit so I could take it out before attaching the new accelerometer. Of course, the 10mm bolt on the other side was in a really tight place which took most of the time.
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| Factory 2-axis accelerometer |
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| DSC 3-axis accelerometer installed |
Next up was to locate the yellow and black wires with white tracers from the main wire loom. On top of it being located in a spot that was awkward to get to from the driver's side, the wires I was looking for were in the middle of the loom. I eventually was able to fish it out but everything is so snug that it made splicing and soldering a mission in and of itself. Since these two wires are twisted together, I ultimately just had to cut one of them to untwist them and solder on some extension wire so I could more safely tap into it. The power wire went to a separate loom. Same issue there. Tight space, barely enough space to get the solder in. The documentation says to tap the ground to the brown wire but I instead just bolted it up to one of the 10mm bolts going to the factory DSC controller which I verified was a good ground.
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| All wired up |
Wiring notes:
Yellow -> yellow with white tracer
White -> black with white tracer
Red -> Red with gray tracer
Black -> Ground / 10mm bolt on factory accelerometer
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| Tidied up so I can re-install the panels |
The last step was to replace the factory PASM controller with the DSC controller. If you have a 987.2/997.2 this is all you need to do (so jealous) and it takes all of a minute or two. It sits right by the glove box behind a panel that you don't even have to remove to get to.
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| Factory controller vs DSC controller |
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| DSC controller connected, just need to tick it back in |
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| All clear, no errors |
The DSC controller definitely makes a big difference. I drove the car the other day to make sure I had a benchmark feel on the stock unit before I swapped this one in. In normal mode, while the car is firm, it's definitely much more compliant with excellent road manners. Even when I flick it over to Sport mode, the dampers are still streetable but I can feel the difference under braking and in the corners. More resistance to nose diving under hard braking and more planted when you lean into it in the corners. Of course, there's only so much "testing" I can do legally on the road so I can't wait for the first autocross or track day where I can really put it through its paces. However, even for daily driver mode I'm very happy. Despite stiffer spring rates on the car it feels very comfortable and controlled which is exactly what I want when I'm just going from A to B.
