CONVERTING a 68 911 to a later model 911 engine?

[rickyracer1962]

hey everyone, i'm new to this site, also new to working on porsches. most of my background is with pre-65 hot rods. anyways, my uncle was a die hard porsche guy, when he passed away i inherited his custom 68 911. the motor is tired, needs a valve job for sure, has a miss i cant tune out. i was wondering how hard it would be to install a later fuel injected or turbo motor into it. has anyone published a book on the subject? can you guys tell me whats needed? my uncle always talked about putting a later bigger motor in, i plan on keeping this car forever so i want to make it the best i can! thanks for any help

a couple shots of the car:

[kenikh]

Seems like someone does this every day on this forum. Basically pick the motor of your choice, then search for the conversion threads around that type. There are no limits; rebuild the original 2 liter or go all of the way to a varioram 3.8RSR. It's all been done a million times. Nice car, BTW. It apperas to have had some "Period Mods" done to it to modernize it in the 80's. That fad has passed so hope to see it in its original slnedor one day! This car is much more like the 64 and earlier cars you are used to than you'd think (in a good way).

[DDDD]

It is a cool car to start out with, just need to move back a little to period correct styling for it to really stand out, fun base to start out with. I would not even think about turboing that car when you can just put a fuel injected 3.6 straight out of a 993 into it. It just will fly with a uncomplicated 3.6 transplant. Turbo would overkill that chassis.

I don't recommend this guy, but his site is informative:

InstantG's Home Page

You can definitely do it yourself and if you meet some local porsche club members you may find some people interested in helping out.

[DDDD]

By the way, the main thing making the car look out of style is just the rocker trim panel, and the rear tail piece, which would be really cool as a fixed ducktail. Your 935 style mirrors are neat, I would keep those.

[rickyracer1962]

thanks for the info so far guys. sometimes i like the rockers & deckid, other times i want to change it around to the early rsr style body mods. for now i want to get this thing running dependable. the 993 engines sound like a cool way to go. is it a wiring nightmare? will the stock tranny hold up to it?

[DDDD]

The 993 probably won't hook up directly to the stock 901 tranny or whatever that early car has but that is not my area of expertise. They usually sell lots of conversion parts however. If the instant-g website doesn't say, you could email that guy about how he does the tranny swap.

In a car as light as yours, even a 3.2 carrera engine would haul ass and those engines are easy to turbocharge later on. Cheaper as well and really just as good for what you need unless you are determined to have a really blazing fast car in which case you sort of need to do the suspension and a hundred other things....

Edit: Carrera 3.2 also weighs less. 993 powerplants are probably 40 lbs heavier. So weight balance plays into the consideration.

[A930Rocket]

No advice but cool car! Thanks for sharing.

[SandyI]

Anything can be done to these early Porsches. It's really about how much money you want to put into the car. So, $8-10,000 to rebuild your present motor. The more modern the engine you install, the more things need to be strengthened, upgraded and modernized. Personally, I think a 3.2 engine would be more than enough reliable power for a car as light as yours. You can rebuild your 901 tranny to handle the power. Upgrade your clutch. Upgrade your brakes. Turbo tie-rods. Front oil cooler. The new wiring. Depending on your DIY skills -- $30,000ish?

[DDDD]

You will get a lot of responses if you post this at the 911 carrera forum methinks. Those guys do these swaps a lot, and know a lot about it!

[SandyI]

Of course, you could put your entire budget into pumping up that 2.0 engine to close to 200 HP. Your car would be a rocket and you'd save tons of weight over adding a more modern engine. There's a race-built 2.0 liter engine for sale here at $39,000. That thing would basically drop right into your car.

[DDDD]

Originally Posted by SandyI

Of course, you could put your entire budget into pumping up that 2.0 engine to close to 200 HP. Your car would be a rocket and you'd save tons of weight over adding a more modern engine. There's a race-built 2.0 liter engine for sale here at $39,000. That thing would basically drop right into your car.

I don't have a clue but I would think that he could build a 2.0 for a lot cheaper than that, no?

[hoyabear]

You could always drop an LSx engine in there...that ought to stir controversy!!!

[SandyI]

Originally Posted by DDDD

I don't have a clue but I would think that he could build a 2.0 for a lot cheaper than that, no?

Cheaper to get 200+ HP from a 3.2 transplant than to upgrade a 2.0. Plus, you'd have much more mid-range torque.

But "cheap" is all relative. Either way, you're talking about investing another $20K+++ into the car.

I owned a 914/3.2 for a while. A major power transplant takes a major investment. Best illustration of that is this months EXCELLENCE article on a '76 911S race car equiped with a GT3 engine.

[DDDD]

Originally Posted by SandyI

Cheaper to get 200+ HP from a 3.2 transplant than to upgrade a 2.0. Plus, you'd have much more mid-range torque.

But "cheap" is all relative. Either way, you're talking about investing another $20K+++ into the car.

I owned a 914/3.2 for a while. A major power transplant takes a major investment. Best illustration of that is this months EXCELLENCE article on a '76 911S race car equiped with a GT3 engine.

Was that 1976S an instant G build? He talked about doing that.

I should go check the mail and see if my magazine came in yet!

[SandyI]

John Payne who races with the POC here in So Cal.

[RarlyL8]

Duck tail, loose the front lights and rockers, add a 915/3.6L/PMOs and have a blast!

There are some well executed turbo transplanted early cars on this board but that is a hard combo to pull off. Just doesn't look or sound right.