G50 in a longhood, needed modifications??

Porschekid962 · Porschekid962's Garage

i have been mulling over the idea to mount a G50 trans into my next project car but am unaware of the needed modifications to make it fit properly. also, i have seen many interesting pictures of 935's and other track cars with a raised shifter which seems like a logical idea, closer to the steering wheel. has anyone done this and what problems did you run into? please post pics if you have them, thanks a lot, ryder

dean · 03-02-2004, 04:02 AM

I put an 88 G50 into my SC. I had to shorten the bell housing on the tranny and move the whole powertrain back .75"

jpnovak · 03-02-2004, 04:48 AM

There are two ways to do this. ONe is the short bell housing version that Dean did. The other involves a later G50 and some welding. The later G50 has different mounts. This means that the torsion bar tube that holds the tranny mounts must be swapped out. Possible - Yes. Easy - not so. If you have a rusty early car that needs help in the torsion bar area it may be worth a look. I would not cut into an early car if it didn't need it. Do a search on the short bell housing G50. It will tell you more.

Porschekid962 · Porschekid962's Garage

thanks guys, dean do you have any pics of your car with the G50 in it? the torsion tube will be cut out anyway as i plan to run coilovers all around so the rear seat/torsion area will be modified heavily to begin with. i hope i can get it to work so where the engine can actually be moved forward an inch or two and lowered and inch or two using the 935 solid engine mounts. pics anyone? links to other threads??

jpnovak · 03-02-2004, 09:14 AM

Search for pics of the BBII progress. Tyson worked his magic on Jack Olsen's car. Same mods as you describe - relocation of the tranny mounts forward of stock and coil-over conversion. TRE motorsports is the fab shop.

dean · 03-02-2004, 09:44 AM

I don't really have any good pics. If I wanted to do what you do, I would shorten the bellhousing on the tranny and cut the torsion tube. Then I think you could move the powertrain forward a few inches.

Jack Olsen · 03-02-2004, 09:57 AM

The G50 is ultimately a better transmission than the 915, and in a money-is-no-object world, I would have gone with it in my car. It's stronger, and it's less prone to the shifting problems some people have with 915s.

On the other hand, it's heavier than the 915. And even if you go to coil-overs, I'm not sure you'll be able to get the same kind of engine position as I got with my magnesium-case 915. Generally speaking, the engine has to move further back when you're going to a G50.

Lukesportsman · 03-02-2004, 08:43 PM

I'm probably missing something obvious here, but wouldn't that eliminate much of the conversion parts in putting a 3.6 into an early car. Not saying it would be ANY easier, but if the G50 tranny was wanted, couldn't you just put the engine/tranny setup in full into an early car with coil over setup? I've been wanting to ask this question for awhile, so fire away

I know its not a "bolt in" by any means and would require cutting and fabrication...but sweat and tears are just part of it. It just seems like if you approached it like a race car, it would be easier than trying to make 2 OEM parts that weren't intended to go together work. Probably wrong, so tell me why!

Luke

Britain Smith · 03-02-2004, 09:37 PM

Who said they were not mean't to go together. Did you know that a 3.6L engine has the same mounts on the case to bolt right into a 914-6. Porsche kept the same standards through the years and a 915 tranny bolts right up to a 3.6L engine without any issues. I know this because there is one at the shop right now going into a 914-6. It has the whole set-up including the WEVO 914 cast housing, gate shift, lightened flywheel with a tilton 5.5" dual disc clutch and hydraulic throw-out bearing. You can't beat this set-up...

-Britain

Lukesportsman · 08:34 PM

I was thinking there were some flywheel issues to overcome, and probably an uprated clutch and pp. Looking for a reason to justify a G50 conversion

dean · 03-04-2004, 02:58 AM

Because the later G50 is longer and has a different mount I think it is easier to the flywheel end than the sheet metal mod. Plus when you shorten the tranny you can run the early 930 clutch.

Lukesportsman · 03-05-2004, 08:24 AM

Dean,

So your going along with the idea of using a G50 in this conversion with a shortened bell to help it fit in the older chassis? I understand that the G50 is a tank in both weight along with the additional strength so therefore this may not be ideal for track cars. But, I'm not experienced at the 915 personality and would think that I might be happier with a G50 in the end.

Long/short shortened G50 wouldn't put the engine too far back? And still bolt upto a 3.6 reasonably easy if not $$$ comfortable

dean · 03-05-2004, 08:46 AM

I really like my G50. I would do it again given all I know. I don't consider 20 extra lbs very much. If you are talking about the later G50 I don't know about that. I think you would have to modify the rear seat sheet metal

Lukesportsman · 03-05-2004, 09:19 AM

I'm not scared of a little sheat metal work

But I don't want to mess with suspension pick up points are the like. I can beat a panel and weld it up, but I don't think I should mess with what a bunch of engineers got right in regards to suspension.

Dean, what, other than the bell/clutch/pp, was needed to be changed to accomplish this task? Thanks for your patience.

Luke

dean · 03-05-2004, 11:39 AM

You need to change the shifter, and pedal box. You need to run a hyd line. You will need to mod the engine tins if you move the motor around. You will need different axles. You have to mod the tranny mount. TGFab did a later G50 6 speed conversion. Google him and check out the site.
Have fun

Bill Verburg · Bill Verburg's Garage

If I were going to do that sort of thing I would do something like T.G. Fab did.

A lot of the strength of a 911 is in the t-bar tube so a suitable form of reinforcement needs to be installed as part of the process. A full cage tied to the suspension is the ticket here.

The gearing of the later transmissions is not the best for most performance minded folks, and should be modified to suit ones use and engine.