Project LS1 (Another One!) - Page 2

81turboporsche · 81turboporsche's Garage

hm ,myself and my buddy have been looking at the rh kits , it looks like the quality is on par but the cost is a bit extremem, how much of a pain is it to do one on youre own though , i see alot of people easily past the one year mark on their ls1 behemoths?

lin7310948 · 11-24-2009, 04:00 PM

i used rh parts but would advise the following...use a mezziere remote electric pump and buy your own hose, buy your radiator and cooling fans elsewhere but get the proper inlets and outlets,buy the necessary aluminum sheet to enclose the radiator, use aftermarket fill system and overflow from summit racing or similar aftermarket, develop your own throttle linkage, use aftermarket headers, rework the porsche original gas tank to accomodate the available space, relocate the battery to the smugglers box, etc. the conversion is very simple and straight forward. i do not know how long it would take you but a couple of months with spare time on weekends and most evenings should get you up and running. i strongly advise a 930 transaxle if you plan on any serious horsepower.

sc_rufctr · 11-24-2009, 04:31 PM

I have been watching the various threads about these conversions. All good stuff.

But... Why doesn't someone mimic the 996/997 solution for cooling?
How about twin radiators in each front guard like a 996/997?
I would mount them sideways to slow the air flow through then to make them more effective.
One alloy tube to the front right radiator then across the the other radiator and then back to engine for the return.
Routed either side of the car. If you kept it simple you could have a very efficient system.
I like the radiator in the rear spoiler solution shown here in a recent thread.
That looked like an over sized inter cooler. Very clever.

I know a single radiator in the front may be easier but I'm thinking from a packaging point of view.
You could use cheaper after market radiators or possibly second hand units from a breaking yard.

The benefits would be a full sized trunk and the ability to carry a spare.
And the ability to return the car to Porsche power in the future would be easier.

lin7310948 · 11-24-2009, 04:55 PM

the front mounted radiator is so much simplier for me. with the modified tank i carry a 99? spare in the front compartment as well. also helps with more weight forward.

mbaran · 11-28-2009, 03:02 PM

New stuff!

Cut the gas tank down and bought all the metal to get the radiator installed and add some mesh to the front core support to allow for some airflow.

mbaran · 11-29-2009, 12:26 AM

lin7310948 · 11-29-2009, 01:53 AM

before you close the gas tank up...it would be a good time to provide for an internally mounted gas pump or pumps. are you going to use the smugglers box for the battery?

mbaran · 11-29-2009, 06:23 PM

mbaran · 11-30-2009, 08:23 AM

yes, we're going to install the battery in the smugglers box. For simplicity we've decided to use standard out of tank Walbro fuel pumps.

mbaran · 12-26-2009, 06:47 PM

New:

Built the aluminum box area for the radiator. Got the Fans mounted to the radiator and being mounting the battery in the smugglers box.

BK911 · BK911's Garage

Ok, I am a bit of a purist, but i can still respect all the work that goes along with this type of conversion. I am a little confused on why? The american HP is cheaper, but not when you factor in all the fabrication. So it can't simply be the cost consideration. Just something different? Please dont take this as criticism. The work is awesome. Just wondering.

mbaran · 12-26-2009, 09:20 PM

All said and done, this project will cost less than a 3.6 Twin Plug engine. The whole project should be ~$6000

I'm doing it myself in my garage with a buddy, so its a project for me. I like working on it.

gsmith660 · 12-27-2009, 04:34 AM

Wont that shove alot of air under the car making it unstable at high speed?

sfoster13 · 12-27-2009, 05:06 AM

This would be an interesting approach if you wanted to drop an air cooled engine into an early car and needed a place to stick the radiator. I was thinking about putting a 996 GT3 engine in my 71T.

pt109 · 12-27-2009, 05:53 AM

>Wont that shove alot of air under the car making it unstable at high speed?

I can't speak for how stable mbaran's car is going to be.

I used a 930 type front valance, with the oil cooler opening feeding the radiator.

This blocks the air off in the front and uses the vacuum underneath the car to pull the air through at highway speeds.

The extra 50 or so lbs that the radiator/antifreeze/air condenser adds to the front
seem to have improved the handling and stability.

I haven't been much over 100 mph yet, but my car is much more stable
up to that speed than it was stock and a lot of the tail-happiness when turning at speed is gone.

Regards,
Ken
911 V8 Photos

tctnd · 12-27-2009, 09:21 AM

You will need to mount an external swirl pot and use two fuel pumps (one low pressure to keep the pot full and, the high pressure FI pump) to ensure no air ever reaches the injectors. If you omit this the car will run progressively worse as the fuel level drops or you drive in a more spirited manner.
regards,
Phil

mbaran · 12-27-2009, 09:41 AM

We've sumped the tank and will be pulling fuel from the bottom. This is the same way we've used on 800hp plus turbo mustangs. Can't see the need for this??

Quote:

You will need to mount an external swirl pot and use two fuel pumps (one low pressure to keep the pot full and, the high pressure FI pump) to ensure no air ever reaches the injectors. If you omit this the car will run progressively worse as the fuel level drops or you drive in a more spirited manner.

regards,

Phil

gsmith660 · 12-27-2009, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pt109

>Wont that shove alot of air under the car making it unstable at high speed?

I can't speak for how stable mbaran's car is going to be.

I used a 930 type front valance, with the oil cooler opening feeding the radiator.

This blocks the air off in the front and uses the vacuum underneath the car to pull the air through at highway speeds.

The extra 50 or so lbs that the radiator/antifreeze/air condenser adds to the front
seem to have improved the handling and stability.

I haven't been much over 100 mph yet, but my car is much more stable
up to that speed than it was stock and a lot of the tail-happiness when turning at speed is gone.

Regards,
Ken
911 V8 Photos

Yeah Ken the amount of air you are talking about and how it is basically being pulled into the slipstream is how the race cars did it, I would think the way mbaran is doing it the air would come in and thru the rad. and then it would hit that perpendicular surface (gas tank) and shoot straight down kinda be like the thrust nozzle in a harrier and make the front end real light. mbaran let us know what it feels like at 120 mph a 911 or a 70s muscle car.

mbaran · 12-27-2009, 04:15 PM

I'm not really sure how Ken's car and mine are different?

His fan is at the same angle, rear fans, butted up against the gas tank...

The fans also do not turn at 100 MPH. The GM Ecu controls the fans and will only arm them when temperature requires them. I can assure you at 100mph this car will be running plenty cool.

The fabrication has all been spec'd out by a mechanical engineer.

gsmith660 · 12-27-2009, 04:28 PM

I am not an engineer but from the size of that front opening compared to the opening on a front air dam and the fact that if you look at the way the front coolers are setup with the back edge at an angle to smoothly feed the air into the area under the car (low pressure area) the way you did it was large front opening lots of air going through the rad. and on the other side is a flat perpendicular surface to the air flow under the car which is going to create high pressure and shoot down through the slipstream under the car and disrupt that flow as well as push on the ground providing thrust like the VTOL nozzle on the harrier. If I am wrong please somebody let me know but I would think the faster you go the worse that will get and make the front end very light.