996 LS V8 Conversion

[not_hans_stuck]

Originally Posted by jmitro

call me a purist, but half of what makes a "porsche" a "porsche" is the motor.

Yeah, but 996's aren't real Porsches.

H

[LvSteveH]

Originally Posted by SinCityCarrera

Hey Steve why dont you put up some pics of that insane Targa you had down at 900 Series (Carl's) we could hear from 2 miles away???

It really deserves a post of it's own, but here's a sneak preview. If you heard it from that far away then it had the exhaust cut-out open. It sounds like you are at a race track when it's opened up.

With the cut-outs closed in stealth mode it's amazingly quiet. We had a 3.2L carrera parked next to it and the 3.2 had a deeper exhaust note and similar volume. Basically we built a custom exhaust header that reroutes the firing order to give it a very unique sound. It still made almost 550hp through the full exhaust and 600hp opened up.

[gwood]

"A 997 GT3 RS??? Blasphemy, that's what that would be."
Agreed. But I think the point is to start with a $6k 996 and give it the power of a GT3RS.
I don't see any technical details on the RH site yet. How did you solve the starter placement problem?

[Joe Bob]

A 60 year old design and cheap as hell. Can't beat the 350 V8 for 100K miles

Now if it just went 2-300K miles like a flat six can.......

[LvSteveH]

Originally Posted by gwood

I don't see any technical details on the RH site yet. How did you solve the starter placement problem?

The starter is right where GM intended it to be It worked out very well actually.

Everyone's doing a great job helping answer questions, thanks. The Cayman and 997 will probably be a while, but the boxster is around the corner.

I love the idea of turning a 996 into an affordable GT3. The potential is almost unlimited. If I wasn't doing a 69 RS look right now I'd be all over that.

[LvSteveH]

Originally Posted by Joe Bob

A 60 year old design and cheap as hell. Can't beat the 350 V8 for 100K miles

Now if it just went 2-300K miles like a flat six can.......

The porsche flat six is a thing of beauty, but there are plenty of LS series engines going 200k, 300k, 400k + miles. When properly maintained modern engines can go a long, long time. They are so reliable that I think sometimes maintenance gets neglected. If you maintain the LS engine with the same vigor you'd maintain a porsche I have no doubt it would give the best of them a run for their money.

[Wil Ferch]

Quote..."Now if it just went 2-300K miles like a flat six can.......

... If Chevy's were given the same anal attention ( oil changes, maintenance, etc) as we dote on our 911's, they would last a long time too. Hint.....talk to a "pro"....a Taxi driver that owns his own car, and you'll see that this is true.

[Joe Bob]

Well, I am anal on my V8s.....but I sell them when they hit 150K. So no direct experience......

[lindy 911]

I've personally seen one go 300K+ with GTX no less. It was in a Chev PU that had a 4.7 (283?) that got the s@#*& run out of it on a daily basis. The tranny gave up the ghost at 310K or so. I'm sure one babied in a 3,000 pound car would last longer than the car.

Lindy

[sc_rufctr]

Originally Posted by Joe Bob

A 60 year old design and cheap as hell. Can't beat the 350 V8 for 100K miles

Now if it just went 2-300K miles like a flat six can.......

I think people often forget this about the air cooled engine.

When rebuilt and maintained properly you really do get your money's worth.
Stupid things like valve springs and oil fed tensioners that go bad let it down but If you can swing a spanner nothing is too hard.

[lupin..the..3rd]

Originally Posted by jackb911

I know that the purists hate these conversions but if I still had my 996 and it had a leaky RMS, I'd be doing this without hesitation.

x2, this engine swap is much cheaper than topping up the oil from time to time.

[Jeff Alton]

I'm suddenly looking forward to blowing up my 3.4 in the 996 at the track this year....

[jwetering]

Originally Posted by Jeff Alton

I'm suddenly looking forward to blowing up my 3.4 in the 996 at the track this year....

It's nice to know there are options anyway...

[Wil Ferch]

With all the legendary 200-300k miles reports on 911's.....you see an *awful* lot of cars for sale where the service history shows at least an upper-end rebuild, or fixed head studs, or worse....involving some manner of rebuild....well under 100k miles...and quite a few under 50k.

So yeah.....the 911's are respected for long life....but let's add up *all* the empirical data points.......

[mikeferg75]

Nice, I like everything about it!

Hey Steve, how about showing us your car

[jpnovak]

I like it. very nicely executed.

I am waiting to see the Boxster version.

The 996 is still a bit out of the price range to consider the engine swap. Of course, if you find one with a blow engine already...

[Joe Bob]

Porsche Boxster S 2001 Chassis Project Roller - eBay (item 170610672368 end time Apr-01-11 11:17:45 PDT)

Boxster, roller on eVilbay....

[Trackrash]

I think this conversion is perfectly timed.
The water cooled Porsches are wearing out and the new GM V8s are really a great motor.

Now that Porsche is part of VW it isn't the same old company, unfortunately.

Witness this:
"Thank you for your recent order from Pelican Parts. Unfortunately, one or more of the parts that you ordered are not available in stock within Porsche's warehouses in the United States. They are available, fortunately, in Porsche's main warehouse in Germany. We can order the parts for you from Germany, but there will unfortunately be a 20% surcharge on the cost of these parts only, to cover the air shipping from Germany. Expected delivery time for these parts to our location in Los Angeles is approximately 3 weeks.

It is unfortunate, but Porsche is moving to reduce stock in the United States of many parts required to restore and repair the older Porsches."

The writing is on the wall....

[911jettat]

I love this and wish Renegade all the best! (actually thanks for breathing life into these cars) The video really addresses a lot of the questions I had about these conversions.

I grew up around muscle cars and as much as I LOVE the sound of a cam'd-out V8, I never got too excited about the rest of the car. I'll pass on the 996...now I'm praying for continued, heavy depreciation on the 997!

[LvSteveH]

Originally Posted by mikeferg75

Nice, I like everything about it!

Hey Steve, how about showing us your car

My latest project is upgrading my street/track 914 to a 930 trans. It's an expensive project but should allow me to push the horsepower up quite a bit. The new motor will be close to 400hp hopefully. It's almost done, another couple weekends. We have a PCA track day on April 16/17, so I'm shooting for that. Is it wrong that it has a/c and power windows?

It's not stock, shhhhhh.... don't tell anyone.