Nice SmileWavy

Is that dust on your hood?;)

Personally I think this is a GREAT option for the 996 and Boxsters out there. I do not feel like the M96 was Porsche's finest hour - while I think the current batch of LS engines are wonderful creatures...

A well set up 996 (or Boxster S) with a Ls6 would be a potent track weapon. My guess is that weight would be very similar.

I have 220 on my Suburan and it's never had anything but oil changes. No oil leaks, no pulled head studs, no problems at all. Like a rock.

H

How does the 6.0 V8 rep look like? I'm approaching 100K and it's on it's original set of brakes......except for the fuel pump, the heated seats, the Bose radio and some gas filling issues which were covered under warranty.....it's been great.

Oh yeah, I did an alternator and it took me 20 minutes to change it out. I spent more time in line buying it...

How accessible is the engine bay for regular maintenance like oil filter changes, spark plugs, etc. etc.? Is an engine drop required?

Boxsters with bad engines are going for cheap.... would like to see further efforts in this direction.....

Are there a lot of them with bad engines?

The whole engine debacle is so un Porsche. :(

Access is great actually, changing oil, coolant, and spark plugs is refreshingly simple. The V8 is narrow enough that in a 911, 914 and 996 they are very easy to service.

We already have the boxster under way, so it's coming.

There are lots of boxsters and 996's that are hard to justify fixing vs. the market value after the repair. Of course then there are the people who simply can't afford to replace the engine despite having a clear title on the car. A beautiful 70k mile 996 was sold locally for $5k due to the cost of the engine replacement. Sadly I missed it. There are definitely some deals out there if you keep your eyes open.

To Ferg, yep, that's a lot of dust. I'd like to blame it on living in the desert but the reality is I didn't get a chance to wash it before that track event, I barely made the driver's meeting that day. That's probably a years worth of dust from sitting on my lift at home. Obviously I'm coming to grips with my OCD :) I'd ask if you would have missed the driver's meeting or washed the car, but you never would have let it get that dusty in the first place :D On the bright side I was able to take it straight off the lift and do two days at the track without issue, so I can't complain.

My Adelaide Aussie Friend.... look here after a 5 minute search on our own Forums, as to what may be available cheap in Boxster-land with bad engines, the second car is in stunning condition otherwise, based on the extensive pics shown--->

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-cars-sale/583719-boxster-sale-blown-engine.html

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-cars-sale/561913-1997-986-boxster-dead-water-30k-miles-7500-a.html

As a joke to my same friend...for the cost of 3 plug wire changes....you can have one of these cars... :)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/599191-dealer-wants-2200-change-out-spark-plugs.html

Just an FYI for those on the lookout for a boxster to eventually convert, we'll be using the boxster S trans. So you can either start with a boxster S or do a trans upgrade on a standard boxster. We just picked up a low mileage boxster S trans for about $2k, so they aren't bad compared to G50's etc that we typically do for 911's.

Steve,
Is it your impression that the Boxster S Transmission is sufficiently strong for a hot rodded LS engine? Say 400+ HP to the wheels? My guess is no. I suppose if your kit isn't done, you may not have the answer.

Thank you,

Doug

Good question. The boxster S is going to be very similar to the 996 in terms of transaxle strength. So far we've had no problem with the 996 and it has 160k miles on it. Even at the track and with some aggressive street pulls it's been fine with a 6.2L LS3 at approx. 430hp. Obviously the 996 C4 is quite a bit heavier than a boxster and thanks to AWD it's hooking up really well putting more stress on the drivetrain. There are some internal upgrades available that will make it less prone to failure should the need arise. When gears start breaking then to me it's a transaxle strength issue, but when it's the coupling teeth, etc I tend to think it's more the driver.

Some people are just more apt to break stuff. I'm not a fan of putting max HP/torque rating on transaxles because the loose nut behind the wheel is such a big part of the equation.

The 914 I posted a picture of earlier is rather heavy thanks to the tube frame (1.75" 0.120 wall, 150+ feet of it!) and I've done a lot of track days with a V8 going through a 914 trans which weighs all of 75 pounds. I'm not one to hold back with a long straight or worst yet.... with an Evo, WRX, or corvette in front of or behind me. It held up well and the only reason I'm going with the 930 is that I'm adding quite a bit more horsepower/torque and it frees me up in that regard. That being said if I missed a shift or really bungled a heel-toe it could have ended badly.

So if you want to bang through the gears with reckless abandon then you're sure to find the limit, but that can be said with pretty much anything. Shift smoothness and timing will go along way towards keeping the big parts from becoming little parts. If it's driven like a porsche vs a muscle car that helps too.

I guess the question (that can be put to anyone here, not just to Steve) is..... what are the similarities and differences amongst the 996, 986 and 986S transmissions ?..... in critical areas that can be measured....like gear width/size, shaft-to-shaft spacing within the gearbox, etc.

If the 996 C4 held up well...and we see similar ( identical ?) pieces in the 986S trans... or for that matter, the 986 trans....then we have a basis for comparision, seeing how well the 996 mule is holding up.

I appreciate the effort Will. ;)

Thank you Peter.... I can swallow these costs as being a bit more "reasonable" than accepting $2200 for plug wire change out... (OK with cap and rotor...but still)

I read about folks installing the 911 (996) engine into Boxsters. They added a third factory radiator / cooler, maybe in the nose, which was from the GT3 (forgive me if I can't remember the details). In the end, I remember there being a factory cooler from another car which could be bolted in that would add significant cooling volume.

Is that your plan, as well?

My wheels are turning on the project front. Might be fun to build a GT3 clone from a 996 or 997 with a Z06 engine or a sleeper boxster project.

Doug

You'll never be able to compete in a PCA event......:eek:

Wayne has a Boxter (or did have) with a Carrera engine installed.

Is a classic Turbo basis the real "ticket" here....widebody....good brakes, ... 4 spd 930 transaxle for ratios and torque capability ? .....

Great questions and comments. Internally the 996 and Boxster S should be very comparable, a lot of it is interchangeable. We won't be doing anything with the standard Boxster trans, so no need to worry about that one. I have heard the Cayman trans is a bit beefier, but haven't seen the guts first hand.

We added the 3d/center radiator after we were able to get it warm testing at the track. On the street the two standard radiators did surprisingly well.

We tested at a PCA event... :) You can't go club racing of course, but DE's and such shouldn't be a problem. If there are any regions that have a problem with an engine conversion let us know, we'll get it taken care of :cool:

An original 3.3L 930 / 911 Turbo is pretty much the perfect conversion candidate when it comes to the early cars. We've done several of them. Big brakes, super strong trans, lots of room for tires... tough to beat! You can buy a nice car for $25k, potentially get $7500 to $10k for the complete engine, and you are on the way. We had a local 930 with an engine problem for sale at $12k. The motor would still have brought $3500 or so. That would have been $8500 for an awesome base for a high hp LS conversion.