3.2 into a '69? How difficult ?

[drola]

Some of you who peruse the cars for sale section may have noticed that i have an 85 cab project and a '69 912 converted to 911. So I was thinking......
Why not take the 3.2 out of the 85 and stick it in the '69?? Then i would have one bad ass long hood.
So my question is: what all would be involved in doing such a swap? I have he complete donor car so anything i would need to get the car running in the '69 should be there?
Will the 915 fit into the 69 tub? Or would i have to mate the 3.2 to the original transmission? To do this i need to change the clutch and pp? I have to double check if the tranny i have from that car is a 901 or 902. I would think axles would also be a consideration..
I know the complete oil cooling system needs to be swapped. Aside from the obvious dme harness, is there any other electrical stuff that needs to go with it? Like the plug where the engine harness plugs into the electrical panel on the left side of engine compartment.
This is just an idea for now. I'm not 100% sure i want to tackle this project as of yet since i have about a million other projects i could do instead. But i think the end result would be spectacular.
On another note, i may have a line on a good 2.7 soon. Obviously i would prefer the 3.2 but would the 2.7 be an easier swap?

Organ donor:



Organ recipient:

[Arne2]

Curious to see what way you go on this. That former 912 would might already be in my garage now if you weren't 3000 miles away from me.

[Hotrod911T]

I just installed a 3.2 into my '69 911T. Originally I mated it to a race prepared 901 transaxle (which didn't last long) and last week replaced it with a race prepared 915 transaxle from a ROW '85 Carrera. PM me and I can answer any questions you have regarding either way you choose to go. The 915 is a relatively easy swap but there are a couple of things you need to do to the '69 and the 915 to make it work. Before the 3.2, I had a 2.7 in the car.

Rod

[911pcars]

Off the top of my head:

Gearbox:
- A 915 is a more robust option for the 3.2. It's connected to the 3.2 already. Confirm by shift pattern (can't assume PO history).
- The 912 sheet metal under the back seat must be "adjusted" to clear some parts of the nose sections of the 915. The easy way: Remove the nose. With the the mount installed on it, ID and mark the portions of the sheet metal to bump.
- The 915 shift tube is supposed to be shorter than the 901's tube. Confirm and use that.
- Use the 915 shift housing and clutch cable
- Use the electronic tach from the '85. It matches the electronic sender of the 915. Remove the old speedo drive cable and route new sensor wires through the sheath to the tach. Some minor wire connections. BTW, you'll find the 912 tach opening to be slightly larger than the '85 tach. A slight space adjustment to fit.

Suspension:
Use the complete '85 front suspension
Use the '85 alloy control arms. They'll have the matching drive stubs to bolt up to the '85 CV joints.
There might be some minor mods required to clear the larger rear shocks. The shock "bell" is slightly smaller than later 911s and the shock geometry changes with the alloy control arms.

Engine:
New engine mounts need to be welded into the 912 chassis.
Use the '85 oil tank, oil lines, thermostat and external cooler.
Use the '85 fuel pump and fuel return lines; the engine bay fuel lines and filter as well. The '85 fuel tank will have the appropriate fittings for the return line, so move that over as well.
- I'd backdate the engine end of the cabin hot air system.
- Exhaust system: Many ways to go. YMMV. Try other threads on this topic.

Electronics:
Install the DME brain and harness into the existing 912 harness.

Something to think about:
Depending on the condition of the '85 chassis, consider leaving everything in place and instead backdate the body to a long hood. It'll still be slightly heavier by a few hundred over the lightweight 912, but also more rigid and more rust-resistant, the wheel wells will be ready for wider wheels/rubber already, and you won't have to move all the above parts over. In addition, if the 912 chassis is typical, there might be rust, structural and paint issues to consider, and/or........

.....leave the '69 alone and sell it. Depending on the condition, the resale value will be higher as is. Get the necessary back-dated body panels on the pre-owned, restoration or FG market.

I probably overlooked something...

Sherwood

[drola]

Thanks for the inputs. That does sound like more work than i was originally thinking.
I wouldn't backdate a cabrio so this is not the car to do that with, at least not for me.
I was thinking it would be a simpler swap. Not nesessarily plug and play but not all that involved either. The good thing is that since i already own both cars i can take my time to decide. The fact that i leave for europe for a month in the next 2 weeks definitely won't speed things up. But i'll have time to think it over.