86 carrera LS1 swap

[VacantSky]

Originally Posted by Yan2947

Vacantsky, do you have a photo of your radiator hose going to the front as it passes the cross member? Your return is opposite side mirrored?

I can get a fresh one for you but it won’t be until this weekend, for now if you look back at post 58 you can see the crossmember and the hose passes through it, when it exits the other side it hugs the fuel tank opening. You can see the hole cut for the return side where I hadn’t plumbed that hose yet. I kind of borrowed the idea from the “RSR LS conversion” thread. Page 10 you can see he has the coolant lines route through the crossmember! I used a 1.5” hole saw. And sanded the bore smooth to play nice with the hose.

[dtakenname]

Hope to see some videos of the car too,

[Yan2947]

Vacantsky, I see the hole now. If you do get a chance to photo the crossmember and the and how it hugs the fuel tank and goes from there to the radiator. Look great. I really like where you mounted the water pump. Out of the way! You used a regular 1.5" metal hole saw blade? or a stepped dril bit?
Thanks,
Yan

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by VacantSky

Spoiler alert on the wheels.. Heritage 6 by MOMO.. F: 17x8.5 et30, R: 17x10 et20.

Nice project.

First time I've seen someone using the Momo wheels, they look great. Wish they did a 5-spoke in 15 or 16 inch.

Pedal cluster modification, it took me weeks and weeks to refurbish mine, I cannot even imagine trying to modify one.

Kudos.

[VacantSky]

Originally Posted by kach22i

Nice project.

First time I've seen someone using the Momo wheels, they look great. Wish they did a 5-spoke in 15 or 16 inch.

Pedal cluster modification, it took me weeks and weeks to refurbish mine, I cannot even imagine trying to modify one.

Kudos.

Thanks! I love these wheels, looks like I got one of the last “custom” sets as Momo offers these in off the shelf sizes (With only two color options now) for certain applications, the 911 ones would be 17x8/9.5 only. I know they made a 1 off 5 spoke set for a Rod Emory 356 build, and they look great! Personally I love the 6 spoke over the traditional 5.

The pedal wasn’t too bad, it was a tougher decision to make but I think it will pay off in the long run with the NLA 930 part!

Originally Posted by Yan2947

Vacantsky, I see the hole now. If you do get a chance to photo the crossmember and the and how it hugs the fuel tank and goes from there to the radiator. Look great. I really like where you mounted the water pump. Out of the way! You used a regular 1.5" metal hole saw blade? or a stepped dril bit?
Thanks,
Yan

Yan, this took longer than I said so I apologize but here is the picture of the coolant hoses up front. No pic to the radiator as it is removed so I can close up the hole but you can see where they pass to get there. Bought some sheet metal this week so hopefully will have this closed up soon. I’ve been busy rebuilding brake lines and addressing the brakes. Rabbit holes that slow me down as per usual! To cut the holes I used a 1.5” hole saw after drilling a pilot hole. Where they cross over near the fwd control arm bushings I’ll use one more adel clamp per side to hold them in place

[Yan2947]

Looks great and I really appreciate the photo because it shows exactly what a good build with the radiator in the front needs. Did you use one length hose for each side or did you have some cuts where it goes through the cross beam with silicone angled hoses? You used one and a half inch hose the whole way or inch and a quarter in each direction? Thanks again for the photo Perfect!

[VacantSky]

Originally Posted by Yan2947

Looks great and I really appreciate the photo because it shows exactly what a good build with the radiator in the front needs. Did you use one length hose for each side or did you have some cuts where it goes through the cross beam with silicone angled hoses? You used one and a half inch hose the whole way or inch and a quarter in each direction? Thanks again for the photo Perfect!

No problem! I’m keen to document as much swap specific stuff I did as possible or take specific photos so anyone else in the future can have a thread to bounce ideas out of, or just copy! Could save someone some time!

The hose is 1-1/4” ID to and from (I believe that’s how both renegade & toy-jet do it too) and it’s pretty much one piece per side, the only cuts are to accommodate a couple T fittings for the expansion tank lines, the water pump, and of course a thermostat (I’m using a mezeir 170)

Here are a couple more pics to show the rest of the coolant system, I used a formed 45 off the right side of the engine just because the other hose would have kinked a little more than I would have liked to get the angle I desired. It shows a T fitting between the engine and water pump (hidden by the expansion tank). The steam port will be connected to the small inlet on top of the tank.



The second picture is my left rear wheel well showing the thermostat housing and the second T that links to the expansion tank. (The 3/8 line jumps over the top of the transmission to the tank)



The third pic is the T fittings I am using (from a VW pt# 1C0121087E) and are 1-1/4” OD in/out with a 3/8” OD T for the lines to run to the expansion tank. The C5 corvette tank has two lines coming out of it, otherwise 1 T would have been fine. If anyone else does something similar with a 2 port expansion tank make sure your second T is AFTER the thermostat so the tank isn’t used as a bypass while the Thermostat is closed. I don’t think it would be a problem, but I didn’t want to find out either. For now I have “no bypass” but I drilled two 1/4” holes in my thermostat to allow coolant to pass through and not create hot spots in the engine while it warms up, or dead head the pump.



Pro(?) tip, USE AMAZON PRIME! If I can find a part I want to try out, but am unsure of it’s compatibility and it’s available on prime that’s how I buy it. Even if it’s cheaper elsewhere, the return policy is incredible: no questions asked. If you don’t want it start the return and drop it off with UPS. Done. Refunded. I’ve had so many things in and out of the garage through prime to help figure things out, it’s been a life saver!

[VacantSky]

Really dragging my feet here guys sorry. I have a wife with a nursing career and we have a two year old so the swap project gets neglected from time to time. Plus I want all the supporting stuff to be taken care of too, so with that being said I finished my 993 caliper conversion over 930 rotors today. Tomorrow (once UPS shows up with it) I’m working on my shroud to close up the hole in the front tub. Ordered a 36x36 sheet of aluminum from McMaster Carr to fab it from. Plan is to affix it with fasteners so it can be removed to service the fans from above if need be. I rolled her out today after being on jacks for a couple months for a wash and with the front bumper on you can see how the RUF valance will feed the radiator nicely.






Valance will be painted shortly, and the screws will be painted along with it. Originally it’s supposed to 3M tape to the lower lip of the bumper but I wasn’t a fan of it, and obviously I’m not afraid of modifying the car so screws it is lol

Hopefully have a better update soon!

[Yan2947]

With my 86 can you tell me what I would need to do brakes like what you did.? Was it simple bolt on bolt off and do you know what parts are needed. What you were doing looks phenomenal!

[VacantSky]

Originally Posted by Yan2947

With my 86 can you tell me what I would need to do brakes like what you did.? Was it simple bolt on bolt off and do you know what parts are needed. What you were doing looks phenomenal!

Yan, the fronts are fairly straight forward. Patrick motorsports 993tt caliper adapters (these work with C2/C4 calipers and appropriate sized rotor which is what I’m using) a set of rebel racing rotor hats and some wilwood 12.19x1.25 HD rotors (you could use 11.75x1.25 to avoid the next step). I had to shim the caliper outward because the rotor is a 309mm vs the 304mm the C2/4 uses. Some grade 8 washers took care of that. Also I had to shim the adaptor ever so slightly to center the caliper on the rotor

The rear is a little more tricky, it is documented on these forums if you search “993 rear caliper mods pelican” on google. The rears usually accept a 299x24 so you have to widen the caliper throat a little bit, there are some casting bulges and the pad guides interfere with the rotor. And then the mounting holes need to be filled and redrilled, I used aluminum all thread and red loctite to fill the 3.75” spaced holes and redrilled them to 3”. The measurement to drill down from the padbox is 12.5mm with the holes 3” on center. Again all of that stuff is well documented on here. Then you just use a stock set of 930 rear rotors which slip right on (309x28). Some say you have to shave the pads too, but I found that stop tech pads fit (just)

I like the 12.19 rotors on the front because it makes all four rotors the same diameter.
There are easier solutions, such as the 996 conversion which is truly bolt on and uses all oem parts (after the adaptors of course) but the brake bias is a little front heavy compared to the 993 C2/4 calipers. The 993 give you a F/R braking ratio of 1.56 which is considered by many perfect for pre ABS air cooled cars.

I think all in I did front and rear for under $1400

[Yan2947]

Thank you. Will read up on it all. Great build!

[creaturecat]

looking good!

[dtakenname]

Hi,
So are you happy with engine operating temperature?
Any updates?