My 1968 LS swapped RSR project
 

Here goes. To most I'm sure I've ruined this car. But considering its condition when I got it, I'm happy with the outcome. I cant wait to experience this thing on the road!

As a child, my dream car was a classic Porsche 911. I knew I would own one one day, but I didn't think it would be this early. OR under these circumstances.

I'm 26 y/o living in rural Southern Indiana, I Teach high school manufacturing and own an auto detailing business on the side. Three years ago my cousin sent me a link to a Facebook marketplace ad for a 1968 912. At first sight, it looked awesome and like it would be the perfect project!

Fast forward a week and I go look at this car knowing I cannot afford it, But I go anyway because I just wanted to see a classic 911 (912 in this case). The car is clean from afar. The paint looked okay, nice wheels, and no rust.... And then we open the door. Apparently, this car was a victim of the 80s-90s audio era. The dash had been completely cut out. This car was BARE on the interior. The person selling had stripped everything out of the interior and thrown it out as it was all custom ugly fiberglass and cheap interior bits. (Im sure it was high-dollar stuff back in the day). The only thing left was the dyno mat that covered everything.

We then walk around to the back of the car and this is when he informs me it was originally a 912 ( Short wheelbase I THINK) and had been converted to a flat 6 and LWB using 74 aluminum trailing arms. The guy is asking 25k for this car and a complete rolling chassis 68 912 parts car. The parts car was nice but the tub was completely rusted out. A 901 trans, and a box of parts for a 912 engine. I knew nothing about these cars or their worth. I just knew I couldn't afford 25k at that time.

To cut out alot of BS reading. I offered the guy 15k for everything and he accepted. my offer to my surprise.

I had every intention of putting an air-cooled engine back into this car. But the more I looked. I wasn't able to come up with 18k for the engine I wanted. After all. I wasn't about to be driving a 911 RSR that was slow! I continued to search for options. That's when I came across Renegade Hybrids. So here we are. Im putting an aluminum LS1 and a 996.1 transaxle into this car. It required tons of cutting and modifying. But the way saw it, this car was the perfect fit for an outlaw swap project being that it would NEVER be worth what it was. Unless I spent big money to have it all professionally converted back, which I wasn't going to do. You can love it, or hate it. The way I see it. I took a problem child of a car and am giving it a second life. And I'd like to think I'm pouring everything I have into this car to make sure it's done right, and exactly how I imagined it!

I get the car home and tear into it... This is what I was working with. I will try to post on here daily some updates. I should have been doing this all along. But I just became a member back in April. I'm on year 3 of this car and we are SO close to being on the road. Here are a few pictures from when I got it, and a few photos of the way it currently sits. I will continue to post about the process!

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Looks like a great start!

Wow! This thing is going to be awesome! Please keep us posted with updates on this build!

-Matt

I’ll go by the order things happen..

I ordered everything I needed for the swap from renegade (minus the trans mount at the time) the kit included: Engine cradle, adapter plate, billet flywheel/pressure plate, spec clutch, aluminum fuel cell, radiator and shrouding, water pump, and aluminum water block for the front of the engine.

Running the 996 trans wjth the renegade kit required me to cut my torsion tube. I was extremely nervous to do this. It took me way longer than in should have to finally bring myself to do it. But I finally tore into it. I braced the tube and started cutting away. It wasn’t until recently I got the correct trans mount. But renegade now makes a 996 mount so for early models so it worked out. Of course cutting the tube required to do away with the torsion bars. So I went with Elephant Racing coilovers for the rear. Along the way I’ve noticed a few funky things. For example this car came with steel trailing arms.. It now has aluminum 74 arms. So the geometry was a tad different for the springs. But not anything I’m not able to fix. (The bare block was just a mock up I was able to get)

After a few weeks of cutting and perfecting the spacing the way I needed I now have the engine and trans in there. I bet I lowered the car and raised it back up 150 times.. luckily I have a 2 post lift so that saved me a lot!





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Next up: converting the car from air to water using the renegade hybrids kit.

This was a huge step in the process. The renegade kit comes with some instructions. But the kit requires trimming to fit perfectly to each vehicle. So I did what I could to make it look okay! A hood scoop and the air diffusing out the top would have been ideal. And I may eventually do that. But for now, this will work! I plan to make a scoop from the bumper directly to the opening in the front of the car to ensure all air that goes through my RSR bumper will be sent straight to the RAD.

I have yet to come up with a great solution for routing the water lines. For now, I will run soft lines in the side skirts. But eventually would like to run hard lines down the sides of the car similar to oil lines.

I do plan to clean up all these welds to make it look much nicer and re-undercoat the car.

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That's what I want to do with mine, have the radiator vent through the top via vents vice under the bottom of the car.

Looks awesome, will be following.

Thanks Ryan! I've followed your IG for a while now and came across your build thread the other day. Cool to follow along! Your thread is actually what made me want to start mine!

Appreciate it. Progress has stalled a bit on my 1972 due to a new addition to the family, my five month old Tyson, in addition to picking up a more "family friendly" 1981 SC which I've been doing some things to.

Welcome to the club!

Update
 

I've been away for a bit trying to get as much done as I can on the car. I have a deadline I'm trying to meet for a rally here in Indiana in July.

The last few days I spent removing all of the suspension on the car. I've decided to do away with the original 68 front A-Arms and do newer style arms, and surprisingly I believe I'm going to not do coilovers and just do larger torsion bars in the front. While I'm at it of course I'm getting all new suspension bushings. I will also be doing away with the steel front cross member and getting an aluminum one.

All that being said there are about 15 layers of crap undercoating on the car. Just kidding but it certainly seems that way. Can anyone tell me what the white coating is on the chassis? Anyways, Ill post another update once the new undercoating is done and the suspension is back on!

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Looking good

I’ve gone a little MIA.. for good reason I would say.. This has been a 3 year project for me and I’m approaching the finish line. Or “seeing light at the end of the tunnel”. I’m 27 and just trying to make the most enjoyable car I can with my budget. I saw no point in leaving all the old grungy looking and worn out parts on the car if I’ve put this much work into it. I want the car to handle better than new. So I’ve completely torn then suspension off. Someone at some point got happy with the undercoating and decided to coat the suspension, and trailing arms. So I’ve cleaned it all up. And got myself a powder coating “system”. Found the oven locally for free. Gun was $80 from Harbor Freight, and the powder is relatively cheap too! About $15-20 a pound. And a pound covers a lot! I tore my struts apart and have a red that should resemble the Origiobal Boge red. Eventually I’m upgrading all this to newer 911 suspension. But for now this is what I’m doing. All new bushings, ball joints, everything.


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These struts turned out way better than I expected! Loving this red. Turbo tie rods and new ball joints on the way and then this front end goes back in for good!


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It’s all looking great

Keep it up! You're making progress pretty fast on this build!

Thank you! I wish I was closer to CA, so my pelican orders got to me sooner! lol although for being in Indiana you guys are pretty quick I have to say! Pelican is saving my butt on these parts that’s for sure.. And thank you for the kind words, because it feels like it’s taking forever:D

Finished my Turbo Tie Rod upgrade last night. My big order will be here friday to hopefully get the car back together this weekend if all goes well! At the very least the front end back on. I fixed a small rust spot a few weeks back and got it all looking good again and structurally sound, so we should be good to throw the whole front back on!

Good news too, I was racking my brain on what kind of cantilever throttle to use for my aftermarket pedals and it won't be nearly as bad as I thought. For what I'm after it will work perfectly I believe. My plan is to run a stud off the side of my gas pedal over to the top of the tunnel and run my cable on top of the tunnel all the way back. I got inspiration from the RSR 917 throttle pedal kit. It will blend right in with my 996 Numeric Shifter sitting on the tunnel.

From Rebel Racing
-Adjustable 65-68 ball joints (up to 1.5 degrees of camber with no camber plates)
-RSR rear spring plate bushings
-986 Caliper Adapters.

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Any tips on the turbo tie rod upgrade? I've got to do that on my '81 before I dig into my '72.

Wait, did I miss it? You're running a G96 in the car? Or just a 996 shifter?

I'm running a G96! and the turbo tie rod upgrade is pretty straightforward, Just remove the old eyelets on the steering rack and then screw in the new tie rods and get an alignment!

Nice! So I am a few months away from digging into the project, but I picked up a 2001 996 Turbo donor with engine and transmission this weekend to put into my yellow 1972. I might pick your brain once the time comes to fab up the G96.50. I have the whole car minus body panels so I was debating using the 996 pedals mounted to the steering wheel, but we'll see.

I think the engine will fab up pretty easily, but am a bit concerned about the transmission. I have full coilovers and a 12 point cage, so I'm not concerned about cutting anything if I have to because I think I've got enough rigidity.

Absolutly. Reach out anytime! You may be able to squeeze it in with no cutting. I had to cut the section between the trailing arm mounts out. I can send you photos. Shoot me a DM on IG!. Having the cage will be nice to tie into for reinforcement if you need to as well!