RSR LS Conversion

[Tremelune]

Originally Posted by not_hans_stuck

The gauge is linear from cold to say 185 degrees. Then from 185 degrees to, for instance, 240 degrees, the gauge doesn't move at all. Once the temperature goes past 240, it's linear again.

[Mitch Leland]

Hal,

That's good information... I have a digtal water and oil temp gauge as well so I can track the temps on both the dash temp gauge and the digital gauge. I know people have said that the LS motor likes heat. Sometimes I think I get hotter than the car just worrying about temps.

I probably have done just about everything to reduce high water temps in high ambeients. I have 1-1/2" aluminum water piping from my manifold to the radiators, a large 3rd radiator, 190 degree thermostat, new aluminum radiators that replaced the factory radiators.

I've driven the car cross country in temps over a 100 without it boiling, probably the biggest worry is watching the oil temps in stop and go traffic over 90 degree ambients. I've never been over 250 degrees on the oil for long. I have a small oil radiator which has helped that.

Proof: last trip to California I had to stop on a border inspection on Highway 8 going into San Diego, the line was over a mile long, the ambient was 104 degrees... that's no fun. I said to myself if they would put the same effort at the border it might do more good...

Thanks again for sharing your knowldege with us...

[not_hans_stuck]

A few changes since the last post.

Created a duct to connect the mouth in the front bumper to the hole in the slam panel.



It's welded aluminum attached to the same mounting holes as the inner duct work that makes the box for the radiator.



These pictures only show it tac'd up, but it was seem welded.

This is it final fitted.



And how it looks with the carbon wrap. I backlit it with a flashlight for effect.



I also added AC. The lines aren't connected yet, but all the heavy lifting is done and the car is back on the ground and running again.

[Mitch Leland]

Hal, outstanding... I love your fabrication.

[baloo]

Great work!
How in the world did you get those BowTie cutouts at the top back of the duct??

[not_hans_stuck]

Originally Posted by baloo

Great work!
How in the world did you get those BowTie cutouts at the top back of the duct??

I have a friend with a CNC Plasma table. We just cut it out of steel sheet and welded it in instead of the slam panel sheet. There's some pictures in the thread somewhere. It was straightforward and minimally invasive. To restore to original you just cut that sheet out and weld back in a repro panel from Restoration Design. Most people just leave a hole, but I didn't like that. The vented panel seemed more rigid and cleaner.

Plus, the bowties.

[kylejohnston1]

Looking good...awesome craftsmanship!

[not_hans_stuck]

Working through punch list items.

First, I extended the fuel tank sending unit harness. It's now plugged in and up.

Installed the front cross brace again.

The AC hoses are done. Still need to wire up the compressor clutch and charge it. Getting closer though.

Re-wired all the main power lines. You guys will remember that I ran everything back to the disconnect switch on the rennline battery mount behind the seat. This was only temporary. Now that the car is nearly done, I could size the bus bar.

Here it is installed.



This looks a whole lot cleaner and should make the wiring a bunch safer.

There are two other wires visible in this image on the center console. One is the OBD2 dash pod. I haven't decided if it will become permanent. It may. For now, it's my only real gauge. The other is the gas pedal drive-by-wire harness. It'll get routed up the driver side. The red wire in the bottom left is my battery charger pigtail. The big wire coiled up on the floorboard is the factory Porsche seat harness. It still has the power seats.

I also had guy come by and roll the fenders. This was, you may recall, one of the "doh" moments we had. We completely forgot to roll the fenders before we finished the car. Rookie mistake. I'd been worried about it ever since, figuring it would cause all sorts of paint issues.

As it turns out, he did a fantastic job of rolling them by hand with no paint cracking, peeling or blistering. It looks really good.

Here's a pic. Not much to see but it's there.

[Tremelune]

That looks great. Be sure to fuse all those power wires when their gauge decreases. Ideally, some blade fuses would be built in to the distribution block.

FUSES

Scroll down to "ANY time that the wire size is reduced, you must add a fuse in the line (at the point of distribution) to protect the smaller wire."

[not_hans_stuck]

Originally Posted by Tremelune

That looks great. Be sure to fuse all those power wires when their gauge decreases. Ideally, some blade fuses would be built in to the distribution block.

FUSES

Scroll down to "ANY time that the wire size is reduced, you must add a fuse in the line (at the point of distribution) to protect the smaller wire."

Thanks! I don't think I stepped down anywhere. Everything is a home-run all the way to the component or back to the factory fuse block. In fact, 5 of them are just extensions of the factory wiring harness. Gauge stayed the same.

[Tremelune]

Am I interpreting this right? It looks like a 4-gauge power wire comes in from the left under the seat, and is then distributed to a bunch of smaller-gauge wires out the top and bottom of the distribution block.

[not_hans_stuck]

If you scrutinize the external pictures of the car over time, you might notice that the tires seemed to get smaller shortly after the car was returned to the road.

That's actually true. But, as of this weekend, the original, correct, tire sizes are back on the car and thanks to the fender rolling (and maybe alignment), there's no rubbing and no interference.

It looks much better.

The correct tire sizes are - 275/40-17 F, 315/35-17 rear.

The old tire sizes were 255/40-16 F, 275/40-17 rear - I bought the small tires for the front and moved the fronts back.

The bigger tires look MUCH better. The tire sidewalls are both vertical again. Yay!

I know, you say: " that's all you did this weekend?" Yup. That was actually a huge PITA - I dropped the spring seats and moved the suspension through it's entire range of motion to check for interference. And, while I had the tires off, I scrubbed the crap out them to get them shiny and black again.

[not_hans_stuck]

Put 40 miles on her today. Temps hovered around 217 degrees. 100 degree inlet air temp. Pretty pleased!

[not_hans_stuck]

OK. Here you go. We've had many, many discussions on this forum about the effects on weight of swapping your flat 6 for an LS1. Herewith presented for the first time anywhere is a before and after scale picture.

This is the data from before the flat 6 was pulled.

2566 Total

LF 481 RF 487
LR 804 RR 797

F/R Bias 37.6/62.3%

Gas on E, no Driver, Oil Full.



And here's the after data - gas tank is full for this one.

2578 Total

LF 458 RF 466
LR 839 RR 815

F/R Bias 35.8/64.2%



Based on a wheelbase of 89.4" the cg moved rearwards 1.5".

Also note that an RSR coilover conversion and a Boxster brake conversion was also performed on the car between the before and after weights.

There you go. The real data. Let the debate begin. My work here is done.

[Tremelune]

The LS is a phenomenal motor. Most debate revolves around purism.

I'm very interested to see how this thing shakes out over a few thousand miles and some extreme conditions. Good work on getting real numbers.

[not_hans_stuck]

Originally Posted by Tremelune

The LS is a phenomenal motor. Most debate revolves around purism.

I'm very interested to see how this thing shakes out over a few thousand miles and some extreme conditions. Good work on getting real numbers.

Thanks. It's shaking out. Various little issues but I'm getting them sorted one by one. It's slow but steady progress.

It helps that the car is rabid fast...

[Mitch Leland]

Originally Posted by Tremelune

The LS is a phenomenal motor. Most debate revolves around purism.

I'm very interested to see how this thing shakes out over a few thousand miles and some extreme conditions. Good work on getting real numbers.

When I did my conversion on my "03" 996 C4S I had no compunction about upgrading the power plant. First the 996 engine is suspect, When I raise the deck lid I want to see an engine, not air cleaners and hoses, and I knew the LS motor was high horse power with less complications. I've never figured out why Porsche still flogs the flat 6. The new ones are a piece of work, but complicated. Germans love complicated mechanical things. Example, years ago I had a 300SL Gullwing that I restored. The ash tray had at least 6 moving parts for one little ash tray.

The V8 fits equally well as the flat 6 and offers so many more possibilities. The 996 will probably not be a collectible car any time soon, plus the numbers they've made will not lend themselves to highly sought after car. I've had limited production cars that you wouldn't touch with a conversion.

Then there is all this back dating that goes on, what's the difference, I know it's still a Porsche, but you're walking a fine line.

You only have to drive one of these conversions to know why we did it. I have a purist die hard enthusiast friend who condemn me to Hell on Earth, after driving my car there was a slight smile that came across his face, and that said it all...

Warning, these conversions are not plug and play and will cost more than you expect, but worth every penny and months of work. Sorry for one man's opinion, you're welcome to retaliate...

[dtakenname]

Hi,
Great work!
not_hans_stuck, are you going to do any thing to gear ratios or final drive? I remember another member had to modify the transmission to lower the revs and the temperature.
What is your rpm at 60 miles/hr?
Are you over all happy with the running and idling temperatures specially at stop and go traffic?
Many thanks,
Happy New Year all

[not_hans_stuck]

It's a little short on gears. 1st gear is vestigial, really. I don't really have any issues with temperatures, though. All is good there. I really like the torque multiplication of the lower gears. Up to it's top speed, which I think is around 130 or so, it pulls like a beast! Who needs a turbo? Lol.

[not_hans_stuck]

pic from an event this weekend.