LS V8 swap into a Boxster S
 

Already on board with the Go-For-It frame of mind.

I posted an introduction about a week back. After going through the learning curve for the site I've found I should use proper punctuation, paragraphs, and not live where I have for my entire life (Spokane). Lol!

I picked up a very well used 2001 Boxster S, six speed, very pretty blue, that has been ridden very hard then passed along. New tires, new top, new seats, new clutch, very cool Fabspeed exhaust from headers to sensors to mufflers.

That being said I have been in contact with Travis at Renegade Hybrids regarding mounts. I plan to get the adapter from Kennedy Engineering.

I picked my handle of outsidetheboxster as I want to do if differently. I don't want to cut so far into the passenger compartment if it's avoidable. I'd like to find a way to tap into the freeze plugs or the bellhousing end of the block to connect to the water passages if possible. I have all winter to make it all come together. Pipe dream perhaps but still....

Anyway, I will call this my build thread unless I'm in the wrong category. Can someone confirm or point me in the right direction please?

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1567295227.jpg
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1567295260.jpg

And once again I forgot to say I'm planning the GM LS swap of some sort. Thinking a 5.3 with a cam but this is my first venture into LS territory. Suggestions for a guy with a limited-ish budget?

Oh.... we need MORE of this! Hahaha.
I'm subscribing.
Following closely.
I like my 3.2, but I have this roller without a motor sitting here...... hahaha.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

The LS motor is hard to beat. There is a lot of support for engine swaps. Ask my brother.
https://i.imgur.com/0NwudyZ.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/7UqxXxg.jpg

Maybe some inspiration:

http://986forum.com/forums/show-tell-gallery/54328-boxsterls376-introduction-ls3-conversion.html
http://986forum.com/forums/show-tell-gallery/56050-v8-conversion.html
http://986forum.com/forums/performance-technical-chat/66668-any-progress-v8-engine-swap-options.html

What’s wrong with Spokane? It’s a really nice town. I grew up in Kennewick, BTW.

I’ll be following your progress with your build.

Smallblock454, thanks so much for the links! Very inspiring reading!

I actually read all of the posts by BoxsterLS376. That is what convinced me to go buy this tiny beast of a car. Lol! I had no idea I even wanted one until I heard 50/50 weight distribution, 6 speed, cheap oil changes, etc.

Very much appreciate the link for the tach correction unit. That opens my field of possible engines so much. Stuttgart Muscle had indicated I needed a 58x reluctor wheel. Also found out somewhat recently that a Vortec is also workable. Once you start to research a whole world of swap ideas come to find.

Now to narrow it down to a proper displacement. "No replacement for displacement" comes to mind but then reality sets in. I don't need 600+ horsepower at this stage of life. I just love the sound of a proper V-8 and a stick shift. I'd be happy with anything equal to stock for now, or perhaps a bit of a bump to say 350ish or so.

When changing a cam what does it take to change the computer fuel maps and timing adjustments? Is this already done by the computer or does this need to be hired out to someone with a dyno? I'm old school. You advance the distributor a few degrees and drive it around the block to see if it pings....

Also wondering if the stock harness is easy enough to modify or if I should go with aftermarket? I am an electrician and can follow diagrams so.....

Hang in there gang. Any moment I'll get going with actual progress! Still tearing down and cleaning up at this point.

We're pretty forgiving here. Just don't go insulting someone's intelligence if you don't know the difference between "your" and "you're". :D:D:D

I'm looking forward to updates on your project with lots of enthusiasm and a little envy! ;)

Best of luck! :cheers:

piper6909. Did not mean to offend anyone, including you.

I really can't figure out why so many people have bad engines, and yet they are intimidated by this swap. Maybe lack of good, clear directions and a parts source?

Hopefully we can clear that up. Of course it takes funding but it should not be break-the-bank type money. It's really just a matter of buying the adapter and engine, then making it fit and run. A bit of wiring work, some coolant circulation hurdles, and some metal work.

And then the exhaust, tuning, metal engine cover fabrication, upholstery, more wiring, power steering hose modifications, shift cable re-work, fuel pump lines, axle geometry, etc. I suppose exhaust routing too. Yeah, I get it.

I'll see what I can finagle and get things straightened out. Any help would be most welcome. Come on gang, lets do this!

I wasn't offended in any way. I was trying to make a joke about using "...proper punctuation, paragraphs..." Obviously the joke bombed, and I'm sorry I didn't clarify that I was generalizing and it wasn't directed towards you or anything you did or said.

Having said that, I'm truly looking forward to seeing updates on your project. I can turn some wrenches and swap parts & motors. But making mods way beyond my capabilities. Thus the bit of envy, but no malice.

Best wishes and I look forward to your posts. :cheers:

No.

Yes, but the dyno is not the important part. The person needs to know how to remap the ECU you're using and needs to have experience in doing that.

I love these build threads!

I do too. I'm excited to move this one along and stop trying to decide which engine to go with!

Check this thread out. Lost of good info. https://ls1tech.com/forums/conversions-hybrids/1075693-my-budget-ls-engine-swap-guide-1500-a.html
I also live in Spokane and would be very interested in your project.

Very good link, thank you. I haven't taken the time to read all of it yet, but it has been bookmarked for later reference and looks promising.
As my current clutch is almost new I plan to re-use it along with the Kennedy adapter set up so I don't want to go nuts on the power level yet. Just get it all to fit and work then add more power as necessary. Necessary seems like a funny line of thinking but saving money for now is a great idea! Money spent wisely seems to go further towards necessities.
:cheers:

adapter
 

OK guys and gals. Small update for anyone watching from the sidelines.

I ordered my adapter today , but went with the one from kitcarchassis.com. I spoke with Eric and he is a very good source of information. Also this kit includes a complete stage one clutch setup for almost the same cost as the Kennedy kit with no clutch. Kind of a no brainer. Sounds like about 3 weeks from now I'll have the adapter in hand. Better get busy and find a motor. Stay tuned!

p.s. Any thoughts on how to clean all the oil/antifreeze mix out of the cooling lines and radiators with no motor or water pump in place? I'm thinking an electric pump and a bunch of Super Clean but that will create a lot of waste water to deal with.

Jack the front of the car up, and the coolant should run out of the lines that are under the car. You can take the hoses off the radiators, to make sure everything drains out.

I went so far as to use a shop vac to get the bulk of the liquid sludge out. I'm more concerned with the oil residue still likely coating the surfaces inside of the radiators and heater core. I want to get all that out before installing a new engine and such. I can remove all the parts of course, but not looking forward to pulling the heater core just to clean it. Lazy streak I guess. Lol.

That's a tough one. the tricky part is getting the cleaning solution to go up into the heater core since it's relatively high compared to the rads.

One thought, and it's just theoretical, is to jack up the back of the car, so the ends of the hoses are higher than the heater core. Or close to it. Then get a submersible pump from Harbor Freight, put it in a 5-gallon bucket or bigger filled with your cleaning solution. Connect the output from the pump to one of the rad hoses, and run a hose from the other rad hose back into the bucket. turn it on and let it circulate for a while. In theory that should work.

Now, what kind of solution to use?

Good luck!

Don't bastardize the best driving car ever made, Improve it with my 300 HP 2001 Boxster 3.6Lengine to maintain the benefit of Porsche engineering & resale value.

Hey Pipe!

Shout. The stain remover. I've been following the 2 vids on utoob. Guy bought a car with coolant/oil mixture... and he used up 2 jigs of the stuff, and mixed with water. The engine was in... car running. Granted, it's a 911... same concept.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JcjbYPHgjw

That's the first vid.

I like your idea... rear end raised. If you can... try to get everything sealed up so the water has a little pressure. The guy on the video did around 2-3 flushes with the Shout/water mix... then flushed it garden hose a couple of times until it ran clear... then a flush with distilled water.

The challenge I see is the heater core... for it may be closed because the water temp will be cold... tepid. Unless you can get around that... you'll have a little residual coolant in the system. Very small given the 6 gallons they hold.

Good luck!

Good thought, but too late!
I bought a 6.0 from an Escalade this morning. 345 HP factory. Same engine they put into the Silverado SS.
Adapter on order as of yesterday. Need to source an oil pan, intake manifold, stand-alone ECU, and a bunch of brackets to make. See? Piece of cake! :D

update, sort of
 

Hey All. Happy Friday to you!

I appreciate the post about cleaning the passages of oil/antifreeze scum. Going to give that a shot this weekend if I can rig up a pump. I'll likely use Castrol Super Clean as that works EXTREMELY well and has become my go-to product for nasty situations.

I have an engine adapter and clutch parts on order from Eric at kitcarchassis.com. They don't list a kit on their site, but they do have one available. And the price was extremely reasonable and it includes a clutch set up. He said 2 to 3 weeks out and it's been a week, so hang in there and I'll post pics. Super guy to work with so far!

I am most likely going to build my own engine and trans mounting brackets at this point as the source in Vegas is simply too expensive for the few pieces I need. I appreciate all of their hard work on the prototype pieces and they need to make money to stay in business, but I'm pretty sure I can create something that will work.

I'm bad with specifics off the top of my head but will post sources for the best bang-for-your-buck pieces as I find and utilize them. I don't want to post info about a find only to later find out it won't work.

Stay tuned!

Keep us up to date, please!

mock up engine
 

So I got a little creative today and got past my fear of making that huge V-8 fit. I just could not envision all of that actually working out, so I made a fake engine block out of plywood so I could maneuver it into place without fear of life and limb. I priced mock up blocks and they didn't exactly fit my budget I wanted to spend. As I said, spend smartly. That's my new motto!

Pics don't do it justice but what I did was hold cardboard against the bellhousing end, hit around the perimeter with a rubber mallet to trace the outline. I then transferred that to plywood and got to work on the rest.

I wound up with a block (without oil pan), removable heads (including enough height to include the coils), a fake round crank pulley shape of the correct depth and diameter (cardboard and packing tape) and it was light enough to set in place and move around with temporary props to hold it in place. Seems simple enough but kinda a pain to build.

The result of a few hours work is beyond cool and very much a relief! I believe the engine will fit without nearly as much cutting as some folks suggest so long as I can find a front crank pulley for either a Corvette, CTS-V, or a G8. Anyone have something laying around their shop they will part with?

I did find out the son of a guy I buy electrical parts from has an oil pan that may work they need to unload due to job loss. He was going to use it in a 350-Z LS conversion.

I'll see about flushing the cooling passages tomorrow and let you know how that goes.

Talk to you tomorrow!

Really cool project! I happy to watch from the sidelines. I replaced my 2.5 with a 1.8t and and thrilled with it. keep the updates coming.

Andrew-

feeling flushed
 

Flushing the water passages and radiators clean and free of milkshake residue went pretty well.

Used a 30 gallon drum, a submersible pump with a 2" outlet, a second pump with a hose bib fitting for the heater core and lines, a 25' garden hose, several pipe clamps of various sizes, electrical tape, and of course duct tape! (actually Gorilla tape, incredible stuff and highly recommended for your tool boxes just in case)

Added Super Clean to HOT water and turned the pumps on. Then shut them off and tightened the clamps :eek: and moved the drum to catch most of the mess. THEN was able to re-start the pumps and fill everything with solution without it spraying all over the place. Shut the pumps off to allow things to loosen up and gave it about 10 minutes to soak, repeat. Eventually got clear water coming out. :dance:

Next step was connect the trusty shop vac and let it run until everything was sucked dry. My shop is only heated as needed and we are supposed to be below freezing and possibly have the first snow of the season this weekend. Don't want to lose anything to solid water. Porsche parts are expensive!

Got on eBay and ordered a Davies Craig 8650 remote water pump kit for an LS, with a 150LPH pump and controller. And now another 2 week wait for that from Australia.

No huge news other than finding the remote pump kit. I'll let you know how that hooks up and include pics. Expecting the adapter plate and flywheel soon so you may see that and test fitting to the engine bay first. I get to see the oil pan tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Does your Escalade mill have an aluminum block? Do you know what the weight is compared to the stock engine?

Awesome! Glad the submersible pump idea worked! :cheers:

Looking forward to reading more as you progress!

New engine is cast iron block with aluminum heads.

I read (somewhere) that the aluminum block engine is 50 pounds lighter than the 3.2, and the iron block is 50 pounds heavier than the 3.2. All depends on accessories and such of course.

As I'm going to have 345 horsepower instead of 250 I feel I'm going in the right direction regardless of a few added pounds. :D

trouble is the steel engine cradle you need to make up will likely add a good chunk of weight as well.

agree with 345hp and way more torque, it will be less of an issue.

I remember back in the day ( late 90's), a company that made fake, complete engines out of plastic which weighted about 75 lbs and had everything. Alt, water pump, A/C. So someone modding up something not stock could build brackets and motor mounts with a fake engine. Just wish I could remember the name. Might be worth a little research.

P-Ayr Products Replica Long Block Engines 2046

Summit racing has a variety of the engine blocks. Little pricey but reusable so might be a benefit

Serious question tho, Would a smaller engine be easier to make fit. Like a built V6. Been a lot of years since I played with engine building.

It absolutely would be easier to make a V-6 fit length wise. I looked into it a bit and could not come up with an example with a low enough intake to clear the engine top cover. The LS has a very short overall height measurement so making a few choice mod cuts into the front engine firewall seems easier than giving up on being able to lower the top. And the LS is the new "small block Chevy fits all solution". Lots of aftermarket stuff coming out for it to make it user friendly.

I have seen mockup blocks before but not for the LS. The one I built seems to be close enough for scale and was all scrap wood I had in stock. There seems to be plenty of room for the engine in the bay. Once I get the adapter and bolt the block and trans together I can get it hung in place and go to town on fabricating mounts. I have a few good ideas in mind but they really depend on the final location.

The issues I can see coming are placement for the alternator and optional A/C pump, and routing the coolant lines. Might see about a shaft with pulleys on both ends driven off the crank pulley with a belt, and move accessories to the back end of the engine space. Might being the key word. Again it all depends on available space and engine placement.

Looking at stand alone ECM's this morning. Anyone have experience with Fitech products?

Theres a guy on Rennlist putting a Honda K24 turbo into a 997S (ya I know, crazy)!! He said it fits with tons of room and can be tuned to 500 hp easily. I personally thought a Boxster would be a much better platform for this.

Heres the thread.

https://rennlist.com/forums/rennlist-canada/1157940-turbo-honda-k-series-swap-into-my-porsche.html

That Honda swap is pretty neat, and it does make a lot of sense. The Cadillac V6 mentioned in that thread also sounds like a good swap candidate.

short update
 

Hi Guys

I was able to purchase the used oil pan. Sheet metal, no name brand or numbers, about 5" deep with remote oil filter mount and lines included. $200 and helped out a friend so all in all a good deal.

Also ordered and received (yay amazon!) a crank pulley for a front drive LS4. Super narrow and only a single flat belt drive. That will save a bunch of space and therefore cutting, I think.....

Still looking for a car type LS intake manifold, and looking at stand alone ECM's. So much to choose from with options all over the board.

Met Sam last week and he knows some guys opening a dyno shop that are LS savvy and may have parts or good sources at least. He is busy now soaking up info from my Bentleys manual. Lots of good info in there to go along with the 101 Projects bible.

Had a buddy refer to the project car as the Frankenboxster. Kinda like that but WAY too long for a license plate where you only get 7 characters. Actually looking for ideas how to create a red letter "L" to go in the trunk letters so it reads Boxster L S. Ideas on that?

I got my coolant pump set-up from Davies Craig out of Australia. Very nice machining and seems fairly straight forward but lots of control items to sort out if I'm using that controller and the factory ECM and the stand alone ECM. They all need to be able to run the cooling fans. Gotta make them all talk nice to each other.

Still researching ECM's. And intakes. Will likely need to convert to a cable operated throttle. Too many options but leaning heavily toward the Fitech unit.

The adapter from kitcarchassis.com is taking longer than anticipated but they had issues with their machinery. Stuff happens! Should be on the way this week. Fingers crossed.

Once I get the adapter I can bolt everything together including the balancer pulley and get going on mounts and clearance issues.

And now, back to the show!