Joining the Porsche family, track rat style.

[WizardSmokey]

We'll definitely be taking it easy on the standing starts, that's for sure.

Probably won't be taking it to autocrosses very often at all anymore. We're kind of leaning towards doing some SCCA Time Attack events with it, that's just about the only place left it'll fit in.

Car's getting dyno'd here in just a few, so we'll have some hp/tq numbers to chew on!

[aparke4]

Great build... because racecar!!

[WizardSmokey]

ONWARDS, TO GLORY!

[WizardSmokey]

Numbers are in!





Not going to lie to you or myself, I was hoping for a bit more, if only just to have big numbers on a peice of paper. However, as anyone familiar with dyno tuning will tell you, don't look at the numbers, look at the curves. And damn, does this girl have some killer curves!

90% of max torque is available from about 3,500 rpm all the way to 6,500 rpm, and that horsepower plateau from 5,500 to over 7,000 is nothing short of drop dead GORGEOUS.

But, even though I know better, I can't resist the urge to push the numbers around, even if they're rough. Magic Tuner Man says that he's guessing 20% drivetrain loss, and that this dyno does tend to read a little low. I was hoping for 400 at the crank, which would be 320 at the wheels (using the assumed 20% loss). My math gives this run at about 365 crank, on an engine that supposedly gave 385 crank hp when new, though this one has 96k miles on it. ~20 hp loss over 96,000 miles and 14 years? Not bad! Especially from a ~$3,000 engine literally pulled from a junkyard. (I think it was something like $2,600, but shipping was a beach.)

And I didn't even factor in the dyno reading a bit low, because it's very difficult to put a number on that, meaning we essentially have an engine that makes roughly what it was factory rated at, a decade a half and nearly 100k miles later.

Even so, 300 wheel hp in 2,400lbs isn't bad. Best news is, transmission seemed to survive!


P.S. The rev limiter is now safely set to 7,800 rpm. We had it at 8k, but decided to play it safe and turn it back down. We wanted a safe and reliable tune, not maximum obtainable power.

[Quadcammer]

Can you share how hard the Haltech was to set up? I'm really considering doing something similar and would like to know how challenging the engine management is?

[WizardSmokey]

Honestly, it was a bit tricky, considering neither of us had ever done this level of wiring for a car, but once you start tearing into it, it's not that bad.

The main thing that made it difficult was that there was next to no information available for the Maserati engine wiring. So we'd have 3 or 4 wires coming out of a connector, and no idea what was what. "Black is ground, okay that's easy. Now this red one is most likely power, probably 5v. So what are these other two? Signal in and signal out? Which is which?" Stuff like that. Even the local Maserati/Ferrari dealership didn't have half the informtion we needed. So we did a lot of stuff from scratch or with extensive sleuthing that wouldn't be necessary on any other engine with marginally more support available.

On Haltech's side, however, everything is fantastic. The ECU and wiring harness come out of the box with labels on each wire, and a full fold-out diagram of what wire needs to go where. I wouldn't hesitate to use Haltech again, and on an engine with wiring diagrams available, it would be trivial to do. And Haltech makes pre-made wiring harnesses for most popular engines, making it literally plug-n-play.

[Qingdao]

Regardless of engine output you're still my trans canary as far as driveshaft angle.

Who cares about output anyway it doesn't add inches to your junk. LOL

That sound is to die for. And the mud flaps are an awesome touch.

[WizardSmokey]

Honestly, it was a bit tricky, considering neither of us had ever done this level of wiring for a car, but once you start tearing into it, it's not that bad.

The main thing that made it difficult was that there was next to no information available for the Maserati engine wiring. So we'd have 3 or 4 wires coming out of a connector, and no idea what was what. "Black is ground, okay that's easy. Now this red one is most likely power, probably 5v. So what are these other two? Signal in and signal out? Which is which?" Stuff like that. Even the local Maserati/Ferrari dealership didn't have half the informtion we needed. So we did a lot of stuff from scratch or with extensive sleuthing that wouldn't be necessary on any other engine with marginally more support available.

On Haltech's side, however, everything is fantastic. The ECU and wiring harness come out of the box with labels on each wire, and a full fold-out diagram of what wire needs to go where. I wouldn't hesitate to use Haltech again, and on an engine with wiring diagrams available, it would be trivial to do. And Haltech makes pre-made wiring harnesses for most popular engines, making it literally plug-n-play.



Ooohhh, and about that driveshaft angle........ Turns out we might need slightly longer axles, bebause they're at an angle and therefor trying to go further. We did have to pull on them to get them to met up to put the bolts in. The flange started to pull out of the trans itself, seems like it started to do it before the dyno day, too. As far as the U-joints, though, they seem fine.

Yes, the sound is glorious. Like, unreal. And microphones never do car noises justice, anyway. You should hear it in person.

[Quadcammer]

Originally Posted by WizardSmokey

Honestly, it was a bit tricky, considering neither of us had ever done this level of wiring for a car, but once you start tearing into it, it's not that bad.

The main thing that made it difficult was that there was next to no information available for the Maserati engine wiring. So we'd have 3 or 4 wires coming out of a connector, and no idea what was what. "Black is ground, okay that's easy. Now this red one is most likely power, probably 5v. So what are these other two? Signal in and signal out? Which is which?" Stuff like that. Even the local Maserati/Ferrari dealership didn't have half the informtion we needed. So we did a lot of stuff from scratch or with extensive sleuthing that wouldn't be necessary on any other engine with marginally more support available.

On Haltech's side, however, everything is fantastic. The ECU and wiring harness come out of the box with labels on each wire, and a full fold-out diagram of what wire needs to go where. I wouldn't hesitate to use Haltech again, and on an engine with wiring diagrams available, it would be trivial to do. And Haltech makes pre-made wiring harnesses for most popular engines, making it literally plug-n-play.

Thanks for that.

What are you using as your source for parts? things like water pumps or alternators and such? I couldn't find a decently priced source.

These motors are soo cheap, but I'd have to build a firewall back up around the motor, which might be an asspain.

[WizardSmokey]

Originally Posted by Quadcammer

Thanks for that.

What are you using as your source for parts? things like water pumps or alternators and such? I couldn't find a decently priced source.

These motors are soo cheap, but I'd have to build a firewall back up around the motor, which might be an asspain.

Most of the parts we've gotten have come from ebay, usually used. New parts aren't really too hard to find, there’s a handful of sites that specialize in high end European cars; it's the cost that can be obnoxious. These are still Maserati/Ferrari parts, after all.

The engine itself is cheap, but you have to remember that everything around it is going to be custom, meaning it's going to cost more, be more work, and take a lot longer than a swap with an engine that's more common. Engine mounts, wiring harness, plumbing, transmission adapter, clutch, all that good stuff; all of that is going to have to be custom made.

If your goal is simply an engine swapped Boxster that performs better than stock, I'd advise something else. K20, LS, or Audi V8 all have much more documentation, much more online resources for engine information, and MUCH more aftermarket support. (The F136 has pretty much zero of any of those.)

What I have is basically the most complicated solution to a simple problem.

However, if you just want a badass and almost unique Boxster that makes an insanely beautiful sound, it’s hard to beat the F136.

[Qingdao]

Originally Posted by WizardSmokey

Honestly, it was a bit tricky, considering neither of us had ever done this level of wiring for a car, but once you start tearing into it, it's not that bad.

The main thing that made it difficult was that there was next to no information available for the Maserati engine wiring. So we'd have 3 or 4 wires coming out of a connector, and no idea what was what. "Black is ground, okay that's easy. Now this red one is most likely power, probably 5v. So what are these other two? Signal in and signal out? Which is which?" Stuff like that. Even the local Maserati/Ferrari dealership didn't have half the informtion we needed. So we did a lot of stuff from scratch or with extensive sleuthing that wouldn't be necessary on any other engine with marginally more support available.

On Haltech's side, however, everything is fantastic. The ECU and wiring harness come out of the box with labels on each wire, and a full fold-out diagram of what wire needs to go where. I wouldn't hesitate to use Haltech again, and on an engine with wiring diagrams available, it would be trivial to do. And Haltech makes pre-made wiring harnesses for most popular engines, making it literally plug-n-play.



Ooohhh, and about that driveshaft angle........ Turns out we might need slightly longer axles, bebause they're at an angle and therefor trying to go further. We did have to pull on them to get them to met up to put the bolts in. The flange started to pull out of the trans itself, seems like it started to do it before the dyno day, too. As far as the U-joints, though, they seem fine.

Yes, the sound is glorious. Like, unreal. And microphones never do car noises justice, anyway. You should hear it in person.

IDK if it helps cause you have a 2001... BUT I by chance got longer axles than what I had. I had to replace my drivers side axle (bent or somehow nackered beyond repair) I replaced it with a passenger side axle. By happy coincidence the passenger side axles for a 99 are longer than the driver side. Replacing the drivers side with a passenger side axle might not be a solution but its a start (and I don't think the 2001 has the same stipulations).

I was thinking I would need a bit of extra length. So I took a set of Tiptronic spacers from a 996 and lathed them down to fit the flange for the 5 speed. TBH I gave up when the longer passenger side axle took up the space. BUT they are all lathed out. Let me run my car and see for sure I don't need them and I can let you have them for shipping costs.

[WizardSmokey]

How much longer are they? Is it a pair?

[Qingdao]

The tip spacers are about a cm thick.

The passenger side axles are about a cm longer than the driver's side. But if you need length on both sides it might not help much.

[Qingdao]

Axle spacers required?


Like I said you can have mine that I turned down, but they still need a bit of fab. Also, I wanna make sure I'm not gonna need them. I should be doing a first fireup tomorrow. It'll be on the road in the next couple of weeks and I'll know for sure if I need the spacers.

[WizardSmokey]

Actually, I just got a potential lead on a shop who can do some custom axles for less than what some of the other places were quoting. We're thinking about doing the whole axle, just so we're less worried about snapping one with all our new power and grip.

I'll keep the axle spacer in mind, though! I hadn't thought of that.

I'm not sure if we'll need length on both sides or not, but it seems like the axle needs another 3/4 of an inch or so to stop pulling the flange out.

[WizardSmokey]

Story time, kids!

Now that it's all back together, took the car up to JBA, a local very well regarded hotrod shop, to get it corner scaled. Car is at 2,530 lbs. 45.3% front, 54.7% rear. So weight went up since before the engine swap from ~2,460, and we shifted the balance by about 3%. But the left/right balance is still on point. 50.5 to 49.4. I don't think there is much we can do for weight reduction short of ludicrous cutting measures. But one thing to consider would be striving to mount further additions such as the fuel cell as far forward as possible to improve the weight distribution.

The fun part was that the Porsche did its thing, even at JBA. Mind you, they were loading up cars to go 1/2 mile racing the next day, so they had some pretty serious machinery sitting in their lot. But as soon as Ol' Squonky showed up, she was the star of the show. All the techs walking over to take a look and get pictures. Typical questions about what engine, what it's from, what it put out, how did I not get pulled over, what the **** is my malfunction. They asked me to start it and rev it. Lost their minds at how quickly it gains RPM. Were even more impressed by the dyno graph. Funny how guys that build performance cars were super hyped about an engine that could put power down so consistently. Then we had a good laugh when the guy who was weighing it had to take it to the garage. I told him the clutch was aggressive as hell. People have made fun of me for the way my shifts sound in the videos. I stopped counting after this guy stalled it for the 10th time.

Anyways, car gets weighed. I'm standing outside talking with a guy who was a VW Jetta that he's wanting to throw the Audi 4.2 V8 into, and he was all about that track racing. So good fun to talk to. Mind you, he's wiping down one of their 1000hp Super Snakes that's going racing during this. After the weighing was done, the guy brought it out again. Heard it stall a few times in their shop. Gives me the key and we stand there talking a bit. He, more than anyone else was in love with the car. Kept saying how much he loved the gnarly, no-f*cks attitude. The little bit of moving he did in the car told how aggressive the thing was. Clutch aside, he said the way the engine just wants to go makes the car feel scary even at idle. Naturally, he mentioned that he'd love to go for a ride in it, which I happily agreed to. But he said he was on the clock and couldn't, but then went to ask the bossman anyways. And come on, what bossman is gonna say no to that? Car like this doesn't show up every day. So we jump in, go on to the road just outside of JBA, and I did a rolling 1-2 to redline pull. This guy, Patrick, I think. Maybe Peter. Something with a P. Dude was losing his mind. He said he's probably been in faster cars, but never anything that felt nearly as aggressive, or that pulled so consistently throughout the revs. That's high praise coming from a guy at JBA. They were drag racing yesterday and disappointed that one of their Mustangs was barely getting into the 9s. So for him to be shouting "FU*K YEAH!" at maximum hype felt damn good.

[JayG]

I just Pm'd you with then name of a great race prep shop that specializes in Porsche in San Diego

[Qingdao]

You make me wanna weigh mine.

My top is heavy (I believe they are about 50#s or so heavier than the rag top??), but I don't have the rear deck lid cause the Z-top has that included.

I haven't done any weight reduction, but the good ole boy iron 4.3 engine weighs about 150#s less than the M96 engine.

I do know that all the "scaffolding" I had to make to get the 4.3 to bolt to the car weighs 45#s and I've added a few things since.


I'd like to see a dead stock weight on my car. That would be a win for me.

Dyno at the wheels I'd like to see 250 to 300 torques. That was my goal from the get go.



Don't let those dyno numbers get you down. HP sells cars TORQUE wins races. And you're right that is a strong steady low end powerband you've got.

[WizardSmokey]

JayG, I'd love to read the pm you sent me, but for some reason that page won't load. I've been in contact with or visited most of the Porsche shops and various race shops all over town at this point, though, so I probably know them. Besides, there's not much Porsche left for them to work with!

Qingdao, sounds like you're staying pretty well on target for weight. As far as torque, you're aiming to have a bit more than I do, are you putting it through the 5 speed?

[WizardSmokey]

Everyone loves this car.