3.4L Motor Swap Underway!

[AndyA6]

Very nice! Maybe I missed this but what -if any- mods have been done to the engine which makes it put down so much HP?
TIA!

[JAAY]

What exhaust did you wind up with?

[insite]

Originally Posted by AndyA6

Very nice! Maybe I missed this but what -if any- mods have been done to the engine which makes it put down so much HP?
TIA!

i think it's probably not putting down quite that much HP. i do think the headers, muffler and intake setup add a bit of power. the headers are ebay / surewin & the muffler is a stebro race exhaust. the intake setup is a BMC airbox w/ fabricated plumbing as shown earlier in this thread. i probably need to calibrate the vBox for the car having lost a bit of weight. also, in lower gears, a light weight flywheel will show up on a chassis dyno as a power gain. this effect wanes in higher gears.

my guess is around 320 - 325 based on the butt dyno. it's nice!

[insite]

UPDATE:

passed the 500 mile mark on the new motor yesterday. she's running beautifully. i think the studs on the transmission mounts are still a little bit too long, though. i hear an occasional clunk that sounds to me like the studs hitting the subframe. at the 1000 mile mark, she's going back up in the air & i'll address this issue. i also plan on new oil / filter along with another Blackstone Labs oil analysis report to make sure everything is peachy.

this thing is a riot; i really love it. funny story, though: when i blew the motor in march '09, it was my daily driver (yes, my track car was my daily driver). i bought an '02 XTerra 4x4 that i planned to use as my daily. literally a week after i finished the boxster, the motor in the XTerra went south!! comedy really is all about timing......

i popped that baby on craigslist for $3k and it sold in five hours. we picked up an X3 for my wife last week & i'm driving her G35 coupe now. good times.

[Lobo1186]

might as well buy up some scratch tickets!


love the conversion... keep us updated.

[insite]

for some odd reason, it hit 62 degrees in atlanta today. i took an opportunity to see if my paint could clean up at ALL.

i've been nervous about this. when the motor blew, i lived in an apartment. i bought a cover & the car sat outside for six months. the cover, it turns out, was not waterproof....... the car was COVERED in crap. mildew, gunk, slime, dirt; you name it.

turns out some water and a LOT of soap can do wonders . thanks, glasurit!

[ddb]

It looks great! Nice interior too.

[BudmanV24]

Lookin good. Were you able to buy just the 540i maf housing, or did you buy it with a sensor and toss the sensor?

[JTP]

Your red interior trim looks great. Did you paint them or was it a factory option?

[insite]

Originally Posted by BudmanV24

Lookin good. Were you able to buy just the 540i maf housing, or did you buy it with a sensor and toss the sensor?

i found a guy on bimmerforums who had one. when they sell the new BMW sensor, it comes with the housing. there are lots of old housings lying around.....mine was $20.

[insite]

Originally Posted by JTP

Your red interior trim looks great. Did you paint them or was it a factory option?

thanks! i actually did it myself a couple of years ago. my interior was totally black and a little boring. i went a little nuts with the guards red, but it turned out pretty nice!

[insite]

well, we hit 1,000 miles on the 3.4L. it's been running great, with the exception of a single lifter that seems to be sticky & loud at idle. also, there's a wierd clunk under braking from immediately behind the passenger compartment firewall.

so, up in the air it went. checked fastener torques, looked for leaks, removed the transmission mounts & cut the studs shorter (i had a theory that the clunk was from the studs hitting the subframe). i also drained out the syntec 5w-30 and replaced it with syntec 10w-40 and a new oil filter. i collected a sample to send off to blackstone for analysis & comparison with the oil that shipped in the motor.

fired it back up......the lifter is quiet! it really seems to like the 10w-40. buttery smooth. still getting some clunk under braking. need to inspect my motor mount.....

finally, test drive. now in atlanta this weekend, we had TWO 70 degree sunny days in a row! perfect; the porsches were out in full force! my car FEELS really fast, but i have been looking for an opportuninty to prove it with....field research.

wish granted....twice! i was going up a hill on the way to an AWESOME set of downhill twisties. there was, unfortunately, a minivan in front of me. behind me pulls up a silver 996 3.6L. the minivan turned off! perfect. i nail the throttle and so does he. the boxster walked away from that 996 with NO problems; he absolutely could not keep up. phenomenal!

yesterday, the wife & i were out driving around, enjoying the weather & the twisties once again. as i roll toward a stop sign, i see a flash of red go through the intersection, followed by an unmistakable banshee scream that was obviously a GT3. SO, i of course promptly turned left to try & catch up. sure enough, he hit some traffic & i wound up right on his tail. 2010 997 GT3 that didn't even have license plates yet! still had the dealer temp tag. we got to a stop light & traffic cleared a bit; we both turned left & he HAMMERS it. so do i. at this point, i am fully expecting him to pull WAY out in front.....but he doesn't! he is definitely pulling away from me, but not by much. we were on a two lane weaving through traffic at a VERY brisk clip. the boxster hung on with no problem. MAN that GT3 sounds sick at WOT!

so, the verdict? i LOVE this car. it is an absolute joy to drive & seems to be stupid fast. i need to get it on a real dyno or take it for a 1/4 mile run or something. i can't wait to get it to the track & see how much of a difference this makes on lap times.

i will post my oil analysis when i get it back from blackstone. until next time, cheers.

[Pat]

Great stuff! Thanks for the update, insite.

[schoir]

Thanks for the update. Good to see that your transplant is working out so well!

Now... how did you manage to find a wife like that?

Regards, Maurice.

[insite]

Originally Posted by schoir

Now... how did you manage to find a wife like that?

for whatever reason, her tolerance to my driving is OFF THE CHARTS. she doesn't get sick & doesn't complain when i go full maniac. i think a lot of it is because she's ridden with me at the track & she trusts my driving & trusts that i slow down a LOT when there's traffic, blind drives, lots of cyclists out, etc.

she can actually read & send iphone emails while we're a little sideways......

[Lobo1186]

lol she sounds like a champ.

[schoir]

LOL!!!
Does she have a sister?

Regards, Maurice.

[Lobo1186]

So i understand that for the build you removed all secondary air stuff. Who took care of flashing the DME to ROW. I am interested in removing the secondary air system and o2 crap.

[insite]

Originally Posted by Lobo1186

So i understand that for the build you removed all secondary air stuff. Who took care of flashing the DME to ROW. I am interested in removing the secondary air system and o2 crap.

tholyoak (forum member) did the flash. the RoW program eliminates the secondary air stuff and also eliminates the second set of O2 sensors. it also disables the clutch start safety switch so you can start the car without pressing in the clutch.

[Cloudsurfer]

Fun isn't it I've had my 3.8 Boxster neck to neck with a 997 GT3 and it was just about a perfectly even match. Unfortunately, even with B&B headers and FabSpeed exhaust the GT3 still sounds intoxicating comparatively....

We had two 60 degree days here the other day and I had the Boxster out, during one of the days I pulled into a BP station to get fuel and noticed that there was a 987 Boxster there as well. As I get out of the car, the guy says to me "that's not exactly stock, is it" with a smile, and I said "no, not exactly." We chatted for a bit and he asked if I'd give him a quick ride, so he parked his car and hopped in and we ran around for a few miles. By the end, I almost had to pick his jaw up off the floor LOL. As I was dropping him off, he just smiled and said "wanna trade?" Needless to say, I politely declined