Any progress on V8 engine swap options?

[Topless]

If any of you want an LS3 V8 Boxster right now that is done and sorted with working AC, working dash, elect power steering, etc, Scotty is selling one to fund a new project at Renegade Hybrids. Give him a call, fly to Vegas, and take her for a spin!

Oh and bring cash because you are going to want it.

[B6T]

Originally Posted by Escy

I'm planning on putting 450bhp through my 5 speed, wish me luck.

Good luck! You have a spare Cayman transmission though so plan B is easier for you to accomplish than for me.

The nay-sayers on the power limits of the 2WD 5-speed (~300hp) were doing so based on the FWD VW/Audi B5 Passat platform... which breaks traction easier due to weight transfer and potentially preserves the transmission for longer in doing so. I don't think that transmission will do any better in a RWD platform like the Boxster which hooks hard on launches.

Should I box up my 5-speed and get a shipping quote from Canada prepare for you

[Escy]

I've got the 987 gearbox lined up for the next engine swap project so hopefully I don't blow up my 5 speed and have to use it.

[AaronF]

Originally Posted by specboxCO

I used a 40v A8 AUX engine in mine. Biggest decision between the 40v and 32v engine is whether to go drive by wire or cable throttle. There is a slight mod to the accelerator pedal wiring in the Boxster needed if you run DBW.

I'm at a point now where I've got my motor in the car and it idles beautifully, but no matter what I do I can't get the throttle pedal to work. I've studied many Porsche and Audi wiring diagrams and I'm almost positive that I've got it wired correctly now.

I'm using the ECU bin you provided in a previous post. I'm almost wondering if I didn't mess up the ECU when I first powered it on and the throttle pedal wasn't wired right.

Could you elaborate more on what your slight mod is? Thanks!!

[titaniumdave]

I have had too many projects on my plate, NSX race car build, 2 Lotus Elise builds and back surgery for a ruptured disc...good by 2019! It’s 2020 and I’m finally picking this back up. Sorry for the delay but we are finally making a small batch of the cradles. They are a direct bolt up for race car set up where you can do some cutting to get the throttle body to fit and you are not running the AC compressor. If you are doing a street application you will need to do a work around for final fit up. Cost is $980 with fasteners if you get in on this first batch. Message me if you want to get in on this, they will be duplicates of what I have been posting, very much geared toward track/race application, transmission is in the OEM location, front of the motor has been dropped 50 mm to make clearance fo the heads under the OEM cover with only minor massaging. Plan is to make 3 right now but I can add to that if folks come in right away. Delivery will be end of February.

[78F350]

Hi Dave, I don't need one at the moment, but I'm still seriously considering it. I'll reply to your email within the next few days.
Can this work with both the 40 Valve and 32 Valve engines? Very similar placement, but the 40 Valve is a little longer in front.

[titaniumdave]

PM and email sent

[Fiddlebog]

For those of you that have done the A8 swap: how did you tackle the ECU? Does it need an immobilizer or anything else like the 986 does?
I'm working on building a car with a 5-speed transaxle and am looking for the simplest solution for an engine to put on there.

[1thenaton1]

i'm going to be running an audi 4.2 with the audi ECU, which in stock form does have an immobilizer. It will need to be removed, someone familiar with ME7 should be able to do that for you relatively easily.

[78F350]

Originally Posted by Fiddlebog

For those of you that have done the A8 swap: how did you tackle the ECU? Does it need an immobilizer or anything else like the 986 does?
I'm working on building a car with a 5-speed transaxle and am looking for the simplest solution for an engine to put on there.

There's a lot to learn about the ECUs and programming. I spent a couple months reading and learning about flashing the ME7.1 ECUs on NefMoto - Index , then practiced flashing and deleting the immobilizer code on some cheap ECUs that I picked up on eBay. It's been a couple years and I'd need to review to do it all again.

As far as I know, the ECUs for the 32 valve engines (ME 5.xx) can not be flashed and need to have the chip replaced to reprogram them. They are not 'immobilized'. 034 Motorsports sells a tuned chip.
The 40 valve engines use ME 7.1. Not sure, but 2000 year model might not have the immobilizer, but the later ones do.

Immobilizer delete and flashing are just a matter of following a detailed procedure with a computer program (software available from the NefMoto website). You have to have an interface cable and a way to power the ECU. Tuning and making your own modifications gets a lot deeper.

[specboxCO]

Originally Posted by Fiddlebog

For those of you that have done the A8 swap: how did you tackle the ECU? Does it need an immobilizer or anything else like the 986 does?
I'm working on building a car with a 5-speed transaxle and am looking for the simplest solution for an engine to put on there.

Immo off on a 40v is easy and well documented. I posted an ECU file from a Euro S6 that works with an AUX/AKB 40v engine earlier in this thread that I modified for immo off and eliminates the need for the Vehicle Speed Sensor (super important to making the 40v engines work)

You need a cheap vagcom cable ($5 ebay) and free software (me7_95040.exe & nefmoto)

[specboxCO]

Originally Posted by specboxCO

Immo off on a 40v is easy and well documented. I posted an ECU file from a Euro S6 that works with an AUX/AKB 40v engine earlier in this thread that I modified for immo off and eliminates the need for the Vehicle Speed Sensor (super important to making the 40v engines work)

You need a cheap vagcom cable ($5 ebay) and free software (me7_95040.exe & nefmoto)

To program my ECU with the S6 software, I used the Nefmoto software available for free from the nefarious motorsports website NefMoto - Index. I purchased a blue VAGCOM cable from ebay for $5 and took another trip to the pull and pay to grab a OBD2 socket and an AUDI/VAG ecu plug. The ECU plug is found in many Audi and VW cars from the early 2000s, I pulled mine from a 2000 A4. $5 for the cables.

I built a harness that used a bench power supply and connected the K line of the OBD2 connector to the ECU pin 43, 12v to the OBD2 connector and pins 21 and 3 of the ECU, and finally GND to the OBD2 and pins 1 & 2 of the ecu.

I could not program the ECU while it was in protected mode from the immobilizer, so first it must be defeated. I used a program called me7_95040.exe to dump the contents of the immobilizer chip to the computer. To do this, I put the ECU in boot mode, by grounding pin 24 of the immobilizer chip for 5 seconds while powering up the ECU. I then ran the program from the command prompt and dumped the file. To defeat the immobilizer 2 bits must be changed at locations 12 and 22 from 01 to 02 and the checksum recalculated. I used a hex editor to change the bit values and then used a program called 95040CSCalc.exe to write the fixed checksum. Using me7_95040.exe I uploaded the revised file to the ecu and the immobilizer was defeated.


Now the ECU will allow me to download and upload the main program. I used the Nefmoto software version 1.9.3.2 to download my old ECU software (in case something went wrong) and then uploaded the S6 Manual software I modified and posted earlier in this thread.

[AaronF]

Originally Posted by specboxCO

eliminates the need for the Vehicle Speed Sensor (super important to making the 40v engines work)

How did you remove the VSS requirement?

I'm using the no-VSS bin from your post in this thread (#189) on my S8 swap but my engine has S8 specific cams and a 1 stage intake manifold. I have a S8 bin for my AYS engine but can't figure out how you removed the need for VSS. I've compared the bin for both engines in TunerPro but can't seem to pinpoint your change.

EDIT: I think I may have found it. I modified the bin file at address 16778 from hex 7454 (5405 RPM) to 8070 (7200 RPM). I believe this is NMAXDV, "maximum engine speed on speed signal error detection". I just took the car out for another test and it revs all the way up to 7200.

[BYprodriver]

Originally Posted by truegearhead

Have any of the v8 swaps improved over the past few years, or do we still have driveaxle problems and partial developed kit problems? I'm shocked no one seems to have completely figured it out yet. I hope I'm wrong though, my 2.5 can't be all that long for this world.

The title of this thread is a confliction of terms if you ask me.

[truegearhead]

Originally Posted by BYprodriver

The title of this thread is a confliction of terms if you ask me.

I agree, who started this!....

[AaronF]

Here's my running, driving swap. It's an AYS engine from a 02 Audi S8 running on a stock Audi ME7.1.1 computer.

[maytag]

Originally Posted by AaronF

Here's my running, driving swap. It's an AYS engine from a 02 Audi S8 running on a stock Audi ME7.1.1 computer.

All the electronics and gauges work?

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[AaronF]

All gauges still work. I'm letting the Boxster DME run the dash and keep the ABS/PSM happy. The Audi ECU uses the Boxster DBW throttle pedal and controls things like the fuel pump relay and DME relay.

[maytag]

Originally Posted by AaronF

All gauges still work. I'm letting the Boxster DME run the dash and keep the ABS/PSM happy. The Audi ECU uses the Boxster DBW throttle pedal and controls things like the fuel pump relay and DME relay.

Sweet!
Next motor I break.... I might think about going that way.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[specboxCO]

Originally Posted by AaronF

How did you remove the VSS requirement?

I'm using the no-VSS bin from your post in this thread (#189) on my S8 swap but my engine has S8 specific cams and a 1 stage intake manifold. I have a S8 bin for my AYS engine but can't figure out how you removed the need for VSS. I've compared the bin for both engines in TunerPro but can't seem to pinpoint your change.

EDIT: I think I may have found it. I modified the bin file at address 16778 from hex 7454 (5405 RPM) to 8070 (7200 RPM). I believe this is NMAXDV, "maximum engine speed on speed signal error detection". I just took the car out for another test and it revs all the way up to 7200.

Yes - this is correct. This fix doesn't remove the CEL you will get, but allows the car to run properly without a VSS.