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. :)

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 :p

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.

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!!

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.

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.

PM and email sent

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

I agree, who started this!....

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.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1582143530.jpg

All the electronics and gauges work?

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

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

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

There seems to be endless Audi 4.2l options. Is there a year/model you want to stick too? Looking at the horsepower figures an 04 or later is good, an S8 is ideal and I guess the drive by wire or cable decision needs to be made. Am I missing anything? Has anyone attempted to proceduralize the 4.2 swap, even from a high level?

What flywheel and clutch did those of you use that swapped in an ABZ motor? I was hoping I could use the Boxster setup but its an 8 bolt and not a 10 bolt flywheel

This is what i used:

Audi V8 4.2 10 Bolt to O1E/O1A Gearbox | TTV Racing Component Flywheel & Clutch Manufacturers

paid around $500

Used an Audi B5 S4 pressure plate with a 987 Cayman S friction plate in to a 987 Cayman 6 speed box

Do you know if a Boxster pressure plate and clutch plate will work on that flywheel?

The Boxster friction plate will work. Not sure about the pressure plate. Looked kinda similar, but did not try it. Email the guys at TTV - they custom make them, so chances are they will make you one that fits the Porsche clutch if you send them the details.

You are best off looking at the C5 A6 and S6 variants of the 4.2. S6 has forged rods i believe and a better cam setup that makes more high rpm power. The D2 S8 version makes the most power from factory (same upgrades as S6), but uses a different mount setup, which can be swapped to the A6/S6 version relatively easily. The older ABZ works with a standalone ECU, but the stock ECU cannot be easily reprogrammed like the motronic ECU you get in the 2000-2004 cars. The 2004+ 4.2 engines are timing chain rather than timing belt, and require very expensive engine out service at around 100k miles, those would not be good engines for a swap for the most part.

Member AaronF who posted above has the best info I've seen for the swap, here:
https://sites.google.com/view/boxsterv8swap/home

I used an AYS S8 engine with the TTV flywheel P/N 4646 and a B7 RS4 clutch/PP (LUK 02-050). I then worked with stuklr for the tuning side of things. He told me that he has several hours of dyno time with his setup plus he's pretty well known in the 2.7t communities for tuning. He worked wonders for my swap!

Thanks! I'm still trying to make it a better read.

@AaronF - with your 2003, how did you handle the CEL status between the Boxster DME and the cluster? Do you have a constant check engine light or did you do some CAN manipulation?

I just picked up a 2003 986S with a blown motor and am eager to drop in a 2.7t, I’ve got a soft spot for those.

I'm just dealing with the CEL. I'm sure there is some sort of CAN filter that can block the specific CEL setting messagses. I've got an Arduino with a CANbus shield but haven't had time to mess with it yet.

There are several people on our "Swapped Porsche" group on Facebook who could definitely help better than me with the 2.7t swap, Tom Prosser being one.

Double post - delete

Strombomb, would you please document your progress on the engine swap? It would be a very interesting reading, thanks!
.

Double post - delete

AaronF - Thanks for the explanation. I am thinking CAN shielding/generation/manipulation is in my future. I just invested in a CAN-usb interface and can’t wait to dive in and do some logging... for the purpose of identifying what CAN data needs to be present for a good working system. Also, Tom is awesome. I’ve reached out to him already and his insights are invaluable.

Gilles - Yes I will start a thread after details have been worked out and I have content to share. I can’t wait!!

strombomb - welcome! Please share your progress. I love the 2.7t and daily a b5 s4 but am going with a 4.2 for my boxster as it mostly sees track duty.

My plan running parallel ECUs is to monitor the Audi ECU via OBD2 bluetooth, to a phone and eventually an android tablet running Torque app. Lots of data, as i'm sure you know, available through that route and if the CEL is bothersome you can always just pull the bulb.

Ooh yes, I miss my B5... it was several cars back, now, but I miss it. They are just classic. Definitely some body lines in that chassis that are subtle but timeless.

Are you saying the 4.2 is preferable for reliability or heat reasons making it better suited for a track car? Both my B5 and B6/2.7t suffered from heat soak but were fairly reliable (preventative maintenance and routine inspection it key)... so I partially agree. In this project, I expect intake heat management will again be a challenge... I will probably have to get creative with intercooling.

Are you still planning on the S6 motor? Have you dug into it yet?

Both really. Running my 986 for 4 seasons at our track in Utah has shown me that simplicity is better and that most turbo cars struggle to run well for full sessions during the summer.
As far as heat, i've observed my B5 easily differs 100lb/ft depending on temperature. With the IAT sensor in the intake manifold, even good intercooling only goes so far as when the throttle body is closed it heats up very quickly in there. Still such a fun street motor though, and I won't close the door on putting one in another 986 in the future given the relative low cost of the components.

I actually got an S8 motor and swapped to the a6/S6 mounts and am running a cradle that another member on this board made. I have a shop doing most of the heavy lifting and so far the engine and trans are mounted in the car (in and out several times) and waiting on finishing up exhaust, fuel lines, coolant routing, power steering, and wiring.

For those of you who are running a cable throttle, how did you extend your throttle cable? Seems like a very complex problem, potentially I'll need the Porsche throttle hardware on one side and Audi on the other side...

Rig up an old school linkage if you have a line of sight path from the end of the porsche cable to the TB

What do you mean by old school linkage?

Like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tx_EtTjjro

Can you make a bracket for the end of the Porsche cable and connect a linkage bar to the Audi TB?