BoxsterLS376 introduction - LS3 conversion :)

[Smallblock454]

Hello John,

if you will start another project and document it i would appreciate if i could follow it. Always liked this thread and the 986 V8 and even the V6 idea.

Hope you'll find a new owner for the V8 986 rocket soon.

Regards from Germany
Markus

[JRL]

JJ I think you hit the nail squarely on the head - the Boxster swap is too costly. I was seriously looking to have you do a swap until I started adding up the numbers - shocking

I bought bought a 2013 Boxster S instead. A one owner PDK car with 4340 miles and 16 months warranty remaining. I bought the car for not much more than what the V8 conversion would have cost.

I have talked to several other folks that convert tired Porsche's into V8 monsters - the 911 platform is the ticket and to a lesser extent the 914. None of them use Renegade they do their own stuff.

Many thanks for sharing this build with us - it was enjoyable and sadly an eye opener. Let me know what your next project is.

[Escy]

A Cayman S box bolts up to an Audi V8 with the starter in the right place. That's what i'm using on my Audi 2.7T build.

[Smallblock454]

So Audi has built only one V8 engine ever and Porsche has only built one gear box in the Cayman S ever.

And these both fit together.

Hm.

Regards, Markus

[Gelbster]

This may interest Markus and other swap enthusiasts? Ford Coyote V8 swap !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTAJqax1TQo

[Smallblock454]

Like that Cayman. Maybe he needs a scoop engine air intake system like the Ruf CTR 3:





Regards, Markus

[BoxsterLS376]

Hi everyone,

This is definitely the hardest post i've made here because as much as it pains me it is officially time to sell the V8 car, no more excuses.

Been putting this off for too long now... Mostly because I don't want to but you do what you gotta do so... I have officially listed my 2000 Porsche Boxster S V8 LS3 Conversion car for sale on Ebay.

Do me a favor and share it around, maybe someone could submit it to bring a trailer? Oh and feel free to bid away, reserve is set in the high $30K range~

It has been a lot of work, but loads of fun. Thanks to everyone for your support. Hopefully I'll be able to recover from this and come up with another interesting project in the future, you all will be the first to know.
Thanks
:'(
J
Porsche Boxster LS376 480 | eBay

[JRL]

Best of luck JJ - I'll share the ebay link with some friends.

[jdfelda]

Originally Posted by BoxsterLS376

Hi everyone,

This is definitely the hardest post i've made here because as much as it pains me it is officially time to sell the V8 car, no more excuses.

Been putting this off for too long now... Mostly because I don't want to but you do what you gotta do so... I have officially listed my 2000 Porsche Boxster S V8 LS3 Conversion car for sale on Ebay.

Do me a favor and share it around, maybe someone could submit it to bring a trailer? Oh and feel free to bid away, reserve is set in the high $30K range~

It has been a lot of work, but loads of fun. Thanks to everyone for your support. Hopefully I'll be able to recover from this and come up with another interesting project in the future, you all will be the first to know.
Thanks
:'(
J
Porsche Boxster LS376 480 | eBay

Not sure if this has been covered yet on this thread but what is the 0-60??

[BoxsterLS376]

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the absence, life took over for a while and just haven't had the time to play. New job which i'll let you all know about once I get settled in - might be able to help you all out a bit more Obviously I did not sell the car and while it has always been and probably will always be for sale, I won't be giving it away any time soon, it is just way to awesome That said I need to get some updated pictures and videos up. I have done a few things to the car and while I do not have all the issues sorted out just yet, I think I have them all figured out so it is just a matter of spending more time with it.

Well that and the car pissed me off a bit at the end of the summer as the electric water pump decided it had a bearing that wanted to go bad and really put me a a fowl mood. The pump was fixed under warranty but it took a while and got me worried as hell about running the electric pump and was looking into different setups. Ultimately everything has been just fine but I've been thinking of getting a spare water pump just in case but at $500 a pop it has not been on the top of my list as long as it keeps working!

Other updates...

Upgraded to sport seats - found a guy who was converting his car to a track car and was able to pick up a pair of black sport seats to replace my worn out drivers seat - passenger seat still good if anyone needs one! The guy I bought them from took the rails so I ended up having to convert all of the stuff from my seats to the new ones. Sporties also have seat heaters although I haven't bothered to try and hook those up yet, need to get the switches etc., maybe before next winter

Removed oil cooler in lieu of AIR CONDITIONING~ So for some reason when I officially put the car up for sale all sorts of people were concerned about the AC working... OK. I understand I guess but come on, people used to be satisfied just getting a conversion to work yet alone make sure it has AC! So anyway I had the oil cooler set up in the way of where the AC compressor mounts and have removed that for now until I can figure out where to put it. Took some time but I was able to modify the Renegade AC bracket and finally got everything to line up straight, although I need to add a spring loaded tensioner as it is tough to get the belt tight enough to not slip as I don't have it wrapping around the crank fully quite well enough so it will slip every once in a while - but so far so good. Unfortunately after I got it all hooked up and charged I hit the AC button and nothing happened?!?! DOH! Turns out that I have hacked a few wires out of the harness I shouldn't have but should have that sorted out soon.

Speaking of sorting things out, the only real outstanding issue with the car has been the stupid flashing coolant light. Well I finally put some effort into figuring it out and while I initially thought it was a air bubble or bleeding issue turned out to be quite the opposite. It happens so regularly and right on cue that it couldn't be a coolant level issue, but the car never had any other codes, well turns out it did have codes, but they would just go away because I was shutting the car down before scanning it!! DOH! So I finally scanned it while it was running and VOILA! Turns out the stupid light was just telling me that the low speed cooling fan circuit was not working properly. YAY! So in putting 2 and 2 together it looks like there are 2 wires I hacked out that I need to wire back up, once I do that it should resolve both the coolant light issue, as well as the A/C problem! wooT wooT!!

Upgraded the exhaust... again. So whole I really wanted to build a true Jekyll/Hyde exhaust with electric valves, it just wasn't in the budget at the time. The muffler setup was just to quiet for my taste and while I love the straight pipes, they could be a bit much at times. I wanted to re-do one of the down pipes so I did that and did away with the X-pipe setup, then added a pair of small resonators and I think that did the trick! Car still sounds very aggressive while not being over the top loud, plus without the x-pipe it definitely changed the final sound, especially on deceleration. Now with the updated exhaust I may be able to still the oil cooler back there somewhere - just need more time to mess with it!!



The next thing I am thinking about is re-doing the brakes as the Hawk pads are really starting to annoy. I started a thread in the general discussion area about possibly upgrading to the Porsche PCCBs - yes I am well versed on all aspects of them so no need in going over that and with 480HP the car could definitely benefit from them, trust me.

Originally Posted by jdfelda

Not sure if this has been covered yet on this thread but what is the 0-60??

Can't say I know off hand because I don't like breaking things! I guess it depends on how hard you run it but based on my 1/2 mile drag racing event I would guess in the 4-4.5 second range~ Here is the video, haven't checked lately but pretty sure 2nd gear is right at 60 mph... https://youtu.be/IQnfV9x5uGA

THANKS!
J

[itsnotanova]

Glad to see you haven't sold it and glad to see you're back! Great thread and every single person who talks to me about putting a V8 in a boxster has read this thread.

[Smallblock454]

0-60 mp/h

[Smallblock454]

Hi John,

hm, just US $10,400.00 as a highest bid.

Just keep the car.

Regards, Markus

[BoxsterLS376]

Thanks Woody, i appreciate it! I'm not sure the average Porsche person has any idea how good a Boxster is with V8 power! Hopefully with my new job, a bit more time and money i'll just hang onto it and make it better and better While I no longer have dreams of doing conversions for anyone else, i'm always glad to help!
Thanks!
J

[JRL]

Originally Posted by BoxsterLS376

Thanks Woody, i appreciate it! I'm not sure the average Porsche person has any idea how good a Boxster is with V8 power! Hopefully with my new job, a bit more time and money i'll just hang onto it and make it better and better While I no longer have dreams of doing conversions for anyone else, i'm always glad to help!
Thanks!
J

I'm sad to see the dream die - I can't tell you how badly I wanted to do a conversion right up until the price point didn't work for this old curmudgeon.

I assume you are no longer working in the shop - let me know where you land. I'd enjoy meeting up again and discussing cool projects that may be in the future.

Randy

[BoxsterLS376]

Originally Posted by JRL

I'm sad to see the dream die - I can't tell you how badly I wanted to do a conversion right up until the price point didn't work for this old curmudgeon.

I assume you are no longer working in the shop - let me know where you land. I'd enjoy meeting up again and discussing cool projects that may be in the future.

Randy

Hi Randy,

Yup, price point is a big factor. For what you can get these days for $40K+ it is hard to justify that on a conversion car, and that is DIY to do it at my level. It could be done for less but there are always compromises you can make. I stopped adding up the amount spent a long time ago but I figure including the car I have every bit of $36K+ in it, plus no less then 250 hours in it and probably a lot more then that.

That's not to say i'll never do another conversion for myself, but given the new job I won't be trying to do conversions for customers. I'm actually eyeballing a nice 997TT that would be a good conversion candidate but doubt it will be cheap enough to make a feasible project out of it, but you never know Speaking of the new job, i've just taken over the service department over at Automobile Atlanta and am in the process of trying to get things sorted out there, but there is a lot of sorting to do! I'll keep everyone posted once I get settled in a bit more.
Thanks!
J

[Bayley]

I've gotten a few people who ask me "how much" to do this to their car as well. As I'm sure you're well aware, things are ALWAYS breaking or need adjustment.

Can you imagine if you did a swap for somebody else and the water pump died on THEM, and in turn smoked their ~$ 10K crate engine? Your name would be dragged all across the internet coals as the guy responsible for the failure. I can empathize 100% with your feeling of not wanting to do this for anyone else.

Speaking of water pumps, have you come up with any alternative solutions? I too have concerns about an electric water pump running at 100% duty cycle. Mine hasn't failed yet (knock on wood), but I figure it's only a matter of time.

I'm giving serious consideration into swapping a modern BMW electric water pump. The parts are actually engineered and tested to a standard, compared to the 3 second "It works, ship it!" validation testing performed on aftermarket components. Of course, I'd have to engineer a CAN bus gateway to set the speed, or otherwise run it in fail-safe mode... which is likely 100%.

I also played around with the idea of running a marine style sea-water pump. Of course, I would have to put this in place of the AC compressor and you just mentioned that you are trying to keep the AC. Originally, I assumed that I would want to keep the AC but there wasn't a single time last summer where I heard myself saying: "Maaan, I really wish I had that AC hooked up..."

Thanks for the updates, hopefully I'll see you on the road somewhere this summer.

[Stroked & Blown]

If you do go with a BMW pump, stay away from the pump used on the N54 motors. They're a common failure point.

[dcdrechsel]

Boxsterls376-question ..........I am wrapping up a ls1 in a 1999 996 build .One loose end interfacing the vehicle speed signal to the gm ecu .How did you do it ?
By the way thanks for taking the time to document your build .Both the build and the documentation are outstanding
Dave

[BoxsterLS376]

Hey man,

Yeah with this kind of modifications it will pretty much always be a "project car". To be honest mine dosen't really break much, aside from the water pump which was pretty frustrating, car is pretty damn solid. Just been doing oil changes and once I get motivated again i'll take care of the other small issues and the AC. So far so good~

Speaking of the water pump etc. yeah I certainly would not want to be responsible for anyone else stuff breaking. I have not come up with any solution other then not taking trips far from home, or getting a spare and keeping it with me in the car along with all the tools to fix it I've thought about getting a second pump as a backup so if there ever is an issue I could switch it on manually. I would think BMW pump may work as long as it delivers the same GPH or similar. Those motors are pretty high HP so I would think they do a good job.

Weather is starting to get warm down here so I may have to fix that AC sooner then I thought Should only be 2 wires but I've had so much going on lately just haven;t thought about it. I'm sure that first time crawling into the black seats after the Georgia sun has been beating down on them will motivate me!

Thanks!
J

Originally Posted by Bayley

I've gotten a few people who ask me "how much" to do this to their car as well. As I'm sure you're well aware, things are ALWAYS breaking or need adjustment.

Can you imagine if you did a swap for somebody else and the water pump died on THEM, and in turn smoked their ~$ 10K crate engine? Your name would be dragged all across the internet coals as the guy responsible for the failure. I can empathize 100% with your feeling of not wanting to do this for anyone else.

Speaking of water pumps, have you come up with any alternative solutions? I too have concerns about an electric water pump running at 100% duty cycle. Mine hasn't failed yet (knock on wood), but I figure it's only a matter of time.

I'm giving serious consideration into swapping a modern BMW electric water pump. The parts are actually engineered and tested to a standard, compared to the 3 second "It works, ship it!" validation testing performed on aftermarket components. Of course, I'd have to engineer a CAN bus gateway to set the speed, or otherwise run it in fail-safe mode... which is likely 100%.

I also played around with the idea of running a marine style sea-water pump. Of course, I would have to put this in place of the AC compressor and you just mentioned that you are trying to keep the AC. Originally, I assumed that I would want to keep the AC but there wasn't a single time last summer where I heard myself saying: "Maaan, I really wish I had that AC hooked up..."

Thanks for the updates, hopefully I'll see you on the road somewhere this summer.

Originally Posted by dcdrechsel

Boxsterls376-question ..........I am wrapping up a ls1 in a 1999 996 build .One loose end interfacing the vehicle speed signal to the gm ecu .How did you do it ?
By the way thanks for taking the time to document your build .Both the build and the documentation are outstanding
Dave

Greetings young Padawan Glad my build thread could help! Clearly you need to go back through and read it again because I have already gone over that.
Thanks
J



JUST KIDDING!

No big deal there and actually I dreamed it up in my head and then found that someone had already built what I needed! Check out TACH-ADAPT

I think it's like $80 and will make your life a lot easier! Good luck with the project, got any pictures or posts about it?
Thanks
J