No going back now!
 

Good morning everyone,

About to head over to the shop but just wanted to post a quick update and a few pics... No going back now as I started cutting her up last night! Just a small bite for now but heading back to cut her up real good!
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Oh, this project has me giddy as a school girl!! Great Picts, keep them coming!

Made a bit more progress this afternoon but not as much as I wanted so i'll probably head back tomorrow for more. Also finally got all the parts together in one place so snapped a pic of it all, plus I went ahead and made a little video which is uploading now that I will post a link to later.

Here are some pics of todays progress, as you can see quite a bit has to go away. The cuts on the drivers side are just about where they need to be, the passenger side needs about another inch taken off. I'll get some pictures tomorrow with the side plates in place once I clean it up a bit more.

Boxster50 - It is not really a relocation of the interior emergency brake handle, but the actual holder for the e-brake lines. I'm not really sure how it will all work out yet but the holder gets relocated down and new holes will have to be made for the cables, undoubtedly something will have to be modified but I think it will just require new holes in the trans tunnel, nothing unsightly. Once everything is welded up and sprayed with undercoating it will look good and nothing should change on the interior.


Thanks Dlirium! I really appreciate the comments and feedback from everyone too, keeps me motivated!! Thanks!
J

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Great thread, like everyone else, I enjoy watching a project like this! You are going to give us all a ride when you are done, right?:D

Thank you Bruce :) Feel free to drop by the shop anytime or if you see me out and about after I'm done and i'll gladly give you a ride! If this goes well I may start doing these at our shop so the plan is for this to be the test mule, and for thrilling potential fellow crazies like myself (and clearly a few others on here ;) )into building one for themselves!

Here is a short video I took this morning before I continued cutting - enjoy!

Porsche Boxster Chevy LS Engine conversion intro - YouTube

Wow you are in deep! With all the surgery in the engine bay do you figure on priming and painting ?

Hi JayKay,

Really all that will need to be done is some underbody coating which any decent auto parts store should have. I guess you could prime and paint it if it were a show car but not really necessary for this... Without letting out too many trade secrets here is a picture the guys from Renegade Hybrids sent me of there finished engine bay modifications...

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Your the man!!! Great pics. I am sure the undercoating will be fine. Do you think it would be a good ideas to spray some type of sound deadening while you have the room. Not sure about the clearance??? Still curious if they sent a template or if they just give ruff measurements for your cuts and fabrication.
Thanks for taking the time to share your journey with us. I cant wait to see this sleeper rip out of the driveway for the first time. :D

I haven't been pointing it out too much, but there are no templates, no instructions of any kind really... Literally I have like 40 pictures of install pics that they sent me and that is about it. I have no idea how to mount the accessories or if they will even fit without additional cutting as none of the pictures they provided show motors with accessories attached

It ticks me off a bit personally because there are a lot of simple questions that I'll probably have to call and ask which could have been headed off with just a bit of simple instruction. Also after spending almost $7k for this kit there is quite a bit that I feel they could have included such as an adapter for the oil pressure sensor so that you can turn the intake manifold around 180* and little things like that which I'm sure will add up. Not worried about the dollars but the time spent researching what I need when they clearly have done it before and could at least point you in the right direction :mad:

I would gladly spend another grand or two to have everything I need plus some instructions... heck it would have been nice if they even put the bolts into different baggies and labeled them with a sharpie but nope, just throw them all in baggies/boxes.

Anyway sorry for ranting but sometimes it just needs to be done.
Thanks
J

Sounds like a really half-assed package for $7K!!!

I hate to hear that the kit is so incomplete!! I guess that is why they quoeted me 30K to do the job. I think you can do a better job then they did on the fab work for the brake mount. It appears to be kind of inferior with the little tabs that are tacked on. I would think you could make that area with I piece of flat plate. He other thing that is crazy is that when I spoke them they didnt say anything about cutting the rear deck of the car. I am also disappointed that the kit doesn't have a nice molded cover for the firewall. With this being said I am just grateful that they got it off the ground and sounds like you will take it to the next level. If it was easy everyone would have one BA Boxster "LS"!!! Here's to you. :cheers::cheers:

Last time I talked with Scott he told me they had a new cover piece for the firewall - he said it was actually a Porsche part if I heard him correctly.

I'm with you 50 as to making a better piece to fill in what has been cut out.

All that being said I'm still very interested in the Boxster conversion but am now also considering a 996 conversion. I'm not sure whether or not the 996 conversion requires as much hacking ......

Hello all,

Hope everyone is staying warm out there! High here in Atlanta area was 34* yesterday which I think is just ridiculous! Just glad I'm not in upstate NY right now - yikes!

Anyhow back to the car... Boxster 50 - I'm not trying to knock the kit at all, definitely worth the money as there are a lot of custom fabricated pieces. It is a custom installation and they do a good job in providing the basics for getting everything where it should be. I think they could do a better job in laying out some basic instructions as I feel they probably hear a lot of the same questions from people. Plus I hate asking seemingly simple questions but hate doing things wrong even more!

They also don't necessarily hide the fact that more custom work is needed, but they don't advertise it as I'm sure it would turn potential customers away. Biggest things to fabricate are the firewall plate and the throttle body adapter, but definitely other custom stuff as well. Regarding the e-brake tabs I think a better job could be done, I may even try to cut the factory piece and work it back in but we will see. Oh and it is not really cutting the rear decklid, but the top of the engine lid cover area, underneath where the top sits.

JRL - They do have a firewall piece which is about to be in production or may be by now. The one I have pictures of is definitely not a factory piece although they did mention making one which uses the factory panal which I have not seen.

I bolted on the water manifold last night, of course it does not clear the timing cover bolts so they include some little spacers for clearance :/ Could have made the manifold an 1/8" thicker to avoid that but they say it clears on some motors so oh well. Dosen't clear on the LS3! Instead of using the spacers and sealant I went ahead and ground down the timing cover bolts a bit and used the GM factory gaskets which I feel better about then using the spacers.

Regarding flipping the intake manifold around... that is going to take a bit more custom work as the oil pressure sender bung on the breather plate is in the way of the throttle body so it needs to be cut/welded/tapped and adapted for the Porsche sending unit.

Hopefully we will make a bit more progress in the next few days once it warms up a bit :)

Thanks!
J

Hey John - it was great putting a face to internet guy building a neat car.

Thanks for the time today I really enjoyed bench racing and laying eyes on your handiwork.

I'm sure I will have many more questions and pay you more visits.

Thanks again

R

LS376 I didn't think you were downing the kit I just think you are keeping it real and I like that. I notice you are starting to do the mods to the LS. Is this so you can get the overall completed measurement so you will be able to allow for clearance and fitment before your first test fit and or placement of the motor mounts??

Good meeting you as well Randy! Feel free to drop by anytime!

I definitely keep it real! I am starting to address the motor and get everything in place as I do want to make sure there will be plenty of clearance for everything. I'm pretty sure it won't be a problem even with all the accessories mounted. With this kit everything is pretty much going to fit only 1 way so if the motor mounts don't line up there is a problem.

LS376 Looking forward to seeing the motor mounts and how they are supported. May be a dumb question but will it be mounted with rubber mounts so it will not be a harsh feel?

Boxster50 - well, you're gonna love this... actually neither the kit nor the motor came with actual mounts :/ Just pieces the mounts bolt to so that is another piece of the puzzle to figure out! In the pictures they sent me the motor itself has aluminum supports from the motor down to what appear to be large rubber mounts, not sure if they are the Chevy mounts or aftermarket. The rear mounts for the transmission appear to be some sort of solid mount from what I can see. Not sure if the factory mounts would work back there or not... here are a few of their pics...

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LS376
Wow!! Looks like you are going to have to experiment with things. The rubber mount looks fairly simple. Maybe they just forgot to pack it with the kit. :) I hope the rear mount fits because of how wide it is and I like the lateral support that it gives. I would think it will fit because that is what will realign the axles front to rear?? Not sure about the angle. On the bright side it looks as if you have some room around and under the exhaust manifold for the exhaust system. Will you custom built your exhaust or does Renegade have something built ?? Sorry for all the questions.... I am just excited for you. I wish I lived a bit closer so I could come by and help ya out. Last question for now.. What is your time line??

LS376 No sure if you checked this sight out or not but it looks interesting. engineswapdepot.com It is a LS going into a Cayman. Looks to be home grown.