BoxsterLS376 introduction - LS3 conversion :)

[Nmbrsix]

Wow. What a phenomenal build you've done! You have serious fabrication skills. Beautifully done.

Shame the Renegade 'kit' is little more than a few brackets for $7000. Nice work on all the problem solving and fabrication you've had to do. That exhaust is artwork.

I'd love to find a Cayman S with a dead motor and do this...

[BoxsterLS376]

Thanks much! Yeah I think a Cayman would be quite fun too!

I must say though I'm not sure I'm qualified or mature enough to own a car this fast!!

Must keep self under control. Too much fun~

[steved0x]

Originally Posted by BoxsterLS376

Also can anyone suggest a decent easy to use program for editing .MOV video files? I'll post the video of the axle blowout as soon as I can cut the video down to size as I'm sure no one really want to watch my whole ride home

Thanks
J

Camtasia is a good video editing software I use at work for making screen capture videos and then editing them, and it comes with a fully functional 30 day trial. For simple editing windows movie maker is good but I'm not sure if it has support for mov.

Steve

[JRL]

JJ many thanks for your hospitality today when I dropped by unexpectedly - not many folks would have given me the time you did. Well done and appreciated.

For those of you wondering about the car let me tell you - it is fast. I have owned and driven some very fast cars in my lifetime - I am not easily impressed. I rate cars performance into categories - adequate - pretty fast - real fast - crazy fast - stupid fast and scary fast - JJ's beast falls somewhere in the last two categories.

On our short drive I was impressed. I had reservations that the power would overpower the chassis - not so. The car seems to still be balanced but much - much faster than a typical Boxster S. This car hauls ass.

I remember early in this thread some folks wanting more power - turbochargers - NOS - give it up - this car needs nothing. Well maybe bigger brakes :-)

Thanks again JJ

[BoxsterLS376]

Haha no problem Randy - I appreciate the kind words! I must say I do enjoy giving rides in the car

Well looks like I'm gonna be busy this afternoon... Got a call from my local dyno tuner yesterday who scheduled the local guru to come out and tune the car on Saturday... while completely unexpected I think I should go ahead and get it done, should net better driveability, get rid of check engine light problems, change when the GM computer turns the fans on... and maybe a bit more power too

So I need to weld in another o2 sensor bung for a wideband o2 on the dyno and may make up another exhaust if time/parts permit... At the very least I'm gonna pull the mufflers off and fire it up just to see what it sounds like!!

For those who are in the area and may be interested to come by and check the car out i'll be at Dynolabs in Marietta,GA tomorrow morning 10am...

Dynolab Inc - Marietta Georgia | Automotive Horsepower and Torque Dyno Testing

Thanks!
J

[BoxsterLS376]

Exhaust fun

https://youtu.be/xCewZXYXX9E

[DarkStar]

I gotta ask, if its not too difficult. Do you have any pictures of your Top and Front Engine Covers? Just because the whole question of how much room you have in the front to spare came up. Renegade has pics of the car looking totally stock with the original carpet. But no pics of the fabbed firewall.

[Smallblock454]

Originally Posted by BoxsterLS376

Exhaust fun

https://youtu.be/xCewZXYXX9E

YAY! Maybe you should build straight through pipes.

Regards from Germany
Markus

[DarkStar]

Just from speaking with him, He has the idea of doing this swap, as OEM as possible. He purchased a brand new in crate LS3 Performance Engine with a warranty. Has cleaned up his install to look and perform as OEM as possible. I don't think straight pipes would go along with this theme.

Originally Posted by Smallblock454

YAY! Maybe you should build straight through pipes.

Regards from Germany
Markus

[BoxsterLS376]

Originally Posted by DarkStar

I gotta ask, if its not too difficult. Do you have any pictures of your Top and Front Engine Covers? Just because the whole question of how much room you have in the front to spare came up. Renegade has pics of the car looking totally stock with the original carpet. But no pics of the fabbed firewall.

Well, there is a reason for that... It's not done yet To be honest I just got tired of working on the car for a while and have just been trying to enjoy it a bit! Plus the weather here is getting cooler right now so a little extra heat on the ol' butt doesn't hurt on the night drives!!

Currently I have a nice piece of double walled cardboard in place, it was close by and fit well with minimal effort so that has been my firewall lately. Initially Renegade was going to fabricate and sell a firewall cover but they decided it was easier to get the aluminum top cover from other cars and make it work which was kinda the plan all along.

I have purchased a 2014 Cayman aluminum top cover which I would like to get someone with some actual metal fabricating skillz to massage for me and fit the hole, it can be done with the right tools.

Originally Posted by Smallblock454

YAY! Maybe you should build straight through pipes.

Regards from Germany
Markus

Haha well I dunno about straight pipes but it is easy enough to change out that I will end up making a "sportier" exhaust here soon, probably with one very small muffler!

Originally Posted by DarkStar

Just from speaking with him, He has the idea of doing this swap, as OEM as possible. He purchased a brand new in crate LS3 Performance Engine with a warranty. Has cleaned up his install to look and perform as OEM as possible. I don't think straight pipes would go along with this theme.

True and true. To be honest driving the car around as it is it's nice and livable, but from time to time it would be nice to have it roar a bit more!!

I just finished signing the paperwork on my home refi yesterday so I've got a bit more breathing room now and may be able to do more to it, although I'm just as happy to sell the car as it is and move on to the next one, I need a new winter project!!


**Edit to add: Seriously looking for a new project and serious about selling the car! Asking price is $40K or best offer - I would also consider trades on the car +$$ Would consider trades for: Boxster "S", Cayman "S", 996 Turbo, 996 C4S, 944 Turbo or any older 911... Also a 57-59 Chrysler 300C or 68-69 Chevy Corvette convertible too

[DarkStar]

Ok well, Do you have a Picture of the front of the motor with it completed, Hoses and the nice Renegade Water Bracket.

Sure looks like there is enough room.

[BoxsterLS376]

Yeah there is enough room.

The weather just turned out really nice here so I'm gonna grab the car at lunch and i'll try and take some pictures/video for you this evening~

[BoxsterLS376]

Greetings all,

Just a quick update... I am going to get that video done tonight for the rear firewall... I started to hack up the cayman lid I got and realized that it is going to take quite a bit of work to "retrofit" that thing in and would have been much smarter to take care of it with the engine out

So FYI if you are doing one of these projects I suggest that once you are happy test fitting the motor into position, take some measurements and go ahead and finalize your firewall before you do the final installation on the motor! DOH!~

Oh and while you are in there fabricating go ahead and make a cold air box for your intake! Much easier to get access to everything without the motor in the way :/



So even though I'm still running my ghetto firewall the weather has cooled off here so it has been pretty good driving weather. I've just turned over 1500 miles on the conversion and have been problem free since I installed the axle spacers! With the exception of Monday I drove the car to work all week.

So far so good! Time to go home, have a great weekend everyone!
J

[JRL]

Originally Posted by BoxsterLS376

Greetings all,

Just a quick update... I am going to get that video done tonight for the rear firewall... I started to hack up the cayman lid I got and realized that it is going to take quite a bit of work to "retrofit" that thing in and would have been much smarter to take care of it with the engine out

So FYI if you are doing one of these projects I suggest that once you are happy test fitting the motor into position, take some measurements and go ahead and finalize your firewall before you do the final installation on the motor! DOH!~

Oh and while you are in there fabricating go ahead and make a cold air box for your intake! Much easier to get access to everything without the motor in the way :/


So far so good! Time to go home, have a great weekend everyone!
J

After looking your car over as well as that Cayman piece I kind of thought the same thing - great minds think a like huh Even with the firewall issue the car is pretty damn cool - and fast.

I'm still not convinced that the easiest solution isn't cutting even more of the firewall out and going back with all new but...............

[BoxsterLS376]

So how much does a Boxster V8 weigh you ask??

Well we had to corner balance a customer car today so I decided to pull the car up on the official race scales and see how fat that azz is now!


Stock Curb Weight: 2,855 lbs. manual/2,943 lbs. Tiptronic

Survey says new weight without driver....



In case you can't see the picture she now tips the scales at 2,991 lbs!!!



With driver 3,151 lbs!! :dance:


So now that we have 2 solid official numbers to go by, lets do some figuring!!!
Official Horsepower = 480~
Official weight w/ driver = 3,151

ET-MPH-HP Calculator

Your ET / MPH computed from your vehicle weight of 3151 pounds and HP of 480 is 10.91 seconds and MPH of 123.91 MPH.

YES, it is fast. NO, you can't drive it

[TrumpyAl]

Not sure about anyone else but I'M impressed!

[JRL]

Originally Posted by TrumpyAl

Not sure about anyone else but I'M impressed!

Having ridden in the car I can tell you unequivocally - IT IS FAST

All that's left for me is do I try and buy JJ's car or have him help me build one of my own

[Pdwight]

Originally Posted by TrumpyAl

Not sure about anyone else but I'M impressed!

Only an idiot would not be impressed, like most of us I watched each and every step.....I still want to see it one day

[BoxsterLS376]

Thanks everyone! I would love to show it off a bit so maybe we can fire up some sort of Porsche/Boxster get together! Is there anything official coming up? I have been wanting to get this thing to a dragstrip to be honest so I can make some decent (and LEGAL ) videos. Atlanta dragway is dam far away from me on a Friday afternoon!! Any other good 1/4 mile strips around?


Friday update:

So I decided to swap out the axles again today and I must say, it is a LOT easier when nothing is broken and you're not pissed off!! I had recently rebuilt and reinstalled my factory axles but ever since then I had a low end vibration whenever I would get into it at lower engine speeds. I have another set of good condition used axles I was thinking about swapping in, but I decided to go ahead and try the aftermarket axles again. After inspecting the ones that broke they are just as beefy as the factory units, only reason they broke with because they were pulling out of joint.

So I swapped those out and balanced all the tires and the car feels fabulous again!! No vibration at all so I feel really good about it now!!

The brakes are going to be my next order of business, fronts are ok, rears are getting down but I think they are warped just a bit and they are due so I'm gonna do it right! Already got all the small hardware and just waiting on the pads themselves. Only thing I'm going to try and reuse are the pad sensors as long as they don't break coming out. Using ATE coated rotors and Hawk HP Plus pads, Stainless Steel brake lines, all new vibration dampeners etc.

The calipers are looking a bit shabby too so I think I'm going to get them powdercoated... and if you have been following along I'll give you all 1 guess as to what color they are gonna be, and it ain't red!

The other thing I've been looking at is suspension stuffs... any thoughts or feedback from someone who has them??

Thanks!
J

[bc993]

I'm guessing your calipers are going to be fluorescent green to match your intake plumbing.
Very cool that your car is only 50 lbs more than a tip. Power to weight ratio is awesome. Anyone know off hand what the ratio is for a 2000 911 Turbo for comparison?


Found it: 2000 911 turbo
3395
3688 heaviest

415 hp @ 6000

I've driven a X50 996 turbo and it was scary fast. I'm sure your boxster is a handful especially without traction control and rear wheel drive only.
Awesome job, enjoy!