BoxsterLS376 introduction - LS3 conversion :)

[FauxDiablo]

Originally Posted by BoxsterLS376

Hey Randy,

Yes I did, very cool!

I spoke with Steve and while I'm sure what he does will improve the situation, I'm not sure i'll be 100% happy with it. Basically supplying factory axles which he would then be "race prepping" the outer CV joint. That is all he wants to do which is basically changing to a chromoly cage and put in "good" axle grease. Not sure that is going to solve my problems, but rather buy a bit more time.

A big part of my concern is the wear on the outer CV housing as this is causing me to wear out the axles in about 3,000 miles or less. Steve basically said I could expect to get 3x more life out of them which is roughly 9,000 miles, then I have to find a new set of factory axles, rinse and repeat.

I am going to talk to fabrication shop near by and throw some ideas at them to see if I can come up with a better solution. By better I mean longer lasting, stronger and easily replaceable or able to be rebuilt by me rather then having to send them back off to Colorado or wherever.

I am also going to talk with them about producing V6/V8 conversion parts. I've been looking around lately and am thinking that the newer 3.6L V6 from the 2012+ Camaro could be a good replacement for bad 986 motors. They make 323 HP, are pretty compact so hopefully the conversion could be done without any cutting of the existing structure and from what I can see used motors are fairly cheap and plentiful. Just be a matter of the full integration with wiring etc. which means you likely need a throttle pedal etc. and I don't think Chevy makes a plug and play type setup for the V6 motors like they do the V8s. I'll start another thread on that once I gather a bit more info.

Thanks
J

Not even going to go back and look at what all this axle talk is about.

I know a couple things though... (1) Never have a place in Kansas design custom axles for you. (2) If you need any kind of custom axle designed, especially Porsche-based CV axles, you go straight to a company called The Driveshaft Shop, and you don't look back.

The Driveshaft Shop | Home page

[BoxsterLS376]

Originally Posted by FauxDiablo

Not even going to go back and look at what all this axle talk is about.

I know a couple things though... (1) Never have a place in Kansas design custom axles for you. (2) If you need any kind of custom axle designed, especially Porsche-based CV axles, you go straight to a company called The Driveshaft Shop, and you don't look back.

The Driveshaft Shop | Home page

Well you should read back a bit, the drive shaft shop is great but want close to $4,000 for a pair of axles and I am not spending that much more on this car. I will chew up 40 $100 axles before i do.

[JRL]

Originally Posted by BoxsterLS376

Well you should read back a bit, the drive shaft shop is great but want close to $4,000 for a pair of axles and I am not spending that much more on this car. I will chew up 40 $100 axles before i do.

JJ that shop I gave you the info on will do bullet proof axles for less than $1,000. My buddy is running 600 + HP through his Porsche box with absolutely no axle issues and his driveshaft angles are MUCH more severe than yours.

[BoxsterLS376]

Originally Posted by JRL

JJ that shop I gave you the info on will do bullet proof axles for less than $1,000. My buddy is running 600 + HP through his Porsche box with absolutely no axle issues and his driveshaft angles are MUCH more severe than yours.

The angle is not the problem, it is simply chewing up the outer CVs that I'm worried about. His solution does not address that at all, so he needs a preferably NEW set of Porsche factory axles at a cost of about $900 each that puts his solution at close to $3K. Plus I wanted to REM and Cryo the CVs to try and prevent them from wearing out after 3000 miles and that would add another couple hundred bucks, so if I spend that much why not just spend the $4K and get the really really good ones.

I have just got the car going again after sitting for a month due to a failed water pump. Luckily because I bought everything new and it was covered under warranty. For now I have installed a different set of cheap axles that cost me about $240 for the pair and feel great. I don't plan on drag racing the car and if I do i'll bring a spare set of axles as I can swap them out in about 40 minutes, but at this point that is all I'm doing.

I simply don't have the money to pump into a solution for this as I am already $40K into the hole on this project and simply don't have an endless bucket of money or money tree. If I did, we wouldn't be having this conversation and would have just bought the drive shaft shop axles and been done with it. You have to remember this was a project car to begin with, with a budget of around $25K planned.

Now that it is up and running again I am going to test drive it over the weekend, get the emissions done so my tags don't expire and put it up on Ebay and hope for the best. If it doesn't sell then i'll just keep it and drive it.

[JRL]

Originally Posted by BoxsterLS376

The angle is not the problem, it is simply chewing up the outer CVs that I'm worried about. His solution does not address that at all, so he needs a preferably NEW set of Porsche factory axles at a cost of about $900 each that puts his solution at close to $3K. Plus I wanted to REM and Cryo the CVs to try and prevent them from wearing out after 3000 miles and that would add another couple hundred bucks, so if I spend that much why not just spend the $4K and get the really really good ones.

I have just got the car going again after sitting for a month due to a failed water pump. Luckily because I bought everything new and it was covered under warranty. For now I have installed a different set of cheap axles that cost me about $240 for the pair and feel great. I don't plan on drag racing the car and if I do i'll bring a spare set of axles as I can swap them out in about 40 minutes, but at this point that is all I'm doing.

I simply don't have the money to pump into a solution for this as I am already $40K into the hole on this project and simply don't have an endless bucket of money or money tree. If I did, we wouldn't be having this conversation and would have just bought the drive shaft shop axles and been done with it. You have to remember this was a project car to begin with, with a budget of around $25K planned.

Now that it is up and running again I am going to test drive it over the weekend, get the emissions done so my tags don't expire and put it up on Ebay and hope for the best. If it doesn't sell then i'll just keep it and drive it.

Thanks for the clarification. My buddy already had the factory axles so his cost was about $900 for the fix.

I fully understand the lack of a money tree. I originally thought (based on Renegade info) that I could do a car for around $30 K - when I realized $40 K + was more realistic I decided to go in the direction I ended up going.

I really hope you have success with Ebay - keep us posted when you list the car.

[BoxsterLS376]

Originally Posted by JRL

Thanks for the clarification. My buddy already had the factory axles so his cost was about $900 for the fix.

I fully understand the lack of a money tree. I originally thought (based on Renegade info) that I could do a car for around $30 K - when I realized $40 K + was more realistic I decided to go in the direction I ended up going.

I really hope you have success with Ebay - keep us posted when you list the car.

Yeah as I have said before, unfortunately Renegade does a good job of "Selling the dream" with their v8 conversion "kit". I guess i was simply a guinea pig this time.

I don't regret it at all, if I had $40K to spend on a car I can't think of anything I would rather replace it with. I just spent an hour or two driving around tonight as I am due for emissions and had to clear the codes when the water pump took a poop. I drove it about 50 miles up and down the highway, mufflers on

I've had quite a bit of fun with it. If it does not sell the first time I list it, I will probably keep it over the winter time and do a few more things to it. I would really like to make a "valve-tronic" type exhaust for it so it is a bit louder when muffled, then rowdy at the flick of a switch... we will see.

[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??

[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]

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.

[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.