Charleston SC new member

[Qingdao]

Don't currently have a Boxster, but my wife did.

She had a 99 base model slush box. She bought it for the "badge", but after I got some good tires, new struts, fixed all the cooling kinks, I realized that this chassis is by far the best handling car I've ever driven. If not for the underpowered engine, and the AWFUL transmission, it was an excellent car. And the creature comforts were great inside that thing.


Unfortunately after a year or so either the alternator wire or the starter wire found ground and the car burned up.


Here I am a few years later and both she and I are longing for another crazy good handling car.

But this one is gonna be bow tie powered. LOL

Yup, 4.3 Chevy truck engine powered. Gonna put an Eaton M 90 on top to boot.

The 4th gen Chevy 4.3's have the same accessory positions relative to the CS as the 2.5 German engine. So make some adaptors for the hoses and whatnot; get an adaptor for the transaxle... Fab up some mounts and roll.

I should be picking up another base model 986 next weekend. Blown up engine so we're good to go.



I'm not apposed to the boxer engine... shoot I love my "lawnmower engine car" (1972 Karmann Ghia). But a good engine is a good engine and Chevy made a good one.



And I've got plenty of poorly designed engines as well. Rotary engines are destine to fail. So a good 4.3 in a sports car just makes sense.




^^^ its a blow through turbo setup... Makes about 300whp.




Anyrate anybody have a shell local they are looking to get rid of let me know. I hope next weekend I can pick up this pile and get to work.

[Qingdao]

Man this is like the only photo I can find of my wife's old Porsche.

[Qingdao]

I do have a couple of questions.

One. How does the 986's tac gather its information from the engine?

Two. How does the boxster's speedo work?

I want to keep the interior stock. I may want an odd engine, but I want a stock interior without weird aftermarket gauges.


Also, can these things be towed without removing axles? Is the 5 speed cool with towing or will it tear the diff/gearing up?
EDIT: well I just thought about this... doesn't matter I'm not pulling axles on the side of the road to tow this thing. Its not like a VW that bolts right to the hub. You gotta remove the rear LCA's and all kinds of junk.

[78F350]

Welcome to the forum. For answers to your questions, check out these threads:
https://986forum.com/forums/show-tell-gallery/54328-boxsterls376-introduction-ls3-conversion.html
http://986forum.com/forums/show-tell-gallery/56050-v8-conversion.html

I'm pretty sure they have enough detail somewhere in there and you may be able to contact both of the authors.
JJ has been back on the forum recently.
I think Vlad moved on to a 996 and some other stuff before finishing up his swap, but I think he still posts here from time to time.

[Qingdao]

Originally Posted by 78F350

Welcome to the forum. For answers to your questions, check out these threads:
https://986forum.com/forums/show-tell-gallery/54328-boxsterls376-introduction-ls3-conversion.html
http://986forum.com/forums/show-tell-gallery/56050-v8-conversion.html

I'm pretty sure they have enough detail somewhere in there and you may be able to contact both of the authors.
JJ has been back on the forum recently.
I think Vlad moved on to a 996 and some other stuff before finishing up his swap, but I think he still posts here from time to time.

hehe. 4.3 is a V6 like a 3/4 SBC.


Simple swap as snot. The V8's (either small block or LS) on the other hand require cutting fire walls and sacrificing rigidity. or tubing a section of the chassis, which I might have enough skill to do, but not time, drive, or patience.


With a nice .500 cam, 5-10 pounds of boost, and a smooth exhaust I should hit about 400 or more pounds foot of torque. Yeah, an LS engine can do that bare cam, but would you trust a base model 986 transmission with much more than 400 pound feet of torque?



I'm just concerned about how to keep the original gauge clusters in operational order with the V6 in place.


I'm thinking that the OE tac runs off some kind of crank angle sensor. I guess I could mock that up on the 4.3 somewhere. After all RPM is RPM regardless of engine layout.

But a 4.3 will NEVER hit 8k like the boxer does. LOL I guess that'll just be the unused portion of the tac.

[Qingdao]

Oh boy the seller responded... That's one step closer in today's world of flaky online sellers.

Now I just have to put new bearings on my buddies car dolley and drive on up and snag this thing.

Looks like it burned up real good.

Oh, and I do plan on getting one of those "cayman" style hard top body kit dohickies.

And she is gonna be Wimbledon green. I was gonna do BR green, but I figured I should keep it closer to a Porsche color since its not gonna be chevy orange LOL

[Qingdao]

Wow, read that Boxsterls guy's thread. So glad I am not going that V8 route...


With the 4G GM V6 all I have to do is make an oil pan exhaust yada yada. The accessories are in the right spots; so no Porsche this and GM that... its all GM off the shelf and CHEAP.

Also, carburators are way simpler than FI. So I won't have all that hillamajazz going on with high/low speed fan controls, or figuring out how to make the VSS work on the GM engine. Just regulate fuel pressure to make the Edelbrock happy and drive. ***

And I shouldn't have to hack up my e-brake cable to fit it in there... obviously with the M 90 on top its gonna stick up and make VRrRRRrrRRRR noises behind my head.


*** my friends have me half convinced to do a TBI, but I'm still on the fence. I like an Edelbrock.

[Qingdao]

Well no boxster for me this time...

The looser that had this white car posted neglected to mention he had already sold the wheels separate from the car.

So I show up 250miles away from home with a car dolly only to find a boxster sitting on cinder blocks.

I asked him if he'd take $500 for it. I don't think he realized I was serious. I mean he'd sold the mirrors, seats, door handles, and some other bits that were pictured in his listing and I would still have bought it for $500 and found some wheels for temporary.

Why this guy didn't tell me before I drove to Atlanta I cannot tell you. Just another jackass who knows.



Anyrate, I'll find another one. Just gonna take time I suppose.