variocam conversion - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

The Radium King · 09-15-2017, 10:45 AM

so, there are two types of variocam - the early 'on/off' version that was around until 2002 with the 7.2 dme cars, and the later variable version that came on the 2002/03 7.8 dme cars. not talking about variocam plus that the boxster didn't get until 2007 or 2008.

my question is this: if i have a 7.8 dme car set up for the later variocam version, what would it take to get an earlier engine with on/off variocam running? not talking about changing the dme, but rather some logic that would convert the variable signal to an on/off signal, and some way of fooling the cam position sensors so that fueling isn't affected.

anyone ever dealt w this?

The Radium King · 09-15-2017, 10:50 AM

i guess the other soln would be to use a 7.2 dme but keep all the other 7.8 canbus wiring (ie not a full 7.2/7.8 conversion) and use a 2002 flash which, according to pelican, is a hybrid of 7.2 and canbus?

shadrach74 · 09-18-2017, 02:23 AM

I am curious as to why you would want to do such a thing?

The Radium King · 09-18-2017, 07:03 AM

i have a 2000 that i am looking to put an 03/04 3.6 996 engine in. requires conversion to 7.8 dme which isn't that difficult - change some pins, run some additional variocam wires. the problem is that the 7.8 also requires conversion to canbus - gotta run a bunch of canbus wires, update the gauge cluster, update the hvac controller, and update the abs pump with means new wheel speed sensors and fourth brake line to the back. it is my winter project.

with all the people popping engines recently, however, thinking about keeping my original engine as a spare, and trying to sort out how to easily swap in an engine with the early variocam system into a car wired and programmed for the later system. thought about keeping the later system in and trying to fool the sensors and controllers, but seems a lot of work. then read on pelican that the 01/02 cars had canbus but still ran the 7.2 dme. if so, i can leave the canbus system in and just swap my 7.2 dme back in with the old engine (with a reprogram to an 01/02 tune and some pin changes).