Thank you sir :) Visits are always welcomed!

HAHAHA so I just find this a bit funny and wonder why I'm not getting checks from Renegade yet :rolleyes:

I posed this same question to Steve @ Renegade when I was starting out and this is his response...

"We’re going to work on taking better pictures of how the alternator and a/c compressor mount. It’s a tough area to show. If you can’t figure it out let me know and we’ll work it out.

Thanks,

Steve"
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1433414848.jpg
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1433414864.jpg

Hrm, could have been more helpful but whatever~

So if you are running the alternator and AC compressor it is pretty easy. A/C compressor on passenger side, alternator on drivers side, belt goes around all pulleys and under the roller tensioner.

Also FYI for those who are keeping tabs, the tensioning system allows for about 5mm of tensioning so your belt better be a pretty good fit... The belt I found that fit so far is a 6pk-1320, not uber tight but I think it will do... hopefully we will find out soon enough.

I'll make a quick video or take more pics today for you.
Take care,
J

Wow, just a quick comment: great, great thread. Thanks very much for documenting everything, and doing it so well. Kudos!!!

Oh lord lol you do need to get paid by them. He gave me a belt number and it was like 8 inches, long when I got it in the mail =\. After that, I was just like, "Oh well, I won't even bother asking anymore I just hop on to the forum!" You're the best man!

Yes, you do need to get paid, or better yet, you need to put your own "kit" together with labeled parts and instructions! I always had it in the back of my mind, that if my engine blew, this "kit" would be a possibility. I mean, it's a "kit" right? Everything would be there with instructions and help would be a phone call or email away, right? Well, after watching what you and the others are going through, it is probably not a viable alternative for me. But I love watching your progress, keep up the great work! :cheers:

Renegade instuctions!
 

Your my Renegade Instruction Manual thanks.

Thank you! I'm doing my best here but I'm sure I have left a bunch of little things out so feel free to ask any questions you may have and i'll do my best to answer ya!


Well hopefully this all works out and maybe I can start to get paid for doing all this work somehow! Yeah luckily since I'm doing this at the shop we have a bunch of different size belt on the wall so I just got the closest one we had then had to order 2 or 3 from Pep Boys before I got one that seems good. Are you running an A/C compressor? If not I can see why they gave you a bad number although 8 more inches probably wouldn't make it around the A/C compressor :/ I have learned much self reliance in this project due to poor responses so glad I can help!
Thanks!

Thanks Bruce,
Yeah well lets just say that the wheels have really been turning lately and have already been talking to 3-4 people about doing installs for them and the possibility of making my own mounting system. The only problem that I see in making it a more "turn-key" project is the cost factor which is likely why Renegade sells what I would call a bare bones kit... it gets that basics done but that's about it.

Let's be honest, I could totally rip them apart on here but I try not to be that type of person, you know, karma and all :) But I'll just say that for the $7000 I spent on their complete kit with every option leaves much to be desired and I'm CERTAIN it can be done better.

Anytime! :D
Thanks!
J

Good evening,

Another quick update for ya.
Thanks
J

https://youtu.be/B6OeZ5fI6Do

Thank you!

You should definitely sell me a set of coolant lines =D haha

You know I'm getting pretty tempted to start making parts like this for everyone, let me make sure I get mine going first, then we'll talk :p

Unfortunately haven't had any time to play with the car yet this week, not to mention it is getting hot as crap so I'm not moving fast right now :)

Got a new expansion tank coming in tomorrow which should help me knock out the rest of the cooling system. Need to get a fuel pressure regulator and hook it up, then a few more wires (of course it's the hard ones, geez!!), but we may be ready to spin this thing over here real soon!

Thanks!
J

Sounds good!!

Tomorrow is the day.
 

Good evening everyone,

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, but that is about to change!! Well the biggest reason for that is we are almost done!!

Been mostly crossing "T's" and dotting "i's" here lately which as it turns out takes a helluva lot of ink on a project this big :)

Made some big steps today and the cooling system is now full of coolant with only a minor leak @ the Renegade supplied plastic fitting on the water manifold, hrm, go figure. Steering system fitting are now tightened up and holding fluid. Most of the wiring integration was sorted out today, just need to get it running and test a few wires for the tach signal from the LS3. There will be more wires to hook up mostly because I want the car to function and act as much like a stock car as possible, low voltage light on dash etc. but for now all the major ones are done and integrated into the car properly in the trunk area.

So barring any major catastrophes overnight, TOMORROW IS THE DAY!!!

I'm not gonna lie, I'm nervous as hell. I can't wait :dance:

Will have video updates tomorrow evening!
Thanks
J

I hope it runs like a Beast!

Good Luck
 

Good Luck,will you be showing all the wiring done to run the beast?

WHOOOOOOOO!!! It's gonna be a beast!! :troll:

motor
 

Can't wait to see and hear it!!!

Me too!
Thanks!

Thank you thank you - yeah I can go over most of it once I figure it all out myself :D You should definitely get a copy of the Porsche manual with wiring diagrams, couldn't do it with out them!

Go that right!
Thanks!

You an me both!


QUICK MIDDAY UPDATE!

We have been running through a few small issues - although finally did an initial test fire and SHE RUNS!! She make a ********************LOAD OF NOISE - but she runs!

Seems that one of my worries is causing a problem - not enough space between the recommended starter motor and the flywheel. Love it when recommended ******************** doesn't work :/

She will be running again in a few minutes - hopefully with much less noise :D

Good evening everyone,

Well we are oh so close but just couldn't muster up the energy to get it all sorted out today~ Oh and apologies in advance for todays videos - thankfully I'm better at putting cars together then I am at making videos :p

Quick video with no interesting content - had to do it - http://youtu.be/LOw9n05dcRM

So as I noted in my previous quickie post, she did start today, but only briefly (as you will see in the videos). I totally expected it to make noise when I first attempted to start it, just wasn't sure it would be so many!!!

START ATTEMPT #1 - http://youtu.be/dtGP1kU0XHY

Sooo as you can see - horrible noises :)

Initial priming of the motor without the fuel/spark hooked up I could definitely tell that the starter was going to be an issue as you could hear it hitting and hard stopping. I actually knew this as I was putting it in but was hoping for the best, just not enough clearance between the starter gear and the flywheel... So much for buying all of the recommended parts :rolleyes:
So a bit of shimming trickery and BANG, starter fixed. Time for attempt #2!

START ATTEMPT #2 - http://youtu.be/5421ddVaoQw

Sooo as you can see - more horrible noises - DOH! :eek:

So we sorted out the horrible starter noise issue only to find more horrible noises! This time it is the belts... I knew they were not entirely inline but the Renegade brackets give you precisely dick for adjustment so modifications need to be made to get everything to line up properly. As much as I wanted to I just ran out of steam for the day and couldn't get it sorted out.

In the immortal voice of Yoda - Close we are. Rush it, we will not.

Tomorrow we start fresh!!

Thanks renegade. :eek::mad::( I'm salty for you brother.

Wanna hear the beast roar! - not squeak. :D ;)

Fingers crossed. You'll solve it!

Regards from Germany
Markus

You shall overcome!

'Tis but a minor setup in your final steps to the summit.

BTW - let me know if there were any modifications you did with the belts or brackets. My AC bracket had some pretty bad interference with the compressor housing. I wrote Renegade last week just to give them a friendly "heads up", still haven't heard back. In the meantime, I modified the bracket to both clear the compressor housing AND fit the engine block a little better. Renegade's powder coater was a little overly ambitious and a lot of the holes and aligning edges didn't fit until I ground off all that beautiful finishing coat.

At the very back of the compressor housing near the rear mounting bolt, you can see the housing hitting the bracket:
http://i.imgur.com/lFXNC2L.jpg


Wasn't difficult to modify, but yet another aspect of this "kit" that makes it less and less of a "bolt in" experience. :(
http://i.imgur.com/qnmeSNL.jpg

It's alive.

:)

Post that ISH!!!

Great job JJ - well done :cheers:

There was a disturbance in the force....millions of Boxster crying out for more power.....we heard you in Alabama when you started her up.

Yeah so right now I'm still in the process of sorting out the belts and pulley alignment situation but haven't had tremendous success just yet, pretty close though. The short answer to your question is yes, additional spacers and washers were necessary to make things fit properly... also had to knock down some of the powdercoat in order to get it to slip by the boss on the block there. I've added my original transmission spacers to the alternator to help align it, about 1/2" forward so far. Ran out of patience this week so by the end of the day I just took the damn belt off so I could hear it run without a squeak :)

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I hope you are a good modifier as there are LOTS of dumb things like that you will need to sort out, let me know if I can help!
Thanks
J

Well not real exciting but here it is :p

http://youtu.be/Opxu4mded6c


Thanks Randy!
J

LOL - The force is strong with this one ;)


Thanks everyone I really appreciate it...

I think there is an issue with the cooling system so no road tests just yet although everything spins the right way when in gear etc.

I'm pretty certain I followed Renegades little flow diagram pretty spot on but one thing I didn't do is actually check the LS3 coolant flow etc. I simply copied Renegades pictures but something just isn't right... they probably sent pictures of a 911 conversion with the pipes on backward or something, who knows, i'll figure it out though:dance:

As Stated
 

I am more unimpressed with Renegade than ever........you we are impressed with Randy

Any news? Does it run smooth now?

Some exhaust mods planned to get more roar? :D ;)

Regards from Germany
Markus

Greetings all,

Well got to mess with it a bit more and made a small change to the steam pipe in the cooling system but don't think I solved much. Seems like the T-Stat is not opening so I'm gonna spill some more coolant tomorrow and pull that little bastard out just to see if we can keep it cool enough to put a few miles on it...

Speaking of putting a few miles on it I did actually pull it down off the lift and took it down the street. Belt was still making all sorts of noise and the power steering wasn't powering at all, but it goes down the road!

@ Markus - once I get more bits sorted out then i'll make some noisy pipes :)

Thanks!
J

Greetings all,

Sooo got a few things sorted out and it is starting to become a driveable car!! I abandoned the A/C portion of the belt for now in order to just run the alternator without it making all sorts of racket.

I ended up doing quite a bit of modifying to the alternator mount/tensioner setup I added about an extra inch of adjustability with the alternator tensioner bracket which helped a bit and also ground off the block a bit more where it was getting in the way. The biggest thing however was that I added about 3/8" of spacing to the alternator in order to get it to line up better with the crank pulley. I started with the 1/2" aluminum spacers I had made for the transmission but they were a bit much, but FYI 5 flat washers = 3/8" :)

In the end you still don't get much adjustability but I was able to squeeze a 5PK-875 (should be 6pk but I'm just glad it's on and working right now - only temporary anyway) onto the crank and alternator. It will just barely fit and actually had to loop it over the crank and turn the motor over by hand to get it to fit on, got it nice and tight and viola! No more squeaky belt!


Regarding the cooling system, I decided to gut a thermostat yesterday and put the system together like that just free flowing to the radiators. So far so good! I think the biggest problem was that the system was not bled well enough, even though I used a vacuum bleeder, just wasn't enough. I ran it for a bit last night and it took in quite a bit more coolant so I'm feeling better about it. Ran it again today for a bit and temperatures were staying just about 180*-190*F so I'm happy with that for now!

Last challenge for the day was the tachometer which so far I've gotten it to flicker and that's about it. I'll just say that the "Renegade way" didn't work. Stopped by a friends place to show him the car and he dropped a bit more knowledge and a resistor on me, i'll see if we can make that work tomorrow!

Otherwise she sounds good!! Pretty mean actually with the way the "Hot cam" hits a lick!! I think the decision to go with the LS376-480 crate motor was a perfect choice so far, at best I've only given it about half throttle and there is PLENTY left to scare you, I can't wait til I get her broke in!!!

I'll make a video tomorrow , would have today but it started raining cats and dogs and I still don't have a top on this thing yet so testing was limited :)

Thanks!
J

Awesome
 

Congratulations. When do LS376 Kits go into production?

Greetings all,

Here is a little video I made today for you all showing off the car a bit. Feel free to comment/question - Hope you enjoy :)


https://youtu.be/QkxzES1lbyU

J

Oh my.....................:D

Guess I need to drop by the shop for sure:)

Congrats from germany!

Thanks! The thought train is still rolling on this, once this one is sorted out i'll get to working on that!

Haha yeah made a bit of progress since your last visit!

Thanks!! The German side of my heritage is very proud and glad to hear it! :cheers:


Really need to sort out the tachometer and the firewall cover and we'll be in business. Drove it home from the shop last night even with no top and threat of heavy rain, figured I could out run it ;)

I did however catch the attention of a C7 Corvette on the way home last night which REALLY made me regret not having a tachometer although the motor isn't really broken in yet so I played a little but not to much.

Although I haven't really dug into it yet in second gear I'm sensing some wheel spin and am thinking this car is in bad need of an LSD. It was much to my disappointment when I found out that an LSD was never even an option on the Boxster. Luckily I found one out of a 996 a few weeks ago on Ebay which I talked my boss into buying, now I just need to get him to install it in my car :p We will see.

Thanks!
J

Outstanding! :dance: You must have a great deal of satisfaction. I love the sound and your grins as it pulls, very cool. You need to get a GoPro camera for your driving videos! Again, job well done:cheers:

The ls3 looks and sounds great in your boxster. I can't wait to start my boxster project!

Nicely done! I can't wait to hear what you think of it once you get it buttoned up.

I had some LSD info hear, but found that while you could get electronic traction control in the 986 the M220 and M224 option codes, you did not actually get mechanical limited slip.

Salute to you, really awesome project!! :cheers:

next project...Boxster with Karl Wagner 416 LS7 1k HP :D

Wow! That is so impressive! Well done x100!!!!!!!!!!!