Thanks!! Decided to run the car around this weekend to show it off to an old high school buddy - "fastest car I've ever been in" :D

Got almost 1000 miles on it now and seems to be doing well - although there will always be more to do. Of course during fun time this weekend the check engine light came back on - DOH! Well at least it passed emission and I've got a year to deal with it!

You should be producing kits and selling then.....not Renegade

Did you ever make the engine cover for behind the seat?

Have not made the cover behind the seat yet, although I did receive my 2014 Cayman engine cover to start with so hopefully soon! Doesn't exactly bolt in and I want it to look good so I may have someone else make it :)

Drove the car a bit more this weekend - check engine light is back out again!! YAY! Didn't even have a chance to scan it and see what it was but I've sure it's the same thing

Do you have a video of an outside shot of you driving the car? I saw the one where you have an in-car camera. Would love to see/hear one with a drive-by. This request is for Vlad too.

Yeah I've been meaning to do that... Actually had one last week and my damn phone ran out of space and didn't record it.... I've got the car at the shop today and the phone has space, i'll see what I can do :D

Ok so it started to rain and didn't think we would be able to do this today but it cleared up and so we made a few quick videos from outside the car for you guys...

Definitely quieter then I thought from the outside although you can still hear it from far away when I'm turning around in the last video :)

https://youtu.be/zrPlH30gzyo
https://youtu.be/S1a9T_faZNU
https://youtu.be/G0MvZWnfE0E

Whaddaya think?
J

Sounds good :cheers:
Is it gear wine that can be heard over the engine or intake noise in the last video?

Thanks Will! No gear whine, just intake sucking in massive amounts of air :)

Since I installed the spacers on the Axles that I got from Tarett the transmission and drivetrain in general feel pretty good and haven't had any trouble.
J

Sounds like a turbo spinning. You need a louder exhaust :)

Looks wicked fast though. I really want a wicked fast Boxster!

Thank you! It is quieter than I thought it would be.

Thanks y'all. It is running catalytic converters and 2 magnaflow mufflers so it Is good for cruising but definitely feel a need to make a sportier exhaust...

One smaller muffler maybe? Suggestions?

oh.my.god. !!!!!!!!!!!

Nice! :cheers:

Maybe it's because I'm getting older, but I like that it's not that loud.

Thanks everyone! @ Itsnotanova - I am with you there, for day to day use I think the sound is spot on... but with as little time as it take to change the exhaust on this it would be nice to have one with a bit more thump to it :D

Next time I have a chance I am going to pull the mufflers off and fire it up to see just how loud it is then make a decision on how to proceed with a sportier sound. I am also interested seeing how it sounds without an x-pipe to see if it changes the overall sound.

THANKS!
J

Do you have AC working yet?

Not yet, been dealing with more pressing issues...

Everything is in place and should work with the stock lines once they are cut down and re-crimped, then just need to add the right belt and should work...

Until the firewall is built it is like peeing on a brushfire :)
Thanks
J

I'm watching your build. I have a 2003 986S it gone through 2 M96 engines. I have a shop building me a LS1 version now. One thing at I'm doing I haven't seen done yet is use the Atomic LS Wireless Harness kit on my build. Upgrades to the motor before it goes into the car are Cam, pushrod, lifters, springs, and time chain.

Video with last M96 Engine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEIZorKPkWA

Dang that sucks you've gone through 2 motors but I'm sure you'll be happy with your new LS1!!

I am not familiar with the Atomic LS kit you mentioned so I just googled it and does look like a pretty trick setup! Personally because I opted to go with a crate motor which comes with all of the fuel rails etc. I didn't really look into aftermarket ECU setups mainly because factory stuff almost always works best :) Plus with 480hp I'm not that concerned about needing more right now!

I must say though, you don't get the tune-ability with the factory setup as you do with the Atomic setup... but the factory ECU/harness kit only set me back about $1100 and I'm pretty sure I can buy tuning software for about $600, or just pay a known local tuner to dyno tune it for the same price, just don't own any software then but I'm fine with that~ If I was building a motor from a used unit I'd probably use the Atomic setup just to get the new fuel system components too... Then again that is why I opted for a whole new engine because I didn't want anything to go wrong that I had to pull the motor back out for! :D

Start a post on your build, I'd love to check it out! If you have any questions feel free to give me a shout!
Good luck
J

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...

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!! :D

Must keep self under control. Too much fun~ :p

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

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

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

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 :p

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

Exhaust fun :)

https://youtu.be/xCewZXYXX9E

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.

YAY! Maybe you should build straight through pipes. :D

Regards from Germany
Markus

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.

Well, there is a reason for that... It's not done yet :p 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!! :D

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.

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!

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!! :D

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 :)

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.

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~

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

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...............

Official weight measurements are in!
 

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....

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1445460952.jpg

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

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1445461046.jpg

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 :p

Not sure about anyone else but I'M impressed!

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

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 :)

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

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 :D ) 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!! :D 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

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!