Should I swap a V8 into my 2000 Boxster S?

[Bayley]

Yes.

Of course I should.
Everyone should.
Anybody who says otherwise is a fun-hating communist.

In fact, I already did and would like to share with everyone the details on how I got here.

PREFACE:

I have been following the progress of Martinsink and BoxsterLS376's topics since the beginning. Rather than distract from their stories with another build log, I decided to wait until I was complete and offer up my story as one continuous start-to-finish post. While following Jay's and Vlad's build, I was given numerous tips and suggestions that I likely would not have figured out on my own. I would like to give a big shout-out to both of them for the insight they either directly or indirectly gave me.

On the otherside of the coin, I will give a very strong word of caution to anyone who views this project as a "kit". Anyone advertising a "kit" to do this project has a very liberal interpretation of what a "kit" otherwise is. There are no instructions, there are no design specifications, and there is VERY limited customer support. If I were to do this project over again, knowing what I know today, I would skip the "kit" all together and simply buy the engine to transmission adapter straight from Kennedy Engineering (Kennedy Engineered Products) and fabricate my own mounts.

Fabricate you say?

Yes, fabricate.

If measuring, cutting and welding cold hard steel is something you're not comfortable with... it's best to abandon the idea of doing this yourself. While you don't have to be an expert (I'm far from it) to do this, you do need to be quite comfortable with basic fabrication.


THE BEGINNING:

A few years back, an old friend called me up saying his 2000 Boxster S had an engine problem. After confirming the problem was NOT the IMS bearing, the well known Porsche shop quoted >$10,000 for a replacement engine. Rather than throwing good money after bad, he offered the car to me at a fire-sale price that I couldn't refuse.





All the information I received up to this point indicated that a rod bearing was potentially spun. My initial plan was to pull the crank from the engine and then have it welded and reground to factory tolerance. However, I was in for a NASTY surprise when I finally freed the crank from the block.