Some have thought it, no one's done it...Northstar

So are the Northstar head bolt bores drilled into the coolant passages as well, or corrosion occurs after the headgasket blows and leaks into them?

A theory suggests yes, the headgaskets blow and the coolant finds its way (floods) into the bolt bores where it undergoes galvanic corrosion.

yes it uses the BOP 60* V6 pattern with a slight modification for one bolt hole and a welded pocket for the starter (mounted under the intake mani)

That S10 BH is not a good choice for the Northstar 944 swap because of the trans input diameter. The guys on the old board were making some fandangled 2 piece adapter to fit those BH's (trans input dia.) onto the V8's. I'm assuming you are talking about the Northstar swap to the RX7 using that S10 BH?

Also another unknown is the crank pilot bearing to block/BH interface measurement on the Northstar.....
Get that measurement and one of these BH's can be adapted to the Nortstar with a 1-piece adapter....

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Since the C5 Bellhousings are getting scarce and cost $175 or more I'm going to build adapter plates with concentric throwout bearings for all the GM motors.....Especially my favorite....The V8.......Same adapter plate will fit these V8 bells as well .....FRH

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chrfab.com sells a bellhousing modified aready, you would just need the adaptor and pilot bearing. They sell loads of other things too.

bit of an update..

went to the boneyard again yesterday with the all-mighty tape measure...

northstar is
26.5" wide ish
24" long ish (waterpump solution would be tricky with a FWD motor)
height i dont recall

but it will definitely fit widthwise, it is shorter than an LS motor so it could potentially have some height wiggle room since it doesnt worry about the hood clearance. i dont imagine its any taller than an LS though.

additionally, chrfab now makes a custom cast-aluminum bellhousing for N* for manual trans with a plate on the back for use in...adapting to various manual trannies. seems perfect for a 944 torque tube to me. and the chrfab BH is about the same cost as the quicktime 944/C5 BH.

i myself have thought of using the northstar engine and transaxle combo in a mid engine combo in a 944 parts car that i have .readily available in the boneyards.that might be one of my future creations.a mid engine 944 would be cool.

a mid engine 944 would certainly be interesting...there's a bunch of room back there, and then you could have almost the same amount of storage space under the hood!

How about this:
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very interesting and very feasible . i wonder how it would work with a mendeola perf transaxle such as the md5 which has a wide range of gear ratio choices and is designed for mid engine mounting.i was reading somewhere about some road racers were using it to road race with.and there was talk about development of a 6 speed mendeola .i know they are famous for mid engine lspowered sand rails but also are used by some in road race applications.i came across a web page that was talking about it .they are kinda pricy new but i have seen some on the web used a little cheaper than a new unit.look at mendeola motorsports web site and you will see a car atempting a land speed record with a mendeola transaxle geared to go over 200mph

holy f*ck

thats near me too

Why not get rid of the Porsche Transaxle as well....GM-F40 will mate to the LS4.... Fiero V8 swapper has done one already here locally....

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Actually it's probably going to be a Boxster swap combo once it catches on.

Another Mid engine swap using this transaxle....

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If we are going there

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Nut-T
I just remembered the GT-40 guys posted the drawing for the adapter to graft our audi boxes to the chevy SBC, that could tuck the driveshaft outputs 7.5 inches from the end of the block. Would be cool to see the LS instake runners in the back 944 window.

Straying just 1 second while there's talk of VW trans going on, I'm curious.. is there any chance those recent VW/audi DSG/s-tronic situations might be adapted for our use?... My guess is that (in addition to probably being weak and heavy) they're prob designed for use with all their fancy AWD stuff and dont point the power in the right direction for our cars.. can anyone shed some light for me? They're found in all these:
Audi TT, A1, A3, S3, A4, S4, A5, A7, A8, Q5,
VW Passat, Golf, GTI, Jeta, Eos, New Beetle Convertible, Passat CC and a bunch of others.

I'd sure love to have the ability to paddle shift faster than a human. While I know anything can be done with the right amount of money, I'd like to hear from you guys if it's conceivable.

The addition of the actual paddles and "electronic wizardry" involved are a secondary concern, I think I could cover that challenge.

As long as everyone is coming up with interesting mid engined swaps.......

This is powered by an twin turbo AUDI v8 and AUDI transaxle.


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for an update to this idea, i have sadly decided not to pursue it. as much as i would love the northstar for its uniqueness and cool-factor, it is simply too damn big to fit practically. it WILL FIT in the 944 bay but leave less than an inch on either side of the motor, not enough for maintenance or whatnot IMO.

the search continues for a cool new motor that will fit well and give good performance. i like the SHO 3.4 V8 (what a blast that would be)...lol...but the classic SBC/LS/LT is growing on me...

or a boosted buick 3800

Or you could do like turbobob and use a Grand National motor.

Boosted 3.8 won't fit without serious hood mods and the throttle body will be in you AC fan! I know for a fact!
Northstars are not worth the time or money. They are good when there good , but don't let them go bad, parts are hard to find and a lot of shops won't work on the motor itself.

Why would you even consider a small v8? LS install is perfected and is to easy to easy to do.....

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He had a RH hood but I'm not sure it is really required. I know of another guy out east with a Grand National in his 944S and he has no hood mods.

Turbo yes! Factory Chevrolet 3800 super charge no...... the throttle body hits the back of the engine bay.

Admin wrote:Boosted 3.8 won't fit without serious hood mods and the throttle body will be in you AC fan! I know for a fact!
Northstars are not worth the time or money. They are good when there good , but don't let them go bad, parts are hard to find and a lot of shops won't work on the motor itself.

Why would you even consider a small v8? LS install is perfected and is to easy to easy to do.....

yea, i was thinking turbo, although i do love the SCs

as for the small v8 thing...i dont know, for some reason i get all warm in the nether regions when thinking about a small displacement, higher revving v8. like with the LS motors...if i could pick one right now theres a high chance id go for the 4.8 vortec, it still gets like 300HP, can take all the mods of the other motors, but maybe it will get me better economy or something :p as cool as the idea of 6+ litres sounds (and there is a chance id go there anyways), i like the smaller motor, the MOUSE..

Can the 3.8 intakes be turned around 180 degrees like the LS engines?

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xschop wrote:Can the 3.8 intakes be turned around 180 degrees like the LS engines?

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if i go to the boneyard today ill find out for you

anyone know what happened to the pics that were up in the 3.8 thread

Yes they were removed. Yes the intake can be reversed, the plastic 3800 intake is prone to cracking.