Techno Duck's LS1 conversion

While test fitting the rack i noticed the crossmember was touching the oil pan around the steering rack mounting points. Dropped the crossmember and ground it down some more so plenty of clearance now. I cant believe how quickly i did that... a testament to how familiar i am with this car.

You can feel a very slight dent in the pan where it was touching, i am just happy it didnt rub a hole or crack one of the welds in the pan.

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I had the new high pressure lines made today and i am quite happy with the routing and fitment. Used stainless braid Aeroquip line and steel fittings. One hose was about 13" long and the other around 23". Both had 90* fittings on both ends.

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I opted to not use the stat-o-seals i had ordered. As i had mentioned earlier, they are sized for inch fittings. I bought both a 1/2" and 7/16" seals and after test fitting on the 12mm banjo bolts i felt neither fit all that well. I used a standard 12mm copper seal washer on all of the banjo fittings.

Looks great.

After 3 weeks the car is finally off jackstands! Finished the rack replacement this morning. I ran into some complications with the line routing; one of the hoses required 3 attempts at rerouting the line to clear the oil pan. 3rd time was a charm; mostly because I made sure to fully mock it up before having the fitting re-crimped .

Hardest part of this by far is getting the steering u-joint connected to the rack. Normally this is simple with the turbo engine but with the LS the front is blocked by the upright and the rear by the runners on the header.

Anyhow i am really liking this new line routing as it clears up a a little space around the pan, rack and my oil lines running along the block.

Bled the rack and moved the car into its storage spot for the winter. No leaks, so far so good! I think the rack needs to be bled more as it feels a bit funny at full lock still but is getting better. I still need to modify the sway bar bracket braces some to account for the crossmember drop.. Getting the sway bar back on was absurdly difficult so I left it off until I can address that over the winter. I'll need an alignment also after dropping the crossmember. I scribed everything before removal but figure it's best to get one done again.

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Beautiful job !

Totally agree on the difficulty of attaching the steering rack correctly. Especially without a rack! Looks great though!

Put some miles on the car today, first time driving it since October! No leaks from the power steering thankfully, it took a few laps around my neighborhood but all the groaning from the pump is gone so the rack should be sufficiently bled now. Just need an alignment on the front now.

One of the minor things that has been bugging me was the throttle pedal took a abnormal amount of effort to press down. Looking at the cable routing today, it had quite a few sharp bends in it. I rerouted the cable with smoother bends and its made quite a difference in pedal effort. Still not perfect though. The cable is easily 4-5" too long still, one of these days when i get a chance ill cut the braided sleeve shorter and take out the extra length.

Ive been primarily been driving my E39 so i forgot how raw this car is... lots of fun . The car was finished a year ago next month, ive got just over 2500 miles on it now. Knock on wood but i think almost all of the bugs are worked out... looking forward to more track miles next year!

"Raw" is a good way to put it. I normally drive a 1st gen Tundra, nice but not a lot of creature comforts in it. And my 44 doesn't have an interior, definitely raw.

Good job on the rack and glad you're digging your car.

Rich

Glad you're enjoying the car, I know you had some frustrating moments with it.

Appreciate the comments guys. Looking back at my posts this year i put alot of work into working out the bugs, but really not too bad considering the scope of this engine swap. I am pretty confident now though the car is pretty solid.

Currently the car is with Thom getting the front end realigned. I was originally not going to bother and marked the tie rods..etc. But after the unexpected crossmember drop it really needs it now.

I am planning on taking one more quick fun run around the area after the alignment is done then parking her for good until spring. Its nice knowing i am putting it away knowing its ready for the track next year .

I still have a bunch of things i want to finish up on it, but for the most part all minor stuff.

-Replace 4ga battery cable from alternator to battery with 2ga cable.
-Figure out better starter solution; looked into some mini starters that give more clearance around the header collector
-Install larger oil cooler
-Install better power steering cooler; the original shop that did the work didnt do a great job on this. Looking to redo it also with a better bar and plate cooler also.
-Remake all oil lines...this has been on my list since i got the car back!

Some non swap specific stuff on my future plans list...

-Have a proper weld half cage done
-New harnesses; my current ones are really old
-New seats; looking to go fixed back on the drivers side. I have a Recaro Pole Position in storage but after the recent developments about this seat i may look at a different one.
-Racers Edge control arms; Ive got relatively low mileage 968 arms on the car right now, but with all the track usage looking to go with something more durable

At a bit of am impasse with the car right now. I am in the midst of relocating to CA so keeping the car on the road there will likely never happen. I dont mind turning it into a trailer queen to and from the track, but that provides its own issues with buying a trailer ($$$), storing said trailer ($/mo) and getting a more capable tow vehicle ($$ after trading in my Tacoma) i can use as a daily.

Part of me thinks after almost 15 years of owning a 944 series car its time to move on.

I was planning on storing the car in NY at my parents place for a few years but they are likely moving by next year. I wonder if its more trouble (and $) than its worth to try and hold onto it.

Option 2 is to basically redo the entire swap with the CARB compliant E-Rod LS3 engine...eh no thanks .

Ill have probably through the end of the year to figure something out. Was planning on a 2-day event later this month but reluctantly cancelled just due to lack of time with work and moving. Ill be home for another 2-day event in June though with a few auto-x's scheduled also .

There's a guy here who just got his car through Cali emissions and he didn't do the eRod swap. You won't have to swap out your motor. I think his username is prombg or something. Look up his thread about it on the board here. I'm sure he can tell you what you need to swap over...

Ive read all of pormgb's thread and have done a alot of reading on CA legal engine swaps aswell. Many aspects of my car would have to be redone in order to make it pass and i think its more trouble than its worth. Also doing all this just to be able to drive the car to the track seems sort of nuts also. Just looking at things...

-Obtain all f-body engine and emissions related parts
-Replace engine harness
-Redo the entire exhaust; getting the headers to fit does not sound fun
-Modify steering shaft to fit around headers; i am not too crazy about the extensive modifications that will be needed to the steering shaft to clear the headers, especially considering the car will be mostly track.
-Redo the intake
-Revert to stock fuel rail and fuel pressure regulator setup
-Hook up of air pump, fuel vapor purge / evap...etc

Also im not sure if the cam i have will pass a sniffer test.

With all of the above in mind, i figured the crate motor would be a much easier solution especially with the EO sticker it comes with that 'should' make the initial smog certification a little easier. I figured selling the complete LS1 and all the other associated bits i cant use anymore would likely go a long way toward funding the $8k e-rod crate engine.

I am pretty burnt out with this car and dont think have it in me to take on another engine swap or attempting to make it CA smog legal. I was looking forward to just routine oil changes!

Another thing i could do is just keep the NY plates and registration on the car. I'd throw a cat on the car also to play it safe. But with how profile the car is already, it will stick out even more with NY plates on it. I feel like this is really asking for trouble. This is a somewhat short term solution also because if the NYS inspection lapse is over 1-year from expiration i wont be able to renew my registration.

I figure i have atleast another year before ill no longer have a NY address to keep the car registered, so ive got some time to figure out what to do.

Not an official for sale yet; but if anyone has any interest in buying this car let me know. Well sorted, runs really well and hauls ass!

I can already sense the collective face palms from everyone that has followed this build from start to finish; but i think its time to move on! Plans for this year have changed quite a bit and the more i think about it, its just not feasible to keep as a track car over the next few years. Ive been thinking about keeping the car in storage but i also dont want to take a break from the track.

The cheapest and best track car is the one you already own. Makes no sense to sell a sorted track car to just buy another one of unknown providence.

Perhaps you mean provenance, no providence...

Getting excited for some fun with the car in mid June. Will be doing two back to back auto-x's followed by two days at NJMP June 18-19 with the Schattenbaum region PCA. Ill probably be the only LS swapped car there, just look for #848 on the windows if anyone else is going. Looking forward to getting some miles in, haven't driven the car since January.

Still undecided what i will do with the car, but i am sort of leaning towards putting it into storage. I have posted it for sale and to my surprise have some interest in it, just not sure i am ready to sell.. I picked up another 'toy', an '88 911 3.2L so this will likely be my new focus atleast for now. The 951 is pretty much just get in and drive at this point now anyway!

Cool, let the good times roll. Still interested in that spare tranny, some interest in the car but the tranny is financially doable....

Glad to hear you have some interest in the car.

I've been toying with selling mine and have been wondering how easily and what it would sell for...

Finished up the double header auto-x today. Day one was brutal hot and humid, day two slightly cooler but with some really intense sun. Cooling on the car was adequate to get me through the day but i still found myself opening the hood between runs to try and shed as much heat as possible. This was probably worst case scenario running hard for 45-50 seconds then sitting in staging for 4-5 minutes..repeat that 6 times in a row with it being 90+ degrees and humid as hell. Needless to say it was a damn sauna in the car also! I think adding a vent to the hood, just after the radiator would be helpful to give some place for all the hot air coming off the radiator a place to go. Definitely something i will look into doing in the future.

Anyhow the car performed great. I have finally started getting used to having the limited slip; the amount of grip through turns is impressive to say the least, i am still learning the limits of the car but i found i was able to get on the throttle much earlier than i thought possible to help accelerate myself through the turns. The torque is also just awesome with the 944 chassis. Predictable, instant and plenty of it make for simple throttle steering. It also amazes me how quickly the car can change direction even with that big lump of American push-rod V8 up front. I know the weight difference is marginal between the two engines but it still amazes me.

The car was a big hit as usual also with the other drivers .

I am supposed to do NJMP thursday and friday but i think that i may cancel. The weather thursday is looking iffy with rain and friday looks like its going to be another hot one. Probably not worth the traffic i will inevitably get stuck in one the way home.

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I'm hitting the track this Saturday for the first time this season. I'm curious to see how my hood vents work.

I do have a carbon fiber hood scoop I was going to put just behind the radiator but decided not to use it. It's the one Road Race sells, let me know if you want it.

Car is currently in storage at my friends shop, havent made much progress on deciding whether to sell it or not yet. When i get back home in a few weeks i am going to shop around for indoor storage. There are a few options with San Diego having such a high military population. I am considering just sitting on the car for a year or two and seeing what happens.

Here are a few recent pictures

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Sweet machine, Man! Love the wheels! I told a friend here in Seattle about it but I think he's going to get a GT3.

Rich

Thanks Rich. Ill be in Seattle for 5 days 27-31st. Shoot me a PM if you want to grab a beer.

2 month update! The 951 will be making its way to SoCal in about 6-8 weeks. Ive been tasked with being a caretaker of my friends Ram 3500 while he is on assignment in Japan for the next few years so ill have one bad-assed tow vehicle at my disposal . This worked out pretty well in my favor; looking forward to hitting the west coast tracks, Laguna Seca has long been a dream!

I am not going to make any changes to the car like adding a cat or swapping the cam in an attempt to register the car in NV and pass emissions with it. Ill just be turning it into a trailer queen. I will however likely retune it for 91 octane as its setup for 93 right now. Dont want to be bothered having to dump in octane booster or finding race fuel.

Excellent, enjoy those tracks.