1994 Porsche 968 Conversion

Update, not selling, will leave this here until I populate an OK build thread since the motor is out of the car. That vibration was a doozy.

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Presented for sale is my 1994 Porsche 968 in Guards Red over Cashmere/Black interior with the proper 6MT gearbox and Torsen LSD. It has 190k miles or so on the chassis, with approximately 7-10k on the 5.3l all-aluminum L33, freshly rebuilt from the crank up (due to me picking a crap used motor. Learn from me, kids! Go to an engine builder first!). The car was a daily driver prior to my purchase in 2018, and I have maintenance records on it (under factory Porsche power, of course) dating back to 1995. The interior is a bit worse for wear, but she cleans up real nice. Details and photos are below. I used tons of stuff from Kent@TPC for this, obviously, and am giving first dibs to those of you that frequent this forum. It was a huge help to me in my swap endeavors. Note that I definitely ripped off the formatting of this post from another for sale post here, it was excellent.
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I've decided to sell this for a couple reasons, but primarily to get my finances in order to begin the foster parenting process in our area. They look at all sorts of things about your life and we really want to present the best image possible, so I'll be turning this and a couple other toys into liquid funds for this goal. Secondarily but still important is that my wife doesn't really enjoy the seating position during sedate driving. Once we are bombing around on backroads, all is forgiven and she loves it as much as i do, but getting there is not something she enjoys. Anyone thats driven a transaxle Porsche knows that the seating position is...unique.
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Note: The pictures seem to be previewing slightly oddly, so I'll tweak them after posting if they don't show correctly. They are all sourced from my personal album on this site, found [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

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DRIVING STUFF

• This car is very tight, virtually no body roll and no play in the steering. I was nervous taking it around a PCA group for their annual Eureka Springs drive but they all ended up thinking it was super cool, and were surprised that it kept up with their 911's so well. I think they were more impressed that I did this all in my garage with jack stands than anything else.
  
• NVH is exactly what you would expect out of coilovers and semi-solid driveline mounts. Because racecar.
  
• Nothing visually identifies this as a swapped car. I specified the factory exhaust tip be reused and the only thing that might catch the eye of a true enthusiast would be the square setup of genuine 17x9 Cup 2 wheels. Of course, once its running it hides nothing and being at 4k RPM under load is a symphony to behold.
  
• Gearing is phenomenal, but a bit short. This translates to 3k+ at 75+ on the highway....not great. That being said, the exhaust doesn't drone and I was pretty surprised to find that out. Having a 6 speed is really icing on the cake, and the LSD is just perfect for this swap. I spent a couple days out in Eureka Springs with the PCA and it was an absolute joy and the gearing was perfect. As a member here recently posted, these cars swapped are similar to a Corvette with 4.11s and I am inclined to agree.
  
• The wider front tires do encourage a bit of tramlining, but nothing serious. Just can't completely zone out while driving this.
  

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SWAP DETAILS
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I used as much info and experience from the 944 swap guys as I could, but was largely in uncharted territory with some of the quirks between the 968 and 944. Wiring is different and could use a do-over in some respects. Make no mistake, everything works as it should in regards to the swap, its just not as pretty as it could be. I had to tweak some brackets, there are a fair bit fewer aftermarket support items for the 968 as a whole, and I had to throw out the torque tube entirely, which was such a sad day considering the 968 TT had the removable tip that made clutch changes not suck. Doing this again I would have put more effort up front when I had the swap kit in hand to see exactly why the 968 TT wouldn't work, but I was assured it would not by others that had dealt with it and trusted their word.

EXHAUST

• TPC Shorty Headers/Manifold $500
  
• 3" Stainless Single Exhaust with V-Band, flex section, Magnaflow muffler, catless. Factory tip reused. $800
  

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TRANS, CLUTCH, & BELL HOUSING

• C5 Corvette 1 Piece Automatic Bell Housing modified to accept the slave and adapter $325 (had to re-buy...oops)
  
• C5 Corvette <-> 944 Torque Tube Adapter Plate $360
  
• Hydraulic Slave Bearing with Hose / Fittings, Bleeder $200
  
• SPEC Stage 1 Clutch/Pressure Plate, SPEC SC75A Aluminum Flywheel $400
  
• Pilot Bearing Adapter with Bearing $80
  
• New 944 Master Cylinder $180
  
• Rebuilt torque tube by Constantine (Super Bearings) $1800
  

ENGINE

• 2005 L33 Aluminum 5.3L ($3200 total or so? Man this was a terrible waste of cost vs benefit, should have went with a builder from day 1. Buying a crap core really blew my budget.)
  
• TSP Stage 3 'Baby' Cam chosen for specific usage and lack of lope, with uprated valvetrain $721 (25-TSP216220R6114 - Texas Speed Stage 3 Truck High Lift Camshaft: 216/220, .600/.600, 114 LSA, 112 ICL)
  
• F-Body Front Accessories $450.00
  
• LS6 Intake Manifold + Injectors $300.00
  
• 4-Corner LS1-style steam vent setup
  
• Custom Motor Mount uprights LS1 (pair) $300
  
• Custom swap-specific Oil pan kit $780
  
• Turn 1 steering pump, latest revision as of 25 August 2020 $650
  
• 944 Water temp Sensor $22
  
• Adapter to use Porsche oil pressure sender, and new sender $75
  

ENGINE BAY

• TPC Turbo Radiator - All Aluminum $380
  
• Factory 968 fans and Fan Shroud, no issues with Oklahoma summers
  
• Heater control valve and hose kit $80
  
• 1/2" Subframe Spacers $80
  
• Corvette style returnless fuel sytem. Stainless hose for engine bay. $200
  
• AC kit (Compressor installed, but the system is not wired. PCM has hookup for it, need custom hoses made but its winter so I don't care) $400
  
• Relocated Coils with brackets and fresh wires/boots/replaced bad coils $300
  I only needed to modify metal under the hood where the hood met the throttle body. Grinding the throttle body on a 968 won't work like it will on a 944.
  

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ELECTRONICS

• Stand Alone Wiring Harness - LS1 - DBC $579.00
  
• PSI ECU with base tune $200.00
  
• VSS Bracket & Sensor, tweaked for fitment to 968 transaxle $135
  
• Throttle cable and mount $100
  
• Dyno tune in St Louis, MO $400 with retune/tweak in Oklahoma $150
  
• Has an aftermarket head unit, I don't have the original. This one is at least intuitive enough to not suck.
  

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BRAKES

• Mustang Hydroboost with AN fittings $700
  
• New master cylinder at time of swap, listed up with the clutch
  
• Factory 968 brake calipers/rotors fits the swap very well. No issues in extended driving situations or fade while bombing around Eureka Springs with the PCA. Not tested on track.
  

SUSPENSION

• BC Racing Coilovers/Struts front/rear $1100 -- Single adjsutable, height adjsutable ont he body before installation. These are a bit harsh on crappy pavement, but I never noticed it until I moved down here to NE Oklahoma. They are incredible on smoother roads and I wouldn't hesitate to use them again if I didn't have to deal with the crappy OK roads. If I were to keep this, i would put it on KW V3s.
  
• Rear 19mm 5-way adjustable sway bar $200
  
• M030 Front Sway bar/Bushings $325
  
• KLR Sway Bar bracket supports $40
  
• Semi-solid transaxle mount (filled with high durometer liquid rubber) $40
  
• Corner balanced and aligned by ET Tuning in Union, MO -- Great dudes, look em up.
  

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WHEELS + TIRES

• 17x9" Genuine Cup 2 wheels $850 -- four rear wheels for a square setup
  
• 255/40R17 Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 -- $700 -- WOW are these great tires for their price point! They've blown me away and will be my go-to for future endeavors. They are doing fine in the cold temps as well, though I wouldn't bother driving in the snow with this vehicle.
  
• Includes set of D90's that were on the car when purchased. Those have 3 good Continental DWS-06 tires and 1 that blew out, all with great tread left. 5-6k miles on them iirc. If I still lived in St Louis I would have put winter tires on these, but not much need here in OK.
  

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GENERAL MAINTENANCE

• Front wheel bearings done in December
  
• Coolant was flushed and vacuum bled this summer
  
• Brake fluid was refreshed this summer
  
• Tires are brand new in I think last March-May timeframe
  
• Oil changed in July, 2000 miles or so ago.
  
• Rebuilt steering rack installed this summer
  
• Replaced IAC valve, TPS, and MAP sensor because mine were used and acting up.
  
• New plugs a few months ago and wires this last weekend.
  

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BAD STUFF ABOUT THE CAR

• Interior is tired. It was a daily driver for 25 years before my ownership, and it does show. The only reason this is a problem, mostly, is that you just can't find tan carpet kits and random little bits and pieces are starting to get harder to find. If I were to keep this, it would get some sort of carpet-by-the-yard RS effect, I think. Hatch release is a pull-cable. I haven't got around to figuring out why the button doesn't work to release it, but I also never use the hatch. Door panels are a bit tweaked, I think its just a case of the body shop putting them on incorrectly but it could be something worse. I just bought a bunch of trim tools and plugs so I'll be checking the door panels out soon.
  
• Exterior is tired, but cleans up nice. Chips here and there, a dent (the only real one, thankfully) on the driver fender, small dents on the rear panel and two small out-dents on the hood from before I realized that no amount of shaving the throttle body would work, and cut a segment of the support out. Its no longer original paint in all places -- I hit a deer week 2 of ownership, I think it was, which exploded the passenger headlight. Small crack in the driver taillight, but it works fine. Rocker panels have seen better days. Sunroof panel is kinda beat up.
  
• Hatch needs replaced, if you care about delamination, and if you don't then you should. The third brake light lens is gone, and no one sells them. There is a red LED strip on it right now so it still works, but... The passenger hockey stick is broken, the PO said it snapped off at highway speed. The hatch doesn't leak at all, but its effectively irreversible apart from a very complicated DIY you could maybe try to do. This is also causing the hatch to squeak over bumps and stuff as it is allowed to flex more. If I keep the car, its just getting a good-condition hatch with trim and 3rd taillight lens already included.
  
• Headlights only go down manually. I think my relay failed, you can cycle the driver's light and it will catch and groan and cycle itself up and down but using the headlight switch (replaced) gets no effect on their 'up' status. They go up fine, they turn on and off fine, etc. Just don't go down. Methinks relay, or driver's motor.
  
• Cruise control doesn't work. It was intermittent before the swap, and I haven't troubleshot it. There is nothing preventing it from functioning with an LS swap, however.
  
• Heat is intermittent, I have no idea why and its a recent development, so I haven't had time to check it out. Coolant is is vacuum bled and all that jazz and I suspect the actual HVAC controls, I guess.
  
• There is a vibration between 2800 and 3100 that is just horrendous. I haven't been able to isolate it, but it doesn't seem to hurt anything and I jsut drive above or below that RPM range. Seems to lessen once the car is fully warm.
  

Note: Everything on the Bad list here is being addressed slowly as I have time, and if enough gets done then it does raise whatever my bottom dollar would have been, I guess.

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MONEY TALK
I'll be starting the conversation at $24k but I don't honestly know what sort of value to put on something like this. There's something like $18-$20k in the swap after it was all said and done, and you account for various 'oops, fix that' bits or tools I had to buy to do something specific or whatever else. It was truly a labor of love and I learned a ton doing it, and I could still drop $5-$6k more on it in a heartbeat but that's not what I want to be doing right now. Then there is the value of the car itself, being a low production 968. Feel free to offer something, discuss, etc -- I don't know where this should be priced at. I'd class myself as a motivated seller that won't give it away...if that makes sense.

Original motor for sale with or separate from the car.  Good condition, no problems at time of pull, 180k miles, but only a grand or two from its needed service.

More Pics and a Couple Videos: My Google Drive Note, this link will be updated over time as I take more pictures of the bad stuff and the interior and whatnot.

Final Note: I am certainly forgetting stuff but if the right questions are asked it will jog my memory. I may edit this as things change, or make replies to it.

Jim, I like the way the car looks and sounds. Nice work keeping the swap tidy! I think it's a little too nice for my budget, but I'm sure you'll get strong interest. GLWS and thanks for posting it up!

Thanks for looking! Edited the main post to reflect that I'm not sitting here trying to get every penny of $24k out of this -- I really don't know where it should be priced, I've never seen one for sale.

You are priced correctly. Stick to your guns. We both know what goes into these swaps. Lately, people have been giving these cars away. At the same time, these swap cars have fetched 20 plus on Bring A Trailer. As a 968, you should do even better. A semi clean worn out na 944 goes for 6k these days. Best of luck!

Nice conversion on a rarer 968. GLWS