What is the Point of Your Project?

Sorry if this doesn't belong here, I just picked the lsx forum since it seems to have the most posts.

My 944 died this year with a timing belt break at 6000rpm so after deciding another plain 944 engine just wasn't worth it I was set for a 951 engine but I didn't want to part out the car as it had grown onto me and gained sentimental value. This was at least until all the talk on rennlist and finding this forum and a cheaper/better alternative to the renegade kit. I'm not the most mechanically inclined person (mainly due to inexperience/tools) but with most of the big stuff out of the way it seems like the only troublesome parts left are fixing headers to fit and the annoyance of the harness stuff. Out of cheapness I've been thinking of swapping in one of the vortec 5.3s, which seems to be able to get the same or higher power as the 951 for more money up front but less in the long run. With more and more powerful cars now it's hard to keep up with 20+ year old technology.

Anyways I was curious as to why some of you guys have decided to swap American v8s into these cars rather than just buying camaro or something since they are so plentiful?

Because we can.
Seriously, the P-car 4 banger is like Donald Trump's old ex....outdated and overpriced.

Yeah, I wouldn't compare the output of an LS based motor to the output of a 944 turbo motor. One has torque everywhere and the other has barely any torque. One you can stick a cam in and gain 70hp and one you cannot. I can go on, but you should get the point by now.

As for just buying a Camaro or Corvette, I doubt a Camaro can handle anywhere near as great as the 944/951 can. Our p-cars are still ranked to be one of the best handling cars ever made (thanks largely to the transaxle setup). A Corvette of worthy stature (C5 and C6 only) can be out of the price range for many. I was able to pick up my popped 951 for 700 dollars, so tossing another 3 grand at it for what will be an amazing car at the end is worth every penny.

Yes to everything so far, and then some.

If you really love the 944 platform, the handling, style and German engineering, you look to keep the soul intact. when I got my 951, I drove it from NY back to Texas and it was great, but now that I have had a chance to ride in mine and eric's, i can tell you the difference is HUGE. I have a friend who gets a new 911 every year, don't ask, and this car will eat those up. it is pure torque from the get go and pulls you into the back seat through all 5 gears.

What I personally like about the swap and how we did mine, was to male everything infront of the firewall on the engine new and upgraded. So I put in the 2000 Corvette LS1 with 28k miles and we figured out the Power Brake issues to implement the Ford Hydroboost.

She roars and stops with equal ease.

Where are you out of, maybe you can find a member willing to show you the final product.

You stated the obvious, the Camaro/Firebird are plentiful, anybody can have one.
Only special people can have a V8 944................

Not many people will look at you when you pull up in a Camaro or Firebird, but pull up in a 944 that just doesn't sound right and everyone looks.I took my car to a shop that specializes in Mustangs, They were having a cheap Dyno day, I pulled up in my Porsche that sounds better than most Mustangs and I cleared their garage. Everyone wanted to know about it!
Oh the best part is THAT WE CAN!!!!!!

i agree with admin .bout 4 years ago mid america motorworks here in effingham who was dealer for tweeks and puts on big events for vettes as well as porsche fest .i attended the last porsche fest with my freshly built 944 with a sbc .i got more attention than any porsche there.everyone their witha 944 wanted one like mine.when i first pulled up in it some of the ones eating their grey popon couldnt turn their heads around far enough to get a look at the 944 pulling up that didnt sound like a porsche.i pull up to get gas at a station i ussally got a crowd standing around it.i get thumbs up from numurus cops whenever i drive it and i probaly got a couple cops still looking for it in couple small towns i wont mention.thats my point.

I bought a broken 944 for $1200.

I think I'll have spent perhaps $12000 when I'm done. That's getting into current used C5 price territory.

On the other hand, that includes nearly every tool needed to do the job except basic sockets that I had, as well as brand-new reman accessories, etc. Not sure what the learning process is worth, but I've learned quite a bit and that's worth $$$$ to me.

Don't kid yourself, buying a C5 is a more effective way to go than to refresh a 944 with a V8 if you just want to drive it. I had a C5, and would buy another one in an instant. But that's not what this is about, is it?

On the other hand, the 944 is a classic sports car that isn't often seen, STILL handles well, and with a v8, it will do things nobody will expect and it WILL turn heads. If you really want top-notch everything, you'll spend $25-30k, but if that was my budget, I would have shipped the car to NV to get done by RH.

If your 944 means a lot to you, the v8 conversion will make it GO for many years to come for far less than the maintenance costs of a pure Porsche, and this forum is an AWESOME resource to making that happen in your own garage -- at least it has been for me!

endrnet wrote:I bought a broken 944 for $1200.

I think I'll have spent perhaps $12000 when I'm done. That's getting into current used C5 price territory.

On the other hand, that includes nearly every tool needed to do the job except basic sockets that I had, as well as brand-new reman accessories, etc. Not sure what the learning process is worth, but I've learned quite a bit and that's worth $$$$ to me.

Don't kid yourself, buying a C5 is a more effective way to go than to refresh a 944 with a V8 if you just want to drive it. I had a C5, and would buy another one in an instant. But that's not what this is about, is it?

On the other hand, the 944 is a classic sports car that isn't often seen, STILL handles well, and with a v8, it will do things nobody will expect and it WILL turn heads. If you really want top-notch everything, you'll spend $25-30k, but if that was my budget, I would have shipped the car to NV to get done by RH.

If your 944 means a lot to you, the v8 conversion will make it GO for many years to come for far less than the maintenance costs of a pure Porsche, and this forum is an AWESOME resource to making that happen in your own garage -- at least it has been for me!

amen brother

There are 2 points in my project. Point A - Point B and the journey in between......

I owned a track-prepped 1967 Mustang for ~22 years.
(Bear with me, I'll get to the point eventually...)

My first car.
Corvette eating BEAST.
Wiped a 427 AC Cobra once.
2800 lbs, 425 HP 351W, Toploader 4 speed, Auburn locker, hand-built sub-frame connectors and panhard bar, 2 inch-dropped tubular front control arms, springs; everything but a cage.
Topped out at ~130, but it got there in a hurry.

I drove this car every day, everywhere.
Autocrossed, tracked, and it was fast.
Drank race gas on the weekends.
93+ Octane during the week, ~500 miles on average weekly (53K the first year!).
(Due to the above, about 3 complete rebuilds during its life..)

When I sold this car, I told myself "not to settle for some ragged-out hopeless case of a project" that I would always compare to the '67. I sold it after sitting untouched for 2 years, because I wanted something "a little more respectable". Five years later, I bought my first 944. Piece of crap. Totaled, butchered, and pushed off on me. The '86 Turbo was next, 120K original miles, no engine.

Perfect!

I started my information exasperation. After talking with someone closely linked to the RH SBC Kits, I knew I was on to something. PorscheHybrids "appeared" during one of my online searches, and so it would be...

The Ford-Man was grudgingly suppressed, and a Small Block Porsche Fanatic was born.
I never thought It would get this deep...
Hell, I'm a Hot-rodder, man!

I thoroughly enjoyed my first car.
Via the "conservative expenditures" approach, I have found a worthy replacement for the 30+ year-old, obnoxiously loud, bone-jarring suspended, over-cammed, gas-hoggin' but fast as $#** Mustang I once thought I could never part with.

The Mustang in her "Terlingua" primer...

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Now I can concentrate on a much more refined, smooth, somewhat quieter (or should I call it "stealth"), superior handling and dramatically more effectively balanced, "Red-Headed Orphan" of a 948 that shall be my next (?) year stint.

To answer the question "What's the point..."
I guess I could say to fill the gap from 18 year-old knuckle busting, tire smoking, reckless nonsense...to something "Daddy" can tinker on while the wife and little one are out on the town for the day.

OH, and to be able to say with a smirk on my face...

"I'm not as fast as I once was,
But I'm as fast once as I ever was!"

If you have to ask...then you wouldn't understand....

To boldly go where no naturally aspired 944 has ever went.



























Well north of 300 Kilometers Per Hour

i guess i have to toss my .02 in because i tried to reply to a private message and was told i dont have enough posts in here to do that (big cup of wtf is that about?)

i ran the cannonball run in 04 in a mini cooper that had some go fast parts on it and we got whipped by a heavily modded pt cruiser (not sure what they did to it, but think HEMI). found the cannonball rules lets you run in a class that is typical of what your car was new, in spite of anything you have changed. so, i decided a 944 with a v8 would be very competitive in the cheap low displacement sports car class. i built it to go fast safely on the tracks and be comfy on the streets. it pretty much is exactly what i wanted. i did cannonball 06 and 07 in it and it garnered huge respect from what has to be one of the more extreme crowds of grassroots car maniacs. i knew it was worth the effort when we got gridded up next to a brand new carrerra 4 at indy and blew it away on the drag strip by about 10 lengths. so the point of my car was to be able to compete and whip cars that cost 10x what i have in mine. the bonus is knowing that i built it myself.

Ex marks the spot!

As usual he is spot on!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!

I've been tricked by the woman-devilry into using the "conservative expenditures" approach before too.. If that's what it took to wrestle you away from the pony-car crowd and over here running at the front of our pack.. it's o.k. in my book.

I'd hardly call LS1-rodding your german track toy anything but conservative though.. Radical?l?!!