Project: Porsche 454

Hey everyone! My name is Kris and I have a 83 944. I bought the car intending to put a V8 in it one day and that is almost here. I want to talk a little about my crazy project I have going on.

A few months ago I was deciding what kind of engine I want to put in it. I wanted to go with the LM7 or any other truck engine. But then I decided it would take quite a bit of money doing a FI engine for the car. Yes I know those engines are dirt cheap, but it's the little things that get you. Anyways, so money was one reason why I decided to go with another engine. The other reason is because I am set on using the Quicktime BH. When seeing I could mount a SBC, I decided to do that because at my job I have a few SBCs laying around and could get one fro $100 pretty much fully assembled. So I decided to go the carbed route. How ever I was lurking around one day on craigslist like I always do and I found a deal on an engine I could not give up. The next day I bought the engine and brought it home. It's a 454 BBC. Because the BH said it could mount up to a BBC, I said hell, go big or go home! Even stock this engine will have insane torque. Only real issue is mileage but what ever, I have a motorcycle to make it up! Any ways, so I am using the Quicktime BH and building everything myself. Once I get the 944's stock engine out (BTW, it's for sale so contact me if you want to buy it!) I will mount of the 454 and see how I am on clearances. I will see if I can still use the stock kmember. If not I will build my own. I have lots of fab, welding, cutting, chassis building, and every other auto skill you can think of under my belt because I build Woodies from rusted panels and rotted wood to $100k show cars. And yes, I have done engine swaps. So far I have everything planed out how I want to do it and I am doing it slowly cause I don't have much money (you would be surprised at my age) but I think it will be an awesome project. Once I get my 944 engine sold, the project will officially be started.

BTW, I would like to thank acorad for meeting up with me and showing me his car as well as answering lots of my questions and telling me do's and don'ts. I love you car dude!

Here are some pictures to show you what I am dealing with. What do you think?

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love it!

Thats going to be a tight fit... lol

Plan on some serious water and oil cooling upgrades. The bigger the motor and more power the more heat it produces. You may have a problem with the intermediate steering shaft, it is pretty tight to the block on an LS1, I don't know about the deminsions on a BB.

I think its 2 or 3" wider than the LS!! He's going to have some fun

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spence wrote:I think its 2 or 3" wider than the LS!! He's going to have some fun

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I don't know if there is a size difference from that mark VII and the mark IV but that's why they call it a big block haha thanks guys for all the comments!

1. Aluminum heads
2. 350-400lb front springs
3. Couple extra trannys on hand
4. Straight pipes and ear plugs

my 496 camaro 69 coupe with a procharger, has 2x 3" , no H or X, and 2 tiny straight through mufflers, with no packing.. dmv is a bit on me about that car theese days.

Dude.



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Holy Sh@! and I thought we were were crazy with the small blocks! I love a big block, of any make, so cool that you are attempting this. I hope it all works out, and as Xschop said, start investing in spare transaxles, add killer driveshafts to the list. Good luck!

Go get 'em Kris!

there is something about a bigblock, its all power no bullshit! and the sound.. hell yeah!

So far so good, starting to take apart the engine and it looks better than I thought it would.

Making a BIG purchase tomorrow, will post pictures tomorrow! Soooooo excited

I have been waiting for this day for a long time. All aluminum parts for my 454. These heads are built WELL. They came off a 496 with only 50 miles. They made 652HP on pump gas. HELL YEAH! I really got a steal for these. Now I am rebuilding the engine and will keep you updated.

P.S. I calculated by switching to aluminum I lose 128lbs and gain a couple hundred HP. Well worth it.

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Before you spend all that money and time, Have you test fit the motor to see if it even fits? How are you planning to get a descent set of headers in the engine bay? You can put a ton of stuff on/in the motor to make power only for it to be killed by the exhaust. Why not put in an LS type motor? They are much easier to make power with.......

Admin wrote:Before you spend all that money and time, Have you test fit the motor to see if it even fits? How are you planning to get a descent set of headers in the engine bay? You can put a ton of stuff on/in the motor to make power only for it to be killed by the exhaust. Why not put in an LS type motor? They are much easier to make power with.......

I'm not worried about making the engine fit. I am not afraid to use a plasma cutter and redesign the engine bay to fit the bigger motor. I have been playing around with a few ideas for the headers and the best thing I like so far is I am going to have the headers go through the tire wells. I am still trying to figure out how to get them to the back. I am thinking either side pipes like the old Stingray Corvettes or have it drop off before the back of the car. I chose to do the BBC for two reasons. One is money and the other is because no one has done it. I have put much less money in the engine than you can get a ls1 for. Even a Vortec engine. I love the sound and power of a big block. I want to get this done. If worst comes to worst, I can sell BBC and get a lm7 or SBC and have some money left over.

Although I like the idea of the sidepipes I would think that an X-pipe in the middle would help things out nicely...it would make the sound smoother (the choppy 4-cyl per side sound of a sidepiped BBC doesn't fit the 944 IMO, but the full x-pipe sound does better) and also the scavenging effect from the x-pipe would make your parts work even better for higher power and midrange torque

I've seen some setups where an X pipe is incorporated in the seidepipe setup. I almost did sidepipes on mine!

Im looking at a similar swap, wondered if the 454 swap was ever completed?

Uh, yeah...this is badass. I had an old 69 Chevelle with a BB 402 (all iron) and loved that car. Can't wait to see what a torque monster this thing is!

well this thread started in 2011, so its either done or an abandoned project.

i cant imagine a big block in a 944 would be a very logical swap. i cant imagine the transaxle would be having much of it, and all the extra weight on the nose would kill handling. a bbc is just a hair under 700lbs with iron heads. if you put a solid axle in the back and a trans on the back of the engine, add another 100lbs to the nose. i cant imagine the front suspension is really gonna like an extra 400lbs it has to toss around. adding all that up, i cant imagine it would be a very fun car in the end.

dont get me wrong, big blocks have their place, i however dont feel its in these cars. if you think the rest of the car can handle that type of power, toss some boost at an ls.