Techno Duck's LS1 conversion

You got basically the same cam as me. I'm making 375rwhp with it, with the old S&P headers.

If you want more power than that you'll need to get a FAST 90/92 intake manifold/throttle body with larger MAF. I'm pulling a vacuum up top, so my factory LS6 intake manifold and stock MAF and throttle body are restricting the motor.

With the FAST stuff I'd expect around 400rwhp with this cam, even more with Eric's long tube headers...

Finally started to make some measurable progress on things. Put about 200 miles on the car over the weekend which was a great motivator for me to get this car running again! Decided to do a few last glamor shots aswell before i started tearing it down..

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And officially at 1415 EST with 128,858 miles, my car moved under power from the turbo engine for the last time.

Anyhow the goal today was to just start draining the oil and coolant from the 951. Going to let everything sit over night in hopes of it not being a complete disaster when i take that lower radiator hose off. The radiator drain valve is honestly one of the best mods i have done to this car, i recommend it for everyone. Saved me from having to buy probably 3 gallons of coolant during the rebuild (kept having to drain / refill to fix a leaking lower rad hose) and prevents alot of the mess for times like this.

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One last engine shot also..

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Sad to see the car like this! Tomorrow i am going to pull the intake to get the engine harness off, then start disconnecting everything. I am planning sometime thursday or friday to be able to get the engine out, just in time for the weekend to have my friend come and pick it up for transplant into his fathers track car.

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I also finally got the LS1 off the dolly it was sitting on since February and onto an engine stand. Pulled the intake and removed one of the cylinder heads. Had to see which style head bolts this engine used so i could order replacements. Its the later style block with all the same sized bolts. Now i am just debating if i should stick with ARP bolts or go with the ARP studs. The studs are probably way overkill for my build but that hasnt stopped me from doing alot of things on this car!

Was happy to see it nice and clean under the valve cover..

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And all the bores looked great on the drivers side.

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I also ordered the Spec Stage 2 clutch package today which should get here mid next week. The only thing really preventing me from making much progress on getting the motor together is not having the cam..hopefully ill have it by the end of next week so i can drop the heads off at the machine shop.

More to come tomorrow!

Only was able to put in about 3 hours today, spent most of the morning BS'ing at the local Porsche / race car shop.. its always a great motivator to walk in there and see some awesome cars. Spent the other half of the morning at Harbor Freight buying a new tool cart.. .

Anyhow got the intake off and started disconnecting all the vacuum lines / hoses and wiring.

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I am really amazed how many clamps are on this car. Anyone want to guess how many i will end up with by the time i get the motor out?

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how soon do you think you will have her up and running again... I am picking up that flat black 944 from the race shop if its the same one in Huntington...I am going with the LT1 swap as I have an LT1 already to go...Barry

Techno Duck wrote:
I am really amazed how many clamps are on this car. Anyone want to guess how many i will end up with by the time i get the motor out?

I dont know why but I want to say 32 but you probably have that many already.

Anyway, glad to see another R'lister jumping in! It wasnt long ago that we were all like crypts and bloods! Looks like youre starting with a real nice donor so it should be nice a easy. Keep these types of pictures coming for the new guys. They like pictures.

aussiebj wrote:how soon do you think you will have her up and running again... I am picking up that flat black 944 from the race shop if its the same one in Huntington...I am going with the LT1 swap as I have an LT1 already to go...Barry

Hey Barry, its been a long time! I remember when you had the maroon / burgundy car at TKX. I was down there yesterday morning talking to Rich and Taso about a few things. I think i may know the flat black one, was that Rich's track car?

I was originally shooting to have the car done by late June / July. The plan was to install the motor myself, then ship it to TPC for completion (wiring, exhaust, tuning..etc). I work 4-week rotations in the gulf so was hoping to have the car out before i leave again in about 2.5 weeks. Have a few delays waiting for parts to get the motor together and in talking with the car carrier, its looking like i wont be able to get the car out before i leave due to the 'pickup' window which is anywhere from 1-4 weeks. Depending how i feel when i get home in June, i may just finish everything myself. I even thought about asking TKX if they wanted to do the engine swap.. but they are so packed with cars right now (as always!) i dont think it would get done before the end of the year.

944-LT1 wrote:

Techno Duck wrote:
I am really amazed how many clamps are on this car. Anyone want to guess how many i will end up with by the time i get the motor out?

I dont know why but I want to say 32 but you probably have that many already.

Anyway, glad to see another R'lister jumping in! It wasnt long ago that we were all like crypts and bloods! Looks like youre starting with a real nice donor so it should be nice a easy. Keep these types of pictures coming for the new guys. They like pictures.

Im up to about 28, but havent started on the cooling system yet.. I Figure i will end up with somewhere around 40!

A few years ago i would never have even thought about the LSx swaps, but the quality has really come a long way. Seeing cars like DVC's even 2 years ago really showed me a factory like install could be done. I am really OCD / anal about things.. for me its all in the details!

Got all the coolant lines out today including the crossover pipe. Took the radiator out also.. such a pain in the butt to get that thing in and out, the one hardline for the oil cooler always gets in the way of the lower radiator barb. Also managed to get all the wiring disconnected, the engine harness is basically just floating above the engine right now. All that is really left is disconnecting the oil cooler bracket at the front, disconnecting the oil feed line for the turbo and the power steering stuff, then ill be ready to drop everything.

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Ordered a few more things this morning for the rest of the motor build. The only things i still need to order are just the gaskets and some ARP hardware for the flywheel / pressure plate. Thank gosh i am done with all the expensive stuff, the credit card bill these last two months has been pretty epic.. atleast im racking up those points though . Started selling things off the turbo motor so ive been able to recoup some cost which is atleast making me feel slightly more at ease. I have been keeping a detailed spread sheet of everything and while i am within my budget window, it still hurts to look at the totals..

Yes Techno its Richies track car...And I think with all the work at their shop the end of the year for your car wont be possible...But you know it would be do right ....Keep up the good detailed posts..

Once again the entire morning went by quick.. didnt get started until pretty late in the afternoon. Mostly crawled around under the car today, got the entire exhaust system out and unhooked the last remaining things at the back of the engine. Also started draining the PS system, which amazingly did not create a huge mess.

I was hoping to get the motor out by tomorrow so my friend can get started putting it into his dads car. Rain is scheduled basically until mid next week.. i am hoping the rain holds off long enough tomorrow morning that i can get the engine out. All that is really left is taking off he control arms and taking out the 4 bolts for the torque tube to bell housing.

Pretty bare underneath the car now!
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Also got the Spec Stage 2 clutch today..

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Monday will be a big part delivery day, everything other than the flywheel will be here..

Time to go drink beer

Make sure the PP and flywheel are balanced before installing. I just boxed mine up to send back to SPEC to be balanced.

Was going to have everything balanced at my local machinist.. just waiting on the valve train parts so i can give him the heads for rebuild also all in one shot.

Got the engine out earlier today. It was like an omen this morning with the sun shining right into the engine bay!

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Took the lower rad support off so i wouldnt need to get the front end as high.

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Had the engine out less than two hours before my friend came and picked it up for transplant into his dads track car! I was hoping to do a side by side with the LS1.. oh well .

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Still need to pull a few more things off the car, but the bulk of the work is done.

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Going to be getting some heavy rain the next few days so i doubt much will get done. Still waiting on parts to put the motor together also.. hopefully can start getting the motor together next weekend. I was really hoping to get the LS alteast mounted into my car before i leave again, but not looking likely.

Got a few more parts also, ATI damper and the CompCams rocker arm trunion upgrade. Gotta say the ATI damper is ALOT bigger in person than compared to the pictures!

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Started installing the new trunions on the rocker arms. First one took me a little while to figure out, but once i got the process down i could knock out each one in a few minutes. Just need to take the passenger side rockers off and finish up now.

Comp-Cams vs Stock. Basically the stock trunions use cageless needle bearings which can potentially send i believe 30 something needles into your oiling system upon failure. I figured easy and cheap insurance . The Comp-Cams parts use a caged needle bearing and a snap ring to hold everything onto the rocker arm.
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My ghetto press.. reminded me pressing the new needle bearings into the turbo clutch fork!

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And the drivers side rockers completed..
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Nothing wrong with that press, I tend to use my vice for a press more often than my actual press (for small items).

Made one pass on cleaning up the engine bay a little.. this is where the OCD in me kicks in! Was also nice to get the suspension back on so i could get the car back on the ground to make things easier to work on.

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What are you guys doing with the fuel vapor purge stuff infront of the drivers side firewall? Do you just hook everything up to the LS or delete everything?

Hey Jon, looking good!

If you want to hook up the carbon canister you could, you would just have to "T" in the tank pressure sensor into the system, but i think everyone deletes it.

I did my trunion upgrade the same way, and i had the option of a smaller shop press 100' from me, or a 40 ton electric/hydraulic press from Porsche 10' the other way! It was pretty easy with the assembly washers they included.

IF you were considering doing a batttery relocate to the rear now is the time to do it, and it gets rid of a large majority of the wires running across the firewall, also if you follow the Porsche cruise control wiring back, it runs to the cruise control unit, and you can pull that chunk of wires out also.

Mark

Mark, thanks for the feedback. Ill have plenty of time to worry about the evap stuff. I was just pulling out the engine harness connectors on that side and wondered what everyone did with all that stuff.

Wont be relocating the battery, i have a tiny Oddsey PC680 battery that i have been using for nearly 5 years (and which has been in two different 944s). I figure it will be fine to crank over the LS1.. it had started the 2.5L in the dead of winter with 15w50 oil before so the LS1 in the warm weather cant be much worse . I am actually having a new bracket made up at my local machinist.. i made one about 4 years ago to side mount it in the stock location out of medium density fiberboard. After 4 years of exposure to rain/snow..etc when i pulled it out two weeks ago it basically disintegrated. Bought a piece of billet aluminum and gave the machinist basically the same dimensions as before.. just in metal now .

Havent decided what i will do with the cruise yet. I deleted the system a few years ago but all the wiring is still intact. Will probably leave it in just incase i ever want to go back.

Another thing i was wondering was if my existing battery cables (IceShark's cables from RL) might work with the LS swap. The alternator is in roughly the same location but wonder if the cable leads will be long enough to route it over.

Techno Duck wrote:What are you guys doing with the fuel vapor purge stuff infront of the drivers side firewall? Do you just hook everything up to the LS or delete everything?

I removed the metal regulator valve but kept the plastic vacuum switch and tied it's output into the intake tubing ahead of the MAF. This will draw a little on the carbon canister and give it some purge action. I capped the normal EVAP port on the manifold to not put any unmetered air into the engine. I came up with this to avoid gasoline fumes in my attached garage. So far it's working fine.

Rich

I have to say, pulling out the engine harness was quite therapeutic. For so long i dealt with trying get that massive bundle of wires to coil neatly behind all the brackets. That paired with the addition of the SMT8 harness, MAP sensor wiring, LR replacement harnesses for the injectors and crank sensors, vacuum lines and some extra gauge wiring it was a mess despite my attempts to keep everything organized with wire loom.

It will be nice to start with a clean slate for mounting the PCM, aux fuse block and OBD plug.

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Techno Duck wrote:I have to say, pulling out the engine harness was quite therapeutic.....It will be nice to start with a clean slate...

It is a bit freeing! And the LS harness is near stand-alone which makes routing, hiding and any future disassembly/reassembly a cinch. Looks like youre having fun with the process!

Techno Duck wrote:Another thing i was wondering was if my existing battery cables (IceShark's cables from RL) might work with the LS swap. The alternator is in roughly the same location but wonder if the cable leads will be long enough to route it over.

Be curious to know this answer - I have a never-opened set of IceShark's cables that I was wondering if I could use. At my current pace, you'll come up with the answer long before I get to figuring it out.

BTW, where are people relocating the battery to?

Big E, i looked at it the other day and roughly routed how i think the cable would run with the LS1 in place and i think it should still work.

Not much has gotten done the last few days, but have gotten a ton of parts in. Mostly gaskets, new pulleys / tensioners, belts and a bunch of ARP hardware. Still need to order the last few things like the LS2 timing chain / sprocket set. Still debating it, but i think i may also go with a blue printed oil pump from Katech. I figure whats another $180 'while i am in there'. Got my throttle body back also from Potz Speed on eBay.. great guy with a very fast turn around time even though i asked him to port the TB i was sending him rather than exchange. Really nice work also..will post pictures tomorrow. Also got the custom EPS cam today, but unfortunately the valvetrain parts are still MIA...need to follow up with them tomorrow about that.

Also want to give a big thumbs up to SummitRacing. The metal rear cover gasket got bent in the box during shipment as it looked like it was resting right up on the ARP crank pulley bolt. Called up Summit and they are sending me a new one, basically no questions asked.. dont even need to mail back the old one! All this with a phone call at 10pm.

Pulled the other cylinder head off yesterday and all looks good in the bores like on the other side.
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Tomorrow i will do what looks to be the not so fun task of pulling out the brake booster..

You may want to just redo the battery cables, or modify yours to fit. The Porsche cables are run in series from the alternator to starter to battery, but the LS1 uses 2 separate cables run in parallel. There are some theories out there about why this was done, I decided to use the stock LS1 layout just to be safe. I ran the alternator cable straight up the front of the block and then back to the firewall, crossing over the intake manifold. I sheathed it and ran the 2 wires from the alt. (brown and white) inside the sheath, the brown wire tees off at the firewall and connects to the blue porsche alt. wire. The white wire connects by fused link directly to the battery. I haven't determined the best routing for the starter cable yet, need to get the headers installed first.

Got a nice big box of parts from Eric yesterday . Unfortunetley still waiting on the valvetrain parts which should be here monday. Kinda sucks as ill have to wait to drop off the heads until after i get back in June or so, so the motor will be stuck half assembled on a stand until then.

Happy I cleaned off my workbench a few days ago, its amazing how much spare hardware i end up with in plastic trays.. . My basement is where i was storing alot of the parts and thankfully i have sold about 90% of the turbo related stuff so far and should hopefully get the exhaust outta here on saturday so i can finally stop tripping over everything.

Slapped the new injectors, fuel rails and ported throttle body on the intake manifold last night. Cant wait to get the rest of the motor together! Thankfully my car is already setup for a -8 feed and -6 return, so hooking up the fuel rails will be easy. The hard part will be hitting 'submit order' for 3 feet of Russel ProClassic hoses in both -6 and -8, plus the fittings to match what is on the car now for a new return line and crossover.. that $#** is expensive!

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Also finished up installing the new trunions and bearings on the rocker arms.

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The objectives before i leave next week is to pull the brake booster out and atleast get the bottom half of the engine together with the new cam, oil pan..etc.

Tell me about it, I have over $13 Grand in my swap and that does not include the original car or any internal work on the engine. I hope to publish a spreadsheet soon that breaks down the actual cost of doing one of thes swaps.