Newb 944S LS1 Conversion

And so my adventure begins. I am not a mechanic even in the hobbyist sense, but i can read and do things four or five times until it's probably done right while losing a few knuckles here and there so here i go.

Got the engine today which put a big smile on my face since it's really hard to come across these in my area, at least for a good one at a reasonable price.

Compression was +- 5% of 172psi for all cylinders, came out of an rx7 conversion and was originally from a written off '01 c5 corvette.

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

got my 951 transaxle with lsd and external oil cooler as well from ian at 944online, great guy to deal with. came out of a 56000 mile car, ian said when drained the gear oil it was like honey. should be a really good unit. since i don't have to deal with extreme temps for many consecutive days and there's no traffic to speak of ever here i'll be using a new old stock 951 radiator and will have to mod my 944s rad mounts to take this slightly taller unit.

Ordered 87-944s's headlight kit and gonna go with dual circle projector headlights with light grey shades, but that's way down the line from the part that really matters and takes the most time.

My intent is to keep everyone updated on my journet from the viewpoint of a complete newb so that i can pay it forward to others who are intimidated about such a venture with explanation of some of the hiccups i'll be running into.

I'll post pictures of the transaxle once i haul it to my garage from work (we'll see if this first one i posted even works; first time).

Looking to get my conversion kit in august as well as maybe some other fab'ed goodies from other people on the forum here like xschop.

.

Ok pm sent.

My first numbers came out just over 8k but adding headlight change, possible complete switch to f body accessories, some xschop upgrades will put me 10k spent half already on transaxle with cooler, motor and rad with shroud.

,

I had accounted for new coil overs and converting to the wilwood mc with a ten degree shim plate.

Beyond that I didn't plan on doing more suspension upgrades to get the car street worthy once again.

Not sure about what needs done on the torque tube... Other than the scary tight spec on setting it +-. 5mm on 49mm according to sloan's book although I have heard quite a few of his measurements are wrong so unsure on that one.

In what I am calling phase one of the car which is to get the car on the road; i ain't touching the wheels but definitely new tires but that's a consumable and just part of this expensive hobby.

I am already intending to get xschop ' s chromoly axles. Probably get the billet too versus the kev14 mod.

I was throwing a dart on the board with $500 in hoses and fittings.

Will be good to see the spreadsheet though.

.

Ok gonna have to watch for that. Any signs of knowing that bearing is near end of life.

When my car did have the old 4cyl running I had no drive train noises...

Car only has 101km's on it.
I bought it at 68km's.

(Sorry for the metric to all the imperials.)

Rebuild the torque tube while it's out..... Trust me. I just had to rip my car all apart due to the torque tube bearings. They're not cheap, but it's pretty easy to do. All my bearing carriers / inner sleeves came apart without a problem. I had the older version bearing carriers and I had to drill out the rivets. When I put it back together; I used a MIG welder and spot welded along the two halves. All you'll need is a piece of threaded rod and an impact to get them out. There's good tutorials online.

Ok that's added to the list then.

.

What does it usually cost to rebuild the torque tube?

Gutterboy, I am a young guy looking to do a swap in the near future and am new to all of this too. This thread looks like it will be a HUGE help to me.

although i was halfway to my budget number between my rad, new lsd transaxle with oil cooler, and engine acquisitions; i think i am comfortable with going past 10k cause i really want what the car's reliability should be under ls1 power. The real dream i gave up was selling my 944s with the engine to get a lotus exige s 260. with my stock motor blown i have moved full on to this and think that it just makes sense to ship my torque tube halfway across the continent to get it rebuilt (if rebuildable) with four of those super bearings from constantine. i'll have to see whether i truly save anything on a core charge with that kind of shipping.

the point of my conversion is to make a reliable street car that makes me smile every time i drive it. part of that is kicking the interference four cylinder to the curb and having a more reliable ls1, but what's the sense in doing that and putting a 951 transaxle in when you still leave a weak link like the bad TT bearings to possible ruin more in the drivetrain.

so as of now my total list is as follows:

ls1 (check)
a/c compressor and pulleys and a new drier
wilwood brake mc with sloan plate and 10 degree angled shim and custom pushrod
possible flywheel change? (previous owner put a lightened flywheel on not sure if this will still work or if it's irrelevant)
TT rebuild (constantine's site, reposted for convenience)
lsd transaxle with oil cooler (check)
new 951 rad (check, i'm in canada so i don't need the griffin or summit rad for street application or the extra modification work to make those rads work; i got enough work ahead of me.)
xschop axles and billet
wilwood big brake front upgrade kit with pads
and of course TPC deluxe conversion kit
misc. hoses fitting and lines for any of the above.

as an adder i am getting a set of light grey covered headlight buckets from 87-944s that i'll put dual circle projectors in but obviously that will be done much later.

if i'm missing something here other than tires which is a given then feel free to comment. Note I will not being doing a hydroboost in what i consider phase one to get the car back on the road as a daily summer driver.

Gutterboy wrote:with my stock motor blown i have moved full on to this and think that it just makes sense to ship my torque tube halfway across the continent to get it rebuilt (if rebuildable) with four of those super bearings from constantine. i'll have to see whether i truly save anything on a core charge with that kind of shipping.

Just go to the local industrial supply store and order stock replacements and rebuild it yourself. It's really not bad and you'll be saving alot. It's going to cost a fortune shipping that to Florida.

spence, thanks for the recommend to rebuild the TT myself. That's not completely out of the question since i have a fab shop at my disposal through work. I think i definitely will be going with the super bearings instead of the 944 stock TT bearings at the very least.

so after staring at the block for a bit i decided i better find out about whether i have tear the whole front end apart with the proper harmonic balancer and such and it looks like my original hunch (hunch based on seeing alternator at the bottom right instead of top right) that it could have been a vette motor that was already converted to f-body to fit in the rx-7 this came out of is completely true (open to comment as per pictures below).

a random google search which i think is also in the publicworks wiki part of this forum details the depths of different harmonic balancers. F-body is 2 15/16" when mounted onto the block and as you can see by the picture (negating a tad bit of parallax in this awkward picture on my garage floor while holding the tape) it looks like i truly have an F-body setup and not Y-body since the plane of the front of the engine where the balancer starts is at 1" and the front of the pulley measures almost 4". So with 1/16" of parallax error from the camera i'd say i don't have to change the entire drive accessory on the block.

I do need to add a/c and i am guessing that buying the compressor, and the two idler pulleys i need probably mount on some sort of a/c bracket which then attaches to the bolts i outlined in red. (please feel free to comment, or if you know exactly what's needed to add a/c that would help also).

So now that i can buy the cheaper a/c compressor i am curious about if people think there's a difference between the more pricey denso and anyone else like replacement or four seasons etc. Furthermore is one easier to make fixed as per another thread in the forum that is common for converting ls1 a/c for 944's (probably totally botched the name of that mod procedure, hope it isn't too unclear).

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

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

You will need one of these:

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

For the compressor, no idea of the differences in quality. I used a manifold to convert the GM compressor to standard A/C lines, and made my own lines for the low pressure, and adapted the high pressure Porsche line by brazing a bead lock crimp fitting onto the high pressure side at the firewall.

Sweet.

I'll check out the link on my laptop tonight. Phone's dead.

Thanks again for the tips on a/c. I'll probably just copy you. Any pics of the manifold you could send me?

Also let me know when I owe you for the buckets.

Take a look here for the manifold adapters:

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

The hose and beadlock connectors can be bought from many sources, check here:

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

I think you have me confused with 924-76 up in Canada, who sells a nice headlight bucket set up.  

definitely crossed you with 924-76, my bad.

thanks for the link put an offer on the bracket, which will be a good start. gonna price new compressors locally and determine whether i should stick to online. i have a feeling with me being in the middle of nowhere i am paying several middle men before it gets to my hands as opposed as to online parts even with shipping.

i'm still stoked that i get to immediatelyl shop f-body without changing the entire front end of this c5 ls1. my only thoughts are maybe this was never a c5 ls1 and someone just found some corvette plastic covers that made it look as if it was?   i realize it's the same block but just that there was maybe a slightly different intake between the y body and f body ls1? can't remember the wiki on this...

anyways thanks again!

If you are looking for a new compressor, hard to beat rockauto.com

i am going to have drive where you are someday with my car when i am done so i can buy you a beer.

that a/c compressor kit with new drier and all the other parts that "make sense" is absolutely a no brainer at that sick price.

thanks for that! saved me buying a compressor and a drier separate without the other goodies in that kit!

Gutterboy wrote:
that a/c compressor kit with new drier and all the other parts that "make sense" is absolutely a no brainer at that sick price.

Could you post the link to the kit? I was having trouble finding it on rockauto.com for some reason.
So much helpful info in this thread!

hey bluejk09, you're right about valuable info on this thread i just started. All the other members that have contributed in this recent thread have made me learn a good more things to look into. the intent is to add more info in the journey for other novice mechanics who are hesitant on the conversion due to mechanical inability or inexperience.

Definitely going to go for some super bearings on the torque tube and cause of my terrible shipping plight, pretty sure i'll be doing the clarks-garage ready rod job myself. should be fine as long as the bearings don't jam up in the tube on the removal and the tube isn't cracked or anything.

tried to find a hand clapping or applause emoticon, but a simple thanks will do to the other thread contributors i guess.

here's the link.

rock auto link for a/c compressor kit addition for f-body ls1

When you pull the bearings out of the torque tube using the threaded rod method they will stack up on each other and the going keeps getting tougher and tougher. I found soapy water (Dawn) really helped it along.

so you just pour soapy water down the tube before you start the threading?

Curious on the clean up of the tube as well. Do people just give it a quick wire wheel to clean up some of the surface rust and then use some black rustoleum paint after taping off the threads and the tube ends?

i have no intention of powder coating it.