PorVette with full Vette drivetrain and rear suspension

Hello All,

After a seriously mistaken identity, I thought some of you might be curious to see a little of my conversion.

What started as a relatively "simple" LS1 conversion for track purposes, evolved into a lot more. Our racing focus was on endurance racing, with us running the 3-4 hour races during the season and the 25 Hours of Thunderhill in December. What would have been good for sprint races or even the short enduros, I just couldn't bet on for running 25 Hours at Thunderhill.

So we ended up grafting the C5 Corvette torque tube, transaxle, and rear suspension cradle into the 951 widebody chassis. So from intake to the rear wheels, it's all C5 Vette. Of course, this wouldn't fly with a street car, as we moved the fuel cell to the passenger's seat area, so as to optimize the corner-balancing and to bring all the weight low and between the axles. It has made for an exceptional competitor and we won our class in a few enduros as well as an overall win.

You can see some photos on and off track here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Username - racer
Password - racer
The video on there is also pretty cool, showing the first lap of the 25 Hours of Thunderhill, then some clips from the first hour of lots of passing...

Enjoy!

Steve

wow

That thing looks nasty. I like the fab work you've done to fit the rear suspension cradle in, nice job. Nice to see something really unique in that lineup. Is there any advantage to using a 944 chassis, over say... a C5 vette from the beginning ?

I've seen that car... It's in the GT-Racing Catalog, amirite?

Very nice,
Did you have to shorten he torque tube to get that to fit?

Looks great!!
But..why did you bother with a 944?

Looks great!!
But..why did you bother with a 944?

Second

Third.

I now own a c5z06 and a 944 LT1. I like the 944 for 4 seats, but the vette is 3100lbs and beefy all over. I can't imagine any cost savings, only wow factor. What could the 944 do over a C5? Better areodyanmics? Maybe. 500lbs lighter. Ok. For the $ to upgrade the 944, I bet you could have thrown at a C5...I would like to hear the response....

BTW, I road race my C5z06 and would love to do it to the 944, but am too afraid to get into "I have to replace everything" scenario.

Maybe the f/g body panels are cheaper for the 9??

Wow, by the way. Everything looks great. I wish I had your time and money and mechanical skill.

Thanks for the compliments, though I can only take credit for guiding the process, and not the actual fabrication work. I was lucky enough to have Jim Pierce of Pierce Motorsports, Mike Essa of Tech Trix and Steve Pavlov do some exceptional fab work to put it all together, plus my top notch engine building who's built the forged LS2 and 4 stage dry sump.

1) The notable difference with the 951 vs. C5 is the weight savings, which as mentioned before is in the neighborhood of 500lbs. I'm sure a few of you can relate, that this didn't start out as the full-out Endurance/Sprint race car, but rather as a cool sprint race only track car, mostly just for fun. Then I got competitive and the slippery slope got more slippery.

2) Yes, this car is in the GT-Racing Catalog. It was also featured in some Kit Car magazine as well as is the car featured on the 2010 NASA Motorsports Calendar for December. If you are a member of NASA, you will have received the Calendar and it's the only car with a very cool shot for the entire December photo page.

3) Amazingly, the Vette torque tube measured up to within 1/4" of the 951 tt, not to mention it's a good bit lighter. We just had to widen the TT channel under the car a little to fit it, which was quite simple.

4) Did I mention that I'm running CCW 18x13" rims on back and 18x11" up front? Just wish for the last 25 Hour race we ran, I could have afforded the Slicks (plus had the additional est. 75+ more rwhp of the new engine), as the GT3 RSR's or the 500HP pro-M3 had at Thunderhill. Our fast time was still just 5 seconds off of the GT3 RSR and this BMW M3 (with M5 engine). Subtract 2-3 seconds a lap for the slicks vs. Kumho 710's, and an additional 75rwhp and we're pretty darn close to cars that cost 1/4 Million Dollars and have $20k-$50k engine and tranny rebuilds.

Some other notable goodies:
Stoptech BIG Brake Kit all around
Tilton 3 pedal throttle, brake, clutch - floor mount assembly (with interchangeable masters and easy
access to fluids
Front suspension - Porsche 996 uprights with modified upper mounts to allow for more caster
4 stage, low profile dry sump with 5 gallon tank
Racepak Datalogger with guages
All electrical was essentially stripped out and rewired, except for some engine wires

The dry sump got delayed since my engine builder had family issues he had to go out of town for a long time to attend to, which should be resolved soon. I can't wait to see how it will perform with the new engine upgrade.

Steve

I was staring at that rear in for hours when I first got into these 944 projects.

That car looks nice.

Where are you located at anyway?

I'm in the Los Angeles area.

s

Hello Porvette, i was wondering about the install. Is there any room left in the rear for a different fuel cell. Maybe if the spare tire well was removed. Do you have any further photos of the transplant. I am very interested in this process. The car looks fantastic. Was the TT a 1/4 longer or shorter.How far into the back seat area did you have to remove. Any info would be much appreciated. I like this transplant.

I love it!

How much wider did you have to open the tt area. What brake master are you using. ANY MORE PHOTOS PLEASE. Thanks

just wondering if your around?

May 12, 2010

You've bumped a post that's a full year old 3 times now...

I have a LS 3 conversion with trans issues. Thinkin it may be time to update the rest of the driveline. Gallery Me says they are closed. Is there another way I can see your photos? Thanks, Hal

I would also like to see pictures if they are still available!

You can look at my build. It has the c5 six speed ls 3

I can't take a look at the pics, maybe some problem with the link.

I tried too. I think the main problem is that the link is 7 years old. This was originally posted in 2010!

My build thread has tons of pics and info for this swap..