Porsche Boxster 986 - engine swap project

Porsche Boxster 986 - engine swap project

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Discussion

Medic-one

3,105 posts

202 months

Thursday 4th February 2016
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Awesome! Bit that'll surpise a few people when it's finished. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the project.

Huskyman

653 posts

126 months

Thursday 4th February 2016
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This is a great project,and usually when the M96 goes to this mileage you have dodged the bullet on the IMS, so you can flog that engine to someone for a few £££ to spend on the project!
Just a couple of questions for you, the layout of the engine has the major masses of the cylinder heads higher up due to the fact that it is a V6, and the engine weighs in at roughly the same as the M96 flat-six, by the time you have added the turbo and plumbing, there will be more weight in the tail. Are you going to explore some suspension options or suck it and see?
Are you going to use a ducted air-to-air intercooler or go for a charge-cooler?
With the turbo engine's higher demand for fuel flow, what pumps are you going to use, and are you going to go for a swirl pot in the fuel system?

One thing I do remember about the 3.2 boxster is the rear boot does get hot with the standard exhaust system under there, perhaps some extra heat-shielding would be needed? There are a couple of turbo kits for the Boxster knocking about, so it might be worth seeing how they got around the thermal managment.

Good luck with the project!

Escy

Original Poster:

3,907 posts

148 months

Thursday 4th February 2016
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I'm aware of the TPC Racing turbo kit, and the Subaru engine conversions done by another company in the US, i'm going to take some ideas from their set-up.

I'm going to use a charge cooler.

I was planning on leaving the suspension standard and seeing how it handled and also how the project was looking budget wise but i've had my hand forced. The driveshafts are fouling the suspension upright that holds the rear arms, i've modified them for clearance but when the rear wheels are off the ground the suspension drops and the shafts sit on the suspension upright where the rear wishbone is, it's only slight contact but it would be a problem come MOT time. I've bought some coilovers, which should provide the extra clearance needed. I'm also going to run wider 997 wheels and they will hopefully improve the clearance so I don't need large spacers. I'll update the thread showing what I mean when they arrive.

I've not made any decisions on the fuel system yet other than running Bosch 750cc injectors which I bought a while back. I've been reading that the big power 996 Turbo guys add a Bosch 044 inline pump to supplement the standard pump so I may go a similar route.

Edited by Escy on Thursday 4th February 14:21

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 4th February 2016
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Excellent project, I always wondered why more people didn't tinker with the Boxster as they are cheap enough secondhand now and I suspect are capable of handling more power better than most. I had a 3.2S and to be honest it always felt a bit underwhelming, like it was able to do more but was constrained by the economy of its powertrain.

Good luck and I shall be reading this with interest.

J4CKO

41,287 posts

199 months

Thursday 4th February 2016
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Watching with interest.

What kind of power will it have when its finished ?



DuraAce

4,240 posts

159 months

Thursday 4th February 2016
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Love stuff like this. Looking forward to seeing more updates..

DuraAce

4,240 posts

159 months

Thursday 4th February 2016
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Love stuff like this. Looking forward to seeing more updates..

chuntington101

5,733 posts

235 months

Thursday 4th February 2016
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Sounds like a great project! smile

Escy

Original Poster:

3,907 posts

148 months

Thursday 4th February 2016
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J4CKO said:
Watching with interest.

What kind of power will it have when its finished ?
I mentioned 550bhp in the 1st post as a rough target.

cb1965 said:
Excellent project, I always wondered why more people didn't tinker with the Boxster as they are cheap enough secondhand now and I suspect are capable of handling more power better than most. I had a 3.2S and to be honest it always felt a bit underwhelming, like it was able to do more but was constrained by the economy of its powertrain.

Good luck and I shall be reading this with interest.
I get the feeling it'll still feel composed with double the power. I hope so anyway!

Edited by Escy on Thursday 4th February 19:37

qwertina

113 posts

197 months

Thursday 4th February 2016
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Wow excellent idea for a swap. Really looking forward to seeing this progress. Even a 2.8 30v NA would be a nice swap for the 2.5 or 2.7!

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 4th February 2016
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Escy said:
I get the feeling it'll still feel composed with double the power. I hope so anyway!
Yes I agree. Will be great to actually find out!

cat with a hat

1,484 posts

117 months

Thursday 4th February 2016
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I look forward to seeing this develop biggrin

spreadsheet monkey

4,544 posts

226 months

Friday 5th February 2016
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Escy said:
I like to take a punt and this was a total gamble
Fortune favours the brave!

This looks like a great project. Interested to see how it pans out.

j4ckos mate

3,009 posts

169 months

Friday 5th February 2016
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Fair platy to you mate

good luck to you

LankyLegoHead

749 posts

131 months

Friday 5th February 2016
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This is a mammoth task, but awesome all the same!

I do enjoy the irony of calling the Porsche engine unreliable, and then getting what is a B5 S4 engine. I have a lot of friends who have 1, or 2 or even the RS4 of similar vintage. They are extremely expensive to run and nearly all over 100k require new turbos/rebuilt!

However, what with this being a complete build NONE of that should be a problem for you! smile

marcgti6

1,340 posts

212 months

Friday 5th February 2016
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Oooh, nice project.

Good luck and I shall look forward to the updates smile

Escy

Original Poster:

3,907 posts

148 months

Friday 5th February 2016
quotequote all
LankyLegoHead said:
This is a mammoth task, but awesome all the same!

I do enjoy the irony of calling the Porsche engine unreliable, and then getting what is a B5 S4 engine. I have a lot of friends who have 1, or 2 or even the RS4 of similar vintage. They are extremely expensive to run and nearly all over 100k require new turbos/rebuilt!

However, what with this being a complete build NONE of that should be a problem for you! smile
The engine itself is as bulletproof as they come but some of the bits bolted to it aren't (turbo's and EGT sensors seem to be common failures) but like you say, they won't be an issue for my build.

aka_kerrly

12,416 posts

209 months

Saturday 6th February 2016
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Brilliant project, I shall enjoy keeping up with your progress.

Also very nice to see that the thread is on topic with no muppets whining about Boxsters being girls cars or you devaluing it.


Escy

Original Poster:

3,907 posts

148 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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I guess that means this is a good idea. smile

Little update.

This weekend I finished up the engine mounts, the engine is now bolted into the chassis. I'm using the standard Boxster engine mount locations, i've cut and re-welded the gearbox mounts (as the gearbox has moved forward an inch) and made a cradle that bolts to the original V6 engine mount brackets and it ties into the front of the engine where the original snub mount was bolted. The standard Boxster mount then bolts to this cradle. The picture shows it mounted to my 2.4 block that I bought for the cylinder heads, it came in handy for mocking this up. 



I was having some problems with driveshaft clearance, with the wheels off the ground the driveshafts were resting on the lower suspension arm mount. I knew coilovers would solve this as they have a shorter body so the hub wouldn't drop as much. I hadn't originally planned on coilovers, it was something i'd look at once it was up running so I was mindful about blowing the budget and leaving myself short in other areas. There aren't many options around for Boxsters that's reasonable money. You got the cheap and nasty £350 ones on ebay otherwise it's over £1000 for a set. After trawling the internet I came across some made by Yellow Speed Racing, i'm also into my Jap cars and knew their coilovers have a good reputation. They have adjustable top mounts and adjustable damping which will help me get it set-up nicely since i'm messing with the weight distribution. They seemed like very good value for £700 so that's what I went with. 

I fitted a rear shock this evening to have a quick look, i've now got loads more space under the driveshaft which has solved the clearance issue and also given me tons more space for running the exhaust which is going to be very useful.






DocJock

8,341 posts

239 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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This should be some weapon once finished. smile