Phoenix from the flames - Porsche Boxster with an Audi 2.7T

[Escy]

I've been finding it hard work getting the engine into position, it's heavy and it kept moving around and slipping when i'd get a jack under it. The engine brace across the top is mainly to hold the weight rather than used to pull the engine up and my engine hoist won't reach. I've looked in the past for something suitable to raise an engine and couldn't find anything.

On ebay I found a motorcycle lift, i've seen them before but i've now found one that comes with a platform on wheels that you can sit it into. I've got a similar thing designed for gearboxes (Draper) so between the pair of them i'll now be able to lift the whole thing up straight and wheel it about into the perfect position. The motorcycle lift is rated to 500kg's. There may well be something designed for this job that i'm not aware of but I thought i'd share this as it might be handy for someone else. It's the only one of it's kind I could find on ebay. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1100LBS-Wide-Platform-M...

dom9 said:

The 190 converted MR2...? I don't need more cars... I don't need more cars... I don't need more cars...

You definitely do need a 2ZZ MR2 in your life, everyone does. I think mine is sold already.

Chris Type R said:

From the pics it looks quite nice, and your engine change appears to be quite cheap. I'm envious of your spannering ability.

Thanks. It has few marks here and there but it's nice enough.

[Escy]

I've decided on the engine position.




I'm going to use the standard downpipes with catalytic converters, these go right where the gearbox mounts are but my gearbox will be slightly lower and further forward so they need modifying anyway. Easier to do this than to make new downpipes.



I've then taken the engine back out. It's covered in filth (and so am I everytime I touch it), so i'm going to clean it up and change the cambelt, cam cover gaskets and anything else that's leaking. Then it can go back in for good and i'll then fabricate the engine and gearbox mounts afterwards. Progress should be swift, i'm not messing about painting things, changing cylinder heads, conrods, modifying the inlet manifold, etc like last time.

[Escy]

It's not much fun when it's -2 degrees and you can't feel your fingers but i've been cracking on.

I changed the cambelt as I had no paperwork saying when it was last done, turns out it must have been fairly recently as the old belt still had the writing on it. Ben from The Turbo Unit kindly loaned me his cam and crank locking tools (met him when a friend has his S4 tuned by him).


I took the flywheel off to check the condition of the rear crank seal as the engine was really oily. I thought my eyes were deceiving me when I found a water leak coming from one of the bolt holes. Turns out the crank seal housing forms part of a water jacket.



The front engine mount on the Boxster has seen better days. I pressed out and pressed in a replacement (improved 987 one).




Replaced the cam cover seals, I think this was the main cause of the oil leaks (perhaps old ones). The previous owner had recently replaced them, he'd used loads of silicone sealant and made a right mess, took me a while cleaning it all up. He'd also massively over tightened them so they were probably leaking still.

[Escy]

Thank you.

I've done a few more things over the last few evenings. There was a split CV boot which I replaced, this is a job I don't enjoy as I always make a right mess with the CV grease. I also changed the rear crank seal and I fitted a new clutch.

[Escy]

Thanks, that's the plan.

I put the gearbox back on and got it all back under the car. I've spent the whole weekend working on it but progress has been slower than i'd like as i've been fabricating things which is easier said than done.

On a Boxster there are 3 engine/gearbox mounts, one at the front of the engine and 2 either side of the gearbox. I've got the engine sitting where I want it so I made the mounts for the gearbox. I've also started on the front engine mount. On the last car I made a cradle that went under the sump and down the sides of the engine but i'm going to do it differently this time. I've found 2 places on the front of the engine I can bolt the front engine mount to. This will leave me more space down the sides for pipework (as this one is twin turbo). The drawback is i'll need to remove the front engine mount to fit an auxiliary belt. I've made the mounting plates, just need to cut some box section steel to link it all up and weld it together.

[Escy]

gobuddygo said:

Top work and love your threads, can i ask while you don't just refurbish the original Boxter engine?

Thanks. I've still got the Boxster engine so I might strip it down and see what's up with it when I've got a chance. I bought this car with the intention of doing the engine swap. I feel that the Audi engine offers better reliability and lots of tuning potential (can see over 500bhp on standard internals).

[Escy]

ndg said:

Will you have space to ziptie a 'spare aux belt around the mount? If you have a failure, cut the old one off, un-ziptie the new one and thread it onto the pulleys.

That's a good idea although I think it's a bit of a non issue to be fair. I've not had a drive belt fail for years.

[Escy]

Fastdruid said:

shalmaneser said:

Escy said:

ndg said:

Will you have space to ziptie a 'spare aux belt around the mount? If you have a failure, cut the old one off, un-ziptie the new one and thread it onto the pulleys.

That's a good idea although I think it's a bit of a non issue to be fair. I've not had a drive belt fail for years.

I'm sure a handful of Ferrari's and Lamborghini's require the motor to be dropped to swap the belts - I'd say you were in fine company!

I'm sure I remember at least one supercar where the engine was *such* a tight fit that to get it out and back in again needed metalwork and then a re-spray...

I was watching an episode of Hoovies Garage on YouTube and he's just bought a Ferrari F355 and it was up on a ramp. Routine maintenance didn't look much fun on that, there looked like an inch or so between the pulleys on the front of the engine and the bulkhead.

The Boxster has quite a generous engine compartment once you get the flat 6 out. It's a big old lump.

[Escy]

I didn't get much chance to work on the car over Easter but I did manage to get the front engine mount done so now the engine and gearbox are now mounted. I have been collecting a few parts. I've bought an engine wiring loom from a LHD Audi A6 on German eBay. The RHD one has a long straight section that is coated in rubber and is very time consuming to strip away (think it took about 8 hours last time). I also picked up a cheap Kaaz LSD.

[Escy]

Welcome and thanks. What cars have you restored in the past?

I'm keeping things simple with this swap and cost wise it's looking good. It seems a popular idea and the Audi 2.7t is an engine with a big following. If there is a market for it, it could be a way out of my dead end day job so I'm designing everything to be easy to replicate, taking notes and making templates this time around. So, with that being said, i'm keeping some stuff to myself, the engine mount being one of them. (sorry!)

I'm going to use the Audi engine harness and ECU and wire it into the Boxster. I've got all sussed out from the last car, I had that originally running on the standard ECU but a coding issue and the fact i'd changed so much around on the engine pushed me towards a standalone.

[Escy]

I fitted the LSD today. I needed to remove the ring gear that came on it, the bolts were really tight and my impact gun struggled with them but eventually got them all out bar one which I slipped on and rounded it off. I decided the easiest thing to do was just cut through the ring gear so the bolt would come out.



To get the diff out you need to pull out the stub axles.


Fitting my ring gear to the LSD.


The side plate makes taking the diff out easy.


I also welded some V-band flanges to my downpipes. I've increased the bore from 2" to 2.5".

[Escy]

I've got a set, it's not often that I find they are actually useful. I didn't even try them on this occasion. I hammered a socket one size smaller over it (which is why it looks so mangled), it had plenty of purchase but it would just slowly move up off the bolt while I was using the impact gun. I decided the angle ginder was easier than trying to hold the diff and use a breaker bar.

[Escy]

Yeah, you should do but I decided I'll take my chances on it how it was, worse case scenario, it whines and I'll take it back out but I'm confident it'll be fine.

[Escy]

I bought a pair of Akaprovic knock off tail pipes, i'm not sure if these are deemed cool or chav but I like them.

It was supposed to be 2 in glossy carbon fibre but i've been sent 1 that's got a matt carbon finish which I'm thinking may look better. Looking for opinions on which finish to go with.

[Escy]

Thanks guys, it still feels quite a way off to me but as I'm using lots of standard parts this time it's going to come together pretty quickly I hope.

I've asked for another matt tail pipe and the reply was no problem, we'll send you a glossy one so I guess it'll be lucky dip as to what arrives, I don't mind either way.

[Escy]

I've had a busy weekend on the car, made lots of progress. Decided to run the gear cables under the inlet manifold. That electric water pump in the middle is for when you turn the engine off and it's hot. It circulates the coolant to stop it boiling up inside the turbos.



I found a nice bodge from a previous owner, the O-ring on the air temperature sensor was leaking so he'd wrapped it in insulation tape. That had got hot and rock hard so it was still leaking. I replaced the O-ring and fitted the inlet manifold.



Feeding the wiring loom into the engine bay, there isn't much space at the back of the engine.



Then I started on making the cross member / suspension brace. The gearbox sits lower than it did before so I had to modify it. The breast plate (silver) just needed some rubber trimming slightly.



I had to take quite a bit out of it to stop it fouling. It was also hitting the turbo oil return on one side.



Since I had hacked it so much I needed the put the strength back into it. I decided to use some box section I had, I cut square holes into it and also drilled through the rear of the brace so I could spot weld it



Some cardboard aided design.



Welded up.



Test fitted it. I'm happy with it. The space under the sump is where I'm planning on running the induction pipes, it only uses one airflow meter and so the turbos need to be linked together. There is no space to go above the engine.




The engine bay is starting to come together nicely. I'm working everything out at the moment. Got the majority of the coolant lines plumbed in, charcoal canister hooked up. The fuel lines and power steering is all worked out (need to get some parts). I'm in two minds about keeping the A/C or ditching it. I could do with the space the compressor is taking up, plus i'd need to get some lines made up to connect it, there was no gas in the system so I think i'll probably need to replace the A/C rads (common Boxster issue). If I ditch it, i'll get better airflow through the coolant radiators. I did want to keep but all things considered, it's not worth the hassle I think.

[Escy]

I made a start on the exhaust this weekend. Silencers with the that have the inlet and outlet on the same side aren't easy to find. Ideally i'd have wanted the silencers laying flat but have had to put them at a bit of an angle for clearance, there isn't as much space in the corners of the bumper as you'd think. Just waiting on a couple more 90 degree bends and I can finish it. I expect it to be a lot quieter than the last car as it's got 2 turbos, 2 cats and 2 silencers - I hope it is as I plan to daily drive it.





I went to the scrapyard to find a suitable power steering reservoir, ended up with one from a Mini. I also connected up the high pressure line so that's the power steering done. I also fitted the vacuum reservoir (that blue thing) for the N249 valve. This is something that's often removed but i'm trying to retain all the factory systems.

[Escy]

Hopefully it won't be long before I can fire it up. I tried my best to find a way to get air to air intercoolers in but as it's a twin turbo the pipe work is a pain. I've made the decision to go for a water to air charge cooler like I did last time. This time, i'm taking a different approach, hopefully it'll perform ok, if not, I can always make changes at a later date. I bought a radiator, water pump and expansion tank from a Lexus CT200h, they are used to cool the inverter on the hybrid system. The plan is to fit the radiator under the engine rather than at the front of the car.

[Escy]

I finished up the exhaust this weekend. Happy with how it's turned out.





I made a start on the water to air charge cooler setup. The radiator is mounted under the engine, it's angled so it doesn't sit too low. I might add a shroud for it to help channel air through it. Expansion tank mounted in the engine bay this time. The water pump bolted straight into some existing holes from the air pump that was used for the old engine which was a nice surprise. I'm making a fair few compromises on this charge cooler setup compared to what I did last time around. I'll keep a close eye on the inlet air temperatures and make changes if required.

[Escy]

There are no vents above the engine compartment. There are just the vents on the side and they aren't very big. I wish there was an easy way improve things, most mid engine cars don't have a rear boot but the Boxster does.

The coolant heat soaking is one of the compromises I'm aware of, low capacity and the expansion tank is in a hot place, not ideal but I'll see how it performs before making changes.

The radiator under the car could be exposed to any debris I run over, I might add a shroud to protect it and help channel air.