Phoenix from the flames - Porsche Boxster with an Audi 2.7T
Discussion
I did take it, there were loads of cool cars. Everything was quite spread out around the town so I was in a random car park and the car is nothing special to look at from the outside so it didn't draw any attention.
I'm using the car quite regularly now as its my only car. No issues so far. Still not had the map finished, it's half done but there is a misfire when the boost builds up.
I'm using the car quite regularly now as its my only car. No issues so far. Still not had the map finished, it's half done but there is a misfire when the boost builds up.
Escy said:
I did take it, there were loads of cool cars. Everything was quite spread out around the town so I was in a random car park and the car is nothing special to look at from the outside so it didn't draw any attention.
I'm using the car quite regularly now as its my only car. No issues so far. Still not had the map finished, it's half done but there is a misfire when the boost builds up.
Damn, would have loved a chat about the Boxster. What did you think of the event?I'm using the car quite regularly now as its my only car. No issues so far. Still not had the map finished, it's half done but there is a misfire when the boost builds up.
I've not been to that sort of meet before, I enjoyed it, the mix of cars was nice, something for everyone. I don't know how often they do them but I guess you'll see the majority of the same cars everytime. Shame I didn't meet you there, i'm going to try and go to a few local meets like that so maybe next time.
Escy said:
I've not been to that sort of meet before, I enjoyed it, the mix of cars was nice, something for everyone. I don't know how often they do them but I guess you'll see the majority of the same cars everytime. Shame I didn't meet you there, i'm going to try and go to a few local meets like that so maybe next time.
Maybe next year! It runs on the last Sunday of September each year. The first couple of years there were the same 250 odd cards, but the last couple have seen a real mix of cars not seen before. 
It's been a while since i've updated the thread. The car has been road legal since June but I had a few little things to sort out on it and I seemed to always find a reason to not drive it (the house move was a good excuse). I'll be honest there has been a reluctance on my part to drive it. Turns out i'm not quite over the fire. I've not been bothered about driving other cars but getting back behind the wheel of a Audi powered Boxster had me a little low on confidence, I am constantly worried something will go wrong.
I've been slowly getting it mapped, i'm using a company called Boosted Performance in America, they do lots of 2.7t stuff. The process is basically I drive it, send him the log and he makes adjustments, then I send another log and repeat. It's a bit of a slow process, time zones seem to get in the way. All these short drives have helped to build my confidence up with it.
I've sold the Mini I was using as a daily driver so now i'm relying on the Boxster, I have been getting a regular lift from a colleague but often find I end up driving myself in with the Boxster for various reasons. So far so good, i've done about 500 miles but I've now got a solid month of driving it as he's off on holiday. It's the first time i'll be relying on it so fingers crossed it doesn't let me down.
Regarding the mapping, there was an issue where the fueling resulting in a misfire as the boost ramped up. The original fuel pump wasn't up to the mighty 2.7t, I should of predicted that. The only reason I didn't change it was because it's the same part number as the pump used in the 996 3.4 and that's just shy of 300bhp so I expected it to be alright, it wasn't. I bought a 340lph fuel pump which I fitted this weekend. It's made a huge difference and the tune hasn't been optimised yet. Waiting on a new wideband to arrive and i'll be able to get the map finished off.
Since i've been using it quite a bit i've formed some opinions on it. When building it, I'd have replaced the standard K03 turbos with the larger RS4 K04's if i'd had the money but now after using it, I think the K03's make for a better road car. They build boost early, I think it's at about 1500rpm they come on. Even on a boring commute you can dip into a bit of boost easily without needing to actually go that fast, the power is more accessible. It also makes getting the back end out from just a bit of throttle pretty easy if i'm inclined to. The car drives exactly like a standard Boxster except for with bundles more torque. Noise wise, the exhaust is pretty quiet which is nice for daily driving (the exhaust on the old blue Boxster kind of ruined it) but when I open it up it sounds great and the V6 warble sounds much sweeter than a flat 6 to my ears. The induction sound of the turbos sucking is actually pretty loud but sounds good. The only slight negative is the Kaaz LSD makes itself known, even with the gearbox oil warmed up, on a tight turn it can be felt juddering a little and when cold it's a bit clunky. I think it's getting slightly better with the miles and i'm also getting more used to it, I wouldn't change it but it does slightly go agaisnt the cars overall standard factory feeling. All in all, i'm really happy with how it's turned out, looking forward to getting the map finished off so I can give it some proper welly. I'll then get some videos before it burns down, gets stolen or crashed.
Escy said:
I have been enjoying the garage, having a pit is brilliant.
Hi I'm Neil I live in Bridgend I have a boxster 2.7 and today I think I toasted the IMS . I have read your thread and would like to pick your brains as I am inclined to attempt a build like yours many thanks Edited by Neilwales on Saturday 17th November 18:18
I fitted a new wideband. Not sure if i'll leave it in the car permanently or not yet.
Since I wrote that update about needing to rely on it while my colleague was away it broke down the very next day. I needed to call for breakdown assistance I had the choice of someone out to fix or recovery, I had worked out it was a fuel pipe that had come off in the tank so I opted for someone with tools (which I then used to fix it myself). All done, I started to drive home, after about 15 miles it happened again. I couldn't face calling them again (maybe they'd have refused?!), luckily for me a mate happened to drive past and he went to my house to pick up some tools and I fixed it again. Once I got it home I had a good look at it. I used the fuel pipe supplied with the pump was really soft, it's almost like it wasn't suitable for being submerged in fuel. I replaced it and it's been fine since. Doesn't bode particularly well for the pump.
A few days later I sort of had another breakdown, I was out late making pulls in 3rd gear for data logging purposes, after taking it right to the rev limit I had a noise coming from the engine bay. Two ribs from the six rib drive belt had started to come apart and were flailing around making a right racket. Quite a strange way to fail, I've had belts snap, belts come off but not just a few ribs separate. I couldn't get my hand in there to rip them off so the choice was drive it and risk them wrapping around the cambelt (one section of the cambelt cover isn't used for engine swap reasons) or get recovery again. I took the chance of driving it and all was well. I've replaced the belt, I couldn't see what caused the failure, all the pulleys are good, no bad bearings.
The guy that's been doing the map had been hard work to nail down, i'd been on his case to make some progress, he'd agreed to do it on a Sunday evening which happened to be bad rain at the time, not ideal but I could hardly say I didn't fancy it. To make a log I needed to be in 3rd gear from low revs and take it to the redline (I think around 30-90mph). I was coming off a roundabout onto a dual carriageway, there is a slight bend before it straightens up, the run before had been fine but the second time, with some adjustments it came onto boost way harder than it had previously, the back end stepped out unexpectedly and I s
t myself, I was convinced I was going to lose it and everything went in slow motion, backed off, steered into it, it came around the other way, then back the other direction. It pendulemed 3 times and it wasn't like a typical wobble that gets less angle with each swing, I remember thinking it was going to spit me out so I just got on the brakes (which I've always been told you shouldn't do with oversteer), it then straightened up. Lucky I was on a 2 lane road so had space. That was about 2 weeks ago and I've not really booted it since then, just using it for work.
I've got a list of things I need to do, I've got something stuck in the garage so i've not been able to do any work on the Boxster. It needs suspension work, have a clunk from the rear and creaks from the front, this surely didn't help my attempts of trying to not crash. The charge cooler system is performing horribly so i've given up on the mapping until it's sorted. I hope it just has an air lock. I need to do something about the rear tyres, they are Continentals but are 8 years old, i'd like the replace the wheels ideally as i'm not fussed on them.
Since I wrote that update about needing to rely on it while my colleague was away it broke down the very next day. I needed to call for breakdown assistance I had the choice of someone out to fix or recovery, I had worked out it was a fuel pipe that had come off in the tank so I opted for someone with tools (which I then used to fix it myself). All done, I started to drive home, after about 15 miles it happened again. I couldn't face calling them again (maybe they'd have refused?!), luckily for me a mate happened to drive past and he went to my house to pick up some tools and I fixed it again. Once I got it home I had a good look at it. I used the fuel pipe supplied with the pump was really soft, it's almost like it wasn't suitable for being submerged in fuel. I replaced it and it's been fine since. Doesn't bode particularly well for the pump.
A few days later I sort of had another breakdown, I was out late making pulls in 3rd gear for data logging purposes, after taking it right to the rev limit I had a noise coming from the engine bay. Two ribs from the six rib drive belt had started to come apart and were flailing around making a right racket. Quite a strange way to fail, I've had belts snap, belts come off but not just a few ribs separate. I couldn't get my hand in there to rip them off so the choice was drive it and risk them wrapping around the cambelt (one section of the cambelt cover isn't used for engine swap reasons) or get recovery again. I took the chance of driving it and all was well. I've replaced the belt, I couldn't see what caused the failure, all the pulleys are good, no bad bearings.
The guy that's been doing the map had been hard work to nail down, i'd been on his case to make some progress, he'd agreed to do it on a Sunday evening which happened to be bad rain at the time, not ideal but I could hardly say I didn't fancy it. To make a log I needed to be in 3rd gear from low revs and take it to the redline (I think around 30-90mph). I was coming off a roundabout onto a dual carriageway, there is a slight bend before it straightens up, the run before had been fine but the second time, with some adjustments it came onto boost way harder than it had previously, the back end stepped out unexpectedly and I s
t myself, I was convinced I was going to lose it and everything went in slow motion, backed off, steered into it, it came around the other way, then back the other direction. It pendulemed 3 times and it wasn't like a typical wobble that gets less angle with each swing, I remember thinking it was going to spit me out so I just got on the brakes (which I've always been told you shouldn't do with oversteer), it then straightened up. Lucky I was on a 2 lane road so had space. That was about 2 weeks ago and I've not really booted it since then, just using it for work. I've got a list of things I need to do, I've got something stuck in the garage so i've not been able to do any work on the Boxster. It needs suspension work, have a clunk from the rear and creaks from the front, this surely didn't help my attempts of trying to not crash. The charge cooler system is performing horribly so i've given up on the mapping until it's sorted. I hope it just has an air lock. I need to do something about the rear tyres, they are Continentals but are 8 years old, i'd like the replace the wheels ideally as i'm not fussed on them.
I just want to get the tune finished and then i'll take it easy. I'm not a liability usually and I wouldn't have normally booted it in those conditions but there was someone on the other side of the world waiting for a log and i'd been on his case to spend some time on it. I was just a bit caught out the way the boost came in. I think it probably stepped out at about 50mph.
It's a project with moving goal posts. When I built the first car I wanted 500+bhp and it would be used just for fun. You wouldn't be getting that out of the Porsche engine reliably or cheaply, it made total sense on every level as far as i'm concerned.
I'd thrown the towel in after the fire, I was going to take up cross stitch and collecting stamps. Lots of very generous people helped me out (thank you) and the new plan was just to get a Boxster running an Audi engine as cheaply as possible. As you can see in this thread, it's been a windy road to do it, I bought 2 Audi's to break for parts and sold off some Boxster parts to make it happen. I get that the engine conversion makes slightly less sense when it's only 350bhp, it doesn't seem like much these days. That said for some perspective, a Cayman GT4 is 380bhp and my car has shorter gearing and way more torque, on the streets i'd fancy my chances.
The good thing about these Audi engines is the tunability, it's a set of injectors, a pair of turbos and a remap away from being 450bhp.
I'd thrown the towel in after the fire, I was going to take up cross stitch and collecting stamps. Lots of very generous people helped me out (thank you) and the new plan was just to get a Boxster running an Audi engine as cheaply as possible. As you can see in this thread, it's been a windy road to do it, I bought 2 Audi's to break for parts and sold off some Boxster parts to make it happen. I get that the engine conversion makes slightly less sense when it's only 350bhp, it doesn't seem like much these days. That said for some perspective, a Cayman GT4 is 380bhp and my car has shorter gearing and way more torque, on the streets i'd fancy my chances.
The good thing about these Audi engines is the tunability, it's a set of injectors, a pair of turbos and a remap away from being 450bhp.
There are not many threads on here where, when I see an update, it feels like Christmas.
Ho ho ho!
I was very pleased to read that the result of snap-oversteer was not going backwards off the road into Armco. Good save. Still love the car and I think the graft you’ve put into it is something else.
Ho ho ho!
I was very pleased to read that the result of snap-oversteer was not going backwards off the road into Armco. Good save. Still love the car and I think the graft you’ve put into it is something else.
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