Tesla P90D swap into Cayman

I’m always interested in seeing LS swaps into a 987, but has anyone started a Tesla swap into a Cayman ? If not the Tesla Model S, perhaps the smaller Lotus based roadster engine? The problem I see with LS conversions is having to cut the firewall and losing 4 inches of legroom, doesn’t work for us over 6 foot and the angle of the axles seems extreme. Having an electric motor back there means you no longer need to shift gears, and have instant monster torque. Anyone know if an electric would fit?

What would be the point after all the battery weight was added? The Tesla weighs a huge 1,000lbs (33%) more than a Cayman does because of all the batteries. The car would handle like a dumptruck in its first turn due to all the added weight. It's not just a simple electric motor that must be placed in the Porsche. The entire chassis of the Tesla is a half ton of batteries, so where would you put them? You are talking a complete redesign and home made chassis that is capable of supporting the battery weight while also protecting them from damage in a crash which could cause a serious lipo fire. It would be easier and cheaper to just bolt a Porsche body on top of a Tesla chassis, and in the end you would have a $400,000.00 Cayman that handles as well as a tour bus in corners

You may have more luck with an old model Tesla roadster if this is what you want to do. I don’t think a Model S or X would be even remotely possible. In those cases the car is designed around the battery (which is essentially the floor). My advice is to just sit tight. Porsche has already demonstrated an electric Cayman. You won’t have to build one yourself unless you want to.

Evidently you haven't driven a Tesla P85+ that handles better than many sports cars and blows the Panamera out of the water. All the weight down low allows it to do things other traditional cars simply cannot. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

I looked it up the Tesla model S engine weighs 70 lbs, and its TINY. However, the batteries weigh a whooping 1200 lbs! So that is for the 300+ mile range sedan, couldn't you use a smaller battery source like the Roadster. . Thinking about it if you throw away the Porsche engine and transmission since you don't need a transmission anymore among other things in an electric car like smog, exhaust system, gas tank, heat shielding, and just use that tiny little electric motor that should save what 600lbs (wild guess no idea how much all that junk weighs), and then use half the batteries, don't need fuel tank anymore, and thats a protected part of the car, maybe the batteries go in that area, wheverver that is, hopefully between the axels. Come to think of it, I'm sure any LiIon batteries could be used, if a Nissan Leaf has a smaller battery pack use that, or heck use laptop batteries. This guy did the swap with an mid engine Lotus Evora: There are some videos how he built the motor and batteries into his car here and dyno https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDu9HpPD8VY He used VOLT battery packs, wonder if those are showing up in junk yards yet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt4fGIoVMpM Looks like this car dominated this years time attack, won first place in his class and even the unlimited rear wheel drive class cars he beat them all!. I guess this is the future, guess that is the point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If09etyztl8

I was talking about an electric conversion today. If costs came down a bit I think it would a great alternative to a repair of a stock motor that was badly broken. Good read here. https://www.corvetteforum.com/forum...orums/c4-general-discussion/2857006-mo-s-electric-corvette-lot-of-pictures.html

very cool. I think we need to give it a few more years so the parts start showing up in junkyards. You would need to source some low mileage battery packs from a PRIUS, LEAF, or VOLT as those are more affordable cars and most likely to show up in yards. Then maybe once Model 3's start showing up in junkyards over the next decade, they "sold" a few hundred thousand already, then I think it makes for a cool project to convert cars like Caymans with blown engines.... I have 100k on my M97 so hopefully I get it to last until 150k and can put this plan into motion

This is actually my goal with the cayman I recently bought. I am first doing a budget LS setup though, so it won't be straight from stock to tesla conversion but I basically want to mimic Sasha's setup on his evora. I won't be acquiring parts though for about another 8-12 months, but I'll keep you posted. It will be very interesting to see how the motor/diff fits in the cayman . I'm hoping to use the chevy volt batteries which are configured in a t and put them in place of existing engine/trans.

<on soapbox> I can't think of a single reason why doing this would make sense. Want a Tesla? Go buy one for WAY less that it would cost to do a conversion (even if it's possible), leaving you with a 4000+ pound Cayman that has zero resale value. If you want a difficult technical challenge to tackle, I'm sure you could come up with a project that rather than being an intellectual exercise might make the world a better place to live; this planet needs a lot of things, but a Tesla-ized FrankenCayman isn't one of them. <off soapbox>