Boxster V8 project log - Page 8 - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Till now most of my info and questions have been scattered across a number of posts, maybe it is time to create a project log to wrap it all together. The start: A cheap-ish 1997 986 base model. The goal: A good quality 986 V8 So I started with a 1997 Boxster because it is the only year where I can swap in a different engine and get it inspected cheaply and with minor requirements. Basically it should be technically sound, but not strict requirements on noise / emissions etc. 1998 and later require more paper work, inspection etc and I wanted to avoid that. This Boxster actually looks quite alright. It aint no beauty (but neither am I), but no big dents, tears or such. I now know that it has had a few incidents in it's life, hoping it is still straight and true but should find out in the coming months. On to the goal. I've always wanted to have a mid engined car again (started my car career with a Pontiac Fiero) and a V8 is one of those engine you need to have had one of. So far I've only had a share of inline fours and various six cylinders (flat, V and inline). So there we have the Boxster which can combine both. And from what I have read is actually a pretty well handling car. On top of that I really engine working on cars and having a hobby car makes sense. I can work on it when it suits (many other things to do) as there is no need for the car. No stress, just enjoyment. For me working on the car and puzzling the right solution is as much fun as driving it. So I am fully aware that it makes no financial sense to do this project. It is just a hobby. So on the list is an Audi V8, most likely coming from a VW actually, the Phaeton. Likely I'll use an Audi 0A2 gearbox as well, but the Porsche G87.21 is an option as well. Basically they are the same gearboxes, but the Audi has way taller gearing.

So a brief overview of the current status, to be detailed with some pictures during the coming weeks / months. I decided to split the project in two major parts; 1. Make the car driveable and solid. Swap the gearbox 2. Do the engine swap Part 1 is starting to near completion. Work done so far (in no particular order) - Fixed AOS of the engine - Replaced clutch - Fitted G87.21 gearbox - Coupled some 987 Cayman S driveshafts to it - Used 987 wheel carriers to fit these driveshafts. - New brake discs and pads to suit - Refreshed rear suspension (M030 springs, Bilstein B6 struts, strut mount, control and track arms) - Removed AC (compressor, all lines, condensors. evaporator is still in) - Replaced PCM by simple radio, CD changer removed - Radio and Clima moved up. Bottom is now clear, trying to find console delete kit to cover it up nicely. - Aftermarket alarm removed (what a pain) - Old phone carkit removed - 997 Shifter mounted - M030 springs and B8 struts at the front - Fixing damage on drivers side front (mainly air channel damage, lost fasteners etc.) - Replacing radiator vent lines (dripping) - Replaced cooling fan (wasn't functional anymore) - Fixing front water drains, both were blocked of which one with glass. New grommets to go in. Left to do for part 1: - Build the front-end of the car back together (waiting for correct new fasteners and water drain stuff) - Finish last damaged wires for radio (antenna cable is one of them) - Put the final interior parts back together. - Fit the exhaust. Used aftermarket one going in which just clears the longer gearbox, need to adapt the U-bends and fab a mount to the gearbox. - Finalize rear and last engine compartment parts (fan is dangling etc.) - Get it aligned and inspected. - New front tyres.

Plan for Part 2: I am expecting to pick up a moveable shell of a 2003 S. This will become very useful: - It allows to build the whole V8 conversion into this tub, before swapping it over to my car - Larger coolant pipes and hoses for the center radiator (if that turns out to be needed) - ABS 5.7 to replace my ABS 5.3. This interfaces to the 987 rear sensors. - Wiring loom providing the connectors and wires for these sensors, also the fronts - It has the correct front ABS sensors. - Likely the wiring loom has some convenient connections for the new ECU, missing in the 97. - S brakes in case I want to upgrade. Engine wise the BGH Phaeton engine is a candidate. Available in low mileage still. Also considering the slightly older versions (S6, S8) which have higher power. The BGH seems to have convenient locations of the pulleys and water channels. It runs a DME 7.1.1 which should interface ok with the 1997 car and ABS 5.7 Gearbox is already sorted, but might couple it to the taller 0A2 instead. Need to make some calculations on this. Plan to run the 981 PSE exhaust. I have one side with damaged pipe and this seems to fit the 986 like a glove. Cut the pipe and weld a flange on. Then the main concern would be the pipe between engine and exhaust, fitting a cat somewhere in between.

I've started on a V8 swap a few times, but never finished. The last time I stopped on it was when I realized that my engine cradle held the engine too high for the gear shift cables to reach. Be sure to consider all the details like that as you go forward. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress! Here's a link to one that was swapped a few years ago with an AYS engine from an S8 that has a lot of good documentation. It may be helpful if you haven't already found it. https://sites.google.com/view/boxsterv8swap/home

Thanks for the reminder ;-) Indeed shift cables was one of my questions and somehow it feels better to route them on the lower side next to the engine. Will keep an eye on it. Things like these are the reason I'll be picking up that rolling chassis. It should allow me to make this whole puzzle without having to take my car apart. My time is limited so otherwise it could easily become a long journey without a car to enjoy. Just had another look at your link. The site and photos I have seen before, but I notice that it is still being updated. I'll have a closer look as I do see a G87 box on the pictures, but not in the car..

Pardon me for jumping in w/ an issue and not a lot of details to go along w/ it, but isn't there a problem w/ 97 986s wearing tires > 17" ? IIRC, the issue was the strength of the metal surrounding the suspension was "weak" and would potentially crack if you used bigger tires than what came from the factory. In 98 and newer models Porsche strengthened that area and it was no longer an issue. I bring it up for consideration since a V8 will probably add weight to the equation and could stress a weak pt of the 97. Sorry I can't add more detail as I never intended to buy a 97 so I never paid those old threads debating it much mind - I have an old processor (brain) and it'll only hold so much data. But I mention it so others can chime in. It might just be internet lore and has been debunked but wouldn't want you to go hip deep into this project and then find out there's a major problem because of a structural weakness on the 97. When I first joined the forum oh those many yrs ago, we had a member who was a MD State Patrol officer w/ a 97 and he had 18" wheels on it. In his signature, he said he was 'cheating death' w/ those wheels. Good luck w/ your adventure.

Thanks for bringing that up. I read about that issue only after buying the car and have since not find any detail about it. Indeed there seems to have been a change for year 98 and up and only those years are allowed to run 18" wheels. This seems a bit odd as these would not give significantly more load on the suspension. There are many 97 models with 18"out there and I have yet to read about any actual issue / failure. For the moment I am not worried due to lack of massive failure reported. Also no recall of whatever sort for the 97 models. It seems a bit of a theoretical issue rather than a practical one. The Audi V8 weighs in about the same as the M96. With AC and PS removed I don't expect any weight increase at all. Surely it will need to put some more power down. That said, it would be really interesting to know what the potential weak point is and how it is resolved. I'll take the car apart anyway and it could provide an opportunity to strengthen any known weak point. So if some factual info is out there, it would be great!

The main bulkhead and engine compartement side panels where replaced with substantially thicker stampings starting on the 1998 model year to address the structural failures that were observed when running larger diameter wheels on the 1997 model. This was particularly a problem when running larger diameter wheels with sticky compound track tires, but failures also occured on street driven only vehicles. I have no idea of how many failures occured, but I know we have seen atleast two cars with this problem when doing PPI inspections for potenital buyers.

My notes from almost 20 years ago taken from Porsche documentation. The '97 to '98 change was: 18” wheel option with rear chassis reinforced to accept new wheels. Rear body structural change included redesigned wheel wells and coil spring mounts, lower engine compartment bulkhead, rear wall cross member and rear axle mount reinforcements.

Thanks, that's really helpful! I'll be sure to take a close look at the 2003 tub that will be coming and keep an eye at changes. The axle mounts can be swapped over.

Picked up some parts from the dealer today. New radiator breather hoses with new clips are now in. The clips are really nice, they now come preloaded. So you just slide them on and snap them into place. That allowed me to bolt the last things in place behind the radiator and start putting the wheel well liners back in place (with new fasteners). Also got the new rubber pieces for the front water drains and hope to get them in this weekend. Then I should be able to bolt the whole front of the car (bumper cover, wheel liners and frunk parts) back together.

Just a wild stab — I'm guessing Marc_986 is not a Porsche purist.

Why would you think that? If I were a purist, this isn't the Porsche I'd have bought. It was quite a fight getting the water drains fixed. Well, the drivers side one was fairly easy as you can reach it from the bottom and put it roughly in place. The passenger side was a sincere struggle. Ended up folding up the grommet part with a screw driver through the middle (to keep the plastic hose / pipe aligned). With the grommet in place I used a set of pliers to pull the hose / pipe up, groove by groove. All in now. Wheel liners are in and the bumper cover is on. Much better than before. I did spot an issue with the side markers though. When I push them in they sit too low and have a hard time to click in place. It looks like there is a ridge in the plastic part attached to the car which prevents the correct location. As the car orignally would have had amber side markers and clear ones are now in, could this be a difference between those markers? Also got a first chance to roughly check the front camber adjustment range. Bit hard to judge as the phone level changes a bit depending on the position you hold it in (as in upside down, front to back etc.). Worst numbers on both side (least negative camber) give -0.3deg to -0.9deg. Quite equal on both sides. I set it to full negative for now.

Front now mostly back together and suspension tightened up. The new clips for the undertray are metal and snap into place very nicely, great stuff. Yesterday I took of the rear bumper cover. One thing to fix while I am in there is the rear spoiler lip which shakes and rattles. See my thread here: https://986forum.com/forums/666361-post1.html I think removing the rear bumper as well should give me good access to the exhaust from the rear. So I started bolting the rear back together (support plate, diagonal braces etc.). Two holes are a few mm out of alignment so I guess I have to push on one side of the car to get them to align and bolt them up. Otherwise progressing well on that side.

Just use a ratchet strap to pull them in. Very easy.

Thanks! Got the holes to align today. It was fairly easy with two people, one pulling a little bit while to other drops the bolt in. Seems to fit without issue, so giving some confidence in this car. Measure the ride height as well today, The front seems a bit low at 12.7mm but the tires look a bit low on pressure. So I guess it will pop back up to the correct height for M030 ROW. The rear sits a bit on the high side, more or less at spec for normal ride height. So either it will need to sag a bit or the car doesn't have the weight yet. No big issue anyway. Next step to do a coarse rear alignment.

Hi Marc, I'm working on a V8 swap 914 with 6 speed Boxster gearbox. Hope we can share notes. Currently trying to decide between Audi ABZ v8 and Chev LS4. Right now designing engine adapter plate/flywheel. I need to know the distance between the engine (M96) and gearbox mounting surfaces. Is there any chance you could help me out with that? Thanks

That wasn't real clear. The measurement I need is between the flywheel friction surface to the M96 engine/gearbox mounting surface. This will tell me where exactly the disc is positioned on the input shaft. Then I can design my flywheel

Hi cooler, I don't have that measure, I looked carefully at the gearbox side (G86.00 / G87.21 and Audi 0A2), not the engine side. Are you looking at the 6 speed 986 box or the 987 unit? To my knowledge the bellhousing of the 986 version (G86.20) does not fit the audi V8 (without adapter), where the G87.20/21 and the 986 5-speed do. Also driveshaft lengths differ. The 986 6-speed is a bit of an odd one.

Hi Marc, Thanks for the response. I'm using the early 986 S 6 speed G86.20. The dowel pins and a few bolt hole line up with the ABZ Audi V8, I can not confirm other Audi V8. The important thing is that the dowel pins line up and that at least some of the bolt holes also line up. The problem conceived with the early 986 S 6 speed is the 12 o'clock starter pocket location. This conflicts with the Audi V8 starter position at 5 o'clock (viewed from the rear) as the G86.20 does not have a starter pocket at 5 o'clock unless you hacked a hole for the Audi starter nose cone. I don't like the idea of hacking a stress riser in the side of the bellhousing but, if one were to use a starter with out a nose cone, like the M96 starter, all that is needed is a notch in the bellhousing to clear the starter gear. See photo (if that works) You may notice a sharpie mark at the center of the starter socket and imagine the notch required for the starter gear as it protrudes to engage the ring gear. As the ring gear is located nearly flush with engine the notch needs only to be about 10mm deep into the bellhousing and does not actually breech the outer bellhousing wall. Marc, do you posses a M96 engine with flywheel attached?

I do have a M96 engine with flywheel attached, but the issue is that it is currently in the car, fitted with a clutch and bolted to the G87.21 gearbox. I don't plan to take that apart for the coming year as I will be building up my V8 swap in a spare tub. There seem to be quite a few people on the forum working on their engines at the moment, so I would suggest to look around the recent post and see if someone is willing to take measurements. Otherwise I can do that in a few weeks time when I pick up the tub. That company always has a few engines around.

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Thanks so much Mark Please do measure for me when you get the opportunity. I have tried to urge others to do so without success. My adapter development depends on that measurement. My adapter will result in a adapter that is about 30mm thinner which should interest those performing swaps that are longitudinally challenged for space.

The measurement should come any time soon, hopefully this week. I was there today to pick up the carcas, but the only engines with flywheel where high up. So he will pick one down and measure. So, on to the carcas. As said, I was able to pick it up today. It was a 03 S, so has the right wiring loom and ABS unit for me to use. Also all cooling pipes (thicker than base) and radiators are on. Brake system is complete (I have the calipers as separate parts with me). Some parts will go back in a few weeks and will be replaced with my own. Having them on the car now was easier for transportation and ensures no hoses are cut etc. Rough plan is to transplant ABS and all associated parts coming winter. I might put the S brakes on as well. In parallel I intend to source my V8 and start the mechanical fitting part. Also I could move to electro hydraulic power steering. For now I am finishing the car as it is. Final wires for the radio etc. will be soldered tomorrow so I can put the interior back together. Picture to show what I picked up:

Hi Marc, It's great to see you moving forward on your project. Are you still planning to use an Audi V8?

Yes, plan is still to source an Audi V8 for this project. With this scrap car I likely have all the parts needed from the Porsche side (just checked that it also has the DBW 'sensor' for example). Just was able to confirm the ABS unit it has is the correct one for my needs, so all green lights so far. Little set back on the radio though, the little harness I soldered works fine, but the Porsche microphone doesn't work on the radio. So I need to mount the new microphone in place of the old Porsche one.

So there are many variants of the Audi v8. I posses an ABZ I can provide information if you would like. I have also decided not to use it in favor of an Chev LS4. Funny, I had a dream last night of a guy that was trying to sell me an air cooled 911 engine. One which he developed a fix for cracks in the heads (even though this is not an issue with those engines). This reminded me of an air cooled 2.7 that I rebuilt 15 years ago. I spent 10K then, on parts alone for an engine that make only 200hp weighed 500lb and continued to cost thousand on fuel injection part to keep running. I spent more time working on it than driving it. That said, this is why we swap out Porsche engines. I do not know from experience but it seams the M96 also is plagued with issues. The Audi V8 appeared to be a natural for rear mid-engine swaps. They are very compact longitudinally, bolt directly to many Porsche and Audi gearboxes and are relatively light weight (340lb bare). I hope I'm wrong but unfortunately it appears that many parts are no longer available and on line talk of working on them has fallen silent 15-20 years ago. I am not a machinist and can't make my own parts so I have moved on to the LS engine which will be a more difficult swap but it will always have parts availability and serviceability at least in North America. You can have mine if you pay shipping.

Yes, fortunately here in Western Europe there is a good supply of Audi V8 engines, so it is the logical choice for me. I am strongly leaning towards the engine from the VW Phaeton. It seems mechanically the best fit, has good power and is a bit more modern than the ABZ (which is a great engine, but difficult to find with reasonable mileage). Also this era of Audi V8 runs on DME7.1.1 which is close to the ECUs used in the Boxster. It shouldn't be hard to get it to run in a Boxster. Do you have a build log of the LS4 swap? Always interested to see what others are up to. What I have seen so far on Chevy swaps is that they do require more modifications to the car.... Still hoping someone is working on an Audi V10 swap, should be possible to get it to fit with the right gearbox. Too big of a step for me now.

Hi Mark, Compatibility of electronics definitely deserves careful consideration. My project car is a 914 so no electronics interface to speak of. I do not have a build log but will, when I've developed a solid plan for the engine conversion. There are several kits available but all of them add about 50mm longitudinally to the assembly. My plan is much simpler and adds only 6mm longitudinally. Popular longitudinally challenged LS swaps like the 996, 986 and A4 should require little if any body modifications. I have seen others online working on V10 and W12 conversions using the G86.20 and the newer Audi transaxle that has the axle through the bellhousing, I think on the GT40 Forum.

Big step forward today for getting the car back on the road. One of the things to resolve was getting the speedometer to work. The reason it didn't work is that the driveshafts are not compatible with this ABS unit (ABS 5.3). So my plan was to repin the ABS connector and swap the rear wheel sensor providing the speed signal with a front wheel sensor. There was a trick which took me a little time to find out. The terminals in the connector are held in place by a little strip as well as by the regular tabs. Two strips in total, one pink, the other white. These come out from the sides: Once these are removed, the terminal come out easily using a removal tool; Swapped the pins I wanted to swap and put the connector back together. I did a quick test and I now see an indicated speed when I turn the front left wheel by hand. Hooray

Great step today for getting the car back on the road (with flat six still). The right catalytic converter showed up yesterday. Today I was able to transfer the o2 sensor, some plug bolt and block off the second O2 port. Then the pipe was mounted and after a bit of wiggling all fits now Also hang the rear bumper cover to check clearance, positioning, angle.. The muffler clears my gearbox (which was the whole intention behind getting this sausage type muffler as the stock muffler doesn't clear the G87 gearbox) and also enough space to the bumper cover. At the moment it sits a bit off-center, but I hope I can wiggle it some more to get it right. Next step is to make a bracket to hold the muffler to the gearbox. Part one of carboard template is done, part two to follow any time soon. Then I'll make a metal version. That should allow me to mount everything back up.

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Why stop at V10? Give me the XJS V12 swap. European V12 mid engine roadster! I almost bought an XJS about 20 years ago, but my brother talked me out of it. Absolute train wreck of a project, but damn do i still pine for one.

Well, I think the Audi V10 would fit as it is a compact engine. Probably similar in length as an LS. I don't know any V12 that would fit without a good stretch ;-) Anyway, back to business. Tomorrow is crunch time for my 986. I took it off the road for a year, but that is due to expire next Tuesday. So I better get an inspection now instead of renewing the off-road status. So after the catalytic converter arriving last week it is now mounted and a bracket was made this weekend to secure it to the gearbox. All solid now. Then I bolted the rear braces back. This morning I was able to start the car It sat for a year and a half and so much was done that it was actually an exiting moment. Just a few turns and it sprung to life. Little lifter noise, but that was about it. Then I was even able to move it forward and backward a bit on its own power (which was another great deal as I mounted this unknown condition G87 box and had some difficulties in bleeding the clutch slave.). This afternoon I did a coarse alignment of the rear suspension, such that I can at least drive it safely to the test center. Rear bumper mounted back up, engine cover closed and quite a number of small things that needed to be done still. Then this evening I took it for a drive (sorry mr. policeman). All gears functional . So far, all systems green. It did smell rather strong after the drive, likely due to burning of grease and sticker stuff from the exhaust. I guess that should become better in a few drives. Alignment is off a bit, but it isn't scary to drive. So tomorrow it will be tested. Fingers crossed it passes and I can solve minor things at my own convenience and actually start to enjoy the car for the first time

Some observations after the short drive: - The car drives soo much better with the M030 suspension on. The original suspension was still in good shape, but this just feels a lot better in reaction. Really happy with it already. - It is quite a bit too loud for my liking. Not a real issue when hammering it down some country roads, but I already feel it can wear me (and the cars around me) out. I'll see whether I get used to it, or whether moving to the final exhaust is in order (have my eye on either 981 or 982 OEM PSE exhausts). - The speedo works with the ABS unit connector terminals swapped. Already checked it by hand before, but happy to see it as it surely is a requirement for the test - Visibility is really poor. Basically I am looking straight at the window frame. Can see the road fine, but looking in the distance or even up to traffic lights is near impossible. I'll need to lower my ass at least 2" to have good visibilty. - The new clutch (just SACHS OEM 2.5L clutch) is making the drive much more enjoyable. Previous one was worn to the rivets and made clutch actuation like driving a truck. - Shifting is soo much improved. The old 5sp was very notchy, the lever throw was long and there was enough play in the mechanism to need to guess the gear. The G87 box is much (!) smoother and the 987 mechanism more precise. Still not as good as I would want it to be, but miles better than before. So in many aspects the car is starting to come my way

The seating: So my issue is that my head is far too high in the car. Not really surprising, but something to fix. I am not that tall at all, about 6' to 6'1. But I have an odd aspect ratio having relatively short legs and a relatively tall body. Many cars have a similar issue in that the seat bottom moves up when it slides forward. So I need to slide it quite a bit forward, giving me a high position. Add my body length and you might see the issue. Open to suggestions. Sport seats would be nice, they don't need to be racing seats (I do intend to attend some track days in the future, but primary purpose is street). The seats should be low in the forward position (don't care about the rearward position). I prefer lighter seats (no power seat stuff needed, but heated would be nice to extend the top-down driving season).

I'm guessing you've lowered the OEM seats as much as possible? I'm 6'1, and with seats lowered haven't run into an issue.

Yes, they are most downward indeed. But the main issue seems the rising of the seats when sliding forward, which I need to operate the pedals

The annual inspection was delayed till today. I received a phone call this morning that it failed After all the work done, it failed on the horn So I went there and indeed, no horn. Hmmm, I did remove the front bumper, pretty sure I connected the horns again, but worth a check. They were connected. Next step, the fuse. Check location B3..... no fuse. Put a fuse in and voila, it hunks. But it doesn't stop. On to the switch, removed the airbag to confirm the rubbers of the metal plate are weak. Did a short research, read that some solved it with a few washers. So that's the easiest way. I put 4 washers in and mounted the plate back. Now the horn works as expected. Remounted the airbag and voila: PASS Drove off with the car and at the end of the street; no gear selection It was still in 2nd gear so I guessed it would at least get me home. It did. Checked it this evening and expected the outer cable to have come loose from the gearbox (the plastic clips were broken, so I ty-rapped it). But no, the cable end popped off. I'll need to do some research on a fix. I don't want to buy new cables as I might need a different length when the V8 goes in. Also noticed that one of the keys has a tendency to keep rotating in the ignition. Guessing the end of this ignition switch is coming close? Other key seems fine still. The remote on one of them also doesn't function, I hope it can be fixed with a new battery? So some work to do, but at least I can legally test drive it now

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Nice work! You can buy shifter ends I believe. For the key, it’s a pain - the fob cannot be reprogrammed. My second stopped working so trying to get it reprogrammed (and ordered a new chip). Dealer said they could do it before I bought the chip online but they are dodging my calls.

Thanks for the info I'll need to address the shift cable issue first. I did a bit of a search and concluded the following; - 987 6-speed shift cables are known to break. So OEM replacement doesn't make that much sense, I've seen quite a few reporting new cables failing in a few years. - Options seem to be: Considering the prices of a fix I'll try the custom fix first. I intend to make a steel plate, slightly larger than the cable end, and slot a hole in from one side. The hole will be smaller than the ball diameter. I'll make another plate and screw them together with the cable end in the middle. This way the end can't slip off the ball anymore. Any comments on the suggested fix are welcome. Overall it seems the way the cables are routed are the biggest reason for the end popping off and the cable snapping. It has an odd angle as it crosses over the engine, then moves steeply down again and bend back towards the mechanism. Apparantly this has improved in the 987.2 and 981 generations of the gearbox (having a different bellhousing). I do wonder why they have chosen to route the cable over the engine creating such a big loop. It would make more sense to route it low, along the sump towards the back?

So, it has been a while, but some things have happened (besides a good holiday ) I checked the shift cable with a ball from the old 5spd gearbox. I could pop it off easily by hand, so no big surprise that it would pop off the transmission. So it happens that I still had the linking rod (which goes from the right side of the transmission, over it, to the left) around. Figuring that these sockets were unlikely to have been stressed, these might be an option. I first tried one on a ball and it was not possible to separate by hand, so quite promising. Then cut a side off so I could remove the socket. Then the socket on the shift cable was removed and the better one put in place. I did put a small screw in to prevent it from rotating, but even without I doubt it would come loose that way. I have done some limited driving, so can't conclude yet, but hoping this will last me a good while.

Then I had an appointment to get the car aligned. First try didn't work as the ignition lock failed on me (keeping the key spinning without engaging anything). I ended up taking the mechanism apart, removing the old grease and putting it back together. As a bonus I did put a new switch on it and the many subsequent starts are giving me confidence that it'll last a good while. Second try for alignment now was a success. Rear wheels were within limits (one being on the edge) which was great to experience as I aligned it myself. The front was quite far off though and we put it back to spec. Resulting numbers: Front left / right Camber: -0deg 41' / -0deg 39' Caster: 7deg 33' / 7deg 37' Toe: 0deg 02' / 0deg 03' Rear left / right Camber: -1deg 08'/ -1deg 40' Toe: 0deg 05' / 0deg 01' Even though the left rear was on the edge of what we could do (toe link set to the extreme, than adjust the control arm to get the toe correct.) I see no reason to doubt the chassis. Knowing it has taken a hit at some point, this was the main thing I wanted to find out. So with that out of the way, some experiences and things to work on (knowing it makes sense to spend more on it): - The engine whine (see separate thread, will report any findings) - It has some shake in the steering on light cornering. Could just be the tires so will swap them first. - Feels like the engine mount is gone and I need an extra one for trial fitting the V8 in the wreck anyway. - The car is very noisy inside (even more than outside...). So I guess the lack of engine bay insulation is not helping and the rear cover doesn't fit very flush. Need to improve a bit. - All gears are functional (now I was able to test 6th gear on the 'new to me' gearbox). 1st gear is a bit hard to engage on downshifts, need to go really slow. Otherwise it synchronizes very nicely. - AOS was a main issue. The car doesn't smoke anymore and it smells a lot better. Also pulls better in the revs. - Seating position still is an issue and does make it less enjoyable to drive. Anyway,. to be continued.

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You can notch that area out without repercussions. I did on my car. 50k with no issues from that area. Lots of hard launches and beating the car in the mountains for testing purposes of course. I love a V8, but I'm now on a mission to never own a V8 anything. I'm going strait to V12 on my next project. Your build looks good wish you the best on your swap.

Tires swapped today (for some old, but A-brand low wear winter tires). Car is more steady, but still the steering feels a bit disconnected and some shake persists at light cornering (or across crests). So the tires are indeed to be improved, but I need to look at the steering mechanical parts as well. Overall condition of suspension arms is very good, so not the most likely source. Breaking down the steering I get to three main parts - Inner and outer tie-rods. - Steering rack - Column / shaft Is there a common approach to find which one of these is my source? Other than throwing new parts at it? Engine whine persists with belt removal. Needs further checking as well.

So I figure the disconnected steering feel could well be a separate issue from the shake. The swaybar bushings are in pretty bad shape. And with this anti-roll bar being of the original suspension, it would make sense to fit an M030 one to go with my new M030 suspension. These bad bushings might well be the cause of the vague transition side to side. When we rock the steering wheel violently it does sound like there is a bit of a knock. And when feeling the wheel or tyre at the same time, you can feel a boink. Do you think steering rack or tie-rods?

Quotes source post: 668532

The only way to diagnose is to inspect. The outer tie rod ends are super easy to see once the tire is off, obviously - for the inners, you will have to pull off the boot.

I looked up the prices for inner and outer tie-rods and new boots. Both TRW and Meyle are cheaper than I would have expected, so I'll go ahead and order these. I am refreshing the whole suspension anyway (rear already done except the anti-roll bar, front only the strut assembly and drop links done), so taking this step first. Will report back once that is all on the car.

Today I 'inspected' the steering rack. I was mainly searching for the part number to ensure I order the right boots. Didn't succeed in that, got the 996 and a bit, but not the last numbers that actually matter. Anyway, I noticed the driver side being dirty; Having read that the main failure of the racks can be found by a boot full of power steering fluid, this did scare me a bit. I popped the boot off but found nothing but a greasy rack I was now able to rock the tie-rods in different directions on both side. Passenger side, no play found, no noises, all good. On the drivers side I could get the clunk by rocking the tie-rod up and done (fore-aft was silent). It didn't sound like it was coming from the tie-rod itself. With the boot shifted aside I could see the rack (to toothed part) move along with the clunk. So I guess I am looking at getting a replacement rack....

Could a bent wheel or two be the source of your vibration?

I already changed the wheels to my second set, no difference. So I kind of ruled that out (along with the shabby tires).

In the background I am planning the engine side of things. I have done quite a bit of reading over the last year or two and it seems like there are two main areas that don't quite fit; 1. Timing belt covers 2. Intake So, on to getting myself an engine. Basically there are two real options (third for reference). 1. Timing belt 40V engine from Phaeton (BGH). 2. Timing chain engine from Audi A6 or S4 3. Timing belt 40V engine of the 077 family (ABZ, AYS, the lot) I am more and more leaning towards a chain engine. Open for inputs on my way of thinking; - It is quite more compact than the belt engines and no belt cover to interfere - Only the alternator driven from the regular belt, so open area at the front to mount it to the car (might be able to move the alternator to a position normally taken by the AC compressor?) - BBK engine from the S4 came in manual gearbox. Due to similarities with the A6 engine (BAT, BNK) I am confident we get it to run a manual. Also flywheel etc well available. - This engine is much more similar to the later FSI engines. For now I guess these would foul the engine cover with the high pressure pump and I am worried about the electronics side, but at least mechanically it would be close - Due to the above similarities with FSI engines from say the RS4 and RS5, there are more exhaust manifold / header options to choose from. Now looking at engine control side, these ones still run the DME 7.1.1. I am guessing (educated guess I hope) I would get the Phaeton engine to run using a 'Euro S6 flash' on the factory DME or swapping out the DME. It'll need retuning back to Phaeton values. For the chain engines I would think that the S4 DME would be the right starting point. I might need to map it back to A6 values if I find that engine instead. In any case, all running DME 7.1.1, so should be able to sort it out. Now the main concern with the chain engines is... ehh... well.. the chain. But by now I think the problem is so well understood and parts readily available that I could tackle that while the engine is out anyway, if needed. Honestly it doesn't concern me that much as there are still more engines out there on the original chains without issues than the ones that have failed. My daily driver has the dreaded BMW N47 engines, well know for... chain failure. It has now done well past 200k miles and is still going strong. Yearly inspected, no issues so far. Another good thing, the best bargain seems to be to get the engine with a car around it. Pull what I need, sell other bits which have some demand and scrap metal value for the rest... Cheaper than the engines on Ebay... Anyway, any reason (other than the chain) to avoid the chain driven engines?

In the meantime working on getting the car ready. Plan for this winter is ABS swap / brake upgrade, steering rack / electric power steering and fixing the top. Today I was able to power up the ABS 5.7 unit in the wreck, connected to the rear wheel speed sensor of my real car. I was able to see the signal on the sensor and count the pulses, 48 in total as I was hoping (that's what the 986 uses, so I was guessing the 987 was the same). That confirms that the 987 rear setup is compatible with the 986 front setup Next up was the speed signal (for my early intstrument cluster). At first no signal, so I assumed the output was open collector / open drain. Unfortunately a bit short in equipment at the moment, so I wired a few LEDs in series as a load. Voila, pulses on the ESO REAR output of the ABS module. I kind of was expecting a lower rate than the sensor, but it follows 1:1, so 48 pulses per rev. Now I need to confirm that the ABS 5.3 does the same, but I am rather confident. Both ABS versions have a ESO (speed signal) with the same white / brown marking to drive the AHVAC module (something with automatic headlight leveling for the Litronics). Next steps: - Transfer the hardware from the wreck to my car. That is ABS 5.7, brake lines, bulkhead feedthrough etc. At the same time I'll swap out the brake hoses and fit the Boxster S calipers. - Update the wiring in my car (sensor wires to the wheels, ABS 5.7 connector with power etc.). At this time I'll also prepare the wiring for the electric power steering pump.

So, forward with the hardware swap, some nice steps made there. This is the ABS 5.3 unit still in the car; Then, taken out (along with bulkhead feedthrough block as I need one with the additional rear line) And the ABS 5.7 in the car (not screwed down, so it is still tilted a bit) I also managed to take the single rear brake line and the T-union out of my car and replaced with the two rear lines from the wreck (along with union). Front brake lines mounted back as well. It does seem like I will need to swap out the rear brake lines, or at least the right rear (which is the hard one). The nut on the brake line has a different thread than my old brake line. I removed these rear lines from the wreck as well today, but install will have to wait till the work on the front side of the car is done. Next step is to finalize the two brake lines to the rear (tighten them, clip them in) so I can re-mount the washer bottle and headlight etc. Then I'll finish the front left side of the car with a new brake hose and the S-brake (disc and caliper).

Meanwhile I ordered and received a Volvo power steering pump. Cheap and low mileage unit, so should be good. I'll probably give it a short test in the weekend to see whether it spins up. So far, I don't think it is going to fit where I wanted it to: Alternatively I could fit it behind the front bumper. I have all the hardware to install the third radiator there, but am questioning the effectiveness anyway... I'll need to have a further look into this.

Little progress on the brakes Left side brake is now mounted. New hose, line, caliper and disc from the wreck. Big part of the job was removing the ABS sensor. Ended up snapping it off and drilling / burning / prying it out. Luckily the new type sensors from the wreck freed up instantly. These only have four 'ribs' into the hole, so no reason to get stuck Today I worked on the front right. Similar story, with main effort on the ABS sensor. Little setback on this side is the brake line. I can't get it separated from the hose, so I'll need to replace the line with the one from my wreck. To do so, I think the main hurdle is to release the tank strap and get the line through. Will try it out on the wreck first ;-) I might get a chance this weekend to try and finish the fronts.

Quotes source post: 668568

Mark, if you didn't find any oil inside the rubber boots, then the leak is from the viton o-rings that connect the metal pipes to the rack, these are not expensive and very easy to replace.

Thanks Gilles. I'll make sure I have new one in there when I swap the rack for a rebuilt one. The brake swap story starts to turn out into a bigger project (I wonder how many times that happens.. ). So the brake line left to right didn't want to let go of the hose. Even with the flare wrenches the nut got rounded, so even if I would get it off, it won't be re-useable. Checked how to get the line out, but really see no other option than dropping the subframe. So whilst I drop het subframe, it makes sense to do the steering rack at the same time. That means moving to the electric pump also. That needs to function, so the electrics also need to be done. It looks like the clips for the coolant hoses / pipes are accessible with the subframe in place, but there is so much space once it is out.... makes sense to use this time to drop in the S coolant pipes with the appropriate hoses. And with the ARB out, this needs either an upgrade or new bushings. On to the ARB. I found a post on this forum with a list of diameters: https://986forum.com/forums/boxster-general-discussions/13937-sway-bar-size.html However, is this a US list, or is RoW the same? I know there are difference in the springs between US and RoW models for regular as well as sport suspension. It could be the same for the ARBs? Right now I have a 23.6mm front bar on it and a 18.6mm rear. It is a combination that according to the list should not be on my car (97 base with std suspension). Whilst I have upgrade springs and dampers to M030 RoW, it seems most logical to do the same with the ARB. But why is the S different than the base?

Quotes source post: 668939

My point is that you may Not have to swap the steering rack and only have to replace the o-rings to stop the leak, awesome project, none the less :-)

Part number of US and ROW sway bars are the same. So i suspect parts are identical. Please take into consideration that stabilizer mountings and linkages need to be matched to the sway bar you choose. ROW US

Quotes source posts: 668940, 668942

Ah yes, but I'll replace it because of the play I found, not because of the minor leak. I am quite positive this is giving me the strange feel when turning. Even my wife notices it, so it is an obvious behavior. Thanks, that's really helpful. I'll take the front ARB of the wreck and see which size it is. For now I can only measure in the bend and that's not very accurate at all.

Another update for today. I spend a few hours removing both wheel carrier / control arm / strut assemblies after separating the tie-rods from the wheel carriers Then I released the power steering lines and took the rack out. Finally the subframe was removed. Sooo much space now ;-). The brake line is still held by the final remaining tank strap. At the moment my transmission jack is used to hold a bucket for catching the power steering fluid. I'll let it drip for a night, then I can use the jack to support the tank while I take the brake line out. I might hold off that job till I get my new line. Need to get that one ordered anytime soon. With all the stuff out of the way it is also time to think about the position for the power steering pump. Basically there are two options, each with pros and cons. I would welcome some feedback and / or alternative ideas. 1. Mount it in the frunk: + easily accessible + close to wiring options + 3rd radiator option remains open - takes space away from the frunk. Might not be the most visually appealing. - might mean I can't mount the spare wheel anymore 2. Mount it at the front, behind the bumper cover + seems like plenty space there + easy hose routing to the rack - longer electrical wiring, but still ok I guess - not accessible to fill it up (although I can't recall the last time I had to top up power steering fluid..) - no more option to add third radiator On the aesthetics of option 1 I was thinking of getting myself a brake reservoir cover from a RHD vehicle. That might work out nicely.

I ordered one of the plastic covers for the brake reservoir of a RHD car. It was cheap, so shipping costs a bit of time, but I might get it later this week. Old brake line is removed, new one is waiting for me at the dealer. Gave me some time to look at the parts on the wreck. I can't use that subframe is it has the additional bolts to the chassis. Was looking at that because one threaded hole in my subframe is damaged from removal of the bolt. Well, I think it was already damaged by the looks of the stuff that came out. Looks like it was glued in place. Anyway, it shouldn't be too hard to repair the threads, or rather drill it out and tap it one size bigger. The front ARB was removed from the wreck and this is the 24mm one. So I need to think which one to place on my car. Leaning towards the thicker one, accepting the increased understeer for the time, until I swap the rear one out. This does feel a bit better to me as I still need to get to know the car. Also I looked at the wiring diagram of both cars. As far as I can see F7 (in the power distribution box) should not be present in my car. So I can either use this for the additional fuse required by the ABS, or I can use it for the power steering pump. My first thought is that it is most tidy to use it for the power steering and tap the additional ABS power from one of the unused fuses in the fusebox.

Little update on this project. I picked up the new brakes lines and some small clips and pieces at the dealer today. First of, get the front brake line in place together with the new clips (one was broken on removal of the old line, the other looked poor as well). Also the small lines from MC to ABS unit were mounted. The plastic cover for the RHD brake reservoir also arrived, so I could position it and see what it brings. Actually, quite a lot of space within this cover. Unfortunately though, not fitting the volvo pump. For this to work, I probably need a Jeep / Dodge pump or something alike. I'd also need to sort out where to take the line from the inside to the outside. Most likely run it across close to the ABS unit and drill some holes to feed it down from there. The other idea in my mind required removal of the bumper cover. Easy enough, so off it went. I placed the third radiator for fitting and surely enough, no way to fit the power steering pump as well. However, without this third radiator, there is a lot of space to fit the pump: And the position is perfect for a short hose to the steering rack, with a nice channel available for routing the hoses: It looks like a no-brainer to mount it there. The only thing that doesn't feel right is that minor accidents which would normally only require a new bumper + cover will now likely slamp the pump into the frunk. Not a safety concern, but damage from small accidents can be quite more significant. So open for input while I also let it rest for a moment to consider this. As it stands I'll either need to get myself a different pump and mount it under this RHD cover, or just go for front bumper cover location.

I would have retain the center cooling radiator for the V8 engine and install the electric power steering pump inside the frunk, IMHO you would need as much cooling capacity as you can get to cool a V8..

There are quite a few cars with the power steering pump mounted horizontally. I wonder why I couldn't do the same with a volvo pump (I'd need the one for external reservoir, but otherwise they are the same). Horizontally, it would fit in the frunk, below the plastic trim piece, easily...

So, I've been thinking a bit. Seeing many conversions where people have put the pump in the wheel arch (most of the time in front of the wheel), why not do something similar? So obviously the front is not going to work, it is already tight enough with the radiators there and some space for the air to flow. But, at the rear of the drivers side front wheel, there is only the windscreen washer bottle. A quick look leads me to believe there is enough space to fit a power steering pump there. Still the rack is close, the reservoir can be put where we currently have the washer bottle filler neck. If this all fits, I would then only have to find a washer bottle which I can mount, preferably, on the right side of the battery. That would leave the frunk nice and empty... Any thoughts?

Managed to find some time to continue this story. Picked up a remanufactured steering rack for a good price at a specialist shop. So that'll go in once the other aspects are covered. I made a 'bracket' out of some sheet aluminium I had around. Bend by hand and cut with some tin snips. It is now inserted in the same holes that normally hold the washer bottle (I had a spare washer bottle around from which I cut the pins that go into those holes). It is not perfect, but does allow me to continue measuring and fitting. I removed the reservoir of the pump as the remote reservoir units are only slightly larger than the bare pump itself. Shot from below, so you can see where it might sit: From the side a view of the top. I should be able to get the hose routed in to the remote reservoir (which would still be higher than the pump). Not complete without trying to fit the liner back. As you can see I need to rotate the pump a bit (it is mainly the cut pressure line that pushes on the liner) and might need to move it up slightly more. Also it looks like I can reduce the tilt a bit. The bump in the liner looks significant, but that is partly due to it pushing the side away from the bodywork. Christmas period is upon us shortly, but I hope I can make a few iterations and get it to fit. Hose routing doesn't seem too difficult (yet).

Played a bit more with positioning of the pump. It is a bit tight, but I'm quite positive it'll fit. So I ordered a pump with remote reservoir and which includes the volvo bracket and rubber suspension things. Maybe that helps a bit towards the final positioning and bracket. Meanwhile I have taken the Boxter S cooland pipes out of the wreck as well as the coolant pipes out of my base car. I didn't quite imagine the difference would be so large: Looking at the area of the pipes on left / right sides, it is a very significant difference: Another thing I didn't realize is that basically everything between the engine and radiators is different in diameter. So not just these pipes and relevant hoses, but also the short pieces of pipe in the wheel wells and hoses to the radiators. I'll keep my car double radiator for now, so I need to find two additional hoses (as I won't be using the T-junction hoses towards the third radiator). All other parts (including clamps / brackets etc.) I can just transfer from the wreck

Mark, the pictures of the metal cooling pipes, one comes from a Base boxter and the other from the S model..? If so, then the difference is impressive!

Yes indeed, the black pipe is the base, the alu color one is the S. Before I mount it back I'll put my caliper in, but seems at least three times the area.

Last update for this year. Still no V8 (which was expected ) But progress on power steering. I received the remote reservoir volvo pump which unfortunately doesn't fit in the wheel well. The reservoir part on the pump is actually quite a bit larger than I expected, making it fit to high and doesn't allow the remote reservoir to be higher than the pump reservoir. So that option is out. So next option is the Astra pump. Visually it looked like the pump is actually the same. And having seen the TRW branding of the actual pump (the Volvo one) made me expect that it actually is the same basic pump, but the Astra reservoir is much lower. Ordered an Astra pump. Putting them side by side, the similarities are obvious; Taking the reservoir of to compare internals, pretty much the same pump: Looking at the reservoirs, it is amazing how much more compact the Astra reservoir is. So the size of the Volvo reservoir likely isn't for cornering loads, expansion or whather, just for a good fit in the chassis. So finally, let's put the Astra reservoir on the Volvo pump and try to fit in the chassis. Height wise, no issues. All good to fit the pump there. I'll need to work out the details for the hose routing. Two options I am thinking of: 1. Route them alongside the battery to the steering part, feed them down to where the original lines are. 2. Route them in the frunk towards the ABS unit and then down a bit. Feed them through there. I intend to run the Volvo pump as the CAN messages are known and speed can be adjusted. But if the hose routing favors the Astra pump, I might as well use that one

Today I swapped the small coolant pipes and hoses on the drivers side for the Boxster S ones. Unfortunately I did have to remove the radiator again, but it is more of a hassle than actual work. So the upgrade is done on the drivers side, other side to go (missing two hoses and a few clips which I'll need to order). Having done this gives a better view of power steering hose routing options. The wheel well is quite full already with this coolant lines, brake lines, clutch line, some wires. Also it gave me a third option for the steering lines. 1. As above, take the lines from the pump directly through the bulkhead to the battery compartment area. Then either route on the front side of the battery or more along the reinforcement bars on the wiper side. In any case, it needs to go the drivers side where they can go down through the sheet metal. On the bottom side of the car they would fit to the original hoses. No additional crossing this way and actually quite neat. Drawback seems that the separation between battery compartment and frunk becomes more compromised. But in any case there is only a rubber cap between now. Previously this was used for the CD changer wiring. 2. Likely needs to be revisited a bit. The approach would be to route 'behind' the spare wheel towards the bottom of the frunk where the lines can feed through to the steering rack area. They'll need a 180deg bend there, so I'd need to get a set of the rack to AN6 adapters. Still neat and tidy underneath the car, but the frunk will be less clean that way. 3. The new option is to route in the frunk, behind the amp directly to the drivers side. There it can go horizontally through the sheet metal to the wheel well. 90deg bulkhead adapters or 90deg hose fittings would get the lines down towards the steering rack. However, they would need to be routed on the wheel side of the coolant pipes. Not so nice, cluttered and unknown for clearance to the wheel. For now I do think option 1. is a good compromise. Already checked the length of original hose and it will easily make it to the top where a bulkhead adapter would be placed. I'll need to check a bit more on the battery compartment side tomorrow. It looks like I can go through the side sheet metal at the brake booster. N

Minor update while sorting out the steering parts; look what Sinterklaas gave me (a bit late, but ok) ;-) Two of these hoses go towards the radiator so I can run double radiator setup instead of three. I also got myself the set from the long bottom pipes to the wheel wells. These are easily accessible now and I'm not that sure that the 25-year old hoses will seal correctly again. Don't want to mess with these again

Some other parts arrived, mainly the inner and outer steering tie-rods with boots, but also two new brake hoses and the swaybar bushings. Oh, and a bottle of CHF202 for my power steering. While trying to sort out the power steering side, I did assemble the rack such that it is now protected (from dust, debris etc etc) before it'll be mounted back. Yes, I will need to crimp the rack side still. The tie-rods are a lot stiffer, as expected. No play on the old ones, but the difference with the new ones is huge. These are firm.

Today I picked up some hydraulic parts (hoses and different adapters) at the local hydraulics shop. Honestly, much cheaper than I would have thought. Pressure line will be 3/8" hose with 8L (M16x1.5) fittings Return line will be 1/2" hose with 10L (M18x1.5) fittings One of the fittings is a flat seal M16x1.5 adapter to fit the steering pump. The adapters I see on Ebay seem to replicate the hardline into the pump with an O-ring on it, but I really don't see why this adapter wouldn't work just as well. Here a picture with the adapter separately on the pump (somewhere in the middle) And once fitted, it look like this:

So I played around a bit on the car to check the different hose routing options. I think the one pictured below is going to be best. If you start looking from the left side you can see the hose left of the pump. It would fit through the bulkhead hole to the battery tray compartment. There it will follow the reinforcement bar to the wiper area (keeping it close to the window washer side so they won't touch the wiper arms) and back along the reinforcement on the right side. There, just right of the brake assembly they'll go down to the bottom of the car. From here the second set of hoses will fit in original mounting towards the steering rack. I think this will keep it all nice and clean.

Some parts are now being turned down as adapters to fit the steering rack. It did take a while before the final starting point turned up (and it ended up in stainless steel), but progressing finally. With the outside temperature a bit higher it was time to take the ABS5.7 connector off of the wreck. I was happy I got it apart and initially forgot to write down wire colors / pin positions to cross check against the wiring diagram I have. But once I realized I was still able to note down most of them. Then I turned my attention to the car. This time I did write down the colors. I only removed two terminals, just to check whether they would fit the ABS5.7 connector. And voila, they do. That should sort out most of the wires already. I'll now make an overview of what I can transfer across and which final difference remain to be resolved (and how many wire terminals I should order). Also I have taken the power steering pump connectors apart. Easy once you know how they are put together . Will order the new wire terminals for these at the same time.

Progress is being made. Yesterday, the adapters for the steering rack turned up: So these adapters go from the steering rack to metric 10L on pressure side and 12L on the return side. This morning I checked fitment. They fit inside the rack. I am able to wiggle them a bit more than the originals, so they appear slightly thinner, but in the end it is the O-ring with backup ring that should seal. No doubts on the return, hopefully the pressure line will be fine as well. And to understand where this came from, see below ;-) Also some exhaust news, but I'll post that later today / this weekend.

A little late to your party, but if you haven't already, check out Home Built by Jeff on Youtube: Roxster Build On the electric power steering, here is my setup. It's a kit from a guy in Florida. If you want some wiring tips I can help there as well. I have not checked wheel clearance in the wheel well yet, so there may be some adjustment necessary, but currently that's the best I can get. The eagle eyed among you might also notice I have modified coolant lines to add the 3rd rad to my base 986.

Many thanks I have seen the Roxster indeed, entertaining and informing at the same time ;-) The pump bracket you have, where does it mount to the chassis. The front seems to mount to the little folded 'ridge' that belongs to the chassis (which would otherwise hold the CD changer or a cover). I guess it also mounts to the bulkhead side? Would you mind sharing a picture of that. I'll be in the garage tomorrow and amongst other things, intend to look at bracket options. Would be interesting to know how the hoses work for you in the wheel well. I have decided on routing them along the battery and down where the brake rod passes. This will take it directly to the area where the steering shaft is and the hydraulic lines were. At the position where your feedthroughs are (the strut tower), the metal also seems rather thin. Did you reinforce it with some plate or are you happy enough how it is?

So I have my eyes open for any engines that come by. This week a AQJ engine popped up for little money (it could actually be a ARS, not 100% sure from the ad, for that money even an ARS would help me along...) So time to dig a bit further before driving over and spending the cash. What I found so far (please do correct me if I miss any insights here); - Most swaps have the transmission lowered (by up to 2") - Some swaps have left the transmission in the original location Lowering the transmission is a real concern for me. I already feel that this part of the car is rather weak and it will weaken further. Also, maybe more importantly, I fear it will give me a headache when trying to get the car through the required inspection (authorities need to clear it, it will remain a road car). Also chopping up the car (ok, I am exaggerating..) is not my preferred way forward. From the data I have, the chain engines are significantly smaller (length and height). Also looking at the pictures of the swaps with belt engines and pictures of the chain engines, I think the front side will clear the engine bay of the 986. The rear side however will be more challenging I think. There seems to be a bit more overhang over the transmission and we'll need to get the intake routed somewhere. Original intakes seem to route over the head on one side of the engine. This might work with the Cayman engine cover I have, but unsure. As stated before, the BBK engines (S4 model) go for ridiculous sums of money. Getting myself a full S4 will be cheaper (and ensure I have all I need etc.). Plus, the S4 was available with a manual. More likely though, I better search for an engine out of the C6 A6 model (BAT engine). Slightly higher torque, slightly lower more, much better on the wallet. I think I need to stay away from the FSI engines as the ECU will be much more difficult and the high pressure pumps seem to be really high on the engine. Anythink I am missing here? What do you think, worth trying out the smaller chain engine?

Quotes source post: 669635

Apologies for the late response! I figured as much, just wanted to make sure. I'll try and get you a photo, but yes it mounts to an existing bracket for the lower mount, and I had to drill a hole through the bulkhead for the upper mount. I'll try and get you a photo, but it's pretty much as you described. It is at least 2 walls, if not 3, of metal, it's quite solid, and the fittings have retaining nuts, it feels very solid. I'm not worried about it, but will obviously be keeping an eye on it. For the wiring, the pump came mostly pre-wired with a main fused power and ground going direct to the battery, and then two activation wires that need 12 volts each. I found another person who used 2 wires at the ABS connector, one that has ignition switched 12V and one that has alternator switched 12V, so the pump only comes on when the engine is running, which is nice. Here is the pinout diagram that matches my connector, I see you've done some work in that area so yours may vary, I don't recall the wire colours, and it's all buttoned back up but I seem to recall blue/black being one?

Thanks, that is most useful. I figured I could take the alternator wire from the ABS, also as the ABS5.7 does not use it anymore. But also useful to take the other wire from it.. Still depends a bit on which pump I end up using. A picture of the pump mount would be helpful, I intend to work on that next week. The forum seems to be done a lot, so here is the progress of last few days. Main work was to make the bulkhead holes for the feedthroughs. One 16mm for pressue, and one 18mm for the return. Then cut the hoses to size. Now looking from the bottom of the car, you can see these drop more or less straight down to the rack. Also they do clear the steering shaft easily. Hoses are short, so while I did intend to mount them to the chassis at some intermediate point, I now don't feel any need Today I went to the hydraulics shop and got the hoses crimped. Looking good; I just ordered O-rings. When they come in and seem to fit, I'll also update my separate thread on the sizes I found to be good. With this done I mounted the (cleaned) subframe back to the car (including new tuning forks and control arms). There was one thread of the diagonal braces damaged on removal. I rethreaded this one before I put the frame back. These braces themselves were quiet severly corroded, so I cleaned them up as best as I could and resprayed them. Should look a lot better now. Also started stripping some wires I need from the wreck. Turns out that they potted the bulkhead feedthroughs to the interior. Messy and tedious job to remove all that.

Engine wise I got an offer on a 60k miles BBK engine. For BBK this is the best offer I have so far at around $ 4k for full engine (including everything, ancillaries, manifolds, wires, ECU, the whole lot). It is from an auto car though, so I would need to get myself a flywheel. Still not cheap for an engine which is unknown to fit haha. Need to think about it a bit, open for input from you all as well. (as reference, the next best BBK quote I have is double the price for similar mileage and more of a longblock than a full engine). Will spend some spare moments this weekend to check offers on BAT engines. Ebay is no good though, they all go for more than the BBK. For those unfamiliar with the BBK, it is the engine with chain distribution from the Audi S4. 344 PS at 7000 RPM, 410Nm (302 ftlb) at 3500 RPM. A bit famous for the chain issues, otherwise an engine with some character.

Ah, I like the way you routed the hoses, I wish I had thought of that, no possibility of wheel interference. I may try and retrofit mine, especially if I have any issues. Here are a couple of pics of the mount, let me know if you need anything else. It came with a plate that goes into the body bracket with two nuts on it for fastening. edit: this is where I bought the kit from edit 2: here is another option with a different style of bracket that might give you ideas

Thanks for the pictures and links, most helpful. Didn't manage to look at it today, but will certainly get my pump choice made and bracket worked out this week Today I bought one of those pliers for the steering rack dust boot clamps. Clamped them on so I could install the rack. Easier said than done as it was a lot of prying and wiggling to get the steering shaft onto the rack. Surely at the first attempt it was of by a notch, so had to do it twice. I probably could have lived with a little difference in left / right wheel rotation, but wanted it to be correct (and didn't want to pull the steering wheel off). Anyway, it is on now and the steering rack bolted down and torqued. Some big news today as well as I decided to buy that engine. In about a month time I will be the owner of that Audi BBK engine. To be honest, not really the right time with other expenses which should really have priority. Still went for it as I have been looking around for probably the last year and didn't get anywhere near this deal. I probably could search longer and find a damaged S4 to take the engine out and sell the other bits. That likely would end up with a lower price for the engine, but much more searching and selling / dismantling. Also, the mileage on such engine is expected to be higher (by far most available or over 120k miles, many over 200k.). Let's hope it fits better than the belt distribution engines. So pressure is on now, need to finish the current projects soon such that I have space for the wreck and engine in the garage. The engine comes with a 6month warranty, so ideally I would have it running in six months. That would be in the wreck, not in my car yet. I'll need to prepare the wreck a bit for this to happen. Final mechanical fit is not critical, but I need to know whether it would work in the end. Then I still have a complete fuel system in the wreck to hook it up to. Cooling will come from my car (as I swapped the lines etc.) and I have a spare radiator assembly I will mount onto it. Wiring loom is still in the car, so I should be able to find power etc. easily. All good so far.

Glad I could help, it's an ambitious project. Good luck!

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Just another question (to you or anyone else using the Astra / Opel / Vauxhall pump). There was a bit of return line on the pump when I got it and which I wanted to re-use. Funny part was that it had a crimp on it, close to the reservoir. That was a bit odd, also as it didn't seem to be for connecting hoses together. So I cut the sleeve off and managed to pull something out which seems to be a reducer. I didn't measure, but by sight it looks to be about a 3mm hole through the center. Did your pump come with such a restrictor? I guess you didn't put any restriction in, right? I can't really understand the use of it yet, it looks like it would be the biggest restriction in the whole system. And why would they run a 10mm return line when they want pressure drop anyway? Bit confused. On a positive note, I managed to finish the pump bracket last weekend with kind help of my neighbour for the welding. Last layer of paint is on now, should be dry tomorrow. Also I put some new wires on the power connector for the pump and found myself a nearby ground point to use. Getting ever closer....

Sorry, mine came plumbed with AN fittings from the guy who made the kit, so I don't know if it originally had that restrictor on it.

Thanks. I searched around a bit and found only one story on this. This stated that the pump on the Astra is physically very close to the rack and this proximity led to pulsing which was noticeable while steering. It was stated that this restriction is the remedy. So as for me the pump has a good bit of hose before it reaches the pump, I am going to leave that restriction out. If I do notice something, I know what to do Yesterday I mounted the pump bracket to the car (taking a few tries to cut the carpet in the right places etc.) Not really visible, but it tilts slightly to one side, but I'll live with that. After the bracket was in place I opened up the carpet around the big hole where the brake booster would mount to on the RHD cars. I had a spare rubber grommet thing which I cut as well to feed the hoses through. You can barely see it in this picture, but pressure hose is connected to the pump, return is loosely in place as I need to position and connect it on the battery side. Next step: fix that return hose and check final routing of the pressure hose. Torque it all up, add fluid and start the pump on temporary wiring. I need to decide whether I feed the supply wire into the interior and connect it to the main fuse box (one open spot on my car) or whether I find myself a battery mounted fuse/ distribution box to wire it to. In the latter case, I would prefer a box that mounts to the side of the battery and which has replaceable fuse links...

I powered my pump directly from the nearby battery with a 60 amp circuit breaker and turned on the pump with a relay powered directly from the windshield wiper power supply. This way my power steering is key on key off.

In my post above I did detail how I used 12V signals from the ABS wiring in the frunk. For power I too have a direct connection to the battery with a 50A fuse. I also just this week installed a 987 150A alternator, just so I have some extra headroom from the stock 120A alternator.

Thanks both! I will have a look whether I will power from the main distribution or whether I will wire directly to the battery. I will need to run some wires inside anyway (for ABS upgrade). Last Thursday I was able to finish the last hose connections and power up the pump. Turned left and right to fill the steering rack and held it at both ends for 5sec to do a limited pressure test. The pump did sound like it was having a hard time, so I'm sure it has build some pressure. So far, no leaks. O-rings used on the steering rack are 12.1x1.6mm for the pressure side and 13.5x1.5mm for the return. I'm quite sure the original rings are 12.5x1.5mm on the supply side, but the 1.6 I used should give a bit more compression on the adapters I have. Blue text are the originals taken from the car, green are the alternatives I bought. This weekend I started building up the car again. Cooland pipes first and brackets on my car didn't look very nice. Looked at the ones on the wreck and they look so much better. So no painting, just take those. See this picture for the difference: With quite a bit of fiddling the pipes are in:

This evening I attempted to put the coolant hoses in place, but it is quite a pain to get the clamps on near the subframe. I was afraid of that, that is why I started this job now (with the suspension out of the way and previously also the subframe). 2 of them are on easily, the other 2 are not willing to cooperate. It doesn't help that I just have regular pliers to do the job. Good for most clamps, but these are so tight and akward to reach that I'll get myself one of those remote hose clamp pliers. These should also lock in the open clamp position so I can get them in place more easily. Hopefully that gets me further in this. Really like to get the front together by the end of the month, but a busy weekend and a business trip make this unlikely now.

So, today was a better day. With the right tools it was easy to slide on the drivers side clamp. Passenger side lower clamp was however still a struggle and it took met at least 30mins with different approaches to get the clamp on. Main issue is that the expanded diameter of the clamp is just enough to slide over the hose. However, the hose slides over the pipe, expanding it a bit. Now it is really hard to get the clamp over, especially in such a tight spot. I loosened the subframe (again) to create a bit more working space. Did manage in the end though. From that point on I could continue hoses and pipes up to the radiator. Passenger side radiator mounted up again and both side have the plastic air channels also back in place. At least some progress today. Just for fun, a picture of the 1997 base cooling pipes in the wheel well: And the current setup. Sorry about the flash / non flash comparison, but you can especially see the difference at the bottom right where they come from under the car into the wheel well. Next step is to check whether the front stabilizer needs some paint before it is mounted back, then assemble this and put the subframe and reinforcements back in the right places. Still work to do in both wheel wells before I mount the front suspension.

Time for another update. Since last time I mainly worked on getting the front of the car back together. Wheel wells on both sides are done now, except the liner I will keep off for now so I can easily check for leaks (steering, cooling, brakes). So the washer bottle is back in, new ABS sensor wires are in and old ones pulled out. New sensors mounted. Control arm and tuning forks mounted and wheel carrier and strut back in place. Newly painted stabilizer is in with new bushings. Track arms are mounted as well. Boxster S brake discs and calipers are mounted, new hoses on. Wheels back on the car and camber set to -0.5deg. Toe to be done. It was fun comparing the tuning forks, old vs new: Honestly no real idea why they have made the alu so much thicker. But it probably hasn't made it worse... Pretty much the whole front end is now refreshed (struts and springs with strut bearing etc., drop links were already done a year ago) except the wheel bearings. These aren't to hard to do while the rest is installed, so no rush on this. Today I started taking the rear end apart a little. First thing to do is to replace the brake line from left to right. Not so easy, but let's see how it goes. The the short brake line on the left should be easy. Finally I'll take the power steering pump out and probably will remount the AC compressor to function as an idler. Any tips for belt length on standard engine, with AC, no power steering?

Last few days I spent some time here and there to make a little progress. Brake line from rear left to rear right is done. It wasn't as bad as I feared with everything in place. Just slowly wiggle it out and in (well, I could have ripped it out, but wanted to practice the install process). With the hard line in place, I put a new brake hose on and mounted the Boxster S caliper. Basically the same thing as I had, but better looking and allowing for a wider disc later on. Next up, the ABS sensor wiring (along with pad wear sensor). Took the old wires out of the wheel well and put the new ones in. Now I need to swap the few pins in the right locations and tidy it all up again. It is a bit of a mess now: Small tip for anyone that needs to replace this cable: the metal retaining clip of the connector block in the wheel well can be removed easily and makes it sooooo much easier to get it through the hole in the chassis...

Look what I had today, a 12 cylinder hybrid car ;-) Took one engine out, ready to be put in the wreck. (But first I need to get the 986 on the road again..)

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Wow, where did this engine came out from? .

This engine is out of a early century Audi S4 (B6/B7 model). The engine is complete, but with a few damaged connectors here and there, as one would expect these days. So far it seems nothing is cut which would be needed still.

Width wiser it looks pretty compact, and the height also doesn't look too bad, is it going to fit lengthwise?

Overall length should be ok as it is a good bit shorter than the other (belt distribution) audi V8s which are known to fit in length (similar length to flat 6). There is a bit of overhang over the gearbox due to the distribution chain (and adjusters) on the back side of the engine. It will take a few weeks before I can do a first fit to get a better idea. With reduced length, I might need to move engine / gearbox forward a bit. Height wise I guess the oil filter is a possible issue. Also originally the intake is halfway routed over the engine, which won't work for me. So I am already assuming that I need to go remote oil filter which hopefully also gets the intake more straight out. But first, the regular car to finish...

On finishing my regular car I did make some progress: - Mounted the left rear brake hard line. New hose. - Re-pinned the connector (yellow on my car, it was pink/purple on the 02 Boxster) with the new ABS sensor and brake pad wear wires. Both sides in. Wires tidied up again - Took apart the rear spoiler mechanism, removed the old grease and put fresh stuff in. It was groaning a bit when actuated and I thought I might check the grease. It wasn't as bad as I feared. But the groaning was still there after re-mounting. It was ok without the actual spoiler on, so I guessed it was binding a bit once all assembled. I could reproduce it, final tightening of the spoiler to the posts made it move a bit and put it under stress. So I tightened it all except the last bolt. Put loc-tite on that one and made it a bit more than hand tight. Moves ok now and letting it dry. Bled the brakes. Started left rear as I still had the wheel off. Figured the 'start with right rear' is old now that both rear brakes have individual lines. I can build pressure now and will check for any leaks anytime soon. I used my vacuum bleed set, but I am quite unhappy with it. I do get a firm pedal with it, but I just can't do that visually by checking for bubbles. The vacuum pulls air around the thread of the bleed nipple and / or around the hose. So I always see bubbles. I might need to do a second bleed round the old fashioned way and when Christmas comes I'll ask for a pressure bleeder. Removed the power steering pump and last pieces of line. Placed the AC compressor back as pulley. Determined the length of belt I need for this configuration. First I took the old belt off and wrapped a longer belt (cut open) around all pulleys and marked the length. This was 6cm longer than the belt which came off, so this is what I need as delta for the tensioner. With PS pump out and AC back in, I measured again with the open belt. Then subtracted the 6cm which made me order a 6PK2065 belt. Should be in before the weekend. Coolant ordered, so should be able to fill the cooling system soon. Next step: front wheel toe alignment.

Little progress today. I set the front wheel toe. Might not be perfect but should at least be driveable. Last time I had done the rear I actually did a better job than I expected, it went to the alignment shop in a better state than in returned. So confident enough that this will be close. The method I used was similar. Take the toe angle of the wheel and extend it to the rear wheel. Set the correct distance to the rear wheel by adjusting the toe link. The tiny amount of toe-in translates to 2mm at the rear wheel. Ofcourse correcting for the offset in track width. This is in turn affected by camber even though I measure at the center (example, front camber is set at the top, rear camber is set at the bottom)... Also build the spoiler back together and but all carpeting back in. Rear is now done.

Belt is fitted. Honestly it is a bit on the short side. It fits, but just. So if you have a similar setup I would suggest taking 15mm more. First 5L of coolant is in, but I expected the level to go down quickly when running the engine for half a minute. Well, that didn't happen. So I will check whether I can persuade it a bit. Probably next week or so. Overall the car is back together well enough to roll it outside and roll the wreck and the engine in for a first fit. Step 1: Mount the brand new gearbox to the engine: Then I lowered the engine / gearbox onto the transmission jack. This one can hold 500kg and it does that. Can still pump it up without any issue, but it does feel a bit wobbly on just this single cylinder. Together almost 300kg on it, so I don't want it to tip over.. I guess a better way would be to get a narrow scissor table so hold the lot, still allowing me to work on the sides (transmission mounts etc.). But please, any suggestions are very welcome. I didn't really manage to do a good fit due to time constraints, but first impressions are that it might be a bit tall (difficult to estimate the angle at the moment), but length and width seems ok so far. Hope to do a better fit in a week time or so.

Looking good so far! When I did the coolant fill on mine, even though I used a vacuum pump to fill it, I still needed to constantly add more fluid after driving. I think I added 4 litres after it said it was 'full' The engine looks good in there. I was confused because in your previous post you said '12 cylinder hybrid', I though you were using an Audi V12, but I assume you meant the V8 and the car it was in is a 4 cylinder, hence '12 cylinder hybrid' I thought it was optimistic that a V12 would fit...

Ha, yes it was about the V8 petrol inside the inline 4 diesel. Maybe the Audi V10 could fit with some changes, but can only judge that once the V8 is tried. These V10s are FSI, which make it difficult in another aspect as well. V12....hmmm....

Today was fitting day. First step was to look at potential places on the engine to attach the front engine mount (Boxster style, making more sense than Audi style in this configuration). The green circles indicate where the Audi front 'snubber mount' attaches. So good few points to hook on to. All on the right side of the engine though, so a few left ones needed as well. The red encircled hole are pretty deep, so these should work. So far, no blocking points on this. Next step is to fit the engine. After a few hours of wiggling, shoving, lifting I had the transmission mounts mounted up. The left one is still pointing in the air a bit as I didn't have long M6 bolts to bolt it to the car. Then I raised the engine up as far as it would go. Bent the two tabs that hold the engine cover to prevent damage. It is always difficult to see on the pictures, but let's give it a try. Bottom view first. Hardly any sump below the car bottom. That's good. Between engine and firewall (front), heaps of space. Should allow for a good mount and still clear coolant hoses etc. Looking from the front itself, no issues except at the top which is at the limit (I removed the already broken manifold actuator, but I think it would still just about fit). Putting the 987 engine cover on, clearly there is some work to do

Another shot of the front side of the engine. As you can see, it is as high as it'll go now. Left side of the engine, a lot of space. And at the moment the AC compressor and PS pump are still on the engine. It will be an empty area once this is all out. Right side of the engine, a lot of space as well. My conclusions so far: The main issue is the height. The engine is still angled down quite a lot, so it would be good to raise it another inch or so. Rear side of the engine has too much stuff to fit under the cover. I already knew that from the engine pictures. I think once the parts are removed which I don't need (SAI for example) it will clean up a lot. I already figured I would need to go for a remote oil filter. With that done, I should be able to take the intake out straight (not over the valve cover). To clear the rear side further, it would be good to move the engine forward by about an inch. Looking at the engine cover, the height itself isn't a real issue, it is the low position of the sheet metal across the back of the seats. The cover itself would easily fit the engine, even when raised further. I'll need to either rotate the fuel rails around or go for the non-return fuel rail to get the connection on the left side of the engine to fit the car. I need the X-brace between the control arms (left to right) to check whether I can actually move the whole lot forward. Als need to check whether I could lower the transmission by a quarter to half an inch. Overall, not unhappy. Need to work a bit more on clearing out the rear side of the engine to judge that part. Otherwise, I might get by with just modifying the 'firewall' between seats and engine. Honestly, loads of space wasted there and this isn't a main structural part of the car.

That's looking really good! to lower the trans I used these mounts, I'm not sure what the drop was, I didn't measure it, but the site says around 1/2" if you swap the bushings around, which I did.

Great, thanks! Every little bit counts I guess. I did make a bit of progress the last few days, but minor. Today I got a radiator pressure test kit. I just needed the adapter for coolant reservoir to anything. Pulled a vacuum on it and at least another 4 liters went in. Still at least 4 to go before I feel comfortable enough to start the engine and let it idle for a little bit to start actively pumping. As it was a pressure tester I put the system to 0.5bar and when I returned 2 hours later I didn't see a pressure drop. With mostly air in it, I guess I have no obvious leaks to worry about. While I was at the tool shop I also got some crimp 'rings' for the power and ground of the power steering pump. On the V8 install I am looking how I can get it to fit. Obviously the oil filter is the highest point and causing issues. Found out that the oil flow in the engine is oil pump -> oil cooler (side of the engine next to the alternator) -> oil filter (top of the engine) then on to things needing lubrication and cooling. So I can either completely remove the oil filter housing (looping the in / out) and tap the oil lines from the oil cooler (there are sandwich plates for a oil/air cooler available aftermarket, I might be able to use the RS4 setup which has OEM oil/air cooler) or I just cut it down, thread the holes for some adapters. Anyway, this is not a concern anymore. Next step is likely somewhere next week to lower the engine, remove this oil filter, throttle body bend, PCV stuff and the SAI. That should give the best view of what I can do on the rear side of the engine and what / how I can relocate. From there on, I better get myself the support beam between left / right suspension and probably an old engine mount to look at the front side of things.

I remember reading somewhere here that to allow more clearance on top, you can lower the engine/gearbox assembly by using spacers and (assuming here), perhaps longer bolts on the engine/gearbox mounts. Your build is like an addictive TV show that you must wait for the next chapter..

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I added spacers under the front engine mount, I think 6mm in total. The studs on the chassis are long enough to accommodate this. As I said above I used aftermarket trans mounts to get more clearance there. I guess you could do something similar with stock trans mounts, although I never needed to.

Found some hours yesterday evening to strip the engine down a bit. Not as straightforward as I hoped. Easy enough to get SAI off as well as the throttle body. Next up was the oil filter housing, but some screws are hidden behind the intake elbow. To get the elbow off, I need to access a screw behind the oil filter housing So, the intake manifold had to come off. Easier to reach the screws with the fuel rail off. That was easy, 4 bolts. On to the manifold, 14 screws. Taking off one of the screws, the inevitable happened: It went down the fuel injector hole Finally, all the stuff removed and ready for another fit (sometime next week) Sorry for the bad pictures, ran out of battery so my phone refused to use the flash. Looking down at the valves, they look surprisingly clean, so that is giving some confidence. Overall the engine is quite clean and not showing many leaks. The bad part though are the electrics. It has the full engine wiring harness and I already noticed a while back that some connectors were broken (mainly the latches) and some wires had chipping insulation. I thought this was mainly the thicker power wire, but taking the whole loom off showed many smaller wires doing the same. And I now understand why some connectors were broken, simply trying to unlatch them made them break easily. I guess this was one of the first years going halogen free on the wiring. For some reason really bad on this engine (maybe japanese climate??). I see a lot of this on european cars, I also had to repair the loom of my 2011 BMW in the rear hatch. Guess I need to get myself another / new loom. I did get another few liters of coolant into the regular car. Should be good enough to let it idle to temperature now.

Doesn't appear very easy to get the air out of the cooling system. Yesterday I idled it up to temperature, but as soon as it hit about 80degC the coolant level light turned on and the temperature increased more rapidly. I turned it off and there was some smoke coming from the vent cap (likely due to the pressure increase with so much air in the system). I was able to get another 4 liters into the system. Seems like I hit the point of the thermostat opening, rapid temperature increase (due to low coolant) also turned the fans on. Today I repeated this. Unlike yesterday there was now warm air coming from the vents (I put temp to max to make sure there was flow in this branch and that I could feel it), one step forward. It also had a more steady climb in temperature and didn't go to overheat mode. I did switch it off once the coolant level light turned on again, before I got the fans kicking in. After cool down, another 1.5 liter in. So now I have at least filled 16.5 liters. Judging by the Bentley manual I am expecting a capacity of 20 liters (somewhere between base and S model manual. I do have the bigger pipes, but not the third radiator). Probably there was at least some coolant left is parts of the system, so I should be coming close to the correct level now. Next step, get the bumper mounted back on so I can take it for a drive. That heats the engine up more quickly and I can check the brakes properly... Fingers crossed.

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Oddly enough, when I put my new (to me) engine in, it took far less coolant than I expected. I did not explicitly do anything to drain (other than pulling the old engine & coolant lines), but it worked itself out to the rear fill. Have you considered one of the vacuum systems? It pulls a vacuum, then fills the pressure with coolant. Ive not got personal experience with them but they seem to be well regarded for fighting burping the system.

I used a vacuum system after getting mine back together, and I still added close to 6 liters after it was 'full' from the vacuum.

I didn't have a full vacuum fill kit, which might be the reason I had more trouble than needed. I filled the first 5 liters and air bubbles came straight back. After 5 liters, no more air coming out. I screwed on the adapter and pulled vacuum with my hand pump. A lot of air coming out, another 5 liters went in. Also I had a bit of luck by pressurizing the system. This pushed coolant out of the reservoir into the system, some of which didn't return after releasing the pressure. Next time I will get the little valve block to fill while under vacuum. That said, back to the V8. Today I was able to do another fit, this time without the intake manifold and oil filter. A view from the top. Looking a lot better already. Main parts preventing the engine cover to fully fit (it is much closer already): - vent hose connection on the right valve cover - actual valve covers themselves - the right bank cam position sensor. This ones come straight out while the left side is angled. I assume they are interchangeable but will need to pull them out to confirm. And a view from the front / interior. You can see the valve cover / head touching the firewall / bulkhead. besides that, lots of space. Not shown on the pictures, but the bottom of the oil sump is now nicely inline with the bottom of the car, so engine height is good. Still seems moving the engine forward by one or two inches would help a lot as well as dropping the transmission a bit. I also need to check the best orientation of the intake manifold. As the engine is positioned now I can't wedge it in, so that will be a lower / modify / reposition excercise. Progressing....slowly.

Minor progress this week. Took the car for a drive (first one since it is more or less back together). Cooling behaved ok, but it was a short drive. Brakes are functional (still don't feel like I would want them to, but at least they work after having every line, hose, caliper, ABS unit replaced) and the alignment wasn't terrible. I could drive straight without an issue, no pulling or obvious wrong steering angle etc. Today I moved the car back a few meters so I could work in daylight. A few spots where the car was standing, but can't say whether this is new since the drive or whether it was from filling the coolant or even from the wreck which was standing in that place before. So not too concerned yet, but will keep an eye on it. While driving I still had no power steering as it wasn't properly wired up. Also no speed indication as the ABS unit isn't wired in yet. Earlier this week I removed a good few ABS related wires from the wreck. Now I need to get them into the car and wired up. Most are easy, but I am looking for a +12V continuous signal for the ABS unit. The main power is on main fuse F1, but ABS 5.7 also has another wire (which I need to run as ABS 5.3 didn't have it). I think I will take fuse position D4 for this one. This is connected to main fuse F3 which runs mainly the Audio amplifier and power windows / mirrors. I don't have power mirrors, so that's one load less. Windows are fused 30A each, 15A for the amplifier. ABS will be fused at 25A. So this totals 100A and will be covered by a main fuse of 80A. Not expecting any issues. The other signals I need are a brake switch contact (ABS 5.7 requires both open and close, ABS 5.3 only used close) and handbrake switch. I might leave the handbrake one disconnected for now, that is not a real scenario to take into account anyway. Other than these, I think I have it wired up. The ABS 5.3 had a terminal 60 wire (alternator) which is no longer needed. I'll connect this to the +12V Switced of the power steering pump. Nearly there

Always the little things that hold me back, but ploughing through. - Old ABS had 2 wires of 2.5mm2 for power. New ABS has one single 4 mm2 wire. Decided to leave the 2x2.5 in and crimp them together in one terminal for the connector. - New +12V wire mounted in the fusebox (D4 position) - Brake pedal sensor replaced by the one from the wreck. This has the additional contact (both open and close). Luckily the connector on the car is already good, just had to add the additional terminal. - Hand brake signal is simply spliced in my car with three wires total: brake switch, instrument cluster and convertible top control module. A few more of them in the wreck where they are connected together in one of the bridge points (in the main relay housing). As the top control module is there as well, it seemed the right place to get this signal. Decided to do it nicely and add a few contacts to an empty bridge point. Control module wired up to this point, ABS as well, now I just need to solder this to the original car connection. Would be nicer to use the proper terminal and go directly to the bridge point, but I have no idea which terminals are used there. If anybody knows, it would be great to hear! - CAN signal pair taken from the wreck and added to the connector. - My power steering +12V wire was too short to run along the battery, into the interior and to the main fuse box. Found a slightly longer one (10mm2) at the neighbours junk pile Now one thing remaining is the way I route these cables from the frunk to the battery compartment. My idea was to go to the right first, where the power steering pump is and already an opening was made for the hydraulic lines. But a few of the wires will be too short if I try to do this. So maybe I should find myself a small wire grommet and make an extra hole behind the amplifier. From there I can simply get past the battery and into the interior. Ideas welcome. Will try to wrap up the wiring next time and give some pictures.

Managed to spend an hour today. Main fuse box finished now. New lock nuts picked up and tightened down, all back in place now. This is how the fusebox looks with the 80A fuse in position 7 with the new wire. Should be good. Just for the fun of it, the wreck has been stripped of a few wires and now looks like this: Should still have most, if not all, wires to get the V8 started in there. I mentioned before that it looked like there was something dripping on the car, leaving marks on the driveway. Put some cardboard underneath to have a clean surface to look at. Obviously a coolant leak: I will need to stick my head in there a bit further to see where it actually comes from. You can see a drop in the picture, but it could come from some higher point.

Hooray I spend another evening routing wires and tidying up in the interior. Finally all wires are in place and tonight was test night. The test at hand was to check the speedo working. I have my annual inspection coming up and speedo is a checkpoint for sure... Just to recap, the car is a 97 model. So this featured ABS5.3 with the inductive sensors. I swapped the gearbox to the 987 6-speed (Cayman S G87.21) and needed the driveshafts along with it. These are fitted to 987 wheel carriers to make them fit and have a chance of a working ABS. These sensors are hall effect and incompatible with ABS5.3 So this winter I transplanted ABS5.7 from a newer model (02) into my car. This one is compatible with hall sensors. But typically it gives speed info to the cluster via CAN. So the proofpoint today was that actually ABS5.7 can provide the pulse signal needed for the cluster. I first had the cluster on 'ESO rear' (I think this means something like electronic speed output). No speed when moving either rear wheel. Checked the sensors, they were good. Then I put the cluster on ESO RL (rear left) and voila, speed appearing when I turn the wheel. Maybe ESO rear will work as well when driving (both wheels rotating), will check this with a real drive test. Sligthly bad thing, the front sensors are not working. Left front sensor seems good, it gives the right reading, but clearly doesn't follow the 48 pulses/ rev. Right front is stone dead. Need to check the connection on that one. So I'll need to debug the front (but this is not a concern for annual inspection).

Wired up the power and ground of the power steering pump today and took it for a drive. Much better I must say Checked this evening for obvious leaks from the power steering, but found none around the pump or battery. Need to check at the steering rack itself, but not too worried now. Also was able to confirm the speedo is reading correctly from the ABS 5.7 now, which is good news. Didn't work any further on the front sensors yet, so some work needed there, but not crucial for the inspection. I swapped out the microswitch for the top at the upper edge of the windscreen. I was hoping this would fix the windows dropping down issue I have for quite a while now (and was partly solved by adding some thick foam to the latch). I found the old sensor loose in the housing, so that likely was the main issue. New one is tight and I assume it is good. No convertible top error light in the cluster. Weird thing is, the windows don't go up at all... When I push the down button, I hear a click. Nothing happens as the windows are already down. When I click the up button, no click, nothing. Also long press on the remote does nothing

One step closer to solving the window / top issue. Looked at the old switch and was able to confirm the two switches, one on a light touch, the other much deeper. Measure both, they're ok. Unlatched the top and tested by hand, one click.... no second click. A ha. Took the switch out of the car again and what do you, the second switch simply isn't there So it looks like there is an early style with two switches and a late style with a single switch. Since the old switches measure ok, I'm pretty confident that it is the looseness which is the issue. The two springy rings just don't tighten the switch module and it moves around etc. The other one is nice and tight. On my next order I'll get a few of those springy things to ensure I can properly mount the switches and fingers crossed the issue will be soved finally.

Some little progress today. Last year during the annual inspection it failed at first due to the horn not working. Turned out there was no fuse as the 'switch' was worn. I managed to fix it on site with some washers, but during the course of the year the problem started to creep up again. So I just pulled the fuse back out With the new inspection coming up, time for a real fix. New plate (aftermarket) vs the old one. Might be a bit hard to see, but the holes are far off center on the old plate. Looking from the side, also clear the old plat was bottoming out. The rubber and sleeve are pushed to one side on all four bushings. Put it all back together (don't forget the two screws that hold the airbag before you put the plate in ). Will test tomorrow during day time. A few days ago I tested the passenger side front ABS sensor again. No reading still. Connected it up to the drivers side sensor and it gives normal values. So any wiring issue out of the equation it just leads to a faulty sensor. In the Netherlands my regular sources came up with $120 for the Bosch sensor . My German source listed it at a much friendlier $40, so that's where it came from haha. Also ordered the coolant gaskets there and the horn plate mentioned earlier. New sensor mounted and it gives a similar reading to the drivers side now. I was expecting I could see each tooth, but I can't. I guess the difference with the rear (where I can see each tooth / ball / whatever) is that the rear has a magnetic strip in the bearing whereas the front only has metal teeth. Being a hall sensor it needs something magnetic to determine a pulse, which the toothed ring doesn't have. It probably needs a little speed before it shows all pulses. Next step: road test the ABS itself. So with that conclusion I mounted the inner wheel well liner back in (found no leaks in brake or coolant lines there).

Preparing the car for the annual inspection. Wires nicely bundled and routed now, looking a lot better. The frunk is pieced together again and the cover panels below the windscreen are back in place. Will give some pictures on the wiring later. Also I have put the floor panels back on except for the front one (easier when placed over the grease pit) and rear one (leaving it open until the coolant leak is identified and fixed). Next step was checking the main items for the inspection. Headlights.... not working on the left. Fog light on the left side also not working. Hmm... So pulled the unit out again, bulbs are good. The connection to the car is not good. Then I noticed the headlight mounting plate easily moves up and down (or rattles), not good. Turns out the adjusters were put on in the wrong way. They basically put the wide ring and knurled knob together below the metal part of the car and then clamped the mounting plate with the remaining two 'washers'. So surely, I took them out, placed them correctly, but now they needed adjustment. I have now got it to look quite alright, but not too great. My two main concerns: 1. There is a lot of space between the headlight unit and the front bumper. Just standing in front of the car you can see the cutout of the bumper, really not looking too great. Is there something supposed to be there (like a rubber strip or so)? 2. It comes very close to the front hood. It touched before, so it has improved, but still it doesn't follow the line completely. Maybe I need to readjust the hood? Please look at the pictures and comment. At least it is put together better now, just might need some more adjustments. Also, I did mention before that the mounting plate is slightly broken, so I might need to get a new one anyway. Lights are working again, should be good enough for the inspection..

Here is mine, the gap to the hood looks a bit close, from the front they look the same: Edit: looking at the front photo I realised I forgot to polish the headlights after I clear coated them.

Ah, thanks . By the look of it indeed your contour along the hood seems better than mine and I already shifted it more to the outside than it should be (can feel the edge). On your light it does look like the rear part sits a bit too low, creating a 'lip' of bodywork. I raised that part up such that by feel (as far as I have any) it flows nicely. I'll leave it for now. Final prep for the inspection done today. Inside wires taped and secured, ventilation duct back in. Mounted the (very, very, very bad quality) summer tires at the front so that at least I have summer on all corners. Need to get some good tires after the inspection. Also, front bottom panel is back in place. Took it for a test drive and so far all seems to work. Did some further brake test and I could swear I had ABS engaging, which would be excellent. Need to test from higher speed though. Deceleration of the car is fine, but still I don't like the brake pedal feel. On my list. The top and windows are now also working properly again (well, the top needs some mechanical work, but electrically it is fine). I picked up the small retaining rings that hold the switch inside the housing at the top of the windscreen. I used my old switch on the housing out of the wreck (less damage due to the hook) and secured it with these new rings. No more movement and a positive second click when latching the top. Perfect, cheap fix. All in all, it is amazing how badly this car was treated. Each part of the car that is in need of work shows things being mounted wrongly, not the correct fasteners, damaged etc. On one hand this is a bit sad, on the other hand it makes sure that I don't feel bad for making some of my own modifications to this car, I'm still doing it a favor.

Glad I could help! One note about the electric power steering. I did a track day yesterday, and it gets....hot! I think I'm going to try to add some kind of cooling, for sure a fan of some sort, and maybe ventilate it out through the battery tray area. On a positive note, it works great and did not feel at all artificial.

Today was inspection day. Dropped the car off and a few hours later I got a call that the brake light was not working. Hmmm, I did check all the lights earlier this week and they were working at that time (besides the headlight which I fixed). The garage suggested a new brake switch which could arrive tomorrow, but that would mean a fix on Monday. So I went over with my old switch, popped it in (quite easy when you have done it before) and brake lights worked again. Car passed. He also looked at the coolant leak and thinks it is the waterpump, but it could be the hose above (which I think connects to the thermostat). Will take the inspection panel off, dry everything up and pressurize the system. Then I should know for sure. Thanks for the heads-up on power steering. I guess it gets hot on track only or did you also notice on the street? Glad it was functioning ok! For me the assist also feels fine, no temperature issues in the limited driving for sure. It does whine a bit, maybe a bit more than I would like. I think the whole idea behind the power steering in these cars is to limit the temperature as the pumps power / flow is no longer based on rpm. With high rpm giving high flow and therefore high temperature. The volvo pump can also be controlled to spin down at higher speeds / no steering. That might help further?

I have the TRW pump and I haven't found any documentation yet on if/how it can be controlled. AI suggested an external oil cooler, which I will definitely be doing, and to use an Arduino to turn the pump on/off based on speed or steering angle, which I'm not as keen on. I know the pump has three wires coming from it, I hope one of them is some sort of control that I can utilise. I didn't notice it getting too hot with normal driving, but I also wasn't paying that much attention to it either. It's a journey...

The Volvo pump is the same basic thing (TRW pump of same series) but with different mounting positions and connectors. I can check whether you can just move the electronics across as the Volvo one is well documented. AI is no good for solid info. The reason coolers are needed for track setups is that the engine revs high and gives such a high flow that things are heating up. The idea why the cup cars use the electric pump (the one you have) is to get rid of that issue without a cooler.... Interested on following your findings ;-)

I can say that after 5 or so laps on a decently twisty track, it was almost too hot to touch, not sure if that is normal or not. I did find some info on the wiring, I basically have power and ground to the battery, and then 3 wires, what looks like black, blue/white and brown/white. The black and blue/white need 12V as triggers and brown is not used (supposedly is a signal to the ECU?) I don't think there is much else I can do with the wiring, I'm still thinking a cooler is a good idea though.

if you provide separate power to the black and blue/white (ie one to ignition and one to key so that it only runs when engine is on) then pump will start quickly. or you can join black and blue white together and pump will spin up slowly (to not load battery if engine is not running). the third wire is a diagnostic that send info to the ecu. if you want speed control or steering wheel position sensor you should look elsewhere. some mr2 pumps have this and they are a common aftermarket upgrade.

... also, if you look at pics of OG gt3 cup electric PS installations you'll note that they run an additional reservoir. so, your heating may be due in part to some cavitation if you are running the reservoir dry under heavy load. worst case a cooler adds to the volume of fluid in the system. looks like most folks are using a mocal oc1778.

I thought I had mine set setup the first way you describe, but it seems like it is acting like the second. And yes, I've found that there is not much else you can do with these from a control perspective, which is fine.

Just to ensure I share what I found out so far, please have a look back at an older post: http://986forum.com/forums/669371-post70.html This one shows the Astra pump next to the Volvo pump confirming that they are the same thing aside from three obvious differences: - Mounting positions on the housing - Reservoir (I swapped the Astra reservoir onto the Volvo pump to make it fit under the hood) - Controls. The volvo pump has the usual power wires, but also CAN. Messages are known to control the pump speed. Maybe the electronics just swap over (I can dig into this a bit if you want, I have the Astra and an additional Volvo pump around). Volvo pumps are probably cheap (they are here in Europe, they might be more rare in the US). Still, I think it is supposed to run fine without any cooler. Maybe you can mesure the fluid temperature after a session so we know / can judge whether this would be any issue?

I will definitely do some measurements. For the CAN piece I found some links about how to do that, although not specifically for the Volvo pump, it looks pretty straight forward though. I don't know if it was cavitating, I never lost power steering, but I'll look into a remote reservoir. I may be able to do something in the battery tray.

Regarding the het isuues, have you looked in to Opel (Corsa etc.) electric power steering? Those are very liked here on custom street- as well as rally applications and I have not heard of over heating issues on these. On those units you can also purchase an adjusting 'nob' that can be installed to cabin to control the level of power assist. One of my friend has this at the engine bay with car's original rack&pinion while another friend has this as part of the steering column (neither are Porsche). Latter one is a street car that he tracks very heavily (fully stripped interior, full roll cage, slicks, etc).

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The Opel Corsa that I found is a column, so the second one you mentioned. The Astra uses the same pump as I have with no ability to control it. There is a Volvo one that you can control via CAN, and probably others. Anyway, I'm going to put a cooler on mine for peace of mind, and a remote reservoir if I can figure out how to fit one.

here's what the cup car reservoirs look like:

Yes, I have the same image saved. Mine is mounted up at the same level as the brake master, not a lot of room above it, if any, to do something similar.

Today I filled my cooling system again after replacing the waterpump yesterday. Went much better this time having probably most of the coolant still in the radiators etc. (previous time, everything was empty). I think I got about as much back in as ran out yesterday. Might have spilled a bit, but should be close. I did a combination of vacuum for getting initial air out (still quite effective) and pressure (pushing the air to places where it can escape). Now when I pressurize to 1 bar, the fluid gets pushed down to about half the reservoir, so not that much air left anymore. Put the longer belt on (I suspect the short-ish belt might have made the waterpump die) which does fit better. Still have a bit left on the tensioner. So updated belt length for engines with AC (or at least the compressor in place as I have now), but without PS pump is 6PK2080. I guess a 2100 might still work, but this one works well, better than the 6PK2065 I had on it before.

No more drops visible Took the car out for a little ride Friday evening and for the first time in the three years of ownership I could drive it more relaxed. Still keeping an eye on the gauges and listening for odd sounds, but it was so much more pleasant. Finally confidence in this car is growing and I might actually start to enjoy it! Well, I always enjoy working on the car, but enjoying a ride is a good bonus

That's awesome! I know the feeling of doing all that work and then being able to just enjoy it. I did my first track day in 3 years a couple of weeks ago and it was great to just be able to drive and not really worry about anything. Many more days of that ahead!

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Awesome! It is a great feeling everytime you drive your car after doing a succesful repair, congratulations! .

Thanks! Next step are the old (rear) and crappy (front) tires. Set of Michelin PS4 will hopefully arrive next week to be mounted. Will also get the front end alignment checked (although it drives fine the way I have it set now, maybe just to see how wrong my own attempt was ;-)) Small stuff today, but also some time to start looking at the bigger picture again, the engine. As you'll know, the idea is to but the Audi BBK engine in (originally in the Euro S4). So far it seems that I do need to make some chassis / suspension mods to get it to fit. Should be able to get it through the inspection and be able to drive it legally on the street. Still, as a side activity and coming from my curiosity I'm trying to get a view on what Porsche would have to offer to this Boxster. I'd be looking at similar power as the BBK and this is what I have learned so far; New parts (block / rotating assembly) are available in M96.03 form and the money for that is not outrageous. Would still need the rest of a (broken) M96.03 or similar to build it up to a full 3.6 engine, but it would be as new without the main concerns of the M96/97 family (being new, but surely it will still have the engineering issues in...). This seems a cheaper route than getting a full M96 996 engine (whichever displacement) which in general seem to run at $20k or close. Surely in these engine families you'd want the GT3 engine. Turns out that his is not family at all (despite the M96 designation) and is a 'Mezger' unit. Basically very robust and capable. Full engines very expensive. In comes the 996 Turbo engine which is the same block, but different parts for the different application. Many more turbos build than GT3, so availability is better. Can find a full engine (all parts on) for $10k on these turbos, which is less than normal 996 engines. Strange. So, I'm not a turbo fan. Making great power, broad torque curve, but lacking character because of that. Turning a 996 turbo engine into a NA might be a bit of work though, need to know more about the differences (so far I know of conrod and heads). Another downside of these GT3 and turbo engines are the different bolt patterns for the transmission. Would need to see whether a G87.40 unit (the ones behind the MA1 engines in the gen2 987 S) would fit. Then finally there is the MA1 engine which is the DFI engine in later 987 models and the 981 (991 etc). So far this one appears cheaper to find than the M96 / M97 engines and is by design a far better engine. DFI though... Anyway, just writing down my mental notes ;-) Input is always welcome

this one comes with a transmission ... https://tuningbynick.com/pages/boxster-k-swap

Not really looking for a 4cyl. Don't get me wrong, these are little marvels of engines, but not something I would consider for the Boxster. It'll be either the V8 (still most likely as I have all the expensive stuff already) or an upgraded Porsche engine. Both have pros and cons, just trying to straighten my head out.

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That's my guy! My buddy works with Nick, and if you look at the track picture in my project thread, the silver Boxster is his test mule K swap, and the silver 997 beside it is Nick's turboed 500+ HP K24 daily driver. Nick is not in the picture but he is there somewhere.

Just a short update. Not much happend since the last update, but new tires are now fitted. Went with Michelin Pilot Sport 4. In general regarded as a good tire for this car and being a quality brand it will easily improve over the old and low quality rubber it had before. Alignment also done. Toe was off a fair bit, but as I experienced, total toe was actually good enough to drive straight without too much pulling etc. Camber was also off by a bit on one side. Both sides (front) now at -1deg. The rear was also a bit off now, maybe due to new tires fitted. This was corrected as well. Went on a longer trip on a warm day and ended up in rush hour in the city heading back home. Good thermal test for the car as it was nice up to operating temperature when I entered the city. All good, temps around 90C seems good to me. Checked under the car while it was being aligned, no new leaks or issues spotted. So I signed up for a local tour sometime end of September. Just a 60mile tour in the area with 20 cars max. Nice opportunity to take the car out, enjoy nice roads and meet some local porsche people along the way. On V8 side I decided to cut a small part of the chassis out of the wreck. This is the part / bar between engine cover and access panel. This means little cutting, easy to fix, but giving all the possible clearance I could need on the front side. Idea is to move the engine as much forward as allowed by the driveshafts (before they hit the U-shaped suspension carriers). In that position I'll try to fit the engine cover.... This action is planned for this weekend / next week.

So, time for a fitment update. As I mentioned, angle grinder time to remove a piece of sheet metal from my wreck. This really helps engine positioning, happy I cut it out The idea was to move the engine / transmission as much forward as possible to gain clearance at the rear. Main limit is the driveshaft clearance to the suspension support U-shaped things. This is about as far as I could go: Might be difficult to see on the picture, but height is about right and I think all moved forward by about an inch or so (will measure later). For the driveshaft it comes close, the thicker ones I will actually use might be really tight... With that done, still a lot of clearance at the front. You can see the standard engine mount with enough clearance to the engine: The heads will need some extra space at the top part where the bulkhead angles to the rear. Not an issue now that it is cut out, but something to keep in mind. The cayman engine cover almost fits. On the left side it fits, on the right it fouls the crankcase ventilation elbow on the cam cover (which I was expecting and probably needs to be repositioned). Again, difficult to see due to angle and light, but you should be able to see the breather elbow..

Moving on with more pictures. The heads themselves clear the cover fine, enough margin at the top, no issues here: And as a final step for now I have put the intake manifold back on. This does give a height issue as it will not allow the cayman cover to fit at the rear (cover angles down), not at the front. Overall it is just too high. Not mentioned before, but the engine height chosen for this fitment was with the sump in line with the bottom of the car. I don't want to drop it as it seems a bad idea to have the sump as lowest part of the car... Picture with manifold: So to summarize this test, I think the two main concerns are: - Breather connection on valve cover. It is also the head most rearward and moving the engine further to the front would be good. - Intake manifold is just too tall. The transmission can't move further forward due to driveshaft clearance. I currently have the 5.5mm spacer between engine and transmission which is what should fit regular S4 / RS4 flywheel / clutch combinations. There is also a 11mm spacer which is used on the V6 engines.... every bit could help here. Manifold... hmmm.... the only alternative I have seen is the RS5 intake manifold. This is a simple (and cheap) plastic piece. As the RS5 is DFI it doesn't have injector holes, but the RS5 came with 'swirl flaps' in a separate part between head and manifold. In theory I could make a similar part without those stupid flaps but with injector holes. Height of that manifold is unknown to me, it seems to have a slope on it (lower at the front, higher at the rear), but not sure how it compares against the S4 one...

It has been quiet for a while, summer holiday, other work etc. Also, no update on the V8 as I haven't worked on it. However, I did get to drive the car a bit more, both in good weather with the top down and in poor weather. Good to get a few miles on it and find my path forward with this unit. My findings so far: - Seating position is just not great for me. Will be looking at either 987/997 or 981/991 sport seats. There should be a blue color in 9x7 lineup dat fits alright with my metropole blue. In a few weeks I'll do some touring with a group of porsches and hope that there is one of such cars/seats in the group I could try for fit. - The noise, it is way too loud. I don't need to draw so much attention, not do I appreciate it myself on longer trips. Likely exhaust is my #1 concern here. The drone is unbearable with the top up and driving at 2.5k to 3k RPM. Highway cruising is better as I'd be driving at 3.5k. So maybe I should take this is my main winter project. I have a 981 sport exhaust (OEM one) around to fit. Again, maybe I can judge the sound on a 981 in the coming weeks to get a better feel for this. - The other noise aspect might be a combination of lack of engine bay damping (all foam has come out as most of it was already loose or gone) along with lack of isolation to the driver compartment. Open for input here, otherwise I guess I'll re-assess when ehaust has improved. - Night driving is alright in good conditions, but light output probably is going to hurt me in worse conditions. The headlights need an upgrade. - With top up, driving at night I see my radio in the rearview mirror. So it reflects either on the wind stopper thing or on the rear window. Will need to check which is the issue, but might be fixed when driving position improves (and rear mirror adjusted accordingly). - Also good news over the trips. The car has been reliable. It starts, it stops, it works. Also on heavy rainfall no issues (I haven't been able to check the rear water drainage before, seems ok). Power steering is working fine, albeit a bit noisier than I expected. Might fit the restrictor at some point in time to see if that quiets it down a bit. - Driving wise I really like the suspension setup. Nice and firm, but not breaking my back. It makes the car turn in nicely, I haven't reached the limit of the car yet due to weather and or traffic, but so far it seems to hold well in the corners. - As mentioned above, the gears are really short on this car. Highway driving (80 MPH) is at 3.5k RPM. Surely I am used to the low RPM driving of my daily diesel (2.5k RPM at 100 MPH), but this is just to high for comfortable longer journeys. I guess my Audi box which I intend to fit is a bit too tall in gearing, but I should see if I can work out an intermediate version, taking gears from both boxes to match to something nice. Also the issue exists in the Audi world on the (R)S4 models which use a similar box. They use just the sixth gear of the Diesel gearbox to lower their cruising RPMs. Seems to make sense to use 6th as overdrive only. If the V8 goes in, the Audi gearbox should have pretty good gears for it. For the 2.5..... not so much maybe. To be continued...

Last Saturday there was a nice Porsche tour in our area. Took my daughter along and we had a really good day. Perfect weather, so top down. Nice cars, from 70s models up to 981 / 991 range. I think pretty much all carrera / boxster / cayman. 60 miles through the country side, perfect. As reported last time, the car seemed reliable and yesterday it held fine as well. Mix of highway drive up to the start and slow driving through small towns, somewhat more spirited driving when out of town. All well and really enjoyable to drive now. So the exhaust noise issue is not much concern with the top down (no real drone) and didn't bother me. It wasn't even the loudest of the group (by a margin). It seems removing the drone would get me where I need to be. Also checked some seats and clearly the newer ones are lower. 987/997 is the obvious choice here, but 981/991 might work as well. I assume they will be a bit heavier due to more electrics though. Also someone was kind enough to let me try a newer 986 with the sport seats.The seats are nicer and felt marginally lower, but pretty much the same issue. Other models just by inspection.