2001 Porsche 996 LS1 Conversion Thread by 1dirtyZ

11 minute(s) of a 536 minute read

more progress ! 

i got the original trans mount and xmember off and saw how much i can slide the tansmission ; i think i got about 5 inches of clearance ! enough to install the engine without needing to cut the brace.

here it is before :

and after :

removing the original mount will get you this nice little pad that porsche so kindly made removable ( 4 allen key bolts hold it on to a flat part of the trans):

i'm not going to take it off since it will be part of my new trans mount, it will have two tabs bolted to the sides and going down to a regular gm trans mount (poly) like so :

and the nice people at porsche also added four beefy studs under the car ( just like they knew someone would need them someday ) right infront of the transmission to use as a mounting point for the new trans xmember ( here is one on the left side of the picture ) :

and here are all 4 :

now it isn't all smooth sailing , there are a few issues to deal with :

first off is the shifter mechanisim on the transmission hits the E-brake and strater + cable , it's not the shifter lever itself but a counter weight it has on it (see pic ) that is hitting , the solution would be to cut it but i don't know how that would affect shiter "feel"?

here is a better pic of the part :

the other issue is the driveshaft length , but that is not a huge problem since i can have it shortened ( it already has a loooong splined end)

last issue is the cv joint angle , i'm doing some reading on how much is too much angle and if these are 930 style cv joints or not ( 930 joints can handle a good amount of angle).

here is the befroe angle (stock location ) :

and the relocated angle :

what do you think?

(note , did some onscreen measurements and it seems the angle of the axle is around 12 deg.)

so , right now i'll just make the trans mount without cutting anything on the car ( so as to go back to stock location if need be) . it'll most likely be a plate that bolts to the 4 bolts and has a tab running under the trans mount .

if the relocation process fails , i guess its time for the sawzall ! 

04.29.10

easy, i looked into different axles and just like you said there are options 

i do agree the weight distribution comment , but over all moving the tranny that much is just too much of a hassle. soooooo, the next best thing is to move it just a bit! 

i turns out if you flip the trans mount around and machine the small pad on one end that interferes with the transmission case, you end up moving the tranny forward about 2 inches ! 

here are some pics :

and the result :

cool thing is the cv axles are just slightly changed from stock , shifter works without interference and i get better weight distribution ,,, all while using stock parts 

more progress news, i finished cradle V3.0 and they look like this :

and header clearance :

only thing that worries me with this design is the stress or leverage that is placed on the part itself.

so after thinking some more and noticing that the engine now is sitting almost flush with the brace , i though why not do it like the porsche engine was mounted ,,,, soooo here's my other other other engine mount idea :

it fits nicley and lines up with the original mounts , i just have to make sure i can have everything lined up first ; the motor plate will cause both the water pump and alternator mount to be moved forward . so i plan on machining the waterpump mounting surface the thickness of the plate to compensate and pull the pump back in. the alternator bracket is not that easy ; i can't machine the back side of the mount cause there isn't enough material , so the solution is to bolt it as is , but move the alternator back by machining a bit off the alternator tabs and getting a small spacer to compensate . ( sorry forgot to take pics of that )

so more on that later 

04.30.10

the motor plates were just there so i threw them on . i totally agree that using only the waterpump bolts is not a great idea in my opinion. i am thinking in the same lines you are when it comes to building a new plate ,,,, actually i have that already done for another project i was toying around with :

i most likley will use more mounting holes on the plate and even use spacers on the passenger side head to tie that in with the plate as well. 

i've also been toying around with another accesory drive idea :

the plan is to use a remote waterpump ( fittings on the block water outlets would be much shallower than the pump itself) as well as an electric powersteering pump. by doing so i can have the accesory drive - which will consist of an alt. beltg and an A/C belt - run under the brace , while the water and steering pumps be located somewhere else .i've looked into MR2 pumps , and after some deep research , i found out that skoda Fabia's, Seat Ibiza's , Mercedes A class and BMW mini's all have electric power steering pumps,,,,, then i found the big surprise : the poreshe 996 GT3 CUP had electric power steering from the factory! which means i might find a bolt in electric power steering if i look hard for it 

so now i'm researching more into the electric power steering route to see if i can use it or not and to see if it is reasonably priced to go with 

05.16.10

back to working on this again, 

the adapter finally showed up ! 

and the flywheel that makes it all possible

i placed the adapter on the tranny and found out i need to cut it from the bottom to clear the crossmember , if i didn't do so it would hit the crossmember and i would need to pull the trans towards the back an inch or so .

i already took it to a machine shop and told them to take out 1.5" from the bottom , i should have it back today.

you can see here how it touches :

i also ordered some bushings from welderseries that showed up yesterday , so i should be able to finish the motor plate soon and start moving on to other parts of the build . i also plan on going with a different oil pan , this one just sticks too far down for my liking . found a place called kevco that can build any design pan you want , so i'll be hitting them up for one that is 3.5" deep and is basically a rectangular box with baffling .

also ordered the GT2 clutch conversion ( basically ditching the leaky, bulky , assisted slave cylinder with a manual one), makes life much easier when plumbing the clutch since the original 996 setup used a hydraulically assisted unit that was driven off the steering pump. another benifit is the better clutch feel , since it makes the pedal a bit stiffer ( the stock one felt tooooo soft and almost had no feedback). 

i also finished running the clutch hydraulic lines from the rear to the driver footwell , i just need to get the pedals and reservoir in there and finish connecting the hoses.

05.19.10

more progress 

i finished the engine mounting plates and bushings last night , here's the driver side mounting point . this bolts to the frame where the original engine mounts used to rest :

and here is the bushing sleeve that i welded to the motor plate : 

and here is the finished product on the driver's side :

and here is the passenger side mounting point :

and the finished (for now ) product :

i just have to do a bit of grinding here and there and cut the top parts to clear the intake to pretty them up and make them look nice . and when i'm done with all of the mounts , then its off to the powdercoaters !

so now the engine is suspended by itself , i think that should be considered a milestone 

next up : making the mounts that will be located between the engine and trans; they will use the two bolts on the side of the engine (above and below the bellhousing dowl ) and extend down to the suspension crossmember , where i'll weld up some tabs for the another set of bushings, think of it as extra insurance 

after that i guess i can start tackeling the accessory drive and/or the exhaust . which should be interesting for both .

found this exhaust idea while messing on google (<---- gotta love google images!)

or i might go with an x muffler like the magnaflow 12469 in place of the original unit .