Has anyone ever seen it done? Is it even possible?

Thanks

 

It should be the same procedure as the turbo with the same problems!

Regards
Pete

 

ha, and what problems are you speaking of?

 

Loss of traction to the front wheels causing car to spin uncontrollably...

C.

 

That you have to change wheel adjustments, caster, camber to-in etc.
Remove all frontdrive parts..
I´m not sure yet what happens with PSM, ABS yet because I havent had the time to try it! but alot of other guys here have som maybe they can give a better answer!

The 997 Cup car is based on the wide body so someone has done it! :-)

/Pete

 

I would assume an alignment would be in order for the difference in weight, but PSM and ABS stay in tact from what I've read, unless you have tip trans.

 

Ok that is what i am hoping for aswell!

 

RocC4S,

If you are going to do the conversion, please let me know how it goes and what sort of issues you may encounter. I may try to get my Dad to do it as well...

 

I'll let you know, for show.

 

Roc

when are you going to attempt to do this?

after a little research, i see that the turbo guys are doing this with no ill effect.

 

Correct. You keep ABS and PSM. They work normally. You simply remove the front-wheel drive components and re-align the car (along with a proper corner balance). My car has been RWD for around 2 years now. I won't go back.

 

You can't do it to a tip BTW.......

 

just converted mine with a Guard LSD 50/80 lock up.
taking the front stuff out is relatively easy and 100 pound weight reduction.
PSM and alignment not affected.
will report lap times next track event in two weeks.

it is do-able but would be nice to have a reason....mine was to get rid of the horrible understeer and push with a 600hp car and AWD and the randomness of turn in. also to trail brake and throttle steer better.
just my thoughts and I could be wrong!

 

I had the front driveshaft removed for a few weeks, and then had to go back to AWD.

PROS: The car didn't feel like a really fast truck anymore...it had much lighter steering, and it lost a lot of understeer. It felt like a sports car at last. Very cool. Plus, the car could now be steered with the throttle. I loved it. Also, if you are so inclined, donuts are now possible in the car for those cool Youtube-type videos .

CONS: First off, I admittedly did the conversion the "wrong" way. I didn't change the suspension, and I didn't get any sort of camber/toe/etc. changes made. So my experience shouldn't carry any weight for anyone that is going to do it the "right" way. Basically, I just removed the shaft and hit the road. The tech was able to do this in less than 10 minutes. It was really a simple looking procedure to remove it - lift the car, remove part of a heat shield to give access to shaft, air-wrench a few bolts off (zing zip zip), fasten the shield again, and lower the car.

The car without the front shaft was really fun, but quite scary at times with this set up. When I wanted the car to oversteer, it was very controllable and very fun. However, the car would get very squirelly and loose at all the wrong times as well. A few times I was changing lanes on the freeway and put my foot down to pass at 70-80 mph only to find the car going sideways. Not a good feeling. Also, with the car pointed straight ahead, putting your foot to the floor through the first few gears had the car wanting to pull sideways nearly the entire time.

I am no stranger to high HP cars, and am quite familiar with the handling dynamics of RWD cars. This car was totally a different animal than anything I've ever driven. Even the CGT's I've driven were more predictable and easy to drive at WOT than my X50 was with RWD.

Also, my ABS system really became too much of an active part of the driving experience. I've always hated the brakes on the 996 turbo, but removing the driveshaft made them even worse. My ABS likes to kick in too easily and agressively a lot of the time. The missing front driveshaft only amplified this situation.

So, that's my experience. I can't wait to try it again and do correctly with a proper suspension and alignment. I think it is way too dangerous though if you do it the fast and cheap way like I tried. This car really should have a LSD installed too. I think Porsche cheaped out on the diff because it is an AWD car....too bad.

Rob

 

Haven't decided yet...I may do a supercharger in the near future and want to see how it handles before and after the conversion. If I don't do a SC, it may be sooner and will certainly post up to let you know what I think.