not set in mind at all - nor do i want to argue - but i have a fair amount of experience in this business - i've been at it a lot longer than a lot of the guys have been alive - this is not my first barbeque - i've just seen too many bubble gum and bailing wire jobs - i recently saw one at a car show from probably the most well known company doing this too - very disappointing

and i can make it work - i've done plenty of conversions that worked great - but, they cost a good amount of time and money to do right

the real problem is that most people don't know any better - you can ask pretty much anybody racing 968s and they will tell you that the chassis is not very stiff - that is, until they install a cage - then it is fairly decent

i am in socal - i regularly travel across the country dragging my 968 around to events all over, so there is a good chance i can swing by wherever you suggest - as an example, i will be in hershey in april, charlotte in july (via a fairly circuitous route), and albequerque in sept

 

agreed
now i dont know everything or anything at all... but it appears to me that that chassis is more than capable of handling the power and added torqu of the l engine. not only that with the proper supsension set up and stiffening certain parts of the car it would take it from adequate to simply stunnging especially when you are going to push it to the limits. and I know, seen, worked with/on enough guys who have done similar swaps PROPERLY and it has been nothing short of awe-inspiring and pure innovation and impresses me everytime. all in all i think that you need to open up a bit. and check out the people who are doing it right are doing.

 

maybe i just have a different level of experience with cars - i don't know - maybe a lot of this comes from having driven cars that are really stiff, and then comparing them to this one - by comparison it is soft - that is what makes it a great gt car though - flex makes the ride smooth

i am not saying it can't be done - all i am saying is that a lot of work needs to be done to get it "RIGHT"

this is a unibody car - consequently it has its own inherent weak spots - you can actually see the chassis flex in the sunroof

for starters, the strut towers aren't strong enough to handle much increase - i've seen quite a few with stress issues, and some that have ripped out altogether, even with standard engines - they must be reinforced - the lower suspension area is incredibly flexible - the benefits of a brace there becomes immediately evident to even the most novice of street car drivers - the front frame rails need torsional reinforcement, as do the rockers, and the windshield frame - the rubber bushings need to go, and the transaxle needs to be beefed up

almost all of this porsche did on the turbo rs - they did it for a reason, and it had a LOT less torque than an LS1 can make

i think the idea is great - i frequently think about doing it myself - i think it can be a lot of fun in the end - but, i think a lot of the people who sell "kits" are doing the public a disservice by misleading them into thinking it can be done cheaply or easily

 

that realization is dawning on me too. there are a lot of swap kits for other cars, for instance the older body bmw 3-series. However, that kit is, pretty much what the name suggests, a kit. Once the motor/header/tranny is in, the body/suspension/brakes/etc can handle the added power. That's not to say that you can't/shouldn't upgrade those parts for a better performance gain, but the kit is usable without them. It seems like a 968 would require a reasonably extensive amount (10-15K+) of modification just to make the kit reasonably driveable, even after the motor is in.

 

for me, absolutely - for some, apparently not

perspective may be a large part of it here - as an example, i have an 06 Yukon Denali - many would think "oh, that's a nice car" - i happen to think that, in stock trim, it's a rattly, twichy, noisy heap - it has taken a LOT of work to quiet it down and make it civilized

however, i would take the lead from porsche, and expect that, at a bare minimum, you would need to do the upgrades they did on the turbo (suspension, wheels, hubs, transaxle, brakes, minor chassis upgrades), and more likely the ones for the turbo rs

 

Status- You are exactly right on. There are many people on the internet that masquerade as experts. They will attempt to gain credit by perpetually stating how much experience they have. The amount of incorrect data in this thread alone, really is staggering!

propr`one- instead of listening to someone who hasn't actually built an LS swap, and has an obvious agenda, why don't you go over and talk to people who have:

http://www.porschehybrids.com/php/

 

SCV8, thanks for the link

doing some reading now*

 

agreed - there are also plenty of people who don't know what a properly set up car can and should be like - it becomes pretty evident though, as soon as somebody drives one - it makes you immediately want to go home and start modifying yours

a V8 in this one would be a nice challenge, and i'm sure i'll tackle it myself some day soon - right now i'm still working out the redesign and correcting the beetle/rabbit suspension design flaws, and having fun with it, having already worked out the chassis issues for the street (but so far only up to about 350hp capability)

you're right about the amount of incorrect or at least incomplete data - i wholeheartedly agree that checking out everything first is appropriate and wise

as a good example, a good idea would be to go to a good race shop that sets up this chassis - they will be able to point out the obvious weaknesses, and show where to upgrade to handle the power

there are plenty of back yard hacks out there - be careful - look for the little things like wiring harnesses, throttle linkages, grade 8 or better hardware, and all the small stuff that points out whether it is a good conversion or a poor one

i don't claim to have done an LS1 in one of these - i have done plenty of small block chevy conversions in other cars, but only a small block ford in one of these (it was so long ago that chevy didn't make an aluminum engine yet, and we wanted to keep the weight down) - however, i am very familiar with the design shortcomings of the car in general, have corrected many of them already on the current car, and will be implementing them and more on the race car, so i'll surely have a pretty good handle on what to do when i do finally get to this conversion

i'd love to see a clean conversion though - i have no need to reinvent the wheel, and i'll need them to stiffen up the chassis for the race car, so if somebody else has already got the sub-frame units done, i'd love to see them, buy them, or whatever