Chopping a Boxster Clean in Half for Love of Learning?

Would it confuse you more if we said that the reason for cutting this Porsche was to combine it with a Lykan Hypersport shell?

It’s not every day that you slice a perfectly functioning Porsche Boxster in half. However, if you were to do that, we would assume it would have to be for a very good reason. Well, the founder of Genius Garage and the man in front of the camera in the YouTube video above has some explaining to do. His name is Casey Putsch and his Ohio-based program is getting college students the hands-on learning they desperately need to transition from school to work. One of their 2020 projects includes taking a 2007 Porsche Boxster and fusing it with the shell of a Lykan Hypersport. This Lykan shell was made for the stage production Fast & Furious Live.

As strange as that sounds, this hybrid creation got us curious. As much as we’d like to, we don’t think we will be dissecting any Porsches in our personal workspace anytime soon. So, it’s probably best to leave that type of work to the experts on the Internet. As Putsch is explaining the process of how they actually plan on making both of the cars work together, he proclaims: “The car is going to be extended the better part of seven inches…[however] it’s not really going to affect the nature of the balance of the car.” So, after finding out the best point across the bare chassis to cut the Porsche, Putsch and his team are sure to make some logistical arrangements before pulling the saw out.

This included the planning for extending the aluminum coolant lines, the parking brake cables, the gearbox cables, the brake lines…you name it. Obviously, you can’t just take the saw out and go crazy and expect good results.

Hundreds of wires on the chassis harness also needed to be cut and extended. That means one little wire at a time — cut, extended, soldered, heat-shrunk. However, Putsch states they did do “one wire at a time, because you can’t screw it up.”

However, as all the preparations for the real action were ready, they decide to take their first taste of the Boxster’s stamped steel chassis. The body cut will begin just behind where the seats mount.

On the underside of the Porsche, the cut line will nicely fall between the connection/fitting end for many of the lines that run under the car. Firing up the noisy Sawzall/reciprocating saw, the chopping begins. After some shuffling through cutting techniques to get the cuts as straight as possible, the Porsche is finally ready to be separated and the division is realized.

Putsch points out the structure of the frame rail and transmission tunnel (now visible by cross-section) is not only interesting to see, but a factor they need to consider when rejoining the bodies. A “vast majority of the Boxster’s torsional rigidity has to come through this chassis pan” due to lack of a roof. However, since they will be adding a full cage to the car, they will be overall increasing its rigidity.

While Putsch might end the video with the exclamation that “this is how you ruin a perfectly good Porsche,” we think we learned something out of it. We are still curious about how they actually plan to extend the body and by what design, which is why we are anticipating the next video.

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