blitz951

Has anyone turbocharged a 911? I know RUFF made the CTR but has anyone else done it? I am just curious what it would take and the expense involved. With the new turbo tech. and the 911's light weight it could be made into a crazy fast car.

Ed Bighi

The easiest way to go about it is to just swap the motor to a 3.3 turbo unit. It is easily done since the heater tubing, oil lines and things of that sort all match up pretty well due to the fact that the 930 was basically the same chassis as the 911 with the only difference being the trailing arm attachment points. Certainly easier than a 3.6 swap. I had a friend that did it in a day. Of course, you will need to things like the 930 oil lines and a few other bits. But no non-factory parts, specialized exhaust and dme related stuff are required. It is actually my favorite swap since you get an extremely fast car in return due to the fact that the 3.3 in stock form puts out about 300 hp if it has the proper exhaust. Not only that, but it is a very tunable motor that can easily be made to put out gobs of hp. The coolest swap I have ever seen was in my old mechanic's personal car. This was a 72 911T with the stock body, wheels, etc. The only difference being a ducktail which required a slight modification to fit the intercooler. Yes, it can be done (I just let the cat out of the bag). Needless to say, that certain car was scary fast.

blitz951

Ed,
Do you have any idea how much a 3.3L engine would cost and I don't think the engine swap would be to labor intensive, am I right?

Ed Bighi

The price can vary. Start checking with Porsche junkyards like Parts Heaven and Kempton Brothers. Shop around. The swap should not be labor intensive since this is probably one of the easiest swaps there is. You are not dealing with a motor that wasn't designed for you particular chassis. Now this is considering you are driving either an SC, Carrera or maybe 2.7. My wrench just did one about a year ago on an SC, so I will ask him about the dirty details and tell you about it. If I remember correctly, he told me it was extremely easy since nothing had to be rigged. Heck, you won't even need a special muffler since it all matches.

I was going to do it myself but decided against it since it would be too much power for what I need at this point. First I will build a 3.4 as not to upset the fine balance of my car. Later on, I will probably make it a 934 though. You see, right now passing people at the track in my car presents a challenge at times around certain special cars. If I had gone turbo, I would do it too easily. But nonetheless, I get special enjoyment from driving single turbo 911's at the track. Trying to decipher how soon to step on the gas when accounting for speed, rpm and boost pressure and subsequent oversteer presents a challenge that I have a knack for and truly enjoy.

Don't forget one thing, no hp ever comes cheap. Unless the motor in the car is already a turbo. And the reason I mentioned throwing in a 930 plant is because generally it is cheaper and easier to play mechanic that to play engineer.

geo.aigel

I think turbo charging a stock 911 engine, e.g. the 3.0, will require lowering the compression ratio to accept the boost. I think there are turbo kits out there to do this but it requires a complete engine teardown to do it right. I have seen used units for sale locally. I also believe the porsche turbo engine conversion may be your best bet for reliability and value.

Cheers, George

thrown_hammer

Post this on the Pelican BBS. Several guys have done it. One guy RNFG I think... Is getting ready to release a kit for the 3.0

Dean

I did install an early 930 motor in my SC. There are a few things that you would have to take care of. One is overboost protect. Another is turbo oil drain. The third is fuel. All these things are different. Having doing the conversion I can say that it was the best thing I could have done. The car is a blast. I have seen motors go for $7k-$8.5k. Dave at Dart Auto has one I think.

Ed Bighi

George is correct about engine teardown. And a teardown at the cheapest possible would be at least 4K. When you consider that, the 930 swap starts to become economical. On the subject of price, I have seen motors for even less than the 7- 8.5. I almot had one once for less than 6K. It sold quick. I agree with Dave about these things being a blast. There is no substitute for cubic inches, unless you have boost.

timlooney

There is a guy that advertises in Excellence that sells a supercharger kit for the 911 SC that will generate 300 hp and 309 ft-lbs of torque at 4600 rpm.

A supercharger will not suffer from turbo lag but you still have the problems associated with changing a naturally aspirated engine to forced induction...

Give them a buzz and see what they have to say.

Supercharging of Knoxville: (423) 842-9556 SoKPorsche@chattanooga.net

blitz951

I got this idea when I saw the narrow body Ruff 911, what a beauty. I think a Carrera with the Ruff style bumpers and a 3.3L Turbo engine that has some good cams and a Garret (no internal mods) would be the ultimate car and can be done at a very reasonable price. 930's are very beautiful but the carrera is very small, compact and light which is what I like. I have considered all the pre 1994 911's (don't care for the new ones) but the Carrera 3.3L turbo may be something I may do in the next year. Power to match the new 911TT in the older style 911 is the ultimate kind of car in my book, real German metal with modern day performance. I am going to look into this more.
Supercharging is a good idea but I like turbo's or NA engines.

Dean

From my exprience there is nothing that can be done to a Porsche at a reasonable price. But that doesn't stop me. Go for it

blitz951

Dean,
Thats funny but your right. I still think that for the performance I would be able to get out of this car for the money is fairly inexpensive considering anything fast today is at least $50,000 and that would be a Z06 which is not my kind of car. I have a lot to research with all this but your point is well taken.

MikeF

I've been researching this same issue for a few months now. I won't rehash it all but do a search on the Pelican board for "Supercharging a 3.2". I'm still on the fence between supercharging and doing a 3.6 swap. Unfortunately, I have to deal with the smog extortionists here in Atlanta.

Trying to add significant power to a 3.2 Carrera will cost $$$. It'll be easier than you think to end up with more than $50k invested in your $20,000 911.

sschmerg

You guys are gluttons for financial punishment!

Get more power out of a 911? Just sell it and buy a 930 or a later 911. In the long run it will probably be much cheaper (and easier)!

-Sean

Tito 911

Has anyone turbocharged a 911?

I have and still do,

I am just curious what it would take and the expense involved

$ wise $15,000-$ 30,000 depending on goodies,for sure no less than $20,000.

It depends what level of Hp you wish to obtain,

In my case heres how it went

From Factory 88 911 narrow body carrera 3.2

217hp Factory N/A
277 rwhp Turbo, no internal modifications,no intercooler,7psi boost
409 rwhp turbo into the engine lower compression
505rwhp more staff
541rwhp more staff
623.9 rwhp thats were we are, single plug,single turbo,factory motronics
750 rwhp next step working on
800rwhp final goal.

hope this gives you an idea