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From some of the threads I found in my research it seems I should look for a 944T/951 gearbox for the LSD and better R&P ratio? Then swap the 5th gear from my NA box into it? Or are there other "magical combo's? I will have plenty of torque from low down, so taller 1st is not a concern and probably even preferred?
In Porsche lingo, the box you probably want is the AOR transaxle used in the S2 (89-91) and the 968 (aka "S3"). It's considered by many to be the strongest stock transaxle Porsche made for the car. I'm not familiar with fitting it to an LS conversion though. I've transplanted a stock ZF LSD into mine with the assistance of Dimi (FlyingHorseMotorSports.com) and he's a great resource for those parts. He also set me up with a short 5th gear for the track since I'm not really interested in finding the top end mph wise, most of the tracks I use the car on don't offer the opportunity for cars that only make 210 bhp. I prefer more technical tracks so keep that in mind when evaluating my experiences and build goals.
I understand there may be hardened gear sets available from 951 boxes that can be transplanted to the AOR.
No they cannot be set to stock ride height. Mine is set to the highest setting and is still pretty low....
@Clark-88-944 Those springs look much too short, you should absolutely be able to achieve a stock ride height using coilovers usually at the upper extreme of the spring adjustment. The other thing I notice on your set-up is that you don’t have a helper spring to positively locate your spring to the spring seat/cap. That is a very dangerous situation, there is a good chance that your spring will dislodge from its seating while cornering or even if you hit an undulation in the road. When (not if) that happens you will (not maybe) lose control of the car.
My safety advise fwiw, (1) please fit suitable longer springs, you can retain the same spring rate if you like just longer so that at the upper limit your stock ride height is achievable, and (2) get a spacer and helper spring to firmly locate your spring to the spring seat in all situations. A spacer is simply a metal ring that separates two springs and a helper spring is a flat spring with zero spring rate which keep everything together if the main spring is likely to separate from its spring seat. Fyi here’s a picture of how my springs look with the car on jacks:
@Clark-88-944 Those springs look much too short, you should absolutely be able to achieve a stock ride height using coilovers usually at the upper extreme of the spring adjustment. The other thing I notice on your set-up is that you don’t have a helper spring to positively locate your spring to the spring seat/cap. That is a very dangerous situation, there is a good chance that your spring will dislodge from its seating while cornering or even if you hit an undulation in the road. When (not if) that happens you will (not maybe) lose control of the car.
My safety advise fwiw, (1) please fit suitable longer springs, you can retain the same spring rate if you like just longer so that at the upper limit your stock ride height is achievable, and (2) get a spacer and helper spring to firmly locate your spring to the spring seat in all situations. A spacer is simply a metal ring that separates two springs and a helper spring is a flat spring with zero spring rate which keep everything together if the main spring is likely to separate from its spring seat. Fyi here’s a picture of how my springs look with the car on jacks:
Thanks for the info MAGK944!
So a brief update on the project. A few things popped up in front of me and though I am not even close to ready for them I bought them anyway, gotta grab those deals when you find them!
'02 Camaro SS LS1 Longblock - It needs the Cyls bored from sitting a while with no heads, but crank and rods are supposed to be good, nothing spun. We shall see, absolute worst case if the crank needs more work than just a polish I may just "go big or go home" and buy a 383 stroker kit since I will be boring the block to the same bore those kits use. I stumbled on this longblock for $200 + shipping. Actually paying more for freight than I am for the block, but still 1/2 of what the folks up here want for an LS1.
Camaro/Trans am WS6 6sp Wiring harness and ECU - pretty much the perfect harness and ECU for what I am doing, $270 shipped to me for the package. New harness alone are usually over $350.
I will update with pictures once the block lands, it will probably get a coating of oil from me to stop any further deterioration and then sit in the corner on my engine stand for a while.
Hey MAGK944, nice information! Three questions about your set up:
1) Are you using Paragon kit? It looks like it, but I just wanted to confirm.
2) What spring rate did you choose for the front springs?
3) Do you have a recommendation for sourcing the spacer ring?
I have the Paragon kit on my project 944S with helper springs, but not the spacer rings yet (car is not on the road yet), but I would like to add those rings before the project is complete. FWIW I have 300 lb-in springs...
Hey MAGK944, nice information! Three questions about your set up:
1) Are you using Paragon kit? It looks like it, but I just wanted to confirm.
2) What spring rate did you choose for the front springs?
3) Do you have a recommendation for sourcing the spacer ring?
I have the Paragon kit on my project 944S with helper springs, but not the spacer rings yet (car is not on the road yet), but I would like to add those rings before the project is complete. FWIW I have 300 lb-in springs...
Yes it’s the Paragon kit with Koni inserts, 350F and 550R springs with GC Koni rear coil overs (tb deleted) and 968 M030 sways F&R. The spacers and helpers are by Eibach, you can get them from various places just search using the part numbers on the boxes:
Btw the spacers are not essential, you can simply use cable ties to attach the helper to the main spring to stop it moving, the spacers are just a more elegant solution.
Small update here. Spent last weekend cleaning and sorting the garage. Made a trip to the dump/recycling getting rid of older no longer usable junk. Franky was able to finally get tucked into the back of the garage. I plan(ed) to work on it back there and still be able to use the other bays for daily vehicles. As you can see from picture, it is a bit tighter than I had expected. We shall see how it goes.
This week I also took possession of the donor longblock for the conversion. It needs work, but crossing my fingers it will be good to go with a little love. 5.7L Alum LS1, that will keep the weight down and maintain the original weight balance.
Typical ups and down of a project last week. I did a quick hone on the bad cylinder and it cleaned up, no need to bore it!!
So I started teardown on the rest of the ls1. All went well the I got to #4 rod. Bearing was spun like a top and completely ate the crank. Grrr, I was told nothing spun, so much for that. Least I got long block for low price. Should hopefully still come out ahead if I continue to be thrifty while finding a rotating assembly.
Not much time in garage last week. Just enough to finally address interior. Car sat for years with drivers window open. Interior shot, standing water in rear footwells.
Pulled seats and middle section of carpet, then used towels to remove the standing water.
SEATS: These seats will not work for me, based are to narrow. But the backs and seating height are great, I am 6'4" so base height it critical. Any different seat base or other seats (Porsche or aftermarket) that bolt right in but are not taller at the base?
Still not had much time to really attack the car itself since I pulled the bad carpet out. The car is at least safe and tucked in garage where it is staying dry.
ENGINE: Local buddy that is into LS engines recommended I scrap the bad LS1 motor I bought. Then did me a huge favor and found a complete motor locally. From a Buick Rainier of all things! An all alum 5.3L LS series, Oil pan to Intake. I think I overpaid a bit, but it was good to get a motor from a running vehicle wiring at all. I also purchased an LS1 computer and wiring harness and a Corvette C5 Flywheel and pressure plate. I sold the bare LS1 block for almost what I paid for it, so was lucky there.
I was keeping my eye open for an HP Tuner to be able to tune the ECU/engine to the car but even the old versions were expensive and hard to find. A couple weeks ago Holley released a new product that is a stand alone, auto adjusting and tunable ECU and wiring harness for the LS series motors. It is not a cheap system, but when combining what I paid for the factor ECU/wiring plus an HP Tuner is was within $100 of the Holley system. Plus I would not have to hack and customize the factory wiring harness which is a huge bonus. I was able to sell the factory ECU/wiring for a little more than I paid for it which was a bonus.
This week I picked up a set of Cup wheels from a guy a few hours north of me, so wheels are covered now and it will let me get some wider tires under the car to handle the power.
Meanwhile We had a shed built to house the mower and other items to free up room in the garage for car related items. New electrical service goes in beginning of next month. Then I can get lighting and ceiling finished up and actually get down to turning wrenches on Franky!
Well probably time for an update on this project as it has had a significant change.
The more I dug into the car and added items to the budget, the less ans less sense it made to continue thru given my planned end goal. The car would be great for a bare bones LS track car project but not for a fully functional long range cruising road car. SO at this point the project has been shelved and Franky has returned to parts car status for my son. It is a lower mile chassis with straighter body so we may end up using the shell and moving good parts form my son's car over to it as a family project. Sort of make one good out of two bad.. Once we make a final decision I will let everyone know if we decide to part it out at all.
Did you already buy a bunch of parts for the project?
Yeah it was a whirlwind of a week for sure, and it continues.
I did already buy many of the parts for the conversion. I was going to do an LS conversion on a different car model that would have made use of some of them, but even that I am shelving and I will be buying a project that is already a V8 that I can just focus on improving rather than swapping.
I need to get the LS related parts listed for sale hopefully this weekend.
01-07-2019, 03:50 PM
