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The car is a 1986 944 Turbo that I had bought with about 111K miles back in early 2013 and has about 126K on it now. I had done a lot of the typical mods to the engine, Rogue Tuning M-Tune, Vitesse Stage 2 Turbo, Fabspeed Exhaust, TiAL WG, manual boost controller, silicone hoses, etc. It ran pretty well but I was constantly chasing oil leaks and the wiring harness was crumbling in places. Since the engine was going to have to come out I could either fix it up or swap it. I like the factory engine but they don't exactly grow on trees, parts are expensive, it requires stringent timing belt maintenance, and the fear of it blowing up is always looming. I always thought the LS swaps were cool but you lose the turbo aspects. I had saw the 07K swap thread a while back but there were still a lot of unknowns. Once Alan(vt951) and Mike(hinton) from Boost Brothers Garage partnered up they solved a lot of those unknowns and at that point I decided to go the 07K route. There is a lot of info in the main thread but here is the gist. The 07K is a modern port injected 5 cylinder engine from VW/Audi that was used in hundreds of thousands of Jettas, Beetles, Rabbits, Golfs, and Passats. Power wise, Mike's non-turbo car dynoed around 190 WHP and Alan's turbo car dynoed at around 450 WHP, both completely stock long blocks. A fully forged engine would be capable of much more. Since it is a very common engine they can be had for very cheap, $189 in my case for a complete low mileage engine from a junkyard. Finally, Boost Brothers Garage(no affiliation) is offering all the major parts needed for the swap.
Before the engine was removed and sold.
The wheels are FIKSE FM10s that I had bought in poor shape and restored. They were split apart, lips were polished, and the centers were Cerakoted Burnt Bronze.
Interior is partially apart as this is after I had removed some wiring and a crappy stereo the previous owner installed. The steering wheel is a Viilante from eBay on an MOMO adapter. The horn button is a plain black one that I put a Porsche emblem on that came off of a key chain. I didn't like the flat Porsche logo button that is commonly used. May not be everyone's taste but eh....
This is where the swap is sitting at the moment. Engine is installed and I have begun working on wiring and power steering plumbing. Once I have a turbo I will start working on oil and cooling lines, exhaust, and intake piping. The plan is to use the stock intercooler initially and see how that performs. The engine is going in stock with a potential build done later. I will not be using the Performance Electronics ECU and harness from Boost Brothers Garage. I will be using a Link G4X FuryX ECU, building a harness from scratch, and tuning it myself.
Stock open-diff Turbo transaxle which is fine for street driving. I had dropped it, cleaned it, and resealed it. I had the torque tube sent off to Constantine at Black Sea R&D for a rebuild with four of his Super Bearings. He did an awesome job on it. I am in the process of putting in a Fuelab 41401 Prodigy fuel pump which is rated for 1000 HP and is variable speed. It will be controlled by the Link ECU so it isn't running full tilt at all times. I will be using E85 and will have a flex fuel sensor so I can switch fuels seamlessly.
Looking great so far! I’ve been following the main thread for a long time now, mainly just out curiosity, and I think the swap is awesome. I know an LS would be great, but this seems more in keeping with the original spirit of the car. Keep the updates coming.
Finished the fuel pump install tonight. It is paired with a Fuelab 84810 fuel filter which has a 40 micron stainless steel element and a built in check valve. It is a tight fit and I had to cut the end of the mount tray a bit but no big deal. I had previously dropped the fuel tank and ran 10 gauge wire and a fresh return line using Gates Barricade hose.
Some updates regarding turbo, A/C, and idle air control for the VR6 throttle body.
The turbo is a Pulsar GTX3076R GEN II "eBay" clone, dual ceramic ball bearing, billet compressor wheel, and inconel turbine wheel. I choice the 3076 after looking at compressor maps and it seemed well suited for the 400+ wheel horsepower goal without being too large. I am at around 5500 feet so I had to account for that as well. Since the stock engine limits are still somewhat of an unknown I didn't want to go genuine. Knowing my luck I would send engine bits through a $2200+ turbo, especially since I will be self-tuning this on the street. I can buy almost four of these Pulsar turbos for that price and from what I have seen they perform pretty damn well.
.83 Dual V-Band
This is a fully electric 12v A/C compressor with built in controller. This is the same model as the Rencool MD18. They are all made in China by a company called Benling I believe. I was able to import one for about $550 with shipping. Pricey, but less so than others selling the same thing. If a group buy was done they could be had for less. It should perform well for the size of the cabin with a max draw of about 60 amps, we will see.
Anyways, I really wanted to retain a belt driven compressor but there is just no room when going turbo. You could probably get creative with turbo mounting but then you have to deal with belt routing, most likely having to stack balancers and run three belts... I am hoping I can move the horns and mount it tucked under behind the bumper. If not, mounting in the battery compartment, spare tire well, or rear side wells is easily possible. Running long A/C lines shouldn't be a problem, 911s have the condenser in the front and the compressor in the back.
Lastly, is a special controller for the idle air control motor in the VR6 throttle body. This TB is kinda unique in that it is cable driven but requires E-Throttle like control for idle. There is a geared DC motor that is capable of opening the throttle about 25%, it is not a solenoid so simple PWM control will work but not very well. VW did not use basic PWM across the idle motor. They used an H-Bridge style motor driver with feedback from the idle TPS. This is a separate mini TPS on pin 8 of the TB connector. Pin 5 is the normal full range TPS.
Most standalone ECUs have the hardware to control this properly but it would require special firmware. My Link ECU can do E-Throttle but not just E-Throttle idle control, it is all or nothing. Boost Brothers Garage had the luxury of working with Performance Electronics who came up with some sort of control with custom firmware. That is great for those who chose that route but the others who elected to go a different way have to come up with something on their own.
Now I could of gone with a simple two or three wire idle control solenoid but I liked the idea of the built in E-Throttle style idle control. I just needed a way to control it properly. Here is my solution.
It is a controller that makes the ECU think it is controlling a two wire idle control solenoid. The controller takes that PWM input along with the mini TPS 0-5v signal on pin 8, "merges" them, and sends that to a proper full bridge motor driver. The PWM output from the ECU is used to control the controller and the idle motor is driven by the motor driver and not directly by the ECU.
I can't take credit for the original idea as I found it on an old Megasquirt forum post. A guy had posted a circuit diagram but it was missing all the details. I did come up with my own circuit board design and I also had to modify his design in some ways as it didn't work exactly how I wanted.
This is the prototype I will be using. The heat sink is unnecessary but helps hold it in the case. It puts off very little heat with how I redesigned it.
Very interested in how that electric compressor works out. I have an LS swapped 996 and frankly would rather use the spot hanging off the engine for dry sump. I would put the compressor up front in the frunk and maybe help with the weight distribution as well.
@Robstevens , sorry for the super late reply. Life got in the way and I haven't made much progress on the swap. Starting to get back into it and when it's running I will post here with the results.
I did get the turbo mounted with a custom T3 to V-band adapter. This is a nice thick stainless T3 flange and a section cut from a 90 degree Schedule 10 pipe. I took some measurements for someone in the main 07K thread.
Nope, just on the wastegate pipe. The entire exhaust is on rubber hangers so it can technically flex with the engine. The factory 951 dump pipe didn't have one and I don't think anyone has ever had issues with it cracking or anything.
Subscribed for the cool build and especially the electric AC compressor. Will it be controlled by the stock climate control panel and what’s the plan for an electrical system that can reliably handle that amperage?
Subscribed for the cool build and especially the electric AC compressor. Will it be controlled by the stock climate control panel and what’s the plan for an electrical system that can reliably handle that amperage?
Thanks
Yes, stock A/C controls. The original compressor clutch control wire will be wired into the Link ECU which will then provide an output to the electric compressor. This is so I can prevent the compressor turning on at high rpm, etc.. The compressor has three speeds, low, medium, and high depending on which control wire is grounded. I will probably start with medium and see how that does. The stock 07K alternator is 140 amps which should be okay. If not, you can get 250 amp alternators.
11-08-2020, 03:50 AM
Sixline's 1986 951 07K Turbo Swap
