vt951

My 2 cents... By the time you put all of the time and money into swapping an old small block chevy into your car, youi'll wish you have spent a couple extra thousand to have at least an ls1. Also, I bet you can pick up a 350 swapped 944 on CL for less $ than it will cost you to swap that engine into your car, even with a "free" engine.

xschop

LM4 or L33 engine are half the cost of the LS1

CyCloNe!

The build would be done for 3k, with me doing all the work and sourcing some parts from TPC. I'm most likely not going to put the 350 in, but keep the stock motor in my 951. I might put it in an old muscle car or for fun an old 924 or early 944. Since the 951s have lower prodution numbers I wouldn't want to mess it up, mines no where close to mint but it still is a classic.

rgs944

That would be a worthwhile engine to work into a 944. Yes, GM has made some very good engines in rescent years, but damn it took them a long to time to make something better than the 32 valve 928 engine for HP and fuel economy. Actually with the vette 6 speed tranny behind an S4 engine you might be able to get close to 30mpg at 70? A new kit is coming out soon to make the switch.

CyCloNe!

A few people have done that engine swap. ls1 is in the same ball park as the 928 engine as far as hp and and has a little better fuel economy, the later 90's Lt1 is very close as well just short by a few hp. 928 really don't get great fuel economy as with most v8 engines. The orginial Lt-1 motor from the 70's had more hp (370) and probably simular gas mileage maybe a few less than the porsche motor.

maj75

Actually the Late model Vette 6 speed is a trans-axle. I have not seen any kit to install this in a 944. The 6 speed of choice is from the late GTO or Camaro. They will give equally good fuel economy on the highway. 70 mph was less than 2000 rpm IIRC.

The 951 IS the car of choice for the swap. If you try to put a LS motor into a 944 you need to upgrade the transaxle, brakes and suspension to at least the 951 parts. I guess if this was a cost is no object build and you were planning to replace all of those items anyway, then a 944 shell would suffice.

You can find a complete rolling Vette drivetrain/suspension on EBay. If somebody was really creative and wanted to build the ultimate 944 or 923 for that matter, slip on of these under the body of a Porsche

maj75

The original LT1 from the 1970-71 Corvette was rated at 370 hp. That was a flywheel rating, not the lower standard adopted after about 1973. Nice vintage motor but nobody is going to put a carbed 350 motor into a 944 in this day and age. Horrible mileage in the 12-15mpg range.

The second generation LT1 motors managed a best of about 300 hp but with an awful Opti-spark distributor design. Again, nobody is swapping one of these unless its free and they are on an extreme budget.

The LS1 had 350hp/350tq in the Corvette.

The LS2 had 400hp/400tq in the Corvette. Both of the later engines had great fuel economy in those cars.

blown 944

Even though I love the LS design I'd stick with the 4 banger. There is reliable power to be had, you just need to know how to make it happen.

IMO it depends on what kind of car you want and what journey you want to undertake.

CyCloNe!

The ls2 motors have been swapped in our cars and actually there are a good amount of lt1 and carbed 350 swaps running in 944s. Personally i like carbs better. I'm aware as well that parts list required for the v8 install desires several parts from the turbo cars, I still wouldn't want to tear apart a breathing one unless my options were so limited.

CyCloNe!

I've been very tempted sid to take your route, you should sell an engine kit where we can get these items and just install them. I'm not confident enough in my building to produce what you have nor the budget to afford paying someone 6-7k to make it happen.

rgs944

You could maybe get a high performance LT1 engine that might get close to 370 crank HP(if it was even rated correctly) but I doubt it would ever get over 12mpg in any car. I know plenty of guys that have 70's and 80's camaro's who let them sit in the garage because they don't want to spend $50 on gas just to take it a few miles down the road. It took the Ls1 engine of the 90's to match what Porsche was doing in the 70's and 80's. Putting anything less than a Ls1 in a Porsche is just a waste of time IMHO.

morghen

If you want more power for a track car and dont want a turbo then yes, find a modern V8 and stitch it to the 951.

But with the money you put in to build that V8 and adapt it to the 951, you will rebuild the 951 lump and perhaps add a few hp within the same money but half the time. You would still have an original Porsche complete car with good mileage and a smooth engine....not some rugged truck thing hurling about in your engine bay.
Btw would you get trough inspection and emissions with that thing?

Sometimes i think you guys should get taxes like we do in europe, you'd chill out about V8 engines very fast. you'd eat alot less gas and the cars would be more refined and evolved.

ZR8ED

+1
Other things to consider:
Depending on your local laws, swapping the engine may make the car ineligable to be on the road or pass emissions.
Some insurance companies would likely drop you if they found out about your swap.
Depending on the swap fuel costs can take the fun out of driving the car. $5/gal for gas where I live. More in some parts of Europe.

rgs944

No worrries over here mate, everybody and their dog has money to burn $3.50gal gas in cars that get 12mpg. Seriously though you are dead on. I love driving my big HP 928 but I still very much enjoy my 83 944. Driving a tight road and corning hard at 35mph is still a blast for me.

acorad

fwiw, the LS1, etc., engines that are being commonly swapped in are not at all "some rugged truck thing hurling about in your engine bay." Even the actual "truck things" - the LT truck engines - are merely iron block variants of the LS aluminum block sweet-as-honey corvette/camaro/etc engine.

The V8 swap isn't for everybody, but for some of us hot rods are fun.