Don Nguyen | My Porsche 911 V8 Build
 

"I couldn't find the sports car of my dreams, so I built it myself" - Ferdinand Porsche

I bought my 964 when I was 20 years old. Probably not the best financial decision at the time, but I did it anyways. I knew nothing about Porsches, but after one test drive, I knew that this 964 had to be mine. Since then, there have been several times that I have come close to selling my 964. Whether the reason was due to lack of resources or not enough time to build and restore my 964 into the car that I had hoped and imagined it would be. However, luckily, I never went through with selling my 964, as it would have probably been my single biggest automotive decision that I would have regretted making. It's now or never.

I like Porsches, I like American V8s, and I like race cars. What am I alluding to?
Well, to simply put it, I will be taking my Porsche 964 and putting a Chevy LS based engine into it with the overall end results of a streetable race car. Because what fun, really, is a car that can't be driven whenever you wanted to.

However, to me speed is only one part of the equation. The car's going to take on styling cues of a race car from the exterior, but have a relatively tolerable and factory-esque interior, aside from a few various interior race bits here and there. I like to think of it as a wolf in wolf's clothing. Sounds wrong in every way? Sounds perfect to me. Speed, handling, styling, and comfort. The best part about building a car how you want it is that there is no bad part.

Why? I will only answer this question once. Because.

No fancy tools, no fancy garage, no team of engineers. One man, one car, and countless hours spent doing research. I will be doing as much of the fabrication myself as possible, from building the engine mounts to redoing all of the leather work on the interior.

I can go into details and tell you all of my plans and ideas for the car, but what fun would that be if I told you everything upfront and didn't leave a little bit of mystery to it. As I was always taught, show, not tell. You'll just have to tune in and watch as the progress goes along.

I am not trying to build the best car in the world, but to build my perfect car, which to me makes it the best car in the world.

Smiley face,
Don Nguyen

This is how the car looked like when I first bought it. These pictures were actually taken from the original ad that were used by the previous owner. Funny thing is, I actually did not remember saving these pictures, but I randomly happen to stumble across them the other day when looking for something else.

http://wannaberacer.com/porsche/porsche.jpg

http://wannaberacer.com/porsche/porsche2.jpg

It took me only one week of searching to find my 964 and it took me only one more week after that before I put in an order for a set of coilovers for my car. I figured why wait to buy them, when I could buy them now and enjoy it right away.

http://wannaberacer.com/porsche/porsche3.jpg

http://wannaberacer.com/porsche/porsche4.jpg

http://wannaberacer.com/porsche/porsche5.jpg

This is ultimately what the car last looked like before I decided to put it up on jack stands and start the reconstruction process. Keep in mind, all of these pictures that I have posted thus far, including this one, are from over a span of several several years.

http://wannaberacer.com/porsche/porsche6.jpg

As of yesterday, this is how the car looked like. I actually had started taking the car apart before I decided that I would take pictures and document my build. I was never really one to start or have any detailed build threads for any of my other project cars, but I felt like this is one that I would share the process and progress as it goes along with you guys.

http://wannaberacer.com/porsche/porsche7.jpg

http://wannaberacer.com/porsche/porsche8.jpg

http://wannaberacer.com/porsche/porsche9.jpg

-Don

This is awesome, best of luck to you.

keep the goal at hand in your sights, and most of all, have fun. from one 964 ls owner to another. :)

renegade makes a torsion bar 911 kit for the ls motors but does not specifially make a ls kit for the 964 chassis. while the torsion bar kit will work in the 964 it would have to be tweaked mostly in the nose area. renegade buys their adapter and fly wheel from kep, so just save the money and buy direct from kep. its like 550.00 or something for the pair. build your own mounts as you said, and ill send you dimensions of my water pump blocks. other than that, depending on hp and tq, would delegate whether or not you will need a kevlar clutch and turbo pressure plate. use a meziere electric water pump, and a corvette returnless fuel filter. get a griffin aluminum 3 core radiator for a s10 v8 set up. get a ls1 stand alone harness and pcm and your home free.

post script; there are lots of little details, but thats the bulk of it.

:corn: Subscribed!

Subscribed.

I can't figure out whats more ballsy
1. Putting an LS engine in your Porsche ? or
2. Telling the Porsche community that your doing it ?

Either way....like many (including purists lurkers), I can't wait to see the process / results.

Thanks for the comments guys.

I don't know, but I guess I am not shy to taking risks.

-Don

Wow, this will be a great project! If I remember correctly, an LS3 weighs in around 360lbs (just the engine). Will definitely cut a few pounds. Excited to see the progress.

I love a good DIY project. Best of luck!

Subscribed! :corn:

Subscribed :)

Hi Don :bigbye:

Cool car and so original. For me it seems a shame to do this to an unmolested example. However that said, very interesting project. I am not a purist, however, I am curious to know what the main advantages of the V8 are over tuning and modding the existing 3.6??

Considerations being: -

1. New engine cost
2. Massive labour costs for "bespoke" work to get it to fit. (I presume)
3. Extra weight in the back?
4. ROI - I know you don't get this from any project but possibly less so with this build?

I believe you can tune a NA 3.8 to 350+ HP and with Turbos hitting 600HP!!

If it is pure power would this not be the way to go?? :icon107:

And

Would that extra weight in the back make it even more tail happy??:confused:

...subscribed :corn:

Good luck with the project Don :)

This is going to be a good one!

Chris