996 ls2 swap
 

I’m not the greatest with build threads so this will probably miss quite a bit, but here’s my attempt with stuffing an LS2 into a 99 996.

Reason for doing the swap is 2 fold, reliability and power. Ever since I picked up this car in May of 2015, I’ve really enjoyed driving it but always hated that thought in the back of my mind that said “you’re on borrowed time.” I get that the general consensus here is that these motors are fairly stout if they are cared for (which mine was…very) but once you go out on the track, all bets are off. I have very little interest in potentially dumping 7-10K in replacing this lump of an engine, so I decided that if I could sell it for my asking price, I would swap in an LS based motor instead.

As luck would have it, my m96 sold within 2 weeks and is currently powering a 996 in Canada. I figured that the sale of my engine would fund at least 80% of the parts needed to do the swap and I was pretty close. Labor excluded, I’m fairly even at the moment.

Quick note for anyone looking to do this in the future with the Renegade Hybrids kit: if you have the means to fabricate your own engine plates, do that! The Kennedy adaptor that mates the engine/trans together is good quality (and one of the 2 kits ultimately available right now) so everyone seems to go that route. RH has a reputation for vague information (or at least that was my impression) and slippery time lines and so far that’s mostly true. I will say that they always pick up the phone and do their best to help so I cant really complain.

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water pump hits the engine mount plate bolts and needs to be spaced out 3/4" (so F body accessories are needed)

The main thing I didn’t like about the RH engine plate (besides price) is how the water pump needs to be spaced and interference with the TB. I’m using an LS2 so we had to trim just a bit to get it to clear. Also, the bolt holes didn’t really line up so we had to enlarge those as well.

Overall, bolting in the LS2 motor once the rear chassis gets notched out was pretty simple. There is tons of room in the engine bay with the LS motor so getting to each vital component will be much easier than the m96 ever was.
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I’m losing all Porsche wiring (wont be using Porsche gauges) so I wont be doing any of the tach, oil pressure or water temp integrations that I’ve seen other people do. The AIM dash will take care of all that.

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just a mock up with a spare boxster dash to see how it would look. Think I'll go back to the 996 dash.

I ordered the kit on December 15th and got it in my hands February 13th. Drivetrain went in this weekend. Fuel lines are ran, water pipes need to be finished and wiring harness needs to be installed.

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assuming no major issues come up, should have this thing fired up and ready to run for my first event in april. Exhaust work looks to be the most complicated item on the list so far...

Looking forward to following this.

Me too!

Been awaiting updates from Hoovie on his but he hasn't done much with it maybe because of winter in Kansas. .

Could you tell us how much you got for your M96 engine and how many miles were on it?

I got 7K for the engine. I'd say it was fair considering the engine was rebuilt with new rod bearings, new AOS, freshly machined heads, new gaskets, new chain guides and new tensioners (along with a host of other things). It had 118K miles on it, but after the rebuild, it was fresh as can be without replacing pistons/rods.

both. street car at first. something that can be driven to the track if need be.

I bought my roller 2000c2 to put an ls motor in, but i fixed the motor for a couple hundred $. Im just gonna drive it for the summer and save some money. i dont think i can get near your money for mine used. It has almost 200k with a repaired oil pan but has a newish ln ims. My plan is a 8k rpm l33. Should be fairly easy to do with the right parts. Im hoping to keep some of the high reving charateristics of the porsche motors.

Do u have any pics of the mounting plate by itself? I have a mill so i can probably figure it out with a decent pic. Also, why not go electric water pump and r u using an eletric ps pump?

I'm not a big fan of electric water pumps for a few reasons. they are fine for street/drag strip but arent always the most capable for 20 min road course abuse. The typical electric pump is something like 20-30gpm (or less) while a mechanical pump goes to 70-80gpm at higher RPM. Also, the meziere pumps protrude even farther than the mechanical ones. I plan to use an MR-S electric steering pump with custom lines, but that'll be the last thing on the list.

That flywheel is hot **** (literally, I love it). As for the water pump, skip f-body and go LS3+ and use a 3/4" spacer. The pulley is MUCH smaller than the fbody so you don't have to cut so much out of the car.

thats actually exactly what I did (based on your thread). I was just posting that since Renegade told me I could use the ls3 water pump without any interference and thats not even remotely true. I had to pull the waterpump off to try and get some better heater core fitting on there to clear the chassis.

Thx for the wp info. So does spacing the wp mess up the alignment with the rest of the pulleys or do the spacers put it in alignment and help clear the bolts because it looks like a different fastener would fix the interference issue. Also r u going to run an ac compressor?

seeing that crossbar get hacked just makes me nervous. Are you planning on adding any additional strengthening back on?

it doesnt mess up alignment so much as it forces you to use F body accessories to push everything out 3/4". You wouldnt be able to use the ls3 water pump without spacers even if you used completely flat bolt heads. Without bolts, the WP still hits the crossmember on the engine. I will not be running AC initially, maybe later on, but I doubt it.

we'll add something I'm sure, but to be honest, it really isnt as bad as it looks (strength wise). There are plenty of people who run it this way without any issues with 500+hp.

I like the concept, if you are not going back with a Porsche engine. The LS engines are powerful and relatively simplistic. The problem I have with the swap is the electricals. There is nothing even remotely close to a plug and play setup.