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I saw the article a few days ago when I got my copy of Panorama. Congrats on having this documented in such a cool way with a feature in one of our favorite mags. Lots of great information and insight along with the Charles Navarro interview. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out and the dyno numbers!
Just to be clear, the Panorama article is a coincidence only. The car in that article is not Dora. Still, it offers great insight into the LN process. And the other work is being done by the excellent team at TPC in Jessup, MD. We hoped to get the work on Dora finished before they got into the IMSA season but that didn’t work out. Now they are juggling race prep for their own cars as well as customers as they finish up Project Dora.
Dora is in the final stages of the work at TPC. The story is not finished but here are some of the pics that Tom has been sharing with me over the past couple weeks. The rebuilt engine completed its first 5-minute run. It sounds good and healthy varying the rpm from 1500-2500 to initially seat the rings, but no recording yet. Work continues on the air box, exhaust connection pipes, and PSE wiring- the muffler bypass valves will be controlled by the vacuums system that was used for the resonance flap in the OEM S airbus and the PSE control button is being added to the center console to manage that.
Dora is in the final stages of the work at TPC. The story is not finished but here are some of the pics that Tom has been sharing with me over the past couple weeks. The rebuilt engine completed its first 5-minute run. It sounds good and healthy varying the rpm from 1500-2500 to initially seat the rings, but no recording yet. Work continues on the air box, exhaust connection pipes, and PSE wiring- the muffler bypass valves will be controlled by the vacuums system that was used for the resonance flap in the OEM S airbus and the PSE control button is being added to the center console to manage that.
Looks like a GT3 muffler, from what year? Does it have valves stock or is this a custom fabrication?
Those internal engine bits are just beautiful - the Carrillo rods, the pistons (need details - billet, forged, brand), and that cast intake is very cool. Love their attention to detail with the red Porsche lettering too, even though no one can see it when installed in the engine bay.
I was curious how they were going to get the angles on the airbox to line up with the throttle body though as there's not a lot of spacing there to have smooth airflow through an S-bend of silicone piping. You might end up better off with a carbon airbox like the Carbonio or the Champion F77 CF one where the angle the plenum will line up better.
See how the outlet from the airbox is already offset to the passenger side and not centered like on the GT3 one you are trying to fit.
Here's the Carbonio one - either of these would be a simpler connection for you.
@Hammerman501thank you for providing the detailed photos of the engine built for Dora after we received the block from LN Engineering. Everything went smooth with assembly and we got the chance to hear the beast come alive for the first time since tear down. But first, we wanted to show the air box modification needed to adapt to the X51 throttle body and show the 100% custom TPC Racing active bypass pipes for adapting the X51 exhaust manifolds to the GT3 center muffler with OEM tips.
Here our mechanic is trimming out the sections needed for modification of the Porsche GT3 air box.
More trimming was needed for modification of the air box in order to fit in the OEM location as well work with the OEM Carrera S deck lid.
Here we bonded the modified air box parts for a seal tight fit. Lastly we need to finish the air box cover to finesse with the Carrera S decklid and complete the engine bays new look.
Dora's exhaust consists of modified factory X51 exhaust manifolds, custom TPC Racing active bypass pipes, and the OEM GT3 center muffler with OEM tips and rear GT3 bumper. This brings a new unique look to Dora accompanied by the ferocious sound of a GT3 cup car with it's freshly built 4.0L forged engine.
The X51 exhaust manifolds had to be modified shorter at the flange in order to fit the custom made TPC Racing active bypass pipes to adapt to the GT3 center muffler. Our in-house Master Fabricator fabricated this set off the shelf for this custom project and exhaust setup very swiftly with his 20+ years of experience here at TPC Racing. You wont see any other modified X51-GT3 exhaust systems like this!
Dora's back end will surely catch Porsche enthusiasts off guard when they see the Carrera S badge with the GT3 rear end. If that doesn't attract their attention, the furious roar of the 4.0L and exhaust system will surely do the trick. We know you have been anxious to hear it breath and we still need to finalize the tuning. But here is a sneak peak of what to expect below with some throttle blips, we can't wait to hear it on WOT either!
Website: www.tpcracing.com
Email: info@tpcracing.com
Phone: (410)799-7223 Facebook | Youtube 2023 Porsche Sprint Challenge Champions 2021 Porsche Sprint Challenge Champions 2016 IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge Champions 2013 IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge Champions 2006 Grand Am Rolex 24hr of Daytona GT Winner
02-25-2019, 01:38 PM
