Tamaren

So, I'm starting a thread on this because a few of you might be interested- It's more of a build thread so please keep in mind that it's far from finished, but here's what I've been working on now that everyone is stuck inside.

I've spent a good amount of time in 986's, owned 3 of them, and really enjoy the platform. So I went out searching for the worst condition Boxster in the country to use as a donor. (If anyone needs some spares I have a ton by the way...) I eventually found one close to me that was perfect- a 2002 S with 200k miles, a lot of questionable things, a spray painted rear bumper, and the evap line was plugged with a 5.5mm hex driver. something that I didn't mind tearing up. It also somehow has machined Victor racing wheels, and Fabspeed headers... My purchase price was about the cost of the wheels if I had to figure correctly. It ran and drove great, and made it 100 miles back in traffic.

I'm a bored college student with a history major and never claimed to be an engineer- I usually throw things at the wall and if it doesn't break it's good to go. However, a few structural components get tested in Solidworks for structural rigidity and motion, with a 10% error on the weakest component- for the frame I'm using 4130 with ER70-2 filler, so therefore 10% error on the properties of the weld since it's the weakest. I also overbuild things because I don't want to die, at the sacrifice of weight.

I'm calculated out at 500 kg curb weight. I'm planning on using megasquirt for the fueling, and individual throttle bodies on a custom intake. Boxster brakes will be more than enough, and petals use factory brake and clutch master.

I have a 2 car garage in the suburb of Phoenix so I'm not exactly flush with room, so it's a tight fit, but my shop does okay. Plasma table has made it a lot easier on smaller components, and pushrod suspention- so far it's working out well.

Below are some pictures- I'm open to criticisim, and I know at this point it looks like I have no idea what I'm doing but I do sorta have a plan and once it's a rolling chassis it'll come together a bit more. Feel free to ask any questions or make recommendations. Let me know your thoughts!

To start, Here's the donor... (Again if y'all need parts let me know...)


Engine and rear subframe pulled.



Front suspension Design (It changed but this is the only picture I had.)



Clean your radiators, people.



My tubing bender setup. Luckily I built my bumper with a front hitch...



The rear subframe missing some pieces



An A arm



All the parts that go into a front A arm, not counting suspension. If anyone works at McMaster Carr I'm open to sponsorship opportunities. Please.



Front shock sleeve mount. I wanted to use the factory hubs and needed something to hold in the shock mount because I'm going pushrod.



Rear Shock Sleeve mount.



Drivers rear. You can really see how bad the axle angle is on the factory 6 speed boxsters.




Exhaust,




Rear with tires



Petals (designed to use factory clutch/brake master)







I was already out of room.

Quadcammer

woah, pretty impressive stuff. Be interested to see more updates

Weazer

Awesome project, never ceases to amaze me the creativity and ingenuity some people are blessed with. I bet that exhaust will wake the dead!

Tamaren

Thanks! I'm sure I'll have plenty of things to work through.

Thank you, Yeah headers into a straight x pipe with ITB velocity stacks it should flow pretty well.

jennifer911

OMG! I would love to drive that when finished.

bcrdukes

Wow, nice build!

Are the pedals supposed to mimic the Alcon set?

Tamaren

I'm excited to see how it'll drive, the benefit is the 250hp 3.2 is very buildable if I need more power.

Thanks! they are somewhat based on the Wilwood set, although I didn't want to pay wilwood money for masters, so I'm using the factory Porsche, without a booster, and a Wilwood balancing block

DOUGLAP1

You are obviously an excellent fabricator - best wishes on your project.

That front suspension design with the rod ends obviously makes camber adjustment easy, but there have been some problems with that sort of design in the past. Van Diemen used a similar design on some of their earlier cars, and then changed to this design, which uses a fixed bearing at the A arm to upright attachment with shims for camber adjustment. It may have been a rod end life problem. I don't recall the exact complaints but you can search on apexspeed.com and find out. Also, rod ends in single shear are normally avoided in race cars, but when used, a safety retainer washer is mandated by SCCA. You can find such things at Pegasus Auto Racing.

Hasbro

Tamaren, what ITBs will you be using?

Tamaren

I appreciate it, I'll look into replacing the rod ends- realistically it's a base to build on and was expecting to replace a arms fairly soon after testing anyway, but I will look into the replacement or at least run a safety retainer.

Not sure yet, realistically it will probably be a set borrowed from a GSXR or similar. I've seen Ducati 999 Used as well but I'm not sure I'll need the dual injectors, so Japanese liter bike will probably be it.

Mpfaff

Mad skills 👍

Quadcammer

might have missed it, but how are you gonna run the engine computer? Motec or similar?

The Radium King

excellent! you decided to not reuse the front subframe and fabricate lower a-arms instead?

Tamaren

thanks!

looking at AEM and Megasquirt, but open to suggestions. Really depends on tuning and who has the best option for VVT.

I seriously considered it and actually pulled the front subframe with the intention, but front control arms are very short and it compromises the look too much personally. Also much more difficult to go pushrod suspension

Byprodriver

Looking good, keep it up !