Stephen Porter

Sounds great...did you get it registered in California, by any chance???

Gary Gaukler

Well, I don't know... am I the only one who thinks that "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is"?

Seriously, at $23K for this, there has got to be something wrong with the car in my opinion.

Gary

mdw48009

I just sold mine for $27k. 98 with 3.4L. It is a great car. The mechanic said that the car WILL pass smog. The chip remaps when throttle (or might be load) is greater than 60%. Will be doing a 3.8 into 2005 Boxster. Awesome combo.

Turboflyer

If I did not have what I have I would buy it.

Stephen Porter

Hi--

I think I saw your car on eBay (I'm orignally from Michigan, so it rang a bell)... Actually I think I first saw it on Deman Motorsports website. It was the first I had heard of the idea. Then I saw this one and thought---wow.

My first email to the advertiser produced a response with the caveat about CA smog. Haven't heard back on my followups, but I don't think it's a flaky deal necessarily. Guy has an email at Boeing.com and he's a real person at least! But he may not want to deal with someone as cautious as myself--I'd hate to pony up the $25K and find out I couldn't drive it here. But I really like the concept.

AlpharettaRK

Sorry, no experience with California smog. I have no issues in Georgia, though. The price does sound low, I sure wouldn't sell mine for that (although I do have more mods) so I would advise spending the money to get it checked out by a professional shop. Having re-read an earlier post of yours I think you have given yourself the best advise possible - Move out of California! Y'all are crazy out there!

Cheers!
Randy

Stephen Porter

For anybody still interested, I heard back from the owner:

"I have a buyer for the Boxster who is going to give me a deposit later today with the balance of the money to follow early next week. He is paying $33k for the following:

99 Boxster with 300HP 3.4L engine and all the other advertised goodies
2.5L engine removed from car along with ECU ($3000 retail value, engine has about 35k miles)
Dyno modified exhaust system without cats that provides 10 lb-ft more torque and sounds GREAT ($2500, retail value, I had this installed for a while but took it off for sale of car)
One spare front and rear wheel ($1800 retail value)
All shop, service and maintenance records for car
Contact info with shop owner that did 3.4L engine conversion and installed other mods
OEM door sill plates and amber side markers
Orig Window sticker and owners manual
OEM modules for the key remote and top operation
If you are interested in making a counteroffer and want all the above as well, call me and lets talk but you have to call me today. I got the feeling you might want the car to track or just have a lot of fun with on the street. I guarantee you this car will outperform the Boxster S and Cayman and sounds far better plus you still get the convertible feel, which incidentally I love."

So the price went up by $10K...;-) but with the added goodies of the old engine, etc., etc. So if somebody has a use, or a way to resell all that stuff, it's still probably a good deal.

I'm going to continue to explore this option though.... now I might be looking for an early Boxster with a dead engine. I've got an appointment with a California smog "referee" to discuss *exactly* what would be necessary to do to make such a conversion legal. I'll post info here in case others are interested.

I believe a crated 996 3.4L engine can be purchased for around $7/8K??? Probably less for a low-miles used one.

AlpharettaRK

If I remember right, that price is right for a factory engine but unless you have a 3.4L core you will have to pay that as well, which I think is about $3k. They won't take the 2.5 as a core. The factory motors are very complete, including intake, throttle body even A/C compressor, alternator and belt! I was pleasantly surprised at how complete it was. I had a bad experience with a used one, I would caution you to be careful with that.
I wonder why he has the original ECU for sale along with the other OEM modules? The standard way to do the conversion is to have your ECU re-programmed, thus you don't have to swap out the alarm modules. Some early conversions were done by cutting the harness and splicing in the connector so the 996 ECU could be used, I would stay away from these as well, that's introducing too many complicating factors, IMO.
Cheers
Randy

arenared

Anyone know the dependencies of using what engines with what cars? For example, I only see the 3.4L used with 2.5L. I think this was because in a certain year, there were non-eGas 3.4L motors. OTOH, someone also did a conversion using a 3.4L eGas and just swapped the throttle bodies. For some reason, Ruf for example, only 3.4L are used on the '00-'02 Boxsters while 3.6L are used on '03-'04 Boxsters. There is a newer Motronic version, but can't the ECU be swapped? Also, at Ruf, the 987 can use the 3.6L or 3.8L. I think the 3.6L is largely a carry-over from the 996. Why can't these be used in earlier Boxsters? I've heard there are compatability issues with different buses to talk to the instrument cluster, but then I've heard of FVD doing a bigger engine conversion on an early 986. At some point, I'm sure cost is the limitation, for example, new ECU or instrument cluster or wiring, etc., but if a reman engine costs $7K, how are tuners getting away with $20K to $40K conversions? Are they just laughing themselves to the bank? I'm sure that the cost difference in the engine itself justifies the use of the bigger engine. Anyone have some concrete information? These guys allegedly offer the full range of 3.4L to 4.0L for the 986: http://shop.eurocarboutique.com/Engine_C181.cfm

fast951

I was involved in in a conversion where a 3.8L (997S) engine was used in a 2003 BoxsterS. The BoxsterS DME was used, I added few external components for tuning and to control the VarioCamPlus on the 3.8L.

When using a VarioCamPlus engine you must control it somehow. Flashing the ECU doesn't cut it.

arenared

Hmmm... (drooling)....

Do you have any guess as to whether this could be done on a Motronic 7.2 Boxster (pre '03) or even Motronic 5.2 (pre '00)? Also, did you still have to lower the engine or are the 997 intake manifolds shorter? Dare I also ask ballpark how much this cost and whether this was a new crate, reman, or used engine? Any other info greatly appreciated. Thanks!

fast951

The conversion can be done to any Boxster. Of course, tuning and external electronics will vary. The engine fits fine, the intake had to be shaved some (not a big deal), there is one place where the sheetmetal (engine opening up top) had to be notched. As far as cost, it depends on what you can get the 997S engine from Porsche for... I believe they recently went up in price.
From start to finish $25K is not out of the question.

I was involved in the tuning and had to control the VarioCamPlus. As far as I know, I am the only person that was able to do this without changing ECUs and harness from the 997S.

Todd Holyoak

Care to share how you went about doing it?

Todd

fast951

We used in house designed electronics and software. We were initially hired by a local Atlanta company (Big name with lots of hot air), however due to lack of funds they never paid us for the product. We will be selling the components to selected shops and doing the conversions in house.

arenared

Still drooling...

Can you give a ball park cost break down such as:

1. Engine (new/reman)
2. Installation
3. Your special electronics/components
4. Other stuff

Did you have to lower the engine with new mounts/spacers?