brucemckenney

Has anybody had experience? NO FLAMES PLEASE! Simple question. mtammyandbruce@aol.com

adie

Phew, that was lucky, you nearly had your car reposesed by the purists, i'm sure you have checked out the previous debates regarding the 'porsche' origin of the car if you so much as change the gear **** to something different, I don't use the renegade kit as I think that they are a little expensive for what you get, but I build V8 conversions as a hobby so I would, it is so very simple to do but you do need to think about weight, what power plant were you thinking of using, and what base model have you got, we can work from there, if you know the engine type and I can find one over here I can make a template for you to have made that will allow the engine to be bolted to the torque tube, then it's some carefull measuring to knock up a new flywheel to bolt on to the new crank, careful selection of clutch choice, some engine mounts, set of headers and a quick modification to the sump.
Carb/injection is up to you, I like the good old 500 cfm two barrel Holley for road use as it works well on up to 4.5 litres, but you will probably be looking at 5.0 power so 650 vac sec. will work well and not bog, what do you want to do with the car, race or cruise? let me know and I'll see if the other V8 enthuasists are up to helping out as they will know what is available for you over there, plus you have Summit at your disposal making thing very easy.

brucemckenney

Thanks Adie,

brucemckenney

Thanks Adie,
A search of the archives only turned up flames. I have not bought a 944 yet but have an option on a decent 951 without an engine. This car would be a daily driver and occasional instructor track car. What about such frivolties as air conditioning and cruise control?
Bruce

adie

Flaming cool, luckly we can see beyond our shiny bonnet emblems and enjoy ourselves, the car you suggest would be perfact, don't know about air con as there's not much use for it here in England, cruse control should still work with a lottle mod to the vac sensor. What are you thinking for power?

brucemckenney

I,m open to suggestions. I love everything about the 944 except the acceleration curve. I love the feel of a V-8. Since it will be primarily a daily driver, reliability is key.
I would think the weight difference could be compensated for by different front springs, shocks, and sway bar. Comments?

adie

Ally engine, ally heads, it's the only way to go, if your after performance you might as well have a lighter engine to haul therefore not requiring to spend so much on tuning an old boat anchor, you can easilt put a SBC but you could always try something different, BMW M5 V8 for instance, or a dual rotary (although when I did this it produced loads of heat), TVR tuscan engine, in fact there are loads to consider, you really need to decide what engine you want to use or at least how much power you components can handle before progressing, you have room for most engines in the compartment so any shouldn't pose a problem, have you thought about the buick V6 turbo motor that Kenny Bell used to drive to the track and pull 6 second passes and drive home again, trully phnomenal.

brucemckenney

Adie,
I'm not much of a motorhead. I don't even know what a SBC is. Remember; reliability, cheap parts, and shade-tree Billy Bob repairs are requirements.
However--I am a big muckedy-muck in a Viper organization. It would be nice to kick some arogant butt.

pig4bill

The old pushrod Ford small block is quite a bit lighter than a Chevy. You can make plenty of torquey power with a 351 Windsor, or high-revving race-car type power with an old Boss 302. The overhead cam 4.6 is probably a lot more euro in power delivery. I think the Renegade kit is only set up for Chevy's though.

It's still more work and hassle to get 400 hp than just working up a 951 motor, imo.

adie

Don't worry, the turbo heads won'r realise the cost of purchasing another motor untill they blow there own, I undaerstand what it's like when you purchace a car WITHOUT an engine, the Windsor engine is a mighty fine piece of kit, you'll have great fun with one of those (SBC=Small Block Chevy) cheap and reliable, but don't let that stop you from looking around, you have a blank sheet of canvas, you may even decide to look around for a last season race motor from one of the Porsche guys. If money is the concewrn I would look aroud local groups, hot rod mags or even crate motor's from places like Summit, everyone will give you a different yarn on best engine but only you can make the final decission. I say Rover as it's all Ally and I pick them up for nothing over here, I have 3 waiting to go into TR7's as we speak, just find out what is available to you locally, quad cam V8's might even be possible, time to wake up.

Jason_E

I am wanting to get rid of my porsche engine and put like a 302 or a 350 in it how much would it cost me to do this. This latest 1200 dollar repair bill because of the timing belt is b.s. I want the good ole american power. I had a 1995 camaro z28 with the LT1 and loved it

Adrian

Dear Jason,
I saw your post on the 944 board. What happened to you is bad luck. Poor maintenance by the previous owner. The majority of autos by the way have rubber cam belts. If you were happy with what you had before, why did you change to a Normally Aspirated 944. 163HP and not much else you can do with it anyway. Great slalom racers but certainly not power machines.
Bolting in a yankee engine will not do much for you in a 944 body anyway. This will cost you a little more than 1200 bucks as well because the 944 is a four cylinder auto with four cylinder brakes, four cylinder steering and other four cylinder stuff and a four cylinder engine bay. I know, I have one. Gave it to my daughter.
I would sell it and look for something more to your liking. Whatever Porsche you get it is going to cost a lot to fix it when it blows up,
Ciao,
Adrian
911C4
944

adie

Jason, please remember this is NOT a flame. I converted my cars as I have the knowledge and technical ability myself, if you plan to send your car off and recieve a v8 conversion you have to expect to pay for labour, it takes more time to figure things out than do but when you have to put a remote servo elseware you have to pay for relocation, and new rad. pipes, and throttle linkage, and exhaust manifolds, kickdown linkage, fuel system, sump modification, and a host of other bits. I am lucky as I do this kind of conversion for a hobby and have done everything froma reliant robin to dare I say it a cobra replica and have some expierience in converting cars, having said that the resale value compared to an auto with dead engine will be far greater and you get to have some fun in the mean time, the mushy rubber disc needs to go as I have killed 2 now at £900 each I have made a flywheel that direct drives the rear transaxle. From the other posts I see that you reley on mechanics to twiddle the spanners, if so the conversion may not be for you, if you are prepaired to have a go I ask this one question, What have you got to loose?

Jason_E

thanks for all the help guys. The reason I got rid of my z28 is the insurance I was paying 3600 a year for insurance and now I can carry liability for 900 bucks a yr on my Porsche. I know it don't have the power of a LT1 engine but I like the image of the Porsche knowing that I am driving a true sports car whether or not it has 163hp or 415hp like the new 911 turbos. As soon as I get financially stable again I will change out motors or possibly sell it and buy a newer used Porsche with a little bit more power but right now I like the car the paint and body are perfect only defects are a crack in the windshield (small) and I need to replace the seats sometime although they are in pretty good shape other then that the whole car is in really good shape. Also if there is anyone in the south east texas region that would be interested in buying some things from me to help pay for my car repair bill please let me know also. I have a few things I need to sell to come up with that money.

Bob Ward

Renegade Hybrids are great!

I have had my hybrid for about 3 years now.

My P-car is a never ending project but a fun one!