Rebuilding 1999 Spec Boxster in 2003 2.7 Manual Chassis
 

Friend borrowed my Spec Boxster and crashed.
its only body damage, cage and suspension/powertrain intact.

We have 2003 2.7 Boxster manual with blown motor to use for rebuild.

Concern is with 2.7 being drive by wire and having different ECU: Can I swap the 2.7 intake manifold/TB onto 2.5 engine, and leave all original 2003 2.7 intact..any reason why this should not work fine?

I would not want to take the harness out of the '99 2.5 and swap all computers and wiring to 2.7, seems like searching for problems.

Thanks for advice

I'll take a shot - No way will that be legal in SPB.

Why not legal?

Its chassis is still base Boxster with Spec specific parts, and motor is original 2.5.

But that is of secondary concern right now, I am set on installing the powertrain to reuild it.

Because it has to be a 97 - 99 for SPB. They might let you back date to D but I'm not sure. It might have to go GT.

If that crash happened on Sunday at Sonoma, I saw the car come in on the flat bed. Sorry to see that.

Scott and Gary are correct, SPB rules start with a '97-'99 chassis. A later chassis is definitely not SPB-legal regardless of what you put on it.

Motor and ECU and all wiring different. 99 is 5 chain motor and 03 was a 3 chain motor. The 986 boxsters come in 3 flavors: 97-99, 00-02 and 03-04. Motors and ecus are not interchangeable. This website will give you all the info.

https://www.pelicanparts.com/techart...ngine_Swap.htm

If there is enough body damage to warrant a re-tub, the suspension is undoubtedly damaged, too. Upper strut mounts, struts, toe links, LCAs, wheel carriers, wheel bearings, wheels, drop links all need to be carefully inspected or replaced on the corners that sustained impact.

If you want to stick with SPB, find a '97-'99 roller and move the parts to it. If you want to use the newer chassis, plan on moving all the wiring and ECU and immobilizer over. But it won't be an SPB.

Jaundice

Thanks for the link.

C4 Pazzo: As I stated, suspension and powertrain are not even touched. NO DAMAGE.

Trygv: indeed its Sonoma Crash. Thanks for rules clarificaiton.

SBelles: Thank you for highlighting rule.


We don't intend to use later motor / powertrain: just tub.
For sole purpose of sheet metal.
Swapping electronics is painful. We may look for another cheap '97-'99.

Thank you all.

Maybe you could use the later car as a source for sheet metal to fix the SPB.

Could not economically repair this car, it’s easier to strip and fully rebuild using 2.5 wiring harass and all else only keeping later sheetmetsl, then repairing early tub.

Get cheapest shell you can
Strip it
Send it to tony to cage
Put parts back on

3 weekend job

That is more or less the plan, except cage is intact and will be transferred over.
The "spare 02" was cheap option, as it was purchased for very possibility of crashing.