Daily Slideshow: 7.0 liters of 930 Porsche Bliss

Sweet Home Yokohama

What would you do if an original Porsche 930 Turbo came into your possession? What if it still had the original engine? What if you wanted to take it to any track that would have it? Would you put some pipes on it and leave it at that, all nice and classic? Would you pull the original engine and build a full-race flat-six to use in its stead? If you're Tomoya Watanabe, owner of Yokohama, Japan's Supermachine, the answer would be door number 3. Supermachine specializes in customizations (hot-rodding), particularly involving big-in-japan American classics. So, if you are Mr. Watanabe the answer runs more along the lines of 'add two more cylinders and more than double the displacement with a nice American V8.

>>Join the conversation about this LS7 Powered 930 right here in the Rennlist Forum!

First Principles

And that's just what Watanabe did. Armed with a 7.0-liter LS7 and a Renegade Hybrids V8 conversion kit, Supermachine went to work. To make the LS motor fit underneath the 930's engine cover and not ground out over pebbles, the engine was converted to a dry sump system—with the added benefit of ensuring adequate oil pressure under racing conditions. Sand Buggy headers were added and wrapped with thermal tape to keep the engine compartment, and the air intake within, as cool as possible. Watanabe fabricated the rest of the exhaust from titanium for ultra-lightweight. The ECU received a custom re-mapping, of course, and Mast Motorsport Black Label fuel rails and a Bosh Motorsport 044 fuel pump ensure the engine has all the fuel it needs to develop around 540 horsepower, up 35 from the engines original spec.

>>Join the conversation about this LS7 Powered 930 right here in the Rennlist Forum!

Shoring Up

To get all that power to the ground, and keep from snapping stuff, Watanabe went through the 930 Turbo transaxle with an eye towards longevity. Selected gearbox components were hardened, heavy duty custom axle shafts were substituted, and custom differential and transmission coolers were added. The LS7 uses a lightened KEP HP clutch, and the 930 transmission's bell housing and main shaft were modified and shortened to work with the V8.

>>Join the conversation about this LS7 Powered 930 right here in the Rennlist Forum!

Tradition, More or Less

As much as Watanabe loved the grunt of good V8, he loved the look of Porsche's Carrera RSR International Race of Champions cars. Therefore the 930 wears a 1974 RSR front bumper, rear bumper, and IROC whale tail spoiler—with added Gurney flap for that extra touch of history and an extra dose of downforce. It also wears a splitter and canards that Watanabe fabricated himself. 

>>Join the conversation about this LS7 Powered 930 right here in the Rennlist Forum!

Holding Roads

As Pirelli is fond of saying, power is nothing without control, and Watanabe enlisted a bevy of competition bits to help out in that department. Up front the 930 received a Tarett Engineering 935 front suspension kit, complete with replacement suspension arms and cross member, Sachs coil-over shocks with 350 lb Hyperco springs, Elephant Racing quick change camber plates, and a Tarrett sway bar. In the rear the Porsche again benefits from coil-overs in place of the original torsion bars, using Sachs struts and Hyperco 450 lbs springs, 935-style Tarett Engineering spring plates, and a drop-link kit.

>>Join the conversation about this LS7 Powered 930 right here in the Rennlist Forum!

Stopping and Going

One of the beauties of the 930 platform is that you have room for plenty of tire sizes. Watanabe runs different rubber for different events—for the Motor Head Zero Yon drags the 930 wore Kumho V700 225/45 tires in the front, and Hoosier 315/35 drag radials out back,  over 16x8 front and 17x11 rear, period-correct, Fuchs alloys. Watanabe installed four-piston Brembo Racing calipers at all four corners to haul all that rubber to a stop, working with PFC 323 x 29mm front and 313 x 25mm rear discs. It looks great, it's got 7 liters of V-8... what'll it do? Remember this car was built to be put on the track, and on Fuji Speedway in Japan, it turned a 1’50″59. There are more than a few Porsche 997 GT3 RSs that would have trouble getting close to this LS-swapped 930's time, proving that hot-rodding is always the answer.

>>Join the conversation about this LS7 Powered 930 right here in the Rennlist Forum!

For help with maintenance and repair projects, please visit our how-to section this forum.