Ahheck01

I'm seriously considering picking up a 944, or perhaps a 951 with a blown engine, with plans to put a non-stock engine in its place. My chief reason for doing this is to have the 951 body/interior/suspension with a more reliable drivetrain.

If I had the money, I'd do the LS1 swap without blinking - light, powerful, reliable, cheap to repair/mod. However, I'm looking to spend far far less on a swap.

While it would be fun to have an engine that could be modded to have several hundred horsepower, I'd give that up for an inexpensive, super reliable swap.

What engines will swap over without tons of custom fabbing? Assuming not a ton of special tools are needed, I could probably do the work with the help of my friends. My buddy just got an engine stand for the rebuild of his scirrocco engine, and yet another buddy has done his fair share of swaps and rebuilds as well.

What are your suggestions? Here are my priorities in order:

1) Swap price and ease
2) Reliability/Cost of Maintenance
3) Power/Modability

Thanks in advance for your suggestions and advice!

-Evan

Edit: I should also add - is there a better Porsche chassis into which I should do a swap?

ivai

Good luck with that one..

If you're able to do custom fabbing though (like with most any engine swap, unless you find a kit), check out LT-1's. Much cheaper than an LS1.. maybe 1-1.5k for an engine+tranny. They're ~50 lbs heavier I believe, and make about 280 hp or so in stock form.

Jfrahm

If you cannot afford the LS1 swap I'm at a loss as to what would be cheaper. If you cannot fab you have to use a kit, and kits cost money. The LS1 kits seem to require a bit of fabbing and adapting, even.
Check out the hybrid board, I think it is porschehybrids.com, and read up on the kits/swap stories.
I am not aware of a way to do this cheaply, at least not without a ton of custom fabbing.
I am kinda watching the hybrids to see if the V8 swaps get to the point of being clean, nice and everyday driveable without annoyances (overheating, power brakes, low clearance issues, etc.)

-Joel.

Ahheck01

Thanks for the link! I'll definitely check that out.

Another guy I'm talking to has suggested possibly a 1.8t with a k04. Been done? What about the supra turbo motor? Doable?

-Evan

Jfrahm

Why bother with a 1.8T? It'd cost more and be about as reliable as a modded 951. Similar HP with more lag all for twice the price and 10x the work.

No idea if a Supra motor would fit. I imagine it'd cost more than a nice modded $10K 951 even if you kept another $10K in reserve to fix anything on the 951 that broke.

I thought you wanted a reliable car? To me that would mean no modded turbos.

I think for reliability an S2 or 968 with a 3.4l motor and some cams would be a nice option. $10K for an S2, $10K for a motor, $1500 for a 951S trans, better clutch, custom chip, you might get into it for under $27K and it'd be a hell of a car. Everything would fit, AC, PS, PB... maybe 250whp but it'd be pretty fast. Faster than a stock 986 Boxster S I'd imagine.

You could do a renegade kit for less money, maybe, but I do not think it'd be as nice a package.
If you are trying to do a swap for cheap I hope you aspire to a junkyard dog type car and not something nice to drive around in. Nice is serious bucks.

-Joel.

V2Rocket

Nissan RB26DETT

yellowline

944S motor. Easy swap, no special maintenance aside from the chain tensioner, and I know just where you can find a low-mileage one with everything you need to make it run.

Search posts by jgporsche about his 944S. The 16V responds well to basic mods.

xsboost90

did you say more reliable and supra motor in the same sentence??? If you build a 951 motor right you can get 350k out of it- ive yet to see a SBC go that long with out the same upkeep.

alordofchaos

I remember there was a thread where someone posted a list of parts needed to swap engines.

One of the limiting factors (aside from money and skills) is how narrow a space you have to drop in an engine (or push one up from below).

I occassionally kick around the idea of a 944 body and one of the 2.2~2.5L Japanese engines from Honda, Mitsu, etc., putting about the same HP/torque as the euro-spec 944 engines (no extra strain on the tranny, another weak point) - of course, I have no money, space, tools, or skillz

RMills944

The 7MGTE was a great engine out of the Supra. As far as help installing, you're pretty much on your own. I believe it'd be too tall for the engine bay also.

I'd like to see a TDI 944. They're very versatile and a torque monster when built right. One issue - in my Jetta it uses the whole engine bay top to bottom - I don't see how you'd make it fit without a huge cowl hood.

Legoland951

The real answer is there is no cheap, reliable, and modable engine swap you can do. Nothing will be "cheap" as you are looking at nothing less than $5k just for the modification/engine and installation kit. This is not including labor and assuming you are swapping with anything greater than the 250 easy hp out of simply a chipped 951 engine. If you don't have fab skills, you will have to spend on kits and the only bolt in kit I know is the LS1 kit as they discontinued the LT1 kit at renegade. I have looked into this pretty deep and am building a drag car out of a 944 (since I love the car/body) that will do sub 10 sec 1/4 mile and yank the front wheel off the ground but will have nothing Porsche except the shell and front suspension. It will also cost about $20k when its done, which is cheap for reliable 700+hp.

As for reliablity, there aren't many engines that can go 350k miles on the original block, pistons, head, turbo, tranny, etc other than diesels and 944 engines when maintained properly.

Modability is best with a turbo or supercharged engine, which the 951 is already turbocharged. I would say if you are looking at around 300 usable hp, buy a 951 and do some mild mods along with a complete engine teardown to freshen it up. In this case, you don't have to have kits or fabrication work done and if you do it properly, you won't have to touch the engine for another at least 10 years other than for belt or gasket/seal changes. If you go this route, you may be able to buy the car with the broken engine and have it back together with a fresh 300hp engine for around the same $5k just for the swap assuming you do all the labor and can find a 951 needing engine work fairly cheap ($2500 or less for something in that condition around here).

iamgod

i was tossing around the idea of an audi I-5 20v

Jeremy Himsel

[QUOTE=Ahheck01] However, I'm looking to spend far far less on a swap.

What engines will swap over without tons of custom fabbing?

Assuming not a ton of special tools are needed, I could probably do the work with the help of my friends.

My buddy just got an engine stand for the rebuild of his scirrocco engine, and yet another buddy has done his fair share of swaps and rebuilds as well.

What are your suggestions? Here are my priorities in order:

1) Swap price and ease
2) Reliability/Cost of Maintenance
3) Power/Modability

Thanks in advance for your suggestions and advice!

-Evan
QUOTE]

Since you seem to be limited on funds, tools, and skill I'd suggest you walk away from this project as there's nothing cheaper then an LS/LT swap. Relying on buddies to help is also another bad idea.

Jfrahm

Same power as a modded 951 for twice the price and 10x the work. Cool motor though. A local guy has one up over 400HP but it's always broken.

2BWise

Heck, if you want a custom swap, with lots of aftermarket parts you might as well go with something japanese. If I had the time, and a spare chassis, I'd love to try and get an SR20 into a 944.