Description:

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Overview:
Very clean + honest 1986 Porsche “948,” formerly a 944 Turbo (951), street-legal track car, owned and built by a former race engineer and PCA instructor. Current owner for the past 17 years. Now with an LS2 V8. I’ll state right off the bat that this car has more upgrades than I have the space (or memory) to document, and was built on a rare non-sunroof coupe with LSD chassis in good shape with no accidents. I built this car to be reliable and take a beating on track, meaning I have upgraded/improved/overengineered most of the retrofit kit used to install the V8, plus suspension/brakes/cooling. It has been garage kept during that entire time (and for most of the previous ownership). It entered my life as a lightly-upgraded-but-mostly-stock daily driver, and was exceptionally reliable during that time. Over the years, it steadily transitioned into more of a dedicated track car, however never losing its street legality. It got better cooling, then a bigger turbo, then methanol injection, and finally an LS2 V8 from a 2006 Corvette/GTO. This car has not been tracked since 2019, but has been driven to Cars & Coffee on occasion since then. Car is about 10x more than you need on the street. Dyno chart is attached; see video at the bottom of the post.

Real talk: This car is raw but well-sorted. It does not have power steering, power brakes, ABS, or a light clutch. It has some bump steer on track due to the modified roll center, and makes more power than it knows what to do with. It’s extremely rewarding on track when you get it right, and a hooligan on the street. I’ve done 1:20’s at Summit Point, 2:09’s at VIR, and 2:10’s at Watkins Glen. Likely better with more talent behind the steering wheel. The bottom of the post has a video on-track shortly after doing the swap while I was still sorting the chassis/tuning. It also does not have A/C. I promise to be completely honest with you about this car – what it is, and what it isn’t.  I purposefully didn't try to doctor images or spit-shine the undercarriage.  It doesn't leak from anywhere major (but does have a little oil pan weepage).  Overall, the car is well engineered and solid.  I'd prefer to prioritize a good home over a fast sale.

Chassis:
Rare factory non-sunroof chassis, in Guards Red. Corner balanced at 3050 lbs (with 185lb driver) showing 51/49 front/rear weight distribution. Rare Redline rollbar/rollhoop installed behind the front seats with Brey Krause seat brace. Body was repainted by the previous owner, sometime around 2006. Zero rust and the chassis is still extremely rigid – passes the “3 Jackstand Test” well (and the door closes without any binding/warpage). Estimated 125k mi on the chassis; as is common for these cars, the odometer gear broke a few years ago. AIM MXS dash with substantial logging for all engine params, plus trans temp, braking, and WB02. 968 mirrors, euro rear bumper, AIR Turbo RS carbon fiber wing and original 968 hatch trim. Fikse 3- piece wheels.

Suspension:
2-way Koni 30-series shocks with custom valving. Up front, 350lb springs on coilovers; in rear, 30mm torsion bars (yes, still has the T-bars!). Weltmeister front and rear adjustable sway bars.

Upgraded early-offset boxed/welded steel control arms with replaceable ball joints. Upgraded larger-diameter spindles from a late chassis. Chromoly axles w/ upgraded CV joints.

Braking:
100% overhauled brake setup in the time I’ve owned it. Custom dual master cylinder setup with Tilton brake bias and master cylinders (which took a substantial amount of engineering to get right). This car does not suffer from the infuriating squishy vague pedal you get from most V8 conversions. Custom radial-mounted 996TT calipers on custom floating rotors with aluminum top hats. Pagid Black pads (however I have plenty of alternatives as spares...). Direct cooling hoses on both brake hubs and calipers. Brake pressure sensor tied to AIM dash. NOTE: to get the car ready for the track, I would recommend replacing the stainless flex-lines that run from the hard line to the caliper. They were coming due when I last tracked the car, and it’s been a few years since then.

Engine/Trans/Cooling/Electrical:
2006 LS2 with ~115k mi. Produces 415hp and 420ft-lbs at the wheels. Custom Hooker long- tube headers make this car sound obscene. Every time I take it on track, the corner workers come up to exclaim how much they love how it sound at full tilt. Only engine upgrades I did were a low-lift, high-overlap cam (easy on the valvetrain) to push the powerband up and make the torque curve more linear, and a couple bolt-on bits like lightweight flywheel, SPEC Stage 2 clutch, and balance crank pulley. Custom wiring harness tied into a stock ECU running HP Tuners. New custom battery cables with lightweight Odyssey battery.  AN braided fuel lines and AN push lock oil lines with lots of insulation sleeving.

Stock 951 transmission with LSD and cooling loop in good shape. Never launched, even at autox. These transmissions are good for 550rwhp if taken care of. Trans temp probe plugged into AIM dash. 4130 chromoly axles and CV’s for increased strength. External oil thermostat and filter. Full AN lines for all plumbing. Rare SFR exhaust – sounds incredible.

Cooling works extremely well: dual oil coolers routed in series with upgraded extra-thick aluminum radiator. Methanol injection pump + tank still installed in the rear (but non- functional). As a point of comparison, at VIR on a hot day with the souped-up turbo-4 engine, I would hit 250 deg. With this same cooling setup on the LS2, I’d hit 210. So I’d recommend next owner continue to use baffling on cooler days.

Small note: the crank barely kisses the windage tray in the oil pan. I’ve had oil analyzed by Blackstone Labs for signs of metal flakes and can find nothing, which tells me that the contact is merely incidental and does not affect engine reliability or performance...it’s only an annoyance to the ears.

Interior:
Mostly stock/full interior. Cobra halo seat on the driver’s side and carbon 996 GT3 replica bucket seat on the passenger side. 968 door cards and a smattering of other knick-knacks and whiz-bangs. Dash has a couple small cracks (but I dare you to find a better dash in a car that’s not $70k). Radio has been removed, but wiring still exists, as do the speakers (but why listen to the radio when you can listen to this engine).

Original gauge cluster still installed with some trim rings and 944S tach (for higher redline). HVAC still works (minus the AC). Previous owner installed Dynamat in the rear, which is impossible to remove so I left it in. New carpets installed in 2008. Rare 951 with no central locking, however electric windows work.