Rally Pat Posted May 13, 2019 Report Share Posted May 13, 2019 Hey guys, I was delayed a couple of years in getting this going, but we are off to the races now. The next couple of posts are going to be reposts from the first thread, and then after that will be what we did this weekend from here on. I got married, my MIL passed away, and I changed jobs, so all of that added up to not getting anywhere for a while. We are back on track now though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rally Pat Posted May 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2019 **REPOST FROM Dec 28, 2017** This has been in the works for a while, but things have been on hold while I deal with the Legacy. Thats about to be wrapped up soon and up for sale. I won't really dive in to it full on until the Legacy is sold, though. Bit of history, for a hot second my dad was in to Porsche 924's and 944's. He had come in to possession of a Porsche 924S (924 with a 944 engine). He had intention of turning it in to a rally car, because obviously, but never got there. He was working on a family friend's fleet of Porsche's at the time as he was the local German car expert. Then he got sick and I don't really remember what we did with it, but eventually he passed away. At the same time my dad had VW's, Audi's, and Porsche's, we always had Chevy pickups and vans for tow vehicles. I wanted something that was kind of a combination of all the vehicles we had when I was a kid. I had been shopping for a 944 for a while, but for some reason didn't look in the most obvious place, which is Sean's shop, owned by Porsche and VW enthusiasts. They had this one which had a snapped timing belt and they had been pulling parts off of. I agreed to buy it and give them the engine for a few more dollhairs off. Interior is pretty decent too minus the dash cracks which they all have it seems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rally Pat Posted May 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2019 **REPOST FROM Dec 28, 2017** The Plan: Build a bulletproof reliable warm weather toy for a little money as possible. Basically something that I can roll to Cars and Coffee, then go to an autocross and hopefully some track days. The Swap: More than likely a truck LS of some kind. I am not even opposed to LT1's (with LS coils obviously, opti lol) but the swap kits are a little harder to come by. I am going to buy a complete Texas Performance Concepts swap kit. This includes adapters to make the 944 torque tube adapt to a C6 bell housing with appropriate clutch components, oil pan, mounts, everything. I have to wire and plumb it myself obviously, and will probably use one of the 2893129038 services that strips down truck harnesses. I want comfort too, so I am going to do everything I can to make the AC work. I will probably be asking for advice from guys here a lot. Murica stuff is fairly new to me, which I am excited about learning new things, but will need pointed in the right direction here and there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuckeyeROC Posted May 13, 2019 Report Share Posted May 13, 2019 HELL YES! I love this. I'm not a big Porsche guy, but always liked the 944, especially if you put an LS in it. Looking forward to seeing this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cordell Posted May 13, 2019 Report Share Posted May 13, 2019 I’m sure you’re still typing an update, but like I said before: look forwrd to seeing it come together. I’ll be happy to lend advice when I can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted May 13, 2019 Report Share Posted May 13, 2019 Looking forward to updates!!! You know you're doing something fun/interesting with GM components when SCOTT IS WILLING TO HELP YOU! :gabe: All seriousness, glad to see you're getting this going. I sold the BMW because I just don't have the time to get an LS swap going. Wishing you all the best. With guys like Scott and SB helping you, it's going to be awesome. :thumbup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rally Pat Posted May 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2019 Alrighty! Here we go! Its been surprising difficult to find a decent used engine where the person selling it was responsive and would answer questions I had. However, I did eventually find a pretty nice looking DOD 5.3 aluminum engine that I was really happy with the price, and arranged with the guy to get it the following Saturday in West Salem. I borrowed the truck from Sean’s shop, drove an hour and a half…and he didn’t show up. Also didn’t answer any of my messages after that. Thanks asshole. I went back to Facebook marketplace, and finally got a guy with an OG 99 4.8 with 4l60e attached for $500. Perfect! Following weekend, May 11, 2019, I made 2 hour trek to Definace, and picked up my engine. Ironically, this guy lived about half a mile from the Defiance GM plant where they make Gen V stuff. I took a few touristy pictures since I was there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rally Pat Posted May 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2019 I left for Defiance around 5 AM, which meant I made it back around noon, and that means we had a whole half a day to not waste and do work. We broke the car loose from where it was sitting in the back lot of Northend Wrench, and dragged her around with Sean’s truck. I focused on draining and unhooking stuff while Sean did some work on his new Outback. I basically got it to the point where we needed to pull it, and Sean came over to help after he finished up. We had some issues with figuring out what was holding the clutch to the factory torque tube, but after some YouTube viewing we figured it out and Sean got the pin that holds the clutch fork out. The last thing that was holding us up was the steering shaft. It clearly had not been apart since 1985. After heat and hammering and heat and hammering and destroying my steering rack, we we were able to drop the subframe enough to sneak the engine out. Its got a really funky slant 4 design that seems to hit on absolutely everything. It took quite a while to unhook everything and fish the harness out without cutting things I thought we would need, but we finished up around 9:30 and dragged the car back behind the shop. (Some photos by Mike Luong who came to visit) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rally Pat Posted May 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rally Pat Posted May 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2019 I don't have tons of pictures of the teardown because I was just working like crazy, but heres the aftermath. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuckeyeROC Posted May 14, 2019 Report Share Posted May 14, 2019 So cool man. I know you said you wanted to do this on the cheap, but any plans to dig into the 4.8 at all? Heads, cam, freshened up bottom end or anything? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rally Pat Posted May 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2019 So cool man. I know you said you wanted to do this on the cheap, but any plans to dig into the 4.8 at all? Heads, cam, freshened up bottom end or anything? Not done posting yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not Brian Posted May 14, 2019 Report Share Posted May 14, 2019 A 4.8 isn't much improvement over the 4 cylinder lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rally Pat Posted May 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2019 4.8's are excellent engines and they are dirt cheap. Matt Happel's made 356 NA HP with an NNBS intake (best flowing stock LS intake) and a Sloppy Stage 2 cam (228/230). In my configuration with a much more restrictive car intake, it should make around 300, which is the perfect power level for right now. He made 498 with a 200 shot, and right after he put an LSA on it and its currently making 600 something. He also just got running his "8's for 8's" project, which has a bone stock junkyard 4.8 at it's heart with cam and springs - not even gapped rings. The goal is to run 8's, obviously, and once they do that they plan to turn things way up and go a lot faster. He also has the famous "Don't Bullshit Me" Colorado build that there are countless clones of running out there, which in it's final configuration with a 7875 made 630 something wheel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeesammy Posted May 14, 2019 Report Share Posted May 14, 2019 Honestly Sloppy is getting really played out. 100% sick of everything LS relating back to 1 guy and everyone copy-pasting his setup into their cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not Brian Posted May 14, 2019 Report Share Posted May 14, 2019 I know they can make some power if you sprinkle money on them but I assumed you're keeping yours relatively stock. It'll still be a pretty fun beater I guess, but going through months of bloody knuckles and a dozen trips to autozone for a ~300hp swap sounds like buying the ugly girl at the bar a buncha drinks all night just for an eventual dry handjob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rally Pat Posted May 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2019 I know they can make some power if you sprinkle money on them but I assumed you're keeping yours relatively stock. It'll still be a pretty fun beater I guess, but going through months of bloody knuckles and a dozen trips to autozone for a ~300hp swap sounds like buying the ugly girl at the bar a buncha drinks all night just for an eventual dry handjob. Mine will have a cam and springs, and this is going going to be just a couple of months until its running and driving (hopefully). The main things we are waiting on is parts coming in and for Sean and I's schedules to sync up. The goal is to get the car to move under it's own power, then from there we can put whatever bottom end in we want or put a spooly boy on, but this is an autocross and track day car, 300 hp is plenty to get started. The trans I have is pretty weak too, so until I can find a turbo one or I buy the kit to put in a corvette torque tube and transmission, 300 hp is another good thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not Brian Posted May 14, 2019 Report Share Posted May 14, 2019 That's true, it will be a fun little gokart. I don't mean to be negative, and my only experience with 4.8s is in trucks, but god were those things gutless. A cam and a taiwan tornado would definitely liven it up. Anyway, good luck on er. I love the 944 body style and some V8 braps should be a good time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rally Pat Posted May 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2019 Honestly Sloppy is getting really played out. 100% sick of everything LS relating back to 1 guy and everyone copy-pasting his setup into their cars. He does all the research, shows numbers, proves combinations, tests theories, and documents it all for free including the tunes so people like me that are just getting started on this platform have a resource that isn't digging through forum posts from 8000 years ago written by people who barely passed 3rd grade reading. Why shouldn't people follow his information? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rally Pat Posted May 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2019 Scott Cordell also visited us while we were working on Saturday, and I bought some Corvette stuff off of him. The kit I am using from Texas Performance Concepts uses a Corvette bellhousing and an adapter plate to mate it to the stock 944 torque tube. Scott had a bellhousing, and I also purchased an almost complete Corvette accessory drive. The intake is an LS3 intake, which means I will have to run adapter plates. I am curious to see what the torque numbers are like with the adapter plates, as technically they are increasing the runner length. This also opens up a door for an LSA down the road as well. Even with the adapter plates, I have still spent less than buying a proper fitting manifold for my heads, which is good enough for me. We also talked quite a while about tuning, and its sounding like I am going to give HP Tuners a shot instead of buying a Holley Terminator X like I was planning originally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rally Pat Posted May 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2019 Thats it for whats done to the car right now, but that doesn’t mean I was idle in the Junkyard LS community for 2 years. I really believe in the mission of Matt Happel and Sloppy Mechanics, and I wanted to get involved in my own way. The main cam that gets recommended is the jokingly named “Sloppy Stage 2”, which is a .228/.230 cam. It goes by many part numbers different places, but the main provider is Elgin where it is part number 1840P. Jegs has their own version, Summit has their own version, allegedly both by Elgin as well. If you look in Elgin’s catalog, its actually labeled “Sloppy Stage 2” now. Its arguably the single most popular LS cam shaft outside of Chevy ones. Its sold out everywhere a lot of the time. I thought it would be cool if there was something we could do with all of those stock truck cams that people are pulling out of their $100 junkyard motors, as to not let anything go to waste. I teamed up with Jon Bodwell, the owner of Delta Camshaft, a legendary cam shop in Tacoma, Washington, to make tooling to regrind stock LS cams to the specs of the Sloppy Stage 2. Jon is a legend in the Honda and Subaru communities for his regrinds, and his shop works on cams for everything from aircrafts to antique vehicles and has been doing this for 35 years. He provides this regrind service for the Sloppy community for $120 dollars with the customer providing their stock cam as a core. We have quite a few customers running this cam already, including an LS powered boat! Before any one asks, no, there are not problems with the cam being too soft, the grind doesn't go all the way through the hardening. Of course, I will be running one of our regrinds in my engine, because it would be stupid if I didn’t run my own product lol. I didn't pick the name, although I do think naming a reground cam "make america great again" is clever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted May 14, 2019 Report Share Posted May 14, 2019 LOL @ "MAGA cam" I need to tune into Sloppy Mechanics. This thread is making me wish I kept the BMW... ...and had time... ...and allocated the budget... ...and didn't have a whole lotta things coming down the pike in my life... Honestly Sloppy is getting really played out. 100% sick of everything LS relating back to 1 guy and everyone copy-pasting his setup into their cars. Everyone that has 100% running vehicles, including project cars, please stand up. Whoa, whoa.....not so fast there, Samsonite... :gabe: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssFo Posted May 14, 2019 Report Share Posted May 14, 2019 LOL @ "MAGA cam" I need to tune into Sloppy Mechanics. This thread is making me wish I kept the BMW... ...and had time... ...and allocated the budget... ...and didn't have a whole lotta things coming down the pike in my life... Everyone that has 100% running vehicles, including project cars, please stand up. Whoa, whoa.....not so fast there, Samsonite... :gabe: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeesammy Posted May 14, 2019 Report Share Posted May 14, 2019 My bmw runs great. I get a dozen or so cars running a week sooooo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Bastard Posted May 14, 2019 Report Share Posted May 14, 2019 Iirc these cars had a near perfect balance, didn't they? Are you planning on doing anything to offset the weight difference in the motor? Also, if you need an extra hand turning a wrench, I live about 5 minutes from northend wrench. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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