When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
There is an adapter between the Porsche torque tube and the Corvette bell housing, you can see it in the picture above. It is machined to fit tight into the torque tube and it has dowels to position it into the bell housing. This ensures the drive shaft inside the torque tube is positioned correctly into the pilot bearing in the back of the crank. Similar factory dowel setup in the rear to attach the torque tube to the trans and align the drive shaft to the trans. All of this ensures the drive shaft is happy. What I was aligning was the torque tube itself to the engine, the engine wasn't quite square in the engine bay, so the torque tube wasn't running down the centre of the car nicely, shifting the engine a bit helped line up the torque tube down the tunnel it fits into in the unibody.
I suppose there would be? But no more than a stock 924/944/968, Corvette or any other transaxle car. There is play in the motor mounts, even the fairly stiff swap mounts, I run a semi-solid trans mount which is firm, but again has play. The CVs on the half shafts compensate for movement as well. Torque tube or bell housing structural failures aren't a thing in the 944 world that I've ever seen in over a decade of tracking these cars on road courses.
There must be huge stresses placed on the bellhousing and associated TT parts, as the vehicles chassis etc twists in usage ?
The give in the motor mounts and differential mounts allow the chassis to flex without putting the torque tube in a big bind I'd guess. And, let's face it, Porsche is as good as anyone at building a fairly stout unibody. As the OP mentions above, LOTS of these cars have been raced to hell and back --- they hold up. I'd also add -- the torque tube itself is a major contributor to the structural stiffness of the car. It is a stout piece that can resist a helluva lot of bending and torsion without flexing much.
I think the biggest issue when repowering one is to be sure and mount the motor in a manner that that crank angle matches the pinion angle -- so the torque tube bolts flush to both ends. If you get the engine angle wrong, even a little I'd think, you could really put the torque tube/driveshaft in a bind.
But I believe the builder/OP knows what the heck he's doing!
Not quite at the wiring stage yet. However, for ease of access I wanted to make the connection at the crank sensor before the starter and header went in on the passenger side, so that meant running the harness through the firewall. That's a lot of wires for a guy that hates electrical.
That's a good tip I'll follow. Nothing else electrical is getting connected until everything else is assembled.
Unfortunately no choice on the crank sensor, the long tube headers need to be unbolted and moved to the side to get the starter in, and my fat hands can't easily get to the crank sensor plug with the starter installed.
Fitted the brake master. I'm working on extending the stock lines to reach the master with some pre-made lengths. Once that's done I can bleed the clutch (shares fluid reservoir with brake master) and test the clutch action.
Used the power bleeder to get some fluid through the clutch and out the remote bleeder, and also started bleeding the brakes. Keeping my eyes peeled for any leaks on all the new connections and components.
Starting to piece together the cooling system. Not looking forward to finding water pump to radiator hoses that will work, looks like it will be an adventure.
I went with Corvette pulleys/water pump to maximize that clearance to radiator and to move the engine coolant outlet over closer to the passenger side. I took some measurements, bent a couple of coat hanger pieces to mimic the shape -- and spent about 45 minutes in the back room at Advance Auto until I found hoses that would work.
How's your air intake room with the low front hood line?
Width is tight for accessories in the 944 engine bay, only the F body setup works without cutting the unibody. Most of the 944 swap guys make it work, but I've seen very few elegant hose setups, I'll spend an afternoon in a parts store for sure.
I've got a few options for routing the air intake that people seem to go with. Cone filter placed behind the driver side headlight, this is where I ran my MAF intake for my stock engine. Or cone filter behind the nose panel where the intercooler used to live (where I've placed the coils for the LS) - this is where I'll attempt to pickup cool air for the engine. The LS computer that came with the engine is setup to run speed density only, no MAF, so that saves a little packaging space.
With high mount accessories I had interference between a/c compressor and the strut tower. But aftermarket low mounts for alt and compressor put everything low and out of sight.
Got to work on the alternator and started mounting the power steering pump brackets. Was going to mount the belt tensioner and realized I don't have the 2 bolts that mount it to the water pump, anyone have the GM part number for those bolts handy?
Use a piece of flex conduit to map it ,,, then have a local mandrel tubing shop bend it for you, then all you need is a couple of rubber couplers.. Or buy beer for a local electrician with a conduit bender and some Aluminum EMT>..
05-14-2017, 04:04 PM
