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So, I’ve swapped a 240sx, an FD RX7 and just finished an e90 bmw.
Ive wanted AWD turbo LSx with a backseat on a sports car.
so I have a 996 C4S arriving Saturday and I feel as though I can handle 90% of the swap.
however, all the threads I’m reading are all non-CanBus cars on the Porsche.
I’d prefer to use the Terminator XMax due to familiarity. I’d also like everything to work on this car unlike my “race car” RX7.
What will I need to overcome this in the 996.2 cars?
the e90 had a CanBus box made by someone that just plugged into the Terminator XMax and made the cluster etc work.
there’s a plug and play option from CPE, but I didn’t want to pay $3500 for wiring that I can do (and still need to buy an ECM and HPTuners) so essentially 3500 for a CanBus box.
anyone who’s done the swap have info as to what I’d lose without the CanBus? Or a way around it?
So, I’ve swapped a 240sx, an FD RX7 and just finished an e90 bmw.
Ive wanted AWD turbo LSx with a backseat on a sports car.
so I have a 996 C4S arriving Saturday and I feel as though I can handle 90% of the swap.
however, all the threads I’m reading are all non-CanBus cars on the Porsche.
I’d prefer to use the Terminator XMax due to familiarity. I’d also like everything to work on this car unlike my “race car” RX7.
What will I need to overcome this in the 996.2 cars?
the e90 had a CanBus box made by someone that just plugged into the Terminator XMax and made the cluster etc work.
there’s a plug and play option from CPE, but I didn’t want to pay $3500 for wiring that I can do (and still need to buy an ECM and HPTuners) so essentially 3500 for a CanBus box.
anyone who’s done the swap have info as to what I’d lose without the CanBus? Or a way around it?
Since the 02-04 996s are all canbus (01 for turbos?) I know there are a few people on here that have done this conversion. I believe Fierofly had his pretty well documented so you'll have to take a look at his thread. I just finished mine which was not canbus (2000 C4) but the premise will be the same in my opinion, just run the stock Pcar DME (pcm) and feed it whatever signals it needs to be happy. My mustang was canbus and I did this and everything worked perfectly. If you end up using a 58x motor this can be done a little easier as the Porsche was a 58x system and you can feed a crank signal into the stock DME with ease so that will take care of that signal. You need to thin out your stock harness and feed it coolant and oil pressure at a minimum. The speedometer is handled through the ABS system and will work as long as it remains intact. You can also save the 12v trigger for your A/C to be enabled and also the starter trigger. Yes it is more wiring but as far as I know it is the only option available. I don't know of a CANBUS converter box for these cars nor do I know what happens if you attempt to remove it all together. It could cause a lot more problems than it's worth trying to reinvent the wheel. Let me know if you have any questions about something more specific to the car. I did a lot of research to get everything to work in mine without hacking everything up and I'd be willing to bet some of the basics carry over to the 996.2 cars like using the stock fuel pump and relay without butchering things. I also have my stock P59 pcm controlling my fans directly again without any butchering. Good luck.
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996 C4S CanBus Questions 
