If work goes smoothly I think I'll have the car ready to start and check out by the end of the day tomorrow. Today was a slow pace getting the intake on and re-doing and double checking vacuum lines and wires. The engine and transmission are under the car, ready to be bolted together, the lifted back into place. That Formica sheet really worked out well for sliding the engine across the floor.
I've found myself wandering today rather than putting the engine straight back in the car. There really is no hard deadline for any of this other than the Challenge date. I found a couple pieces of hose for the transmission cooler that were cracked and replaced them. I cut apart the AOS from the 2.7L engine to see how it was. It was a URO brand and was in good shape.
I went back over the torques and made my own list of the important ones, so I don't get the Sacred Tomes (16 volume factory shop manual) dirty.
I figured out that the torque converter from the Boxster will not work for the Audi swap, but that one I have from a '99 VW Passat V6 will probably work. My back and body are sore today and I just don't feel like doing the 'heavy lifting' - too much in one day can ruin a week. Maybe the engine will be in by the end of the day, maybe by the weekend. At this point continued progress is important, but not completion.
Random question, does the 00 S have an AOS? If it's starting to go out would it blue smoke in start up? If not, what would cause that? (Single puff, only on cold start, garaged car, just changed the oil, 160k miles)
In reply to Javelin :
All of the 986s have an AOS. The '03 and '04 version is improved, but very similar. A little bit of smoke at start up can be considered normal especially is the car was run for a very short period and shut down. I noticed that mine will do it more after an oil change if the oil level is at or near the top of the gauge. A little oil seeps past the rings while the car sits - it's a flat 6 engine. If the smoke is only for a moment at start up, don't worry.
In reply to AAZCD :
Phew! Thanks! Now get back to work! 
Yesterday early evening before dinner I went back to it, determined to have the engine and transmission mounted in the car by the end of the day. It didn't seem like a major task. The engine and transmission were in position, ready to bolt together, then 'simply' raise up and bolt back in place.
On the first try I didn't quite have the torque converter fully seated. All the bolts went in, but the gap between the transmission and engine wouldn't close unless I tightened the bolts harder than made sense. I took everything back off, then settled the converter back in. The second time, it all closed together nicely and I remembered to put a pin in (special Porsche tool that can easily be substituted with a short #2 Phillips) to hold the converter in position for bolting to the flex plate. By then my clothes were soaked with sweat. It was about 90 degrees with 100% humidity and I was working in the open doorway of the garage. “No sweat”, I thought, just jack it up and bolt it in now....
I decided to put the torque converter bolts in and torque them while it was on the floor. I thought it would be easy, but with the engine already under the car it was very awkward. Laying on the transmission, looking back through the starter hole and still not being able to see the recessed bolts, I did it by feel, being careful not to drop a bolt or tool into the bell housing. Slowly, carefully I got two in and torqued, then decided to get the rest after the engine was installed in the car.
I was getting stupid from the heat, dehydrated and hungry, but still not planning to stop until the engine was back in the car. I slowly jacked the engine and transmission up into position. Rather than using a hoist, or centered transmission jack, I used a combination of two jacks, some blocks of wood, a furniture dolly, and a Harbor Freight ATV jack. As I need it all to move a little forward, then left, then back right a bit, it became a jammed up pile that couldn't move or lift evenly. I finally got everything close, then had to lower it again to pull some hoses over the e-brake cable, then move a couple other loose parts to keep them from getting jammed. My mind was gone, my body ached, but I was still determined.
At some point, Mrs AAZCD came out to the garage for 'proof of life' and to tell me I hadn't had dinner yet. It was after 9 pm. I said something terse about almost being done and can't walk away with it all balancing on jacks. She returned with a large cup of ice water and a straw, said to be careful, and left me to deal with myself. Somehow the simple job went on for hours. Towards the end I remember putting in a barely-reachable transmission mount bolt, getting about a ¼ turn on each grab with a 'stubby' wrench. I finally remembered that I had got it out with a swivel on a long extension with a ratchet. I assembled the tool and finished in 10 seconds what would have taken another 5 minutes with the 'stubby' wrench.
I think it was a little after 10 pm when it was done and I stumbled into the house. My gloves had come off when I wanted to feel the torque converter bolts and my arms were now black with grease from the elbow down. I had taken over four hours to accomplish what should have taken about an hour, but it still felt good having it done.
***
Today should have been easy; Connect up some hoses and wires, bolt a few parts back on and have the car ready to start. It didn't quite go like that. I quickly found that a hose to the oil cooler on the '01 engine had a different destination on the '97 engine. As I was sorting it out, the end that connected to the coolant expansion tank broke off at the fitting. I checked the remnant of the fitting in the hose. It was brittle and crumbled. The tank needs to be replaced. It's not hard to replace the coolant tank while the engine is out, but can be painful to do while the engine is in. I had to walk away.
I've ordered parts now. They will be here next week. For the next few days, I think I'll shift my focus to some prep for the Audi swap.
I have to admit that since conceiving this whole Audi V8 swap idea, I've been concerned about the torque converter working out. I have done plenty of research and bought parts for the manual transmission swap, but not the automatic. Today I resolved the concern.
In one of my junk piles (Thank God I don't live in Sacramento County), under the severed rear body of a Boxster, I found a B5 Passat engine and transmission:
Removing the transmission and torque converter was pretty easy after doing all the work on the Boxster. Just one bolt required 'special attention':
The torque converter is a perfect fit for the Audi ABZ V8 and the Boxster's automatic transmission:
The Boxster, the FWD version of the Audi A8, and the B5 Passat use a variant of the ZF 5HP19 transmission. The Boxster torque converter won't bolt to the A8 engine. The A8 Quattro torque converter, won't fit the Boxster transmission. This will fit the engine and transmission and I may also trade the Passat transmission into the swap since it has the correct gear selection indicator harness connection for the Audi. I need to try to find the box with the Passat TCU and look up the gear ratios for comparison.
Ok... It's been a week. Not much going on until today. Grandson #2 (7 years old) has been here with me during the days and I've been working nights. The spare moments are for sleep, not projects. ...until today. Parts arrived yesterday: PS fluid, an oil cooler & O-rings, and enough other filters and misc stuff to get to $100 for free shipping at Pelican Parts (Oil cooler was not from Pelican). I decided that I didn't need the coolant reservoir. The tank itself is good. The hose connector that broke off was just a pass-thru for the firewall. Easily fixed with a drill and tube joint.
The hose connected to it is a purge line that purges the cooling system from the highest point - the oil cooler. The engine that I installed is a 1997 engine, which is the only year that the oil cooler didn't have the purge hose. As part of adapting that engine to the 2001 car, I am installing a Boxster S oil cooler. I should have that done tonight, but I'm taking a break. There's a mouse.
This car had a couple mouse nests in it when I bought it. I put some repellant in it (Fresh Cab) and vacuumed up the mess. Luckily no wires appear to have been chewed. A couple days after I vacuumed the mouse nests out of the car, I went to use my shop vac and it was clogged. I went to empty it and there were at least four small mice looking up at me. I carried it to the spot in the back yard where I had recently seen a snake and dumped them out. Let nature sort it out...
Tonight's mouse was bigger. I was under the car installing the O2 sensors and saw it running to a corner of the garage. I finished tightening up the sensor then went and got Caesar, our large black cat, and turned him loose in the garage. Last I saw him, he had just put a paw on the mouse, then grabbed it in his mouth. Good cat. ...I'm giving them some time before I get back to work. Tomorrow or Monday, I should have the car driveable.
Great progress... Really enjoying this..
Later that evening I went back to the garage. Caesar seemed pretty satisfied. No body was ever found.
I started to replace the oil cooler, but stopped when I pulled off the old one. I had read that some of the 1997 engines had an adapter plate for the cooler and some didn't. Mine didn't and the cooler I bought will not seal properly.
The adapter costs $140 - $200 and I don't want to buy one until I know that this engine will work out. The S-Model cooler I bought is good for any of my Boxsters. The adapter would only be good for the 1997 engine. I cleaned up the old oil cooler, put on the new o-rings, and re-installed it on the engine. That was enough for the day.
Today I finished up the engine install stuff. I had been pretty careful about bagging and tagging parts as I disassembled the car and only had two extra bolts when I was done. That bag was labeled "brackets and misc mounts". Lets just say that those two bolts were from the 2.7L engine and aren't needed on the 2.5.
I spent a lot of time taking parts back off after installing them because they were in the way of the next thing I put on, or a wire or tube. It's all quite a puzzle and every piece has to go just right at the right time. The starter is bolted on by using a long extension from the front of the engine to reach back under the intake. A nice 15mm socket fell off the end of the extension and disappeared. I had to take the Alternator back off to fish it out. ***I'm not complaining. Just explaining, that's how I work; not a great mechanic, but stubborn enough to keep pushing my way ahead until I am rewarded with success or a smoking pile of debris that I can call a good learning experience.
By evening I had started the car briefly for a first run and leak check, then got Mrs AAZCD to record the first drive:
It isn't as smooth as I want it, but for an engine that sat abandoned under a tarp in my driveway for two years, I call running at all a big win.
Now what? I don't know. Mrs AAZCD wants the '01 to be the Challenge car. I don't have a problem with that, but I had already been planning for the '99 chassis. I think I'll diverge things for now: tinker with the car to see if the 2.5 is going to run smooth and get a look at the Audi V8 engine for how I'm going to mount it in a Boxster. The 2.5 has a low RPM misfire on cylinder 5 that could be very minor and simple, or a sign of impending doom. The V8 might mount with just a bracket at the front of the engine and the Boxster's original mount, or I could build a full cradle for it and use the Audi engine mounts. I've seen both methods used successfully.
The misfire is fixed. It had a misfire on 2 and 5. Troubleshooting, I started by replacing the coil and plug in 5. That cleared it. With 2 I tried the coil first. -Still a misfire. I swapped in a plug and it cleared. All the plugs are old, and I'm not sure why those two were bad. I'm going to replace them all with new ones later.
Now it runs smooth except for a quick surge at idle. That will probably get better as the ECU adapts to the 2.5L engine.
Tomorrow, I'll have insurance and get it out on the road.
Also a note: I was wrong earlier about which cylinder is which. With the 986 Boxsters: 1,2,3 are on the right and 4,5,6 are left (rather than an odd side and even side).
Insured and legal today, I took it out a couple times around town. The engine is running great now, but there are a lot of minor issues to sort through.
The washer fluid tank leaks, Brake wear light is on, Airbag light is on because I disconnected the SRS while my grandson rides with me, Steering wheel is canted about 15 degrees when the car is straight (Alignment seems good, so I'm guessing the wheel was not set when it was aligned.), Typical old Boxster issue of windows not quite operating right when the doors close, Heat shield on the exhaust rattling.
I smelled a little coolant when I parked it. There could be a slight leak or hose I forgot to tighten all the way. Also it could just be some purging from refilling the system. I didn't see a puddle forming under the car. I think I'll work the little things over the next week while I drive it, then commit to one car or the other for the Challenge build.
In reply to AAZCD :
Awesome!
Beautiful
i wish my grandpa was as awesome as you
A little off topic...
My work truck/beater Porsche Cayenne just blew out one of the front air struts. I never really trusted the 'air ride' suspension as a long term reliability item. Rather than fix it, I'm going to sell it, or pull parts and scrap it. I can't help but wonder if there's some useful stuff in there that I could put in the Challenge build. Huge Brembo brakes, heavy duty suspension parts and assorted other Cayenne things could be fun, but would probably turn into an unproductive distraction.
The strut itself, wouldn't be a hard repair (or even a conversion to springs), but for the long list of other worn items: tires, rotors, evap purge valve, headliner... I'm fine with letting this one go. It was a $1,500 Copart salvage car to begin with.
/Moment of silence for the passing.
Good drivetrain that still gets down the road, but rides pretty bad. Offers under $2000 considered, but I'm soon going to be pulling a few parts as spares for my 'good' Cayenne.
Cayenne front brakes swapped onto the front of a 996 has been done - you will need to convert them to radial mount and then space them appropriately.
The existing fronts can be moved to the back, but opinions differ on which master cylinder you'll need to use, and whether the brake balance is optimal. IIRC GT3 discs up front and turbo at the rear.
Hard to believe we live in a world of $1500 cayennes....
Agent98 said:Hard to believe we live in a world of $1500 cayennes....
I didn't expect to win it. Fees and delivery cost about as much as my bid. In the auction, it looked like this:
When it was delivered, the bumpers, lights, and all the hardware was neatly packed in the back. It's been a great work truck and loaner for over two years.
Is there a build thread on the Cayenne?
In reply to AngryCorvair :
No, I didn't really 'build' it. I put the bumpers on, then drove it. I did put a new rear driveshaft ("Cardan shaft") and transmission oil cooler in during ownership. That and a couple oil changes.
How is the title branded? IDK why I’m asking, I’m not in the market.
AngryCorvair said:How is the title branded? IDK why I’m asking, I’m not in the market.
Because you’re thinking, like me, of how much it would cost to get a cayenne from texas to ohio(Michigan) and if you can cheaply put coil springs in place of the bags.
Patrick said:AngryCorvair said:How is the title branded? IDK why I’m asking, I’m not in the market.
Because you’re thinking, like me, of how much it would cost to get a cayenne from texas to ohio(Michigan) and if you can cheaply put coil springs in place of the bags.
It has an Oklahoma 'rebuilt' title. It's 'hot' on FB market right now. Should I trade for a 2003 Buell Blast with low miles? ...My last bike was a Vulcan 800 I got in a trade. Never felt right sitting up/leaning back on a bike.
Love the $1600 Boxster victory. It could be a gastropod winner for sure. I'm a bit jealous. I tried to get a cracked head Boxster on the cheap, but the owner thought he had a turbo 911..... and wouldn't budge. I was going to do that then they announced the CAM, which I am doing. I just can't get into it as much as I could the Boxster. I feel like the Mustang phase of my life is decades since gone.
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