The Ultimate LS Swap: A Story of Miracles and Madness

By some miracle, my Porsche 911 Ella swap is finally finished! I made the big announcement four months ago after grenading my 1999 Porsche 911 with two hundred and forty eight thousand miles after a track day. I named the car Apollo 911 since it was driven the equivalent distance from the earth to the moon, but now I have no freaking clue what to call this thing after announcing the swap making every Porsche purist across the country cry out in agony.

It took almost two months for the conversion kit to arrive then the conversion finally got started which required more work lots of extra parts and more swear words than my mechanic the car wizard and I ever imagined. Though most importantly it costs a lot more than I thought like way way way more. For a more detailed account of this massive project see my article on autotrader.com slash oversteer which is a link below.

Let's start with sourcing the engine which I was instructed to find a complete engine with its wiring harness and throttle pedal I found one out of erect 2006 Corvette for four thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars. The engine is ideal since it's all aluminum and weighs roughly the same as the Porsche engine. I then spent seven thousand three hundred and twenty-two dollars on the renegade hybrid conversion kit which included a water pump conversion setup AC system and electric power steering out of a Prius.

Yes, you read that right, a Prius! The car wizard and I were able to remove the Porsche motor prepare the Corvette engine made it to the Porsche transmission and cram it into the engine bay relatively easily after some hacking to the chassis but getting it running was a totally different story. Turns out the Corvette wiring harness and computer were going to take an enormous amount of time to figure out so I had to source a much simpler aftermarket setup.

I could have saved myself five hundred dollars if I had known this information beforehand by purchasing a less complete used engine with the engine computer and harness hooked up and an aftermarket fuel pressure system installed. We could finally fire up the LS inside the Porsche for the first time, it was crazy loud before, but take a listen now, it's a lot quieter from this point on.

I was useless of the car wizard as the rest of the project required tons of wiring and custom fabrication somehow he managed to get the Chevy and Porsche computers to talk to each other enough for all of the gauges to work except for the tachometer. I opted for the most ridiculously inappropriate aftermarket tach which belongs in a 60s hot rod, the wizard also figured out how to route the engine cooling system as well as the heater hoses and install an auxilary cooling fan control system.

Hoses were also made for an aftermarket oil cooler system as well as the AC lines and a switch was routed to the main cabin to manually turn on the AC compressor. There were plenty of setbacks along the way but the wizard plowed through the biggest challenge was him figuring out the routing for the coolant hoses and properly burping the system. Also, they used throttle pedal and mass airflow sensor from the wrecked car were causing problems my crepe only need to be replaced and the oil pressure Center was Center.

As I reflect on the entire process, it's clear that this project has been a wild ride from start to finish. From the initial grenading of my Porsche 911 to the final installation of the LS swap engine, it's been a journey of trial and error. With the help of my trusty mechanic, the car wizard, we've managed to bring this beast of a car back to life.

Save me from financial ruin by purchasing movies garage t-shirts link below and become an LS swap all the things supporter if there are any sponsors out there for natural male enhancement or insight that kind of stuff that want to slap a sticker on the side of this car I'm available actually not really the t-shirts do help but to fully cover things, I'm going to have to sell one of my more expensive cars.

For now, my plans with a 911 are next video will go over what it's like to drive in LS swap 911 as well as go over all the quirks and features so Doug de Miro can squeal with the light and over time I will redo every test I did with the 911 before I managed to blow it up dyno runs quarter-mile times track day and surely a cross-country trip at some point. So be sure to subscribe so you don't miss any of the madness to come, hit that like button if you think I'm a total idiot and as always thank you for watching

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enby some miracle my Porsche 911 Ella swap is finally finished I made the big announcement four months ago after grenading my 1999 Porsche 911 with two hundred and forty eight thousand miles after a track day I named the car Apollo 911 since it was driven the equivalent distance from the earth to the moon but now I have no freaking clue what to call this thing after announcing the swap making every Porsche purist across the country cry out in agony it took almost two months for the conversion kit to arrive then the conversion finally got started which required more work lots of extra parts and more swear words than my mechanic the car wizard and I ever imagined though most importantly it costs a lot more than I thought like way way way more and for a more detailed account of this massive project see my article on autotrader.com slash oversteer which is a link below let's start with sourcing the engine which I was instructed to find a complete engine with its wiring harness and throttle pedal I found one out of erect 2006 Corvette for four thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars the engine is ideal since it's all aluminum and weighs roughly the same as the Porsche engine I then spent seven thousand three hundred and twenty-two dollars on the renegade hybrid conversion kit which included a water pump conversion setup AC system and electric power steering out of a Prius yes a Prius the car wizard and I were able to remove the Porsche motor prepare the Corvette engine made it to the Porsche transmission and cram it into the engine bay relatively easily after some hacking to the chassis but getting it running was a totally different story turns out the Corvette wiring harness and computer were going to take an enormous amount of time to figure out so I had to source a much simpler aftermarket setup I could have saved myself five hundred dollars if I had known this information beforehand by purchasing a less complete used engine with the engine computer and harness hooked up and an aftermarket fuel pressure system installed we could finally fire up the LS - inside the Porsche for the first time it was crazy loud before or take a listen now it's a lot quieter from this point on I was useless of the car wizard as the rest of the project required tons of wiring and custom fabrication somehow he managed to get the Chevy and Porsche computers to talk to each other enough for all of the gauges to work except for the tachometer I opted for the most ridiculously inappropriate aftermarket tach which belongs in a 60s hot rod the wizard also figured out how to route the engine cooling system as well as the heater hoses and install an auxilary cooling fan control system hoses were also made for an aftermarket oil cooler system as well as the AC lines and a switch was routed to the main cabin to manually turn on the AC compressor go wizard go go go there were plenty of setbacks along the way but the wizard plowed through the biggest challenge was him figuring out the routing for the coolant hoses and properly burping the system also they used throttle pedal and mass airflow sensor from the wrecked car were causing problems my crepe only need to be replaced and the oil pressure Center the wizard installed was leaking with the engine installed there was no way you could reach the sender so the wizard had to cut a large access panel from the cabin which will help with future repairs but still finally I could actually drive the car for the first time since his death months ago and with no exhaust it was terrifying the car seemed like a wild animal and I was having serious regrets with my decision one thing that I did like was the steering which did not have the electric power steering from the Prius installed yet I instructed the wizard to skip this insulation installation I can't say insulation today installation and he moved on to the exhaust installation installation insulation ISM the stock Porsche mufflers were reused which gives this car a very confusing exhaust note we don't have any emissions restrictions here in Kansas so I skipped installing catalytic converters and ran the exhaust directly from the headers to the muffler suddenly the Porsche seemed totally civilised again and with a few more tweaks tidying up the wiring to look presentable and lots of heat insulation the car wizard was finished now let's get to the cost which you might want to be sitting down for this now I already told you the cost of the used engine and conversion kit which was twelve thousand and seventy two dollars by itself all the extra parts needed outside of the kit cost three thousand eight hundred and sixty seven dollars labor costs are almost identical at three thousand eight hundred and sixty four dollars for eighty five hours of labor now the wizard was kind enough to deduct twelve hundred sixty dollars for the twenty eight hours of labor he felt I contributed and I sold the used broken motor for fifteen hundred dollars with those deductions my grand total invested into the swamp is seventeen thousand forty three dollars and sixteen cents over seventeen thousand dollars this went from being the cheapest 911 in the USA to probably the most expensive early 996 ever in recent memory like I mentioned before I could have probably saved five hundred dollars going for a cheaper less complete engine and maybe I'll be able to return that $1,295 electric power steering pump from the Prius now I normally manage to keep my hobby self contained financially as I keep all of my automotive related endeavors separate from my day job income but this is obviously spilled over into my savings and ran up a pretty hefty credit card bill so save me from financial ruin by purchasing movies garage t-shirts link below and become an LS swap all the things supporter and if there are any sponsors out there for natural male enhancement or insight that kind of stuff that want to slap a sticker on the side of this car I'm available actually not really the t-shirts do help but to fully cover things I'm going to have to sell one of my more expensive cars especially since I'm going down this rabbit hole all over again with the new crazy purchase as for my plans with a 911 the next video will go over what it's like to drive in LS swap 911 as well as go over all the quirks and features so Doug de Miro can squeal with the light and over time I will redo every test I did with the 911 before I managed to blow it up dyno runs quarter-mile times track day and surely a cross-country trip at some point so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss any of the madness to come hit that like button if you think I'm a total idiot and as always thank you for watching\n"