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THE BASTARD - 944 LS1


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Singapore and Hong Kong are essentially "maritime environments". Regard as UK cars for all intents and purposes -  and probably only driven short distances into the bargain.

Good advice, the effects of that maritime environement were plain to see

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Dropping the car off to get it's heart ripped out..

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The poorly painted, ugly looking engine bay... the unnecessary brackets will be cut off and then painted in satin black..

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I also have some plans for the interior of the car. The warped panels and dusty carpet all got the flick. I'll be keeping the door cards and having the top of the dash recovered in leather.

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The exhaust manifolds were designed for a chevy platform but were chosen for their compact size in the hope of reducing the amount of customisation needed. In the end the passenger side only need a bit of work but the drivers side was essentially a re-do. 
 
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The first test fit!
 
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I opted for a twin 2.5" stainless, mandrel bent system with an X-pipe, twin-entry/ twin-exit muffler and cats. Fingers crossed it'll remain at street-able sound levels. 
 
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Here's a closer look at the fitment of the hydro-boost break setup:
 
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The dual-pass radiator from TPC comes with appropriate fans and shielding for a good fit / cooling.
 
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Can't wait to have the flaky engine bay painted.. you can also see the TPC engine mounts in these shots
 
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Just tack welded at this point, but the guys did a good job getting these to fit
 
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I am revising my earlier prediction. More like 5x original cost... ;)

Looking good though

haha..  hopefully not quite that much. It's the extra things being done while the car is off the road that's really blowing it out

 

Coming along well.  Are engine mounts solid/rubber free?

They have bushings, here's a closer look:

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The carpet is long gone, along with the sound deadening and the felt-like material that was glued down in areas. I think the interior looks more attractive without all of the padding.. and a bit of weight saving too.

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The steering wheel is a Nardi Classic 360mm. It's actually quite thin and similar to the stock wheel. This was an aesthetic choice more than anything. This particular model also has a TUV stamp of approval which means it exceeds ADR's and (in Queensland at least) is a legal modification.

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This is what the wheel looks like with it's leather ring and horn button... It reminds me of a Blaupunkt volume knob.. I might have to try and track down one of those to replace the Sony unit

 

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So much leg room
 

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The interior and engine bay are both ready to be painted now. Some good attention to detail in prepping the engine bay, looking forward to seeing it with a non-flaky coat of paint

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It still in pieces.. but at this stage all of the custom work to fit the engine as well as the recovered dash are ready to go back in. After the interior / engine bay are painted it'll be reassembly time

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A closer look at the black RUFs...

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and a peak at what's behind them. The KW v3 came highly recommended by a few people.. Anyone else running them here?

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I picked these up off a Porsche club NSW member.. They used to live in a 911 backdated to a 72 RS look.. hence the embroidery. They don't make any sense in a 944 I know... but neither does an LS1. I figure it's in keeping with the bastardisation theme 

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The backs have a few minor scratches but nothing I can't live with.
 
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I've since ditched these bolt together mounts and will be using a set of steel FIA approved Velo mounts. Being 6'2" we'll be bolting the seats down directly to the floor.. We tried fitting them with OMP rails but the head room was nil.
 
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I was really impressed with the condition of the covers, they appear to have been freshly done.. these are an old model of the Velo GP90s
 
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The pump up lumber support reminded me of my first pair of Nike air pumps, should make the car run faster
 
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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm one of those that aren't a fan of the '948' conversions BUT you're doing it the right way from all appearances. So by stripping out the insulation is your intention to make this into a bit of a Club Sport version? Any intentions of doing some trackdays with the PCNSW? ps the KW's are a really nice shock. They ride very well yet perform acceptably on the track.

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I'm one of those that aren't a fan of the '948' conversions BUT you're doing it the right way from all appearances. So by stripping out the insulation is your intention to make this into a bit of a Club Sport version? Any intentions of doing some trackdays with the PCNSW? ps the KW's are a really nice shock. They ride very well yet perform acceptably on the track.

 

I respect that, it would have been hard to do this to a 944 in original condition. But yeah, really don't want to cut any corners.

I'll be doing the occasional track day but nothing competitive... some driver training too. I move back to Brisbane at the end of the week but I'd consider a road trip for a NSW track day.

The interior is for aesthetic reasons as well as the weight reduction. I'm having it coated with a polyurea-elastomer so the surface is rubber-like to the touch.. just a little less harsh then the bare metal. Club Sport is pretty accurate, just a slightly bastardised hot-rod version of that

 

 

Velo are a really good seat. I have one in my race car.

 

They're comfortable! A snug fit in the standard size though... a waste-line security measure. 

 

 

Ha! I love the fact you plan to leave the seats as they are.

 

haha.. I have considered getting a strike-through embroided over the top 'carrera RS'

 

 

I just found this topic, LOVE IT, I can't wait to see the finished product Chris.

 

Excellent work but it gives me bad, bad ideas.......

 

Two bads make a good, right? I think so...

Hoping to see some more progress soon, cheers!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I love it. It should be heaps of fun, and a real handful when it's done. Did you ever consider a Cayenne V8? I have heard that they can be had relatively cheaply now? I have no idea about their size or weight, etc, just wondered if it was ever an option?

That said I do see the benefit of an LS1. Nice and cheap now, light weight and plenty of parts available.

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^ Honestly, I never considered it as an option. The availability of conversion parts (that you can import from the USA), power to weight ratio of the LS1, widespread availability of parts in Australia as well as workshops familiar with tuning the engine made the LS1 really hard to go past. Then there's the size of the engine bay to compete with... the LS1 is a really tight squeeze and requires the brakes to be converted to hydroboost to free up some space... The LS1 is pretty compact! I'd guess the Porsche V8 would be larger / heavier.

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Yeah, fair enough. Back in my *cough* drifting days there were guys putting LS1's in skylines as they were lighter and made more power than the RB engines.

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