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Putting the engine together

Hey guys,

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. Last week I put together the engine and tranny. I am using a low profile LS2/LS3 oil pan for ground clearance. At 4.75″, this  is the thinnest OEM wet sump  pan available. I had to get a new o-ring (blue) for the pickup tube, which cost a whoppig $14 from the dealership. I believe all LS pans are interchangeable, so there was no trouble there.  

I am also using an LS1 intake manifold. The intake is rotated 180 degrees for clearance. I’ve heard of issues with the oil pressure sensor getting in the way with LS3 engines, but mine seems to be ok. Nonetheless, I plan on mounting  both GM and Porsche oil pressure sensors on a 4 AN line remotely (I will make a post on this with a complete parts list when I’m done). 

The Kennedy engineering adapter and flywheel look amazing. The adapter plate was slightly damaged during shipping, but it was nothing serious. The kit comes complete with hardware and instructions. I didn’t purchase the optional KEP clutch, so I had to buy the pressure plate bolts myself. These are longer than the OEM Porsche bolts, so please give KEP a call to find what size you need. 

I was told that the Boxster S clutch will work for a 5.3L swap, but Kennedy Engineering suggested that I upgrade to a sprung hub disk. The new flywheel is no longer a dual mass design, hence a rigid disk might be a bit too harsh. The KEP clutch is amazing, but its close to $1000, so I had to downgrade to a SPEC Stage 2 clutch for $650. As I was putting everything together, I realised that I was actually sent a rigid disk. The online store where I had made the purchase admitted their mistake and offered me a full refund. I decided to give SPEC a call directly to see if I could just make swap with them  instead of shipping everything back to the store. They told me that the Boxster clutch normally only comes rigid, but they could make a sprung disk for me free of charge if I just paid for shipping. I guess for now I’ll just bolt up the tranny without the clutch to see how everything fits together.

I used a pallet jack to line up the transmission to the engine. This is pretty easy if you have the right equipment, but I would still suggest an extra set of helping hands.

The Renegade Hybrids kit wasn’t so straight forward. All the hardware that comes with the kit is mixed in one ziplock bag. It’s not that big of a deal, but it still takes a while to figure out which bolt goes where. I was short a few washers, a harmonic balancer spacer, and a belt pulley. Either these parts were never put in, or they fell out the massive hole in the box during shipping (Steve promised me that the replacements would be on the way shortly). The Wevo transmission mounts which you must purchase separately come with a the bolt and washer for the stock setup. I replaced mine with a 75mm bolt and ground down the square protrusion on the washer. 

I had no issues with the rest of the Renegade kit except for clearance around the oil pan. I opened up the bolt holes a bit to allow for some extra clearance.

Picked up the parts today…

The kit finally arrived and this morning I was able pick up all my parts from the Niagara Falls mailbox. In total 21 packages! Had to pay $150 to the mailbox facility in storage fees while I way waiting on the delayed Renegade Hybrids kit and an additional $460 in border taxes.

There are still a few little things that I will have to buy as I go, but the majority of parts are here. Tomorrow I will begin on the motor assembly and possibly fit the renegade kit to see where everything goes.

My first impressions of the Renegade kit are mixed. The packaging was horrible! The boxes looked like they’ve been reused about a dozen times, and two of them had holes the size of a grown mans fist. I just hope that nothing fell out in transit. The overall quality looks pretty good, the welds look nice and the paint finish is excellent. All the hardware came in one huge bag with no labels or instructions. I feel like I will have to spend some time figuring out which bolts go where.

The Kennedy Engineering bits look amazing. You can tell that a lot of care went into the design and machining of their parts. Their kit also comes with an installation manual, but I haven’t had a chance to look through it.

Going through all the boxes before crossing the border

Renegade Kit

A whole bunch of random parts. Gaskets, bolts, engine and tranny mounts, fuel filter, oil filter,….

SPEC Stage 2 Boxster Clutch

C6 Low Profile Oil Pan

The kit is finally on its way!

I received a call from Renegade Hybrids on Friday letting me know that the kit was finally shipped. I will be picking it up at the border along with many other parts at some point late next week. If you were ready to give up on this project, I promise there should be some solid updates coming soon.

Total Cost Update

Hey guys,

I just spoke to Renegade yesterday, the kit should be on its way next week! I also started fabricating the reinforcement plate to replace all that metal that I cut out, but I have no pictures to show you. I probably won’t be welding it in until I get weld-thru primer and good aerosol 2K primer. I might also get some seam sealer to seal the welds and keep the moisture out. There was a whole bunch of water inside the body when I was cutting it up, so just want to make sure the reinforcement plate doesn’t rust.

Since it’s been a little slow lately, I decided to run up the total for my build up to this point. You can find the updated BOM here. This does not include everything, I still need: seats, brake lines, starter, alternator, belt, power steering fittings, headlights, water pump, water hoses, and whatever else I’m forgetting.
 

$14,322 CAD