Porsche 944 Racecar - Chevy Engine Swap

What happens when you take a Porsche 944, throw away the original engine and replace it with a Chevrolet V8? This is the story of a rather unconventional 24 Hours of Lemons race car, starting with the original concept and the work required to turn a Porsche 944 into something capable of taking on the track.

The idea was simple enough: combine American V8 power with the Porsche's existing transmission and drivetrain. Making that idea actually work was considerably more complicated.

The Chevrolet engine had to be installed into an engine bay that was never designed for it, with components including the brake and clutch arrangements needing to be moved to make room. The connection between the Chevrolet engine and Porsche transmission was another major challenge, requiring careful measurement and adaptation of the coupling between the engine, torque tube and transmission.

Getting the positioning of the pilot bearing wrong proved particularly expensive. We learned the hard way just how critical the alignment and measurements were, and after several failures we became remarkably efficient at removing the Porsche transmission!

This project eventually became a proper track car, with further development driven by what we discovered during testing and racing. Cooling, transmission durability, oil temperature, carburetion and fuel starvation all presented their own challenges, leading to further modifications and upgrades.

This video introduces the project and the thinking behind building a Chevrolet-powered Porsche 944 race car for the 24 Hours of Lemons.

And, as we discovered, getting the engine in was only the beginning.