Porsche Boxster S 3.2 Into XR?

[SirPreston]

Okay so I recently became fascinated with flat engines and am wondering if anyone has attempted to stick one in their xr. I googled and googled and couldn't find any Porsche swaps at all. At any rate, I think a horizontally opposed engine would be an amazing option for a motor swap because of the low center of gravity, more stability, less vibration, and not to mention handling. I really want to try this in the future. How hard would it be and how much modification would be required (front engine)? The ideal result would be an AWD horizontally opposed engine without putting Subaru stuff in it. Though Subaru's boxer engines have been tried and true, if I wanted a Subaru id just buy one. I just feel like it would be a slap in the face to my West German built car to let Japanese parts Kamikaze their way in there. I want unique and the Boxster s motor just sounds so raw and aggressive on top of everything else. Thoughts?

[DPDISXR4Ti]

Welcome. And helluva first post!

Your challenge with any flat-4 or 6 will be getting it to fit between the frame rails and still be able to change the spark plugs without removing the engine! I don't know of anyone who has even tried it, so you'll need to go first.

FWIW, I've contemplated the idea of stuffing a Subaru 2.0 EE20 TD engine in my XRBrati. But at this point I've not even taken any measurements.

[merkurdriver]

Modify the XR x-member and toss it in there

Make the cradle drop-out friendly for spark plug and valve cover gasket changes, though, because as mentioned those will be tricky to do with the engine in the car. Anything is possible with enough work / imagination / skills / $$$$
I'd love to see a flat 6 in an XR.

The BMW I6 has been done in many Sierra builds RWD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8yIwnGXhPg
I'd probably go with a 2001-2005 BMW 330xi drivetrain for ease of installation, reasonably cheap donor cars availability, German 6 cyl and AWD.

[Black-Out]

The only draw backs to using the Boxster-S 3.4 liter flat-6 in the XR is the entry fee hanging between $8,000 and $16,000, and the engines made from 1998 to 2006. The engines with displacement ranging from 2.7 to 3.4 liters are known for having ims bearing failures, which can completely destroy the engine by metal contamination, let alone catasrtophic failure from the ims leaving it's home and destroying the engine block around the crank.
And that's completely dependent on the stage of failure the issue is caught in.

Then there's the cost of the engine management and the transmission arrangement. It'd probably require a custom bell housing be made as well as a clutch. You'll need a trans that can be adapted to work for the drive line as well. It's not impossible, it'll just be a bit of a pain to get it worked out.
After all that there's the physical space but I think this could also be overcome. The 3.2/3.4 engines aren't terribly wide, so I think you could get there with a little ingenuity. I honestly think though, that with the cost of the engine being so expensive, and the other hurdles that will more than likely require a lot of fab work, (which can get insanely expensive regardless of who does it from just raw materials) you'll have your work cut out for you and your savings account heavily dented. You could literally get an STi EJ25 (2.5 TURBO) engine and trans wiring harness and ECU for probably far less than a questionable $8,000 Boxster-S junkyard engine, and you would have more power, with more potential with bolt ons, and the 6 speed trans could easily be modified to either accept an awd conversion, (output shafts are about where they would need to be) or the output shaft could be plugged off the center diff could be modified to provide full lock up and a custom output shaft made to drive the XR4 rear end (or any other rear end you would care to use). Plus the only two changes you'd really need to make on the EJ25 if you plan to stay stock would be forged pistons (i recommend Wiseco if you're on a budget of any type) and I would go to the 12mm STi oil pump assembly which would allow you to safely rev to about 8k rpm without flattening the rod bearings. Just doing those two things would support 500whp reliably and still have the drivability of a Toyota Corolla till you planted the throttle.

All in all, I think either way you would decide to go would be pretty bad-ass, but I can tell you first hand neither route will be cheap, and the Porsche route would more than likely cost you double. If money isn't an object though, I would forego the Boxster-S 3.2 and skip straight to a 996.2 (2002-2004) 3.6 liter flat 6 with Vario Cam + just on noise alone. The 320bhp also doesn't hurt.


William-

[Mike McCreight]

Annnnnnd a heck of a 15th post!

[DPDISXR4Ti]

Annnnnnd a heck of a 15th post!

I'll drink to that!

[andyofcolumbusmerkur]

Japanese parts Kamikaze their way in there

Why not some America made engine already Kamikaze-ed into the engine bay back in the 80's. Ahh the 80's.

[andyofcolumbusmerkur]

I'd probably go with a 2001-2005 BMW 330xi drivetrain for ease of installation

Come on Mike how would he find a complete 330xi engine and drive train without a billion miles or thousands and thousands of dollars.

[merkurdriver]

I'd probably go with a 2001-2005 BMW 330xi drivetrain for ease of installation

Come on Mike how would he find a complete 330xi engine and drive train without a billion miles or thousands and thousands of dollars.

Just so happen to have a low miles unit available for a couple hundred bucks. Heck the whole car (wrecked) for $500 with only 118k on the clock

[thesameguy]

I'd probably go with a 2001-2005 BMW 330xi drivetrain for ease of installation

Come on Mike how would he find a complete 330xi engine and drive train without a billion miles or thousands and thousands of dollars.

Engines are widely available for $500. I mean, they're all over ebay. Transmissions go for $600-$700, rears diffs a couple hundred at most. If you can buy engine/trans/diff for under $1500 from a wrecker, you can buy a whole car for that or less no problem.