LS1 Conversion, A Retrospective Build Thread Options

[andys]

Here's the start of a retrospective build thread of my LS1 conversion. It took a few years to get it done mostly due to not wanting to be a slave to the project, and work on it for the enjoyment; and of course when family obligations allowed......teen daughter and high maintenance wife (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

What I started with was a local orignal owner '75 2.0 with 139K miles. The original owner "drove the heck out of it" until something died in the electrical system and he parked it in the garage for 14 years, as evidenced by the renewal tags. Only body damage was when he submarined the rear of a Mustang and creased the hood and flattened the left signal light pod. Otherwise, it was a good condition rust free (SoCal) car.

Brief specs are: '01 LS1 Z28 motor, Audi 01E 6 speed tranaxle, 911 front suspension, custom made rear trailing arms, Koni shocks, 993 wheels, and AC.

Below, are photos of what I started with, and what I ended-up with. I'll do my best to re-trace the build process, so if you have any questions along the way, please ask.

BTW, how does one place text between photos in the same post?

Andys

[andys]

The 01E transaxle flanges are a tripoid design which requires adapters to couple to the 911 axles/CV's I intended to use. However, Audi does make an output flange that is the same pattern as the 911 CV; not sure what car/application uses those, but they are available. So why didn't I simply use those instead? Well, it's kind of a convoluted path I took, but perhaps you'll follow my logic(?). Let's see if you can follow this: The 01E output flanges are not symmetrical about the centerline of the transaxle.The centerline offset is 3/4", so one adapter would have to be 1 1/2" thicker than the other. For the axle length to work out properly, the short side adapeter just wouldn't work out (it would if I used the aforementioned compatible output flanges, but there's more). I liked the idea of using the larger 911 wheel bearing, but that won't fit the stock 914 trailing arm......and I wanted to use the 911 rear brakes too, so I decided to make a custom set of trailing arms which would allow me to place the bearing where it wouls accomodate the 911 axle length. More on the trailing arms later.

Anyway, this post is about the transaxle flange adapters and how I resolved that issue. So, to keep axle lengths equal, and hub bearing locations in a favorable location, I decided to offset the motor/transaxle assembly by 3/4" toward the passenger side. So I set about machining adapters that are equal in thickness, and would accept the 911 CV. They would receive a final zinc plating.

Andys