Steal of a deal on an LR4 with issues

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avslash

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About 5K miles so far. That includes towing, so have not been taking easy.

As far as tools, I have been holding onto them for now. But we can talk later if you don't find something elsewhere. I have rented out the ns300l kit once already, so that would be easy if you want to do that.
dad13a87da4358de5af8674ff8683aae.jpg


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Early or late interior 944?

Damn, I loved those cars. I still rate my modded 968 as the best handling P-Car I have ever owned. Whooda think 150-250 HP could be so much fun.
 

LR4Slavo

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Blaze a new trail. LS swap.

Somebody has got to get it figured out for us as these vehicles age.
Hah you’re not the first one that suggested this... I would strongly consider this or a TDI swap but the ****** thing about Colorado is that emission tests require a factory motor. Unless you’re outside of the emissions testing area which sadly I am not


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LR4Slavo

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About 5K miles so far. That includes towing, so have not been taking easy.

As far as tools, I have been holding onto them for now. But we can talk later if you don't find something elsewhere. I have rented out the ns300l kit once already, so that would be easy if you want to do that.
dad13a87da4358de5af8674ff8683aae.jpg


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5k heavy miles is very promising, I have faith that you can get another 100k before anything needs to be done.

I’m certainly up for a rental of the ns300l kit, ill PM you when I’m close to that stage if this motor isn’t completely shot.


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LR4Slavo

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My thoughts are these:
- If done right on a solid foundation I so far have 5000 miles of hard driving to prove that it can be done
- Doing it right would include quality parts and not skipping steps like machining the head.
- The solid foundation would be making sure you are working on a good block. In my case I don't think there was a history of overheating so I had a straight block to work off of. I could theoretically see a case where the head gasket failure causes damage to the block in that area over time. This should be obvious once you strip it down and set a straight edge over it. The 2nd element of the solid foundation would be to make sure that you don't rely on the old aluminium threads within the block to hold new head bolts. I almost went this route until I noticed one of the bolts did not thread in cleanly. It was hard to detect but the threads were damaged. I imagine others have tried to use the old threads and obtained improper torque due to thread binding. Or the fresh bolts simply pull out of the weak old threads shortly after the rebuild. Apparently this is not unusual for steel bolts into an aluminum block after hundreds of heat cycles (especiallyif there was an overheat, therefore a solution has been developed in the form of steel inserts. (Timesert or NS300L) My opinion is don't just fix one hole, do them all so that you can rely on those anchor points. I have heard of some tightening one of the last head bolts only to strip it and need to start all over.

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Couldn’t agree more on all your points, I was planning on making sure the block is square first and foremost, getting the heads machined and all of the head bolt holes re-tapped and sleeved. This car has only a recent history of overheating from what I’ve been told but some further investigation and careful observation will give me a better idea.


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TrinidadLR4

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It would be sweet if these guys tackled that project next. https://www.alternativeconversion.com/

I have a D2 in my shop that I got with the motor pulled already, I will be buying their kit for that project.


One concern I have about that kit is that it retains the factory ZF 4HP trans, which I don't think is a very good transmission(especially compared to a GM 6L80E). Have you considered ways of ditching the 4hp and going a different route?
 
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AGLR4

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Early or late interior 944?

Damn, I loved those cars. I still rate my modded 968 as the best handling P-Car I have ever owned. Whooda think 150-250 HP could be so much fun.
85.5 944 n/a so the late interior. Was just thinking about a turbo the other day, but I daily this one to work 30min each way and it has not left me stranded in 4 years. Not sure if the turbo complexity could do the same. So much fun to drive!

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DirtyHal

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One concern I have about that kit is that it retains the factory ZF 4HP trans, which I don't think is not a very good transmission(especially compared to a GM 6L80E). Have you considered ways of ditching the 4hp and going a different route?

I was looking at a R2.8 and 8HP swap but cost/complexity drove me away. Realistically I have never done a motor swap on something this big before (Just snowmobiles previously) so I thought I would keep it as "simple" as possible and use the kit. It is also much more affordable to go that route. If I end up falling in love with the car after I get it running I might consider that but we'll see.
 

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