Lonnie Gilbertson - Milwaukie, Oregon
2009 Corvette LS3 with a 930 Porsche transaxle. This is a new build. Just getting parts together at this time. I should be starting to put it together by the end of summer, 2018.
The Porsche transaxles are not cheap I bought mine for $7500.00 it already had the ring gear flipped to the other side for a mid engine set up. What I like the best is that they hold up with power also the motor sets back in the car farther that allows more room for the front seats.
The Porsche transaxles are not cheap I bought mine for $7500.00 it already had the ring gear flipped to the other side for a mid engine set up. What I like the best is that they hold up with power also the motor sets back in the car farther that allows more room for the front seats.
October, 2018 Update
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I have been collecting parts for about a year while building my new workshop. With the shop about done I am putting the motor and transaxle together to see what I have to work into the car. The motor is 2009 Corvette and the transaxle is 1975 Porsche 930. It will be a slow start as I have to work it in between customers cars but it will get done. I will try to post photos of the work in progress.
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It took a little while to work out, however I have the motor and trans bolted together, the Porsche clutch pulls instead of pushing that through me for a loop. You can see in the photos how close to the front of the motor the center line of the axle is , this will let the front of the engine set back farther in the car giving more room for the seats. This is why I went with this transaxle. Now I can start to work on the sub-frame. More photos as the work moves ahead.
January, 2019 Update
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I got a little time to work on my own stuff so I got busy cutting and getting stuff out of my way so that I could do a test fit on my set up. I want to build 180 degree headers but not sure if I have the room. It is a slow go but it will get done once the motor and trans are mounted.
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I got to spend a little more time on my Corvair so I took on the job of putting a little more strength in my rear trailing arms. My motor builder says he will give me 550 HP at the rear wheels so I don't want any week links. The next thing I will look at is putting disc brakes on the back. I will post as often as I can keeping in mind I need to work on customers first.
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New “normal” ride height of 25” to the top of the wheel opening. Doing this kind of work and doing this kind of prototype work is SO MUCH easier on old knees when using a lift and on a table like this! (Yes, I also have a roll-around chair as well.)
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Got to work on building the front crossmember / front motor mount, I reinforced the frame to give a better hold when I welded the mounts in. The crossmember bolts in to make it easy to pull the drivetrain.
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iI gave a lot of thought as to how to mount the lower control links and the transaxle and tie it into the chassis, what I came up with was to make tubes that weld into the front crossmember and run back alongside the trans it gives me a place to mount anything I want. I made it in two pieces with a plug at the joint it made it way easier to fit.
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With the crossmember finished it was time to make the big step that was to remove all the support under the motor and let it sit on its own mounts for the first time. It feels real good to get to this point a lot of work still ahead but now everything has a fixed point to build to. I will try to post as often as I can.
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April, 2019 Update
I had some free time so I got busy and mounted my disc brakes also, got my half shafts built and test fitted. A big thanks to Jim acker for letting me know where to get the yoke to fit the Porsche transaxle that uses a 1310 u joint.
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Today I built the mount for the slave cylinder. I mounted it to a cover on the bottom of the transaxle. I also modified the Porsche clutch arm to accept a rod end. I think it will work out well.
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I decided to add a center brace to the engine framework , this added support should also stiffen the car. I put a reinforcing plate at the top made ears to mount at the bottom and right and left handed rod ends to make the bar.
My body guy could not stand it any longer, he wanted to take a shot at the hood. The big trick to cooling is to get rid of the hot air. The opening in the lower body is cut a little bit wider than the width of the radiator this should allow enough air to get in. To let the air out we cut openings that have look of vents used on Chevy's Mako Shark. At this stage they are rough cut when finished I feel they will look and function great.
Christmas came early for me, my new front suspension came in today thanks for some great work by FatMans Fabrication can't wait to get it installed
May, 2019 Update
Made a lot of progress the last few days, built a box to carry the radiator and AC condenser once I had them mounted to the box we installed it in the front
A fan mounted to the back of the radiator will direct hot air straight out the louvers in the hood. With a little more welding the fab work on the front will be done.
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I enclosed the box so that all air entering the front has to go through the radiator.
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November, 2019 Update
As it stands now we will be showing the car at the 2020 SEMA show, because of that we are spending more time finishing the underside. Also changed the color to Chevrolet Pull Me Over Red.
December, 2019 Update
We are running the exhaust out the back took a while to find just the right place. Air scoops have been added above the rear tires to bring cool air into the engine dog house, today we got the water tubes , the gas pedal and, the gear shifter mounted. Getting closer every day.
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