928 Motor Swap/Getting Off Topic/Still Interesting

[Mark J. Besso]

I'm not necessarily advocating stuffing a SBC into anything you're trying to 
add ungodly power to.  In fact, I'm glad the customer decided to stick with 
the 928-based engine because it gave the shop a tremendous amount of 
business!

Like Thompson, I'm a big fan of the 968 engine and what it does for the 
924/944 chassis.  I also happen to think the 968 is the best looking of that 
series too, but that's strictly personal choice.  I'm among the extreme 
minority that liked the 924 Carrera GTR so my opinion rarely matches others 
on this list.

That said, there's nobody in the world that does a pushrod engine as well as 
GM.

I bought my 5KTQ Avant because I truly enjoyed the way it drove.  It's 
certainly not the most powerful.  It's far from the best handling.  As a few 
people have proved in the past, that chassis can accept the Chevy V8 and 
still function well.  I have no interest in doing that.  As much as I love 
Audi's V8 engine, there's no way I'd put one in my Cadillac.  It's better in 
every possible respect, but it just doesn't belong there!

~MB


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alex Kowalski"
Subject: 928 Motor Swap/Getting Off Topic/Still Interesting


> One question, and please if you'd like to answer email me directly:  in 
> addition to the motor, wasn't one of the problems with the 928 chassis the 
> aluminum construction (before Audi learned from that) which makes them 
> gradually flex themselves to pieces the older they are?  If you put a 500 
> horsepower engine into that chassis, what can you expect from it in the 
> long term?
>
> Second, I'll turn the question on its head.  I own a 1968 Corvette 
> Convertible and if the situation was reversed I too would be a little 
> nauseous of putting a German engine in it, no matter how 'good' it was. 
> And the '68 Corvette is no paragon of American operations-research or 
> engineering excellence, either, but I would still not like to see the 
> transplant, no matter how unique it was or how fast it went.  I know the 
> LT-1 is a good engine for all the reasons Renegade says it is; there's not 
> much question about that -- it's relatively inexpensive, it makes big 
> horsepower, the parts are everywhere, and it is about as refined as an OHC 
> V8 is going to get.  Great job, Chevrolet.  And it does a very good job as 
> such.  But the Renegade people are not trying to maintain the originality 
> of the car -- they're trying to give the owner of the car a chance to make 
> it newly original -- a custom car, a special, a one-off.  They do a very 
> good job at that, but there's a big difference bet
> ween the two.  And really there shouldn't be much conflict, when you think 
> about it.
>