This Twin-Turbo, LS-Swapped 1977 Porsche 911 is Peak Lunacy on Track
Watch the fury of this boosted V8 911, originally meant for the drag strip, take on a road course—sideways.
This looney LS swapped Porsche 911 with twin snails strapped to the side of the engine is a purist's nightmare, which seems to be a growing trend in the scene. It's been a long time in the making, and now that it’s done, it’s time to see how it does when taken to the track—as you can guess, it's a bit...out of hand.
Since this Porsche used to be a drag car, taking it to a road course makes testing it that much more hilarious. During an easy lap, we learn that the car has a lot of body roll and extremely long gears. When the owner opens up his 911, it’s all about tire rub, understeer, and power.
While the suspension is in bad need of upgrading and the tune needs to be massaged, the car seems to really like wide open throttle. After the tires get warmed up, it starts to perform decently, but there’s still a lot of sliding going on—which is pretty much the only reason to build a rear-engined, twin-turbo V8, right?
This build appealed to the owner because he always loved the 911’s chassis, but this car’s old air-cooled engine was tired when he bought it. From there, he made the decision to do something different, and it was documented in a Speed Academy video series.
The chassis might be that of a standard 911, but the body has been converted to have a 964 Turbo look with a super-wide fenders. As you can imagine, getting this engine into place took a lot of fabrication, and the thick hips do seem to pull the aesthetic together. As you can see when the trunk is popped, the 5.3-liter V8 is shoehorned in with zero room for play. To cool the pair of turbos, three separate radiators are fitted, making it all-the-more cramped.
The brakes have been upgraded to much bigger and beefier units. The front suspension is still the original design, while the rear has been converted to coilovers. On the inside, everything has been greatly simplified to just a set of seats, steering wheel, pedals, and exposed metalwork.
This car isn’t done yet, even after the considerable modifications. The next step will be taming it a bit so it has some road course and street manners; no need to rush, though, as this seems like plenty of fun in its current form.
