steve_wilwerding

Well, I think I've hit upon the answer. The trick is that you need a rubber hose 1 3/4" long, 1" ID, roughly 1 1/4" OD (it can be a little bigger, as the outside hose will stretch a little). The other requirement, as I mentioned above, is that the hose must be made of solid rubber, not rubber impregnated with thread, as coolant hose is. I went to Lowe's today to see if I could find something that would work - I didn't really want to use PVC hose, and none of the other broad selection of hoses looked good. However, I finally hit the dishwasher isle, and lo and behold, a dishwasher to disposal rubber hose seemed to be the answer - the OD is about 1 1/4", and the ID is 7/8". Also, it is made to handle hot water and pressure, so it seemed an ideal choice. Plus, they were $1.79 a piece, so I thought I'd at least try. I brought them home, and cut each one 1 3/4" long, which cuts off the narrower section. I then test fit on the hard line on the car - unfortunately, the 7/8" ID would not stretch quite enough to slip over the hard line. So, I got out the Dremel with a sanding disk and sanded the inside down until it was about 1" ID, making sure to keep everything as smooth as possible on the inside. I then thoroughly cleaned out all the rubber bits, and test fit on the car - perfect! I have just now put everything back together and ran the car up to operating temp, and everything looks good - no leaks (though this time, I did use double hose clamps on the hard lines). I'm going to let it sit overnight and check for leaks tomorrow, then run another test up to operating temperature. If all looks good, it will be time to make the template for the front bumper and start cutting, then (FINALLY) get everything back together. Anyway, thought this might be helpful for those attempting this in the future, and it saves a lot of money over Wayne's solution. It's the part in the lower right of this picture - you can buy it separately from the hose.

At this point, I could not be any more upset by this project. I have now had the car apart for a week working on getting the new radiator in. My idea was to cut a small piece of old hose and put it inside the new hose to take up the slack - seemed to work great, and I finally after several nights of fighting hose routing and installation, got everything back together. Added coolant, got the car up to operating temperature, and wouldn't you know it - the threads embedded in the smaller hose starting wicking coolant - you could see little beads of coolant where the threads were. So, I tried putting some silicone sealer on it - still leaks. So, I tried to find hose that doesn't have thread in it - turns out NAPA sells a kit just for this kind of thing that just has rubber hose, but the smallest they have goes from 1 1/2" ID down to 1 1/4" ID, and I need to step down from 1 1/4" ID to 1" ID. I don't particularly want to just tighten the big hose over the line, for the reasons mentioned above, and I'm not real wild about spending another $150 to do Wayne's idea, especially after having spent $500 on the kit. You'd think that for spending $40 a piece for Porsche coolant hoses, they would make one that actually works, but I guess not. If anyone has any other ideas, I'm all ears. I was trying to get the car back together for the track next weekend, but I'm quite obviously not going to make that. I cannot believe that it has to be this complicated going from one hose size to another, or that Porsche has not made the correct lines for installing in an older car.

As info, 1998 is the first year that they recommended using 18s, not 2000 like you stated. So, if someone is using 18s on a '98, that doesn't necessarily mean you should use them on a 97.

I measured last night - the OD for the PS lines is 3/4"

Sent you a PM.

Looking to get some heat wrap for my power steering lines near the headers - what is the outside diameter of the PS lines, so I know which ID to buy for the wrap?

I saw your article, Wayne, but it is unclear which hoses you cut - maybe it will make more sense when I get in there and look.

I just got the kit last night, but from what I've read and haven't tried it, the hoses in a Boxster are a smaller diameter than the hoses in a Boxster S or 996. The hoses in the third radiator kit have 996 part numbers, so supposedly they are are bigger. If you haven't had an issue, hopefully I won't either. You don't by chance have the part numbers of the hoses in the ones you have done, do you?

For those who have added the third radiator to a base Boxster - what have you done about the different hose sizes? I see that some people put copper reducers in, others just tighten the hoses down despite the difference. What's the preferred/easiest method?

Had an issue for a couple years now - when I turn my HVAC all the way off (zero bars) it will make a click click noise. As long as I don't turn it all the way off, everything works just fine - I can run the fan, etc. Any ideas? How tough a fix is this?

47K - I'll have them look at the guides when they are doing the IMS. It sounds like they have to take the covers off anyway, so not a big deal. I'm just hoping the plastic pieces stayed in the valve cover.

I have my 99 3.4 sitting on a palette waiting to get swapped into the Boxster, so I thought I would change the plugs and tubes. A couple of the old tubes (one on each side, of course) cracked while I was trying to take them out, and I'm afraid a few of the plastic pieces got into the valve housing. I am taking the engine down to have the IMS upgrade done - do they have to remove the valve covers to do that? If so, then I'll just have them clean out the plastic when they do that. If not, how tough is it to remove the valve covers? Anything else I should do to clean things out? Maybe flush some oil through and see if any of the plastic ends up in the sump?

Getting into buying parts for my 3.4 conversion, and I'm down to either using a FabSpeed or NHP exhaust system. Fabspeed is about $3K, NHP $2K. NHP claims that there is less drone than other exhausts, and anecdotal evidence on the Internet seems to confirm that. So, I am leaning towards the NHP. Does anyone on the Board have experience with either one? http://www.maxspeed-motorsports.com/986fullnhp25.html

Can someone explain to me how, at operating temperature, a low temp thermostat is better than a regular thermostat? Once they are both open, there is no difference in coolant temperatures. I've talked to a few race shops, and they say that if you are having coolant temp issues, installing a third radiator helps a lot more than the low temp thermostat. All the low temp thermostat does is open sooner, which therefore takes the engine longer to get to operating temperature (which is not necessarily a good thing). You might get a few more minutes of "cooler" coolant, but I doubt that affects longevity much.

I've got my 3.4 engine sitting on a palette in preparation for putting a Boxster. Since the AOS is right out in the open, I figured I'd change it. Do I need to get a new upper tube, or can I use the existing one? The reason I ask is that, at a couple points, the tube is "wrapped" with a few other tubes. Any DIY on the AOS for the 996?

This summer, I'll be swapping out my 1998 2.5 for a 3.4 996 engine. The 2.5 only has 42K miles, and I have every service record since new. I will be looking to sell it in the next few months. I'm actually shipping my new engine down from Toronto, and shipping from there to here was only $300. My guess is that buying a used engine would be cheaper than having yours rebuilt. PM me or email me if interested.

I'm about to swap a 3.4L 996 engine into my Boxster and I'm wondering what changes/improvements to do while the engine is out. I figure at least plugs and a poly belt. Any other suggestions? Is it worthwhile to swap out the AOS? How about oil baffles, as I plan to use it on the track?

Are the gears stronger? Any other parts stronger? Would there be a way to rebuild a Boxster transmission with the stronger components that a 996 has (not the actual components from a 996, but do they build stronger Boxster components?)

I've read on a few websites that the pre-2000 996 and pre-2000 Boxster transmissions were, with the exception of the ring and pinion and the extra gear, essentially the same. Is this true?

Here is a link the article about why putting 3.6s into a 2.5 is so tough: THolyoak

I am getting very serious about putting a 996 3.4 into my 98 Boxster - the only issue left is finding a good engine. Obviously, the best option would be to buy a crate engine from Porsche, but that runs around $12K plus core. I talked with Jake Raby, and the only engine they have is a high-mileage one. I'm ideally looking for one with less than 50K miles. So, I searched car-parts.com, and there are number of engines out of wrecked cars for sale on there. However, I have no idea about the history of these engines, or if they were damaged in the accident, etc. The upside is that the engines are pretty reasonable, with no core charge. Ideally, I'd like to find an engine that was rebuilt by a reputable shop (like Raby). Second best would be to get a low-mileage engine from a known source. Anyone have any ideas on this? Any shops that people have worked through that would be a good source for an engine?

I have no plans to go racing with my car - it is, in my eyes at least, too nice to turn into a racecar. I do plan to do DEs with the car, but I could care less what group or class they lump me in with. The only thing that I feel that my car is lacking now is power - if I install the 3.4 engine, it would be perfect, and I would plan to keep the car for a very long time.

Next question - if I bought a Dansk header for a Boxster, would it fit the new engine?

What brand of cats and headers did you use?

Still trying to line up the details for putting a 3.4 engine into my '98 Boxster, and I thought I'd ask the Board - which additional parts (and what brands) should I buy for the conversion? I know I need a new clutch, and it's probably worthwhile to get new headers/cats as well. How about a new muffler? This will be a street/track car, so I don't want a racing clutch, but I would welcome other opinions.