While doing a little bit of searching I came across an old Jalopnik post about Bader Racing putting a Porsche 993 engine in a VW Karmann Ghia. The engine has a few upgrades giving the car around 321 hp. The body is stiffened a little bit to handle the extra hp by adding a rollcage. Jalopnik says the swap costs $260,000 and takes around 18 months. I can’t find if they still do the swap but will expect the price in dollars has increased since the article was first published.
Source: Jalopnik
Why not merely swap out-swap back in an old VW Karmann Ghia body (1960-70 vintage) onto a Porsche Carrera engine/frame chassis?
This is what I would like to attempt. Can it be done more simply that way and perhaps less expensive than this ground-up restortaion swap?
$260,000!?!? How? Is that roll cage titanium? A 993 and the ghia together didn’t cost that much, if you’d bought the cars whole. There is absolutely no way it could possibly cost this much. If he paid this much, he got completely screwed. And Eighteen months? For what? It wouldn’t take that long to machine an engine from billet.
I agree $260,000 is crazy. You can fit a Subaru EJ25 back in the rear, hook it up to a Porsche/Audi 5 speed with adapter plate order a brain with 9 wire harness from Outfront Motor sports, turbo it and have 330 HP. I’ll be doing it on my 1962 Ghia and the conversion will run alittle over $5,000.
I already did this to my sand rail although I did not turbo it. I still have approximately 200 HP. The dimensions of the EJ25 are within 1/2 inch all the way arouind as a stock VW engine, and the weight difference is approx 50 LBS more than the VW.
Hey Nick, I am interested in knowing more about the conversion you are going to be doing. Could we exchange emails? Mine is: azilluminat at yahoo.com
Thanks!
Hi Nick, im also interested in doing the same conversion but i dont have a clue where to start. Do you have any tips?
Nick-
Do you have a link or more information on you EJ25 swap? I have a ’71 i’m looking to enhance and your project sounds like a winner, especially in power to money ratio. Email is ronin425 at comcast.net
Hey Nick i would like to have more information on your conversion like what model Subaru EJ25 your are planing on using, what transmission size, and places to to purchase said engine and transmission please e-mail me at shamrock3454@hotmail.com
Where is nick?????