Hi All,

Just written a good intro, but the session timed out and I lost it (should have copied before, but didn't). I am not rewriting the whole part, but do want to introduce my project.

I bought a Porsche Boxster 986 for cheap with the intention of turning it into a nice car again. I am nearly through the mechanical work of full suspension and steering refresh, transmission swap (with driveshafts etc), ABS upgrade and switch to electrical power steering pump. Next on the list is to give it some more power. For that purpose a Audi BBK engine is on its way. It is a bit (quite a bit I must say) more expensive than earlier S6 engines or in fact the VW Phaeton engine of similar power. But I hope it will fit the 986 engine bay better. To my knowledge this is not tried yet, so hoping for the best.

To prepare my engine arrival, I need to understand the ECU part a bit better. I need to get it to run without the other Audi parts. I will ask some questions on other parts of the forum for this.

For now, already many thanks for all the great info and knowledge here, fantastic!

Yes, I agree that there will likely be some work getting everything working together. I am assuming for now that at least my ABS (Bosch 5.7) will give the right speed signal to the ECU. The engine comes from an automatic gearbox car, so as far as I read it either need to swap this out for a manual one or reflash it with manual software. The cluster is none-CAN, so getting the tacho to work might be a challenge, otherwise I hope no big issues. Any pointers in the right direction might already help me prepare a lot.

It will be a two stage approach to get the engine in. I have an empty body shell (called 'the wreck') to make it fit mechanically and to get it started (fuel tank, pump, radiators all in there). Stage two will be to transfer to my real car. At that point I'll make sure there are no timing chain issues to expect (so either upgrade the parts or make sure it has already been done). Not that difficult with the engine out anyway.