Porsche 917/10 Can Am Replica, Lemans 917 and F1 for the street

A few years ago I decided to build a car. I bought a 1:18 Scale model of a Porsche 917/10 Can Am car and started pulling measurements of it. I has C6 Corvette suspension, two (2) Subaru Tribeca 6 cylinder engines bolted together at the crank shaft and the Sport shift auto/manual transmission. I have the front engine set at TDC on cylinder one and the rear engine set on TDC for cylinder 6. I have the injector and coil wires spliced so both cylinders will fire at the same time.

You can see my videos on YouTube at "Porsche 917/10 Replica, 2, 3, 4" and you can here a real 917/10 start at "Revving up the engine of a 917-10".

I have an OEM wiring harness with the ECU and TCU. The ECU will read all the front engine sensors but will feed back instructions to both engines. I have already spliced the harness to the engine harnesses. I have wired the starter, fuel pump and all the gages directly to the custom dash.

I know I am going to need "Open Source" which is Greek to me, one who has trouble changing flashlight batteries. What I really need is one or more Volunteer helpers to come to my garage in East Hartford, Ct. to advise me on wiring requirements and to troubleshoot this plan. I can do the physical work, I just need technical direction. Common sense tells me this can be done. Security can be defeated. Key codes can be bypassed. You can go to my Facebook page to see photos. Jack Biessman

best of luck......

I remember a thread about this car on here a year or more ago.

Here is the old thread: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/anybody-know-this-guy/90137/page1/

Jack, I still really like the idea of these projects. Good luck, maybe someone will be willing to help you out. Oh, and welcome to the forum!

In reply to T.J.: Thanks TJ but I'm pretty much burned out. You wouldn't believe the horror stories every time I got people involved to do wiring. Building the cars was a piece of cake for me, sort of, it was people that ruined these projects. Electricians and aftermarket computer companies that said they could but didn't deliver. The cars are all for sale to the highest bidder so I can go live in a van with my Social Security Disability check. What's the disability you wonder? Burn out from working with people as a Construction Superintendent for 20 years. I can't stand mediocrity and can't seem to avoid it wherever I go. I think there's a mountain top somewhere with my name on it.

In reply to Jack2052: I went back to the old site and responded to all those Roger Penske's who had what to say about my efforts. Love to see what they've accomplished and what they had to work with.

I've decided to sell all three of my project cars for the highest reasonable offer. I've done the hard part, now the cars need someone to finish them. I'm tired and need a long rest.

Thats a ton of work you did... Good luck with the sale

https://hartford.craigslist.org/cto/5108356162.html

In reply to pimpm3: The lemans car, my first born, is sold to a builder in Switzerland.

The Formula One car would be the wildest car in your town. It would be a big hit at the car shows and it's pretty much done. Bodywork and a little wiring and maybe fenders and you're on the road. $20,000 OBO. 320 HP in a car weighing less than 2000Ibs. Reprogrammed OEM engine management. Auto/Manual transaxle. PCS transmission controller. C6 Z06 wheels and tires. Set up for emissions. All DOT lighting and Summit Racing DOT dash in place. You can install a piece of DOT glass in the front framework if necessary. What do kit cars cost? Who even builds F1 kit cars? This is almost read to go. It's so smooth it almost sounds like a V12!

I have only one and it's the only one available anywhere. It's not like you have others to choose from. Don't risk your life on a bike when you can be protected in this. Hit a guard rail in this or a bike, your choice.

The more I think of what I put into this car the more I'm thinking of raising the price!!! Seriously!

May be a dumb question- why do you call it a F1 car? It's just an open wheel formula car- could be a F3, Indy car, Formula Renault, etc.

The P car replica is pretty obvious what car you are trying to replicate- and it's even constructed very close to the original tube framed car.

But formula car, well....

Where does one go to see pictures? I went to the original thread and only saw a picture of the two engines in the chassis.

In reply to carwhisperer:

craiglist ad has some.

As a builder of kit cars, chuck the second engine out of the chassis and get it to run and drive you will get 20-30% more when it moves under its own power and it has 200% more chance of being completed in the long run.

alfadriver wrote: In reply to carwhisperer: craiglist ad has some.

Which one? The one I clicked on was expired.

pimpm3 wrote: Thats a ton of work you did... Good luck with the sale https://hartford.craigslist.org/cto/5108356162.html

This one.

These are both super cool cars. According to the ad the "F1" car uses a cadillac XLR trans. The XLR trans and Corvette trans are the same, right? Isn't that like 3 feet long from bell housing to axle center line? It does explain why that car looks pretty long. Nevertheless I think the proportions look pretty good. Then a Ford mod motor bolted to that? Kinda hard to argue with the exotic ness of the 4 cam Ford motor. Surprising they don't make as much power as Chevy LS motors. Then again it seems like a great choice for this. Kinda like a Cosworth DFV I guess.

In reply to alfadriver: If you take a close look at the tub you will see it closely resembles that of an F1 car from a few years ago. Also, look that it has a V8 that says FORD on it like a Cosworth. Of all the formula cars that have been made in the past 10 years, which do you think it looks like?

In reply to carwhisperer: https://hartford.craigslist.org/cto/5108356162.html

In reply to wearymicrobe: All I can say is this, If you build a replica of any car, it should have an engine that represents what the original car had. A 6 cylinder Porsche 917? I just found out today that AEM makes an engine controller that WILL read the cam and crank sensors so you may see this car coming off the market. When it's done, it will be selling in the 6 figure range as the ONLY 12 cylinder boxer engine 917 replica on the planet!!!

How are the two cranks bolted together?

In reply to carwhisperer: The engine is the 4.6L XLR Northstar engine with FORD written on it to make it look like a DFV. 320HP in a car under 2000Ibs will be quite enough for the street. It sounds as smooth as a V12. The wheel base is very long on modern F1 cars. I used a 1:18 scale 2000 Ferrari F1 car for measurements. The engine is actually tucked into the area where the center fuel tank would be. The fuel tank on this car is under the reclining seat back. A custom made aluminum tank.

In reply to carwhisperer: Complicated to explain but basically, the rear engine has a shaft screwed into the front of the crank that is attached to a reversed flex plate that is then bolted to the front engines flex plate. Like two plates attached by four bolts rim to rim. This will allow for and slight misalignment of the engines or vibrations. The engines are hard bolted to the frame. The front engine will fire cylinder 1 in the front right corner and the rear engine will fire cylinder 6 in the left rear corner at the same time. Therefore, there will be no stress on the connection. This car is not meant for racing. I wanted it for the street and mild track days so there won't be abnormal abuse to the design.

In reply to Jack2052: Try these on for size.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=FLFsNbu_AalilSMdtgmxsiPA&v=W_0CG7kX7RA&feature=player_detailpage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=bgHMvbItu_0

Jack2052 wrote: In reply to wearymicrobe: All I can say is this, If you build a replica of any car, it should have an engine that represents what the original car had. A 6 cylinder Porsche 917? I just found out today that AEM makes an engine controller that WILL read the cam and crank sensors so you may see this car coming off the market. When it's done, it will be selling in the 6 figure range as the ONLY 12 cylinder boxer engine 917 replica on the planet!!!

Having bought, restored, sold and generally messed around with coming up on 20+ kit cars in my life. Plus helped sell about the same again once over for friends I wish you the absolute best of luck.

But to get anything in the 6 figures it would have to be one of the best 917 replica's that the world has ever seen. There are several people making complete chassis and body pulls for that car in the 40-45K range delivered without drive-train currently and they are not finding clients.

That is some really nice work. I do agree that it is overpriced though. Did you consider using two air cooled 911 engines?