2008 Vader 997 GT3 SharkWerks 3.9L Conversion, HRE P43S & RSS Suspension

This black on black mean-looking Vader 997.1 GT3 came up to us from RSS our chums in Southern California. Having been completely outfitted with the full line of RSS Tarmac suspension parts, transmission re-geared, LWF conversion, KWV3 coilovers, RSS roll bar a set of P43SC HRE wheels there was only one rather large stone left to turn over... ze SharkWerks 3.9 engine!

Off the transport and already you can tell she's not your stock GT3 (that's a 2011 RS tail...):


Straight on to the lift and off with the bumper, a full Cargraphic exhaust...


Out comes the stock 3.6 engine:



Stripping her down in the engine room:



Getting down to the block:


Stock cams:


Out come the old hydraulic lifters (always replace these):



Those 3.6 Ps & Cs:


This is what a healthy 30K miles worth of heads look like:


And now down to the rods and studs (new bearings, rod bolts recommend on cars with 20K plus miles or heave track usage):



Clean up on isle 5:


While the engine parts get washed for assembly let's have a look at some of our SharkWerks 3.9 goodies:



The heads getting set up for our spec (a few secret sauce things in here):



Assembly with our 3.9L pistons:



Our EVOMS head gasket kit:


Along with the rest of the assembly we also do our coolant pipe fix and pair of new pipes to boot.


The ECU (previous tuned with the EVOMSit stage 1 software) is upgraded to our 3.9 mapping on 91 octane:


Normally when we get a 3.9L project to work on we add a few RSS trimmings such as their lower control arms, toe-steer and dog bones but as you can see she's already got the lot and been using them for a couple of years:



She's a bit of a looker with those light-weight satin black HRE P43SC wheels:


Along with the 3.8 RS tail the airbox is also changed to the dual-inlet version:



After her break-in and first oil change she's ready to go back home to Southern California: