Don Nguyen

"I couldn't find the sports car of my dreams, so I built it myself" - Ferdinand Porsche

I bought my 964 when I was 20 years old. Probably not the best financial decision at the time, but I did it anyways. I knew nothing about Porsches, but after one test drive, I knew that this 964 had to be mine. Since then, there have been several times that I have come close to selling my 964. Whether the reason was due to lack of resources or not enough time to build and restore my 964 into the car that I had hoped and imagined it would be. However, luckily, I never went through with selling my 964, as it would have probably been my single biggest automotive decision that I would have regretted making. It's now or never.

I like Porsches, I like American V8s, and I like race cars. What am I alluding to?
Well, to simply put it, I will be taking my Porsche 964 and putting a Chevy LS based engine into it with the overall end results of a streetable race car. Because what fun, really, is a car that can't be driven whenever you wanted to.

However, to me speed is only one part of the equation. The car's going to take on styling cues of a race car from the exterior, but have a relatively tolerable and factory-esque interior, aside from a few various interior race bits here and there. I like to think of it as a wolf in wolf's clothing. Sounds wrong in every way? Sounds perfect to me. Speed, handling, styling, and comfort. The best part about building a car how you want it is that there is no bad part.

Why? I will only answer this question once. Because.

No fancy tools, no fancy garage, no team of engineers. One man, one car, and countless hours spent doing research. I will be doing as much of the fabrication myself as possible, from building the engine mounts to redoing all of the leather work on the interior.

I can go into details and tell you all of my plans and ideas for the car, but what fun would that be if I told you everything upfront and didn't leave a little bit of mystery to it. As I was always taught, show, not tell. You'll just have to tune in and watch as the progress goes along.

I am not trying to build the best car in the world, but to build my perfect car, which to me makes it the best car in the world.

Smiley face,
Don Nguyen

Don Nguyen

This is how the car looked like when I first bought it. These pictures were actually taken from the original ad that were used by the previous owner. Funny thing is, I actually did not remember saving these pictures, but I randomly happen to stumble across them the other day when looking for something else.





It took me only one week of searching to find my 964 and it took me only one more week after that before I put in an order for a set of coilovers for my car. I figured why wait to buy them, when I could buy them now and enjoy it right away.







This is ultimately what the car last looked like before I decided to put it up on jack stands and start the reconstruction process. Keep in mind, all of these pictures that I have posted thus far, including this one, are from over a span of several several years.



As of yesterday, this is how the car looked like. I actually had started taking the car apart before I decided that I would take pictures and document my build. I was never really one to start or have any detailed build threads for any of my other project cars, but I felt like this is one that I would share the process and progress as it goes along with you guys.







-Don

rnye

So much win.

madkimchi

I don't know much about 964 but ur car already looks good as is. It's just classic Porsche look n it looks great to me.

myclue

good luck with the build!

mosesbotbol

What made you settle on an LS over a Ford or Porsche engine for that matter?

When is your completion time frame?

LUV2REV

Will intently follow your build Don, looks like fun !! I previously owned a 1990 C4 Targa and enjoyed my time (less the engine re-seal and clutch/DMF replacement) with the 964. Have since moved onto a 1995 C2 Cab and now a 996 Turbo.

The car looks great, perfect stance and the twists look so right.

Mezza

Each to their own I guess, but that air cooled flat six is the perfect match for the car and that raw mechanical sound will always beat lazy V8 noise.

TheDonEffect

Good luck, beautiful car.

Don Nguyen

Realistically speaking, probably within a year for everything. Ideally sooner, but we all know how long projects can take with all of the little delays adding up here and there.

Thanks. I do like the lines of the 964 quite a bit. Although my personal favorite is the 993 turbo body. However, I do not like the 993 in any of its other forms. Kind of weird how that works.


Don't get me wrong. I love the factory 3.6 flat 6. Just it's not going to do what I want the same way that the Chevy V8 will be. I love the sound of the flat 6. I also love the sound of a LS based V8.

-Don