Geared Performance Shop Car

Our shop 996 is the rolling proof of concept for everything Geared Performance designs and sells. It started as a stock 996 and now runs a turbocharged Honda K24, with the swap built around our own engine mount, suspension brace, intercooler, exhaust, and power steering hardware. Every part on this car was designed, prototyped, and validated by us before it went into production.

Why K24?

The Honda K24 is one of the most proven and well-supported four-cylinder platforms in the world. It's compact, light, and responds well to boost, with a huge aftermarket behind it. In a 996 chassis it drops in well below the original engine's weight, and its parts availability makes it a practical daily or track engine rather than an exotic that sits waiting on a rebuild. Our stock block K24 makes 450whp and sees regular daily, mountain, and track use but these engines can be built to handle well over 700+HP if desired. 

This build utilizes a JDM K24A engine with a few factory upgrades such as the Type S oil pump and a 50 degree cam wheel to allow the engine to rev a little higher. This kit will allow the use of a wide variety of the K24 and K20 engines including the K24A2 and K24Z4. 

Engine Mounting and Chassis

The swap is built on the Geared Performance K24 Engine Mount and Suspension Brace Kit, designed in CAD from a 3D scan of the 996 rear subframe and engine bay. The mounts locate the K24 correctly in the chassis, and the brace ties the rear suspension pickup points back together to restore the stiffness lost when the factory engine and its mounting structure come out.

This mounting kit requires the use of a Skunk2 magnesium low profile valve cover. 

A Kennedy Engineering adapter plate mates the K24 to the Porsche transaxle.

Turbo System

• Garrett G30-660 turbocharger — a modern, compact turbo with fast spool and enough flow to make the K24 a serious powerplant.
• Pulsar wastegate and blow-off valve — boost control and pressure relief.
• Geared Performance log-style manifold — designed specifically to package the G30 in the 996 engine bay with clean plumbing runs and clearance to the body and subframe. Be on the lookout for the Stainless Steel 3D printed version.

Charge Cooling

The common approach on a rear-engine turbo swap is an air-to-air intercooler tucked behind the rear bumper. The problem is airflow: the back of a 996 sees very little of it, so the core heat-soaks and charge temperatures climb under sustained load. Our answer is a Geared Performance air-to-water intercooler and mount. The intercooler core mounts in the factory passenger-side muffler location inside the rear bumper cover, out of the hot engine bay and out of the way of everything else in the swap, on a short charge path to the throttle body. Coolant is circulated forward to the factory 996 center radiator at the nose of the car, where the air is. The heat exchanger is a factory Porsche part in the one place on a 996 that gets real airflow. The center radiator came standard on the 996 Turbo; on Carrera and other models it's an add-on, and the OEM radiator and ducting bolt into the existing front bumper structure.

Power Steering

Without the original engine there's no hydraulic pump, so the car runs the Geared Performance Electric Power Steering Kit. The kit adapts a TRW electric assist unit into a frunk-mounted bracket, keeping the factory rack and steering feel while removing the belt-driven pump, lines, and fluid.

Engine Management

The K24 runs on a Haltech Nexus S2 ECU with a custom wiring harness and a CAN bus interface box (a third-party unit that will be available through Geared Performance). The CAN box translates between the Haltech and the Porsche body electronics, so the factory gauge cluster works as it did from the factory. The tach, coolant temp, warning lights, and the air conditioning operates normally. No aftermarket dash, no dead gauges, no workarounds for A/C.

The ECU lives in the stock ECU location inside the cabin on a Geared Performance ECU mount, keeping it out of the engine bay heat and preserving the factory look and serviceability.

[PHOTO: Haltech Nexus S2 on the Geared Performance mount in the stock ECU location]

What This Build Represents

This car is how we develop products: scan the chassis, design in CAD, prototype in-house, install, test on the road and track, then refine and manufacture. The parts on it are the same parts we sell, and the process behind them is the same one we offer as a service — 3D scanning, CAD design, fabrication, and taking a one-off prototype through to production.

If you're planning a K24 swap into a 996 or 997, or need engineering and fabrication support for a build of your own, Contact Us or Browse our Engineering Services