Yes, You Can Put a Modern Porsche PDK in Your Vintage 911

Published By: NEWSROOM_REPOST

Nothing like lightning-quick shifts in an air-cooled Porsche.

If you're a fan of the vintage Porsche 911 but the idea of dealing with a slow automatic or dated Tiptronic transmission seems like a slog, you can now swap it for a brand-new PDK courtesy of the German tuner KCPerformance. They recently spoke with Motor1 outlining how the desire to make vintage models more modern turned into a wild R&D project that saw the creation of this upgraded model. This isn't an in-your-face restomod that will cost you $500,000, but a more sensible option for those wanting increased performance.

Co-founder Kazimir von Hooijdonk's wanted to make these vintage cars easier to drive. "We have a couple of clients that have those 911s and 964s as well, and they just park them in the garage and they don't drive them," he said. "Sometimes they drive them like on Sunday to do a quick tour, but they never drive them during the week."

How The Swap Works

While the company has experience fitting ZF eight-speed automatics into these old cars, the PDK proved to be a more involved transmission swap. The shop added a new flywheel with an integrated crankshaft position sensor and an electronically controlled throttle body. Previous experience with BMWs helped, as the pedal that actuates comes from an E90 3 Series and fits perfectly.

On top of this, modern fuel injection and electronic ignition are added with sensors, and a Max Race ECU creates custom mapping that allows you to map different modes for sporty or relaxed driving. Finally, the shop made and milled its own adapter plate to fit the entire thing to the engine, and finished it with the stock shifting lever. A modern PDK can be used depending on the owner's preference.

Plenty Of Other Possibilities

All of this hard work debuted on a 993 project that also features a custom exhaust, KCP intake kit, and AST coilovers for improved handling and stance. Figuring out how to fit the PDK took 1,500 hours, but that should be faster for future swaps. It's a decidedly under-the-radar build that most won't even realize isn't stock.

The company says cars can be upgraded with newer Porsche transmission controllers to change the type of shifts. Modern traction control can also be added for better protection when things get hairy. The upgrades runs about €50,000 ($53,892), and while it was done on a 993, it can be added to any vintage 911.