Chavis Performance & Engineering, Black Forest Taphouse

Chesapeake Region

Tech: Chavis Performance & Engineering

ByRickHawver&RandyRichter

On a cool November morning the techies of the Chesapeake Region gathered at Chavis Performance Engineering for a tech event that some might consider heretical, while others basked in the glory of their hot rodding roots. While some may be displeased, Randy Richter, aka Moose, opened the session by pointing out in the early 70s, when he lived in SoCal, you could buy a 356 with a blown engine for a couple of hundred dollars. You could then drop a VW engine in the 356 and have a running vehicle for another hundred dollars or so.

Tyler Chavis, the progenitor of Chavis Performance Engineering, welcomed us warmly to his very neat and compact shop. Chavis Performance Engineering has evolved into the country’s premier integrated installer of Chevrolet small block V8 engines into Porsches.

Tyler provided the backstory of how he happened to get started. He stated that he had an engine failure in his 911 and had it rebuilt only to fail again a short time later. Following another rebuild, only a thousand miles elapsed after that engine rebuilt by a Porsche certified mechanic failed.

Tyler decided there had to be a better way and after some research decided to install a Chevrolet small block into his 911. By his own admission, his initial effort was somewhat lacking. However, it was good enough to attract an acquaintance that wanted to have Tyler install a V8 in his 911. Tyler readily admits that his $8,000 initial quote was a money losing proposition.

The really interesting part of the presentation showed how Tyler continued to solve problems and continuously improved the quality of his installation.

Tyler developed a custom adapter plate to adapt the Porsche transmission to the Chevy V8. He then moved on to working with SPEC to produce a custom single mass flywheel featuring a replaceable wear surface. Custom designed motor mounts and finally a new custom lower cross brace was all designed and produced out of billet aluminum. A specialized electric power steering pump was found

and sourced from England.

Tyler only uses top quality components and crate engines supplied by Blueprint Engines or GM Performance, some even featuring up to a two year, 36,000 mile warranty. The really trick part of all of Tyler’s efforts is the plug and play wiring harness and electronic adapters to allow totally seamless integration with the Porsche displays and electronics.

Chavis has answered the call for updated cars by providing subcontracted paint and body kit updates for a complete customer experience.

Interesting also, is that the corner weights are the same with the V8 as with the Porsche engine.

One would speculate however that center of gravity of the car may increase slightly due to the V8. So, what is the bottom line cost? To buy Tyler’s custom designed kit is about $13,000 (less engine of course). To have Chavis put in a new Engine and the other conversion parts is about $34,000.

As one of the attendees said near the end of the event. You can buy a roller 996 or 997 with a blown engine for $5,000 to $10,000. Add in Tyler’s conversion and where else are you going to get a 500HP 911 with all that torque for $45,000?

Many thanks to Tyler for spending his time with PCA Chesapeake enthusiasts for the entire morning!

Following the event at Chavis, the Tech team ventured into unknown territory by organizing a social lunch after the CPE event at the Black Forest Taphouse in Fallston MD. Of course, we did ask permission from the fabulous Social team of Steve and Marsha Buss before we proceeded, to ensure we were on the right track.

We were pleased to find we had a separate dining area where talk of Porsches and catching up socially was the order of the day. Of course, we cannot fail to mention the excellent service and delicious food and drink that we all enjoyed.

Chavis/Black Forest Taphouse (cont’d)

There was a German pretzel that was ordered that had to be the largest pretzel Randy had ever seen. The beers on tap were of course a wide variety of top flite German offerings.

An insightful tech event followed by a joyous social gathering was quite the enjoyable way to spend the early part of a Saturday to kick off the weekend. Thanks to one and all that attended or perused this article.