Bill S.

Does anyone have any experience on what it typically cost to pay someone to rebuild the 993TT top end? That includes disassembly, all 6 heads, new valve guides, new valves, all machine work and re-assembly?

I assume the machine work would be done by Ollie's (now in AZ) They say that's about $700.

pstoppani

Bill (NC)

Mine was about $10 grand in 2004 at a dealer. The good part of that is the manager talked Porsche into paying half! Been like new ever since so well worth it.

Bill S.

Thanks for the info. I'm seeing costs around that or a few thousand less by the dealer with a 2-year parts and labor unlimited mileage warranty.

revolution993

just a quick question how do you know, its time for a top end rebuild on a turbo?

Quadcammer

either leakdown in the double digits or excessive oil consumption (1qt per 600 miles).

Leakdown tends to eliminate other factors like bad turbo seals.

niche

Bill,

You may want to talk to Chris Walrod. He and Robin worked on my RUF a few times and I really liked the way they took care of things. They're awesome...

Javier

Bill S.

Thanks guys. The exhaust valve in one of my cylinders wasn't sealing right and was causing a slight loss of power and miss-fire codes. The compression and leakdown test caught it. Since the car has about 60K miles, I decided to just rebuild all the heads with Porsche seals and Ollie's valve guides and reseal the case.

TT Surgeon

I believe you just have two heads with three banks each, however, I've seen reports of 6-15k for the job, GL

Quadcammer

On the watercooled cars this is accurate.

On the air cooled cars, each cylinder has an individual head, and the cam towers (of which there are two that each span 3 cylinders) bolt to the top of them.

The air cooled cars need as much airflow throughout the cylinders and heads as they can get.

TT Surgeon

I knew someone would catch that, I was thinking watercooled, guess I'm all wet.......

Bill S.

All 6 exhaust valves and valve seats were "hammered" according to Ollie's. It's probably a result of the higher HP, exhaust heat and higher redline (7200) from the Ruf Turbo R. I drove my car hard for 40K+ miles over 8 years with the Ruf Turbo R update (60K on the car now) with full acceleration to 7,200 rpm thousands of times. The intake valves and seats were undamaged. No piston or cylinder damage. Not too bad I suppose for the amount of enjoyment I had.

IamSMC

Did you inquire with RAC regarding cost of rebuild?

Bill S.

No, and only because I would need to ship the car a distance for that. But I will inquire about the valve damage.

Jean

Bill if it is a keeper for many more years, might be worth replacing the heads, valve springs etc..
Good luck!