Lorax

What mileage do you think a 944 engine should get a full rebuild and reseal?

DDP

Completely depends on the car/previous maintance/driver. There is no general number.

Lorax

Isnt there some point at which a well maintaned car should just be rebuilt as a matter of prevention, or just for good measure?

DDP

You can do a leak down and compression test to see the condition of the motor. I know a shop near me that for a preventative measure they recommend 951s get their rod bearings done at 100k miles if the car is ever tracked.

Lorax

I broke off the end of my compression testor in the sparkplug hole yesterday. I need new tools...

Im about to pass the 110k mark and I think maybe it would give me some piece of mind to know that everything was fresh. I would pay to have this done since I dont think I'm ready for that mechanically speaking, and I dont have an engine hoist or life or anything.

Also, I was planning this year to do vitesse stage 1 or 2 turbo and maf with a good wideband sensor and the smt6.

New question - Is it safe to mod an engine with 100k on it?

DDP

That depends. Is your car up on maintance? Do a comp test and leak down. If all the tests come out good, go for it. I would never mod a car that didn't have a strong engine, what's the point? You'll either be down hp because it needs to be rebuilt or you'll be tearing it down soon after you mod it. If you're looking for a VS2 kit you will want to look into a stronger clutch as well. Now that doesn't mean that you MUST have it. If you buy the VS2 kit, install it and run it. If the clutch starts to slip or goes out, then upgrade. Don't go doing too many things too early. That's how 'some' of us on the list end up working on our cars and never driving them, lol. You want to start with a strong motor before you mod. If you're motor isn't up to snuff, do that first. Then mod it. That's the problem with 20 year old cars, you have to get them back to original before you can start to make them better.

Lorax

Sound advice. The car has a solid maintenance, only strange thing is that there are 3 documented headgasket changes - My guess is that its from the autothority chips that I promptly threw away in favor of vitesse chips soon after buying it.

Doing a rebuild now certainly would put off my plans for mods because I use of the cost of having someone do it for me, but it's becoming more and more apparent thats what I need to do if I want to do this right, and have peace of mind.

Is a clutch really necessary for the V2? Mine is only 10k old.

DDP

It's not a matter of how old the clutch is. It's a matter of clamping force. The stock just doesn't hold up well. You may be in good fortune and if you don't run a lot of boost or beat on it, that stock clutch may last. Some don't last long at all.

If I were you, I wouldn't jump to conclusions about rebuilding the motor. Your engine could very well be in good shape. It might just need a head job. Does it burn any oil?

The autothority chips do not blow headgaskets. If they were used incorrectly or the boost was set too high, that could blow the headgasket. The autothority chips are not the best on the market by a stretch but they are by no means the cause of a blown headgasket if used correctly.

Lorax

Im not 100% about the autothority chips being the cause...

I know its a total cliche, but Im not interested in a ton of power just a nice powerband... thats why im actually leaning towards the V1 not the V2.. Am I atleast on track about that?

The car does burn oil at a fairly normal rate. Nothing eccentric.

I also forgot to mention that it has an oil leak somewhere towards the bottom end. Not sure where from yet, but I wil have to fix that as well as do all the belts and rollers very soon.

Mike C.

It would be foolish to do a full rebuild based simply on mileage. A good mechanic can do a leak down test on it and tell you how healthy the rings and valves are. If the valves need redoing it is much easier to remove the head than to remove the entire engine. All oil seals can be replaced with the engine still in the car but much disassembly involved. A rear meain seal would require removal of the clutch/flywheel (for example) to get to it but that is a good excuse to put a new clutch in. If you were to pay someone else to re-seal everything, it might not make much difference in cost if they pull the engine out or not - it will cost a S-load of $$$$ either way...

Lorax

So the basic consensus is do a leakdown and go from there - What about the rod bearings?

MPD47

It all depends on your budget. Even for a stock rebuild and doing all your own labor you're looking at $2000+ on a 951.

Lorax

Right now I have a 3k budget for the car.

What should I do to cover the most common points of failure when raising power? Rings, valve guides and stiffer springs, rod bearings and what else?

genikz

Rod bearings are easy, but labor will kill you if you can't do it yourself.

You might think about just running a magnetic drain plug and careful inspecting your oil when you change it. Rod bearings aren't supposed to 'wear' if the oiling is proper, so if you find shavings or metal in your oil, you know you've got problems. This is all my opinion though...I've only owned one Porsche, and it's only been about 6 months now

genikz

You can also send your oil out to be analyzed. It's MUCH cheaper than breaking the engine down.