FRporscheman

Thanks, that's a lot of great info and insight.

I know my power goal is EASILY attainable with simple bolt on mods. I also know much MORE power is easily attainable with a few more bolt on mods. I don't think I'll be one of those people that ends up getting boost hungry. First off, I don't want to make the car unreliable. I will be putting 8k miles per year on the car, and I won't have time for BS like blown headgaskets. Also I simply don't have the money for sliding down the slope. After all the slippery slope is lubricated with money.

Lots of differing opinions on which mods are good and which are unnecessary.

I don't want to do any of those for their performance gains, but for the longevity. I.e. if it's going to make the engine run better in any way, or if I'd just be a moron to have an engine built WITHOUT doing xyz.

O-ringing is something I forgot to list. What kind of thoughts are there on that?

billthe3

You say that now, but have you owned/driven a turbo car for any decent amount of time? Its very addicting.

V2Rocket

and after enough dollars you too can go 50 to 90 in 3.4s

billthe3

Yep. To get to that point I technically only needed to buy the turbo, chips, 3.0bar fpr, mbc, tial 38 and gut the stock cat, which totaled maybe $1k from the stock engine, but in reality with breaking stuff and buying other things I've spent much more.

FRporscheman

I know it sounds cliche, especially on this board, but I am certain I won't get "addicted". My addiction is not spending money on modding a car. It's buying more cars. I mean I'm 25 and I have 4 cars. I am seriously considering aborting this project and buying another mercedes.

The trick to staying satisfied with X horsepower is to drive a car with X/2 horsepower 6 days a week, and it works for me.

Own Goal

O-rings. I did a lot of asking and reading. My opinion but could be wrong; street car with no more than 1 bar go stock head gasket and skip the O-rings. IF I was going to do some serious track work too then I would. If you surface the head and block and use new head studs should be very dependable. Unless I missed something to do O rings right also need a deck plate I'm told. Another guy offered you can think of your head gasket as the fuse on one of these motors.( an expensive fuse or pain in the A$$ if do your own work) We all know what happens when we put a really big fuse in a circuit that it was designed to protect.

V2Rocket

my NA came from the factory with X/2 horsepower.

gt37vgt

I think cross drilling the crank and cometec are worth while if its apart and aren't they pretty cheap ??
for reliability extra oil cooler a steam vent kit .and give your wiring loom a massive birthday ..
high quality rubber fuel hose . inspect every hose and hose connection carefully get good hose clamps
make sure all the ducts and plastic crap are right so all the air goes through your radiator or oil cooler that should ..

billthe3

O-rings are relatively cheap (if you're already getting head work done) and are worth the money. It seems like its only $50 more from lindsey when you're getting other work done, so I would expect similar pricing from other shops. I'm running o-rings on my engine with the widefire gasket and I like the results a lot. I ended up pulling my head off again at school and the widefire gasket I had been using accepted the o-rings very well. It definetly made the metal crush ring on the gasket seal much more tightly and securely around the top of the cylinders. I would assume that the extra pressure from the rings on the top of the cylinders would also help in controlling any possible movement of the cylinder bores since my stock block doesn't have a deck plate or anything. I have also been running 18psi average for more then 15kmi now with the o-rings and widefire and have not had any signs at all of headgasket leakage. Leaks in other places from other problems, yes, but none in the headgasket. I've also reused the factory head studs twice now and haven't had issues with that either. I did buy a die to clean off the threads before reinstalling the head, but otherwise I haven't messed with the studs.

FRporscheman

Own Goal - I have always viewed HGs in the same way. It's the weak link... I'd rather replace a HG than a burnt valve.

V2, yep, my NA is the best power mod money could buy for my 968.

gt, I plan on using only brand new hoses for fuel, air, and oil. My coolant hoses are all ok though. I will buy new for whichever parts are hard to reach (by the turbo). And as much as I hate electrical work, I do want to make a new wiring harness. Might rather buy one. For now, I have replaced all the brittle parts of my old 951 harness with wires from an NA.

bill, yeah, o-rings sound good, but I'm not sure if it's worth it for me. 350 hp at the most... I don't want to run high boost all the time... and I'm not convinced they will help cylinder movement unless you also groove the cylinder tops but I'm not sure. And then... like Own Goal was saying, it makes the weak link stronger. I'm undecided. What's better - pegs/deckplate or o-rings?

FRporscheman

I wanted to clarify that I'm not planning to do ALL those things I listed; I'm trying to decide which to do and which not to. If I had to decide right now on my own, I'd go with balancing, new porsche studs, cometic, and I like the peg idea. This thread can be a roundup of shortblock mods and trickery.

I'm leaning away from knife-edging because I don't want to lose torque, and I don't want to stall the engine. I want this engine to be very drivable on the street.

What do people think about factory head studs? How many times can they be reused? If I am to replace them with new Porsche studs, should I just get the block decked anyway?

It's my understanding that forged rods are the way to go. A local porsche wrecker told me that turbo racers come in and buy cast rods because they're lighter or something. I couldn't believe it.

Tom M'Guinn

Deck the block and the head, regardless of other choices you make. Use forged rods. Which local porsche wrecker told you otherwise?

Duke

Don't forget that sometimes stock rods break, even att low power levels.
If you're looking for maximum longelivity I would consider new rods instead of other "nice to have" features. Perhaps the Wössner ones that are decently priced.

gt37vgt

at nomal boost and rpms ??have you seen several examples Duke?? and the rod not the bolt ..
they cost as much an a engine

V2Rocket

that wasnt those guys out in fremont was it?

they are RIDICULOUSLY overpriced