kghaas

Soo, after 7 years I hit rock bottom today. Had to take the car off the road and hand in the plates.



The reason for this is the all familiar story: Bought a cheap car, ran it for a while, turned up the boost, got addicted, slapped on a lot of goodies, turned up the boost again... After a few years the engine could not take 1,2bar with a Super 65 turbo so it started to smoke.

I wanted to build a proper motor, so I bought a second engine to use while building. Unfortunately I was screwed and the engine was worse than the one I had. So my new plan is to rebuild the old engine on the cheap. I dont want to go all out so my plan is as follows:

New LR piston rings
New main bearings
all new gaskets
Moroso block filler
ARP head studs

I have all the addon bits such as turbo, exhaust etc etc. I used to run the car with a MAF setup and measured 390hp at the wheel at 1,44bar. In the new setup I will run VEMS standalone since I already has that on the shelf.
Target is reliable 360hp

Head is all good, and hopefully the bores are round and true. I know there are some scratches but no big ones. I will get the bores measured before I put it back together. I really dont want to hone the cylinders since I dont think there are anyone with the right knowledge in the area.

So my question; should this give me a more reliable engine than before? Any other cheapo thing I should consider?
This will be a winter project...

refresh951

For about 3K you could build a 2.85L Hybrid Stroker. Not sure if this is in you budget but I worry that your approach may not buy you much in terms of reliability. Dry sleeves if done properly avoid a lot of issues and the offset grind allows you to use cheap but excellent rod bearings. I would give this approach careful consideration. The 2.85L HS motor is a great street motor IMO.

jmj951

What would be the primary problem areas, and can they be addressed relatively cheaply? I'm just curious because I've considered the same 'refresh' approach before, thinking I should avoid a major change to keep the cost down and reliability up.

Chris White

"Engine Build on the Cheap".....
Also know as the engine build du jour....or the 'Practice rebuild'....

Sure, you can do this project and not spend a lot on the project but don't cut the important corners or you will be pulling the engine out again and spending the time and money to do it again. With just the cost of a second gasket set you can waste a lot of $.

If you really want to build a base for a 350hp+ project you need to have good starting point - new cylinder walls. Bare minimum is a very good stock block - but you will not find many of those any more. The most cost effective method is to get the block Nikasil coated. If done right the shop will over bore the cylinders slightly, coat them and then rebore and finish the cylinders back to original stock shape. You can reuse your pistons and add some new rings.

So far I have never found a used block that did not have out of round issues and/or taper - not to mention scoring. These blocks are almost 30 years old! Do you self a favor and start with a solid foundation. BTW - Nikasil coating, boring and finishing is around $750.

kghaas

Thanks guys. I know I should do it right the first time. My problem is that I dont know a good engine shop to do this, and the prices you guys are quoting is in dollars. I have to pay in Norwegian crowns.. For just a regular honing job(standard iron block) the price is about 4000.-NOK which is about $600... Initialy I was thinking about the sleeving and hybrid way, but with the engineering hours at a shop I dont dear thinking about the cost. Would probably be cheaper to get it done in the US. But then shipping is about $1k each way..
Coating might be a better route....

Thanks for helping!

PS: Another note on the US vs Norwegian prices: In another thread there is an discussion about 996TT vs 951. The av. price on the 996TT is about $100.000 at the moment. The 951 is about $15-20.000.....

Willard Bridgham 3

It's a race car.

If you go cheap you will no longer have a race car and might as well buy a Yugo.

Dutch944

Ship it to the Netherlands, prices aren't that high and the costs are probably not that high..

Marcus 951

Hi Dutch944,

how high are the prices in the Netherlands?
Is there a machine shop you can recommend?

Thanks
Marcus

blodstrupmoen

Where and approx how much for a rebuild ?

black944 turbo

Read old threads on people doing "cheap rebuilds" you will find most people did it and then sold there cars for nothing because it was never correct. Don't go down that road. I hope I won't ever need to do this, but if the time comes my car will sit until I have the funds do a proper job.