CAlexio

so, I was talking to a friend ab my gt3 order, not knowing he had a connection at porache. When I was done yammering he said that when I receive my production number to let him know BC he could "help me".. When I inquired further he told me something which blew my newbie mind.. Here is the message in abbreviated form with names redacted...

"I did an Internship at porsche in Zuffenhausen, my former supervisor is now head of production in the (redacted) dept and has been the assistant of (name redacted). I could call him, and ask him to walk over to the motor building put you on a list for one higher above spec. motor (common practice if you know it). the motors coming off the line are always tested on performance, with variations (all above spec., some more, some less) "

of course I said "YEA!!!".. But now I'm curious.. How much do these motors vary in performance? It was probably naive to think they are all identical but to think that some are recognized as "above spec" is pretty damn cool.

I guess the point will be.. Don't race me. ;-)

GrantG

That is certainly an interesting offer. Don't know if it still exists, but there used to be a factory protocol that any motor than made hp below or above an expected range was necessarily torn down and rebuilt. So, the remaining motors were quite close in HP. I would expect the range of 991 GT3 motors to be quite narrow, given the tight tolerances of the modern assembly.

For the old air-cooled motors, if the motor began to run especially well after a number of hours that was usually an indication that it might be about to grenade...

If someone offered me an overachiever motor from new, I'd certainly take it though!

Mike in CA

I'm very surprised to hear this. To the best of my knowledge, and unlike in the past when all motors were dyno tested, since 2009 motors have been built in a new assembly building and turned over electrically on a test rig that cold cranks every motor without intake or exhaust installed. Only a tiny fraction (1 or 2%) are run in hot for quality control purposes in a way that HP specs could be determined. From what I know, it sounds like your friend is referring to a practice that is long past.

frayed

It is WELL known that the strongest motors are allocated for guards red cars.

xybyx

GT3 engines are hand balanced. This makes the performance of engine vary a lot.

Alan Smithee

How do you figure?

Mike in CA

true dat...

Dude-

Not true. Guards red already looks fast so they give it to the grey cars.

Macca

Mike is indeed correct. The factory no longer dyno test these engines prior to placement in the chassis. You get what you get and maybe ever 1-50 cars may be run up on a dyno for QC purposes.

Back in the old air cooled days when these engines were completely hand built and production variances were much wider than they are now some engines indeed produced more power than others and occasionally could be acquired by customers.

My guess is your contact left the factory a long time ago....

911rox

Anything producing 5% above stated power is stripped down and rebuilt... I'm pretty sure all GT3 engines used to be dynoed with the previous generation mezger powered cars... Not sure if that is still the protocol with the new cars...

Don't think your contact will be able to deliver what's suggested....

CAlexio

You are correct. I checked with him today based on these responses, and he said this was in 2003 they were doing these special favors for friends and prewar customers. while his contact is still very active in that dept, he's not sure they still do this. My apology for a bit of bad info, it was offered in good faith both by my friend and by myself to you all.

Mike in CA

Hey, no worries, it made for some interesting discussion.

Petevb

This used to be common, the connected or guys who ordered "special wishes" cars could get particularly strong motors. I knew someone who had such a motor in a 993, claimed to run about 15 hp (so 5%) over standard, though it's unclear to me if that was simply production line variation or if some special sauce was used.

Today I think the "Porsche Exclusiv" still exists, but the focus more on cosmetic rather than mechanical changes. It would be interesting to know what could be done now with the right connection.

Dude-

Speaking about dyno numbers, I hope ap is right about 475 being a conservative number. Wouldn't it be a treat to find out its 500hp.

Macca

Pete. You'd need to be friends with robot that makes the car today LOL! Probably in 10 years time you'd pay a hacker to make the robot add extra seam weld to your order on the line!!