993C2SVesuvio

Hi all,

I´ve a wonderful 993 Carrera 2S Vesuvio. The car got appr. 100k miles on it and might need an engine revision any time soon. I wonder if it´s worth to spend some extra bucks on a 3.8l conversion. What power output can I expect (torque, HP)? Are there any downside coming with it?

I already have a lightweight fly wheel installed as the clutch was due last winter and a 200 cells cat.

Here´s the car:

MrRoboto

I am contemplating the same thing...

pp000830

"it and might need an engine revision"
By this do you mean a rebuild?
What makes you think it needs one, some are driving around in cars with a lot higher miles on the odometer?
Andy

goofballdeluxe

The short answer: nope.

It’’s not worth the expense for the meager gains.

Far better use of funds would be a transmission re-gear or lighten the car a few hundred pounds.

There have ave been plenty of discussions on this very topic, so search the archives

AOW162435

Beautiful! where are you located?



Andreas

Catorce

3.6 to 3.8 can be accomplished in two ways:

1. Bigger pistons and cylinders (i.e. 109mm case registers and 102 or 102.7 pistons)
2. Go to an 80.4 stroker crank such as the Porsche Motorsport one

Of the two, the 80.4 provides more torque and does away with the weakest link in a 993 - the crank.

Both are going to cost something like 5K out the door, both require at least some machining. As to measurable gains? Meh, they will both provide a noticeable difference but you might not be really happy with the numerical gains on a dyno sheet.

Combine the two however, and you get a 4.0 liter which will really wake the car up, but then again you need other things at that point (induction, cams, etc).

If you are opening up the case you might as well go 4.0

FLYT993

The determinant of whether it is "worth it" can only be defined and answered by you. My signature tells my story

erikerik

If you are already going to rebuild the engine.... and have a few extra bucks laying around. Go for it.

Add a higher lift cam as well and you’ll have lots of fun. Totally worth it in my opinion.

993C2SVesuvio

I´ve just encountered that noise that might come from the hydraulic lifters the other day and brought my car to my mechanic who will look into it next week. In worst case I might be up for an engine rebuild. Keeping my fingers crossed it´s not but if so I´m thinking of taking the "opportunity" to go for 3.8l while the engine is open anyway..

rk-d

I'm sure you'll get opinions on this - lifter failure doesn't require a rebuild and if it's valve noise at start up, it's probably normal lifter priming noise. That said, you don't need an excuse to spend money. It's your car and you can do what you want.

It seems to me that these engines are fairly optimized. By the time the 993 had come out, Porsche had extracted a lot of the potential out of that Mezger engine. It's a package deal - Cams, RS valves, DME reprogramming, 3.8. Not cheap and fairly conservative gains from what I've read.

When I'm looking to spend money again - I'm going to investigate a regear. That seems to have the greatest potential.

aircooledbug

I did a 3.8 build with high lift cams recently. Transformed the car. Wasn't cheap, but what is cheap with these cars? For someone intending to keep the car longer term it makes as much sense as a suspension refresh in my opinion as you benefit from having a fresh engine throughout the ownership cycle. If doing an engine rebuild anyway it is not so big a jump to get to 3.8. I'm really pleased with the extra torque, as well as removing all the oil leaks that could only be done on my car by splitting the case and replacing the bolts etc.

For me 3.8 was the maximum I was prepared to go to as Mahle don't make them any bigger, and they are the supplier making them for Porsche. 4.0 would have put me into less well know territory with regard to longevity of the rebuild.

Mine was on 150k when the 3.8 build was done by Tech 9 (Liverpool, UK). It had poor leak down on cylinder 5 before it was stripped and this could be seen on the valves once open. One of the cams had some pitting on it, the cylinders were OK but again bid show some signs of wear.

Full review here:
https://aircooledbug.co.uk/porsche-9...-8-conversion/

Sword_of_the_Spirit

You could do the 3.8l n/a route or just bolt on a supercharger/turbo. The bottom end and nearly all the top is exactly the same as the turbo as confirmed many, many times over in this forum. These cars are built. It’s just the rpm is a limiter after 7k the rods can let go. A lot of people save the crank and add just rods and associated hardware. But if you’re tearing into it, I’d recommend a crank as well. Labor after all is a big part.

In 95’ for the Cups on that days technology, they were getting well into the 150-200hr rebuild times when driven 11/10’s. Nowadays, we have better parts and know how. You’ll be fine, but the wallet may take a hit. Though, you’ll be running with 997.1rs by then if you do it well with weight savings and have a heck of more thought out design and value.

993C2SVesuvio

I love N/A engines and I will never ever turbo charge or supercharge a 993. That's to me a sacrilege.

aircooledbug: thank you very much for your detailed review. I read it and now I "want" that 3.8l conversion anyhow... I drive my 993 hard and I really would make something out of that extra power. But let's see if the engine needs to be rebuild at this stage. I should now this week...

DD GT3 RD

From my knowledge it’s basically approximately
25k for a 3.8 RS style build w/ 310-320hp. And when you want to start going 370-400. You’re out like 50-60k.

ilko

It used to be relatively reasonable to bump up displacement and HP in these cars. But as their values have gone up, so has the cost of maintenance and repairs. Parts are only slightly more expensive but labor rates are through the roof. It's really hard to justify spending that amount of money only to bring the car on a HP level of a Toyota Camry.