MathewSaid

After some bad news today that my 1995 C2 is going to have to undergo a rebuild, my mechanic and I were discuss the idea of a 3.8 build. If we’re pulling the engine and getting dirty, why not make the work a little more worth while?
I don’t have much knowledge of the process nor any recommendations as to what the best value would be for a more responsive and powerful engine which is why I’m coming here.
Any advise from personal experience would be super appreciated! Thanks everyone.

Gbos1

The search function is your friend and plenty of info here already. Hope you have some deep pockets.

jfischet

what's the bad news about the existing condition of the engine exactly?

MathewSaid

smoking excessively not just at start up, suspected ring failure. Won’t know until we open the case how bad things are.

mike cap

Engine history and mileage? Compression and leak down results?

Just my skeptical nature.

Could be a lot of things and maybe you’d have to do a top end and cylinders. Splitting the case is pretty rare. Bottom ends are pretty bullet proof.

IainM

sorry, I see it's smoking all the time.

MarinS4

Honestly I like the shape of the 3.6 pistons better than the 3.8’s I’ve seen. Think of the top of the piston as combustion chamber floor of a hemi chamber and you’ll understand what I mean. If I was ever faced with a mist do 3.8 I would send the 3.6 piston to CPP and have em scan the top and build me a piston from there. It would be waaay lighter too! Combine that with some Motorsport 3.8 cylinders and you have a great combination. Heck why stop there though. Stroking the crank seems to be really popular lately so that gets you to 4.0-4.1 liters. Gonna cost a ton of money though.

stevensivak

What's a ton of money?

71-3.0-911

Depends on how wild you want to go. Rothsport 4.0 in the guntherwerks car is $200k so...

Quadcammer

A new set of rings doesnt require much. Adding the better style 3.8 cylinders requires case splitting and machine work. I would not spend 5k for a set of slip ins to gain .2 liters, which you likely wouldnt notice without cams and other mods.

Id say just fix it in a stock manner and maybe add the cams

cgfen

Unless you need to replace stock pistons / cylinders, upgrading to 3.8 is a costly exercise that many don't consider a wise ROI.
one RL'r commented, "why spend $20k+ for an espresso cup's volume worth of extra displacement?"
The path will become clear as you dig in.

Craig

notabot

Dont get us started on a coffee debate

INTMD8

Agreed. Not sure how the cost would balance out but my first thought is spending that money on 9m heads before 3.8

696

What’s the typical cost for a stock rebuild?

Kein_Ersatz

Cars are 20+ years old and lots of "improvements" available for better "stock" and even sticking with OEM parts are not cheap either, budget 80-100k at a minimum if cracking the case (but be prepared to go beyond if regrets are to be avoided), the "while you are in there factor" will be strong. Hard to put back old when adjacent to new. Lots of improvements over 90's tech to be had and dumping '90s smog tech will also be strong if licensing in the 49. And labor rates and timelines are both increasing daily as demand is strong for these skill sets and the pool of shops that can do this are not increasing.

Many of the current 993 owners of have reached a point where if the passion is strong, the ROI is no longer the deciding factor on many builds. Gunther has show there is a market for $1M 993 builds...