malcolmd

I've got to say that with the clutch fully engaged, followed by a right foot plant mine does not spin the wheels (295 R-comps). The rears can slip a little depending on the surface, but not spin. To get spin, I have to be a little unkind to the clutch (never the 4K dump though!)

ScottMellor

I'm with Malcom.
Clutch fully engaged before matting it.

pstoppani

Delicate?

I beat the heck out of mine and it takes it better than any other car I've owned (a reasonably long and varied list); except the Lotus which is also mostly bulletproof.

Dragracers they are not, but then I've never done so am ignoring that use for these cars.

chris walrod

I am glad you got that Scott Yes, my VC is more than likely shot.

Quadcammer

I was generally referring to the weak rods, poor valve guides, shaky crank, and glass transmission.

bulletproof, they are most certainly not, I hope you would agree.

ScottMellor

Also, don't our cars have ABD?

Automatic brake differential (ABD) option prevents either driven wheel spinning under acceleration or on slippery surfaces

ca993twin

Quadcammer,

I'd have to disagree with you:
"glass transmission": mine is perfect at 120,000 miles, but then I tend not to abuse it.
"weak rods, shaky crank": Ruf sticks with the stock components with their 490HP Turbo R upgrade. It seems to be quite sufficient.
"poor valve guides": Yes, this seems to be true, but few turbos are going in for premature top-end rebuilds, or use large amounts of oil. I'm not sure what to make of this.

My car does not spin its tires at all, at least that I can detect.

Quadcammer

Steve,
The trouble is that while you may not detect any noticeable problems with the tranny, from what my research has shown, either the LSD, the input shaft, or the synchros are probably damaged in some way. Its not always noticeable to the end user, but having a fully functioning LSD is useful. If any of these need to be replaced, its gonna run almost $5k if not more.

The rods are a cost cutting measure when compared to the 930 and 964. Same with the crank. They may be ok at 490bhp as long as the car is not heavily tracked. Spending any significant time at around 6500rpm can result in some serious damage.

I think we hear about few turbo top ends due to the smaller number of turbos produced, and the likelihood of these owners to not drive their car very often.


good to hear i'm not alone on this.


Basically given Porsche's racing heritage, I'm a bit disappointed in the quality of the engine and gearbox hard parts...which imho, make it a bit dangerous to really lean on the, especially in the lower gears (if the tires stick that is)

pstoppani

Well, I track mine a lot and at 50k miles all was in excellent condition; I know because I had everything torn apart and rebuilt after I missed a shift and started down the 500+ HP slippery slope "while we were in there".

Pretty darned bulletproof in my book.

In my experience, Porsches take hard repeated track abuse better than anything else you can buy off a showroom floor.

malcolmd

I would have to agree with Steve and with Pete. "Robust" and "reliable' come to mind despite track use. The exhaust valve and guide issue is about the most predictable issue with these cars and low mileage and a sedentary life does not provide protection! It's mostly a product of time and design. The 1st gear shaft isuue in the 95/96 cars is well described, but is actually rare in cars driven on the road and track. Leave drop the clutch drag racing alone and it is simply not an issue. Transmission failures, conrod failures, crank failures - rare if the board's experience over the last 6-8 years is a good guide. Keep below 500HP and the internals should be fine. You can break anything if you try hard enough, but in my experience, you'd have to try very hard in a 993TT.

mooty

u should know when your synchro is going. they do wear out, but rarely prematurely unless ham fisted shifting

the input shaft is just as strong.

LSD for a rear engine street car is academic. you have enough wt in the back that LSD make that big a difference. also the preload on factory LSD isn't enough anyways, if it was higher locking ratio, you will push right off the cloverleaves when wet. if anyone needs LSD on street driving, you are going way too fast exiting a turn. on track, ALL street porsche LSD are not so good. they die after 3-4 track days, unless you are way too slow. even with a high end lsd such as porsche motorsport of GT, i would have it chk'd every two years or so.

dont worry, just drive the **** out of it once the oil is warmed up.

Quadcammer

Although I have not experienced a failure myself, reading posts by guys like geoffery and Kevin regarding the internals makes me very nervous to give this car the beans.

The bloody crank isn't even fully counterweighted. To add to that, there is no harmonic dampner. 360 degree oiling, tiny rod journals, etc etc.

This is a cost cutting motor shoved into their "top of the line" car. pretty unfortunate. PS (for old guy), the 996TT and 997TT is the same junk.

Bill P.

I'm a bit surprised you asked the original question. Several thoughtful responses mirror one another's experience with these cars, including tracking, yet and now you are complaining that the engine is crap. I've had stellar experience with all of my air cooled 911's since '85. This one has been the best and equally trouble free as the others. They all enjoy visits to the redline often.

pstoppani

Read less, drive and enjoy more. Or sell the car ...

Quadcammer

Why are you surprised I asked the question? I do appreciate the responses, but the research I have done has shown some very surprising and frankly, disappointing things about the engine in what was the most expensive porsche at the time (GT1 excluded). The fact that 930s and 964s had the fully counterweighted cranks and other better foundation pieces is also upsetting.

Will that necessarily cause problems? Maybe, Maybe not. But the thought of tracking the car and possibly breaking a crank is something that will creep into my head. Perhaps I can't really afford this vehicle if that is a possible result.

well, the car is at the bodyshop, so no driving to be done right now.

This is not necessarily a reason to sell the car, but it sure is upsetting. all the race heritage, and you get a non-fully counterweighted crankshaft?