lowpue

Well, I had an engine failure with my 996 at the track. The car was taken immediately to the shop, there was no loss of oil just smoke two laps earlier shifting from 2nd to 3rd. I noticed low oil pressure and then within two seconds the car shut down and I rolled to a stop. Now I am looking for my options. I have an LN IMS and there was no sign of oil. What is a good source for a low mileage engine or rebuilt. I am considering all options depending on what they find.

Volkert

That's unfortunate, you have had so much fun with that car! Hope it isn't too catastrophical and it can be fixed soon. Whatever is broken, you might consider to go all the way and have a good quality rebuild which can give you another 10 years of fun.

Volkert

DBJoe996

Oil in coolant...or coolant in oil?

TonyTwoBags

Since you enjoy using it as a track car, can you stomach the rebuild to beef up the internals & give you a better shot at worry-free tracking? It's a pretty mk1 aero, she deserves the best

Sorry about the failure & good luck sorting it out.

Nickshu

Super bummer man. 4.0L upgrade? Looks like you have plenty of fun cars in your stable already so maybe not worth it...just move another car into the track role!!

Flat6 Innovations

Sounds like a good application for my R51, especially if the original internals are compromised.

TonyTwoBags

R51 is a specialized 3.5L geared towards reliable tracking + high top end output relative to street builds?

Kris Murphy

Lots of options.

1. Used (from eBay or Rennlist). Some of the eBay engines come with 30 Day Warranties (looking at between $6K-$10K) plus install.

2. Buy a rebuilt motor from one of the 2-3 companies that are around (won't get into who is best). These tend to start at $10K plus core, plus installation

3. Have Jake building you a motor (what I would have done if money was no option).

4. Buy a salvaged car with good motor, pull motor, part the rest of the car. This is the option that gives you the best chance of not coming out of pocket, but is the most amount of work.

5. Sell your car as a roller, and buy another one.

When the exact thing happened to me, I did #4. I already had a system in place for parting out cars, so it was something I was comfortable with. People will warn you that you don't know what you are going to get with a used, or salvaged car motor, which is true, but at the end of the day, you do not have a warranty on any motor that is going to see track time.

Would I feel better and be less paranoid every time I track my car if I had one of Jake's motors? 100% I would.

For me, it was all about economics. I could come out of pocket $6K-$20K for a motor, or I could do lots of work, and end up netting some money after it was all said and done. Since it is a track car, and things may happen, this is the way I went. I also know that if I blow a motor again, I can repeat the process (really hoping not to do that).

It's all about time/money though and which one you are willing to part with more.

lowpue

Thanks everyone for the kind words and the advice. I will consider all of it. I did get an update, they were able to start the car, but it smoked like crazy. They will be tearing into it when they have some time but since it was an unexpected bit of work, they will get to it when they are done with scheduled work they have. Will keep you all posted as I find more out.

BTW Kris, I love your Aero....I really think the MK1 Aero is the nicest looking 996 and after yellow, red is my favorite.

Cuda911

Sorry to hear, lowpue. Will be interested to follow the thread and see what happened. I lost a motor a couple years ago, and found a wrecked car to salvage the motor from.

lowpue

Latest update is that there was a lot of metal in the oil and likely a oil starvation issue resulting in rod bearing failure. Looking at options including a rebuild from 3.4 to 3.8. Need to look at the cost. Will continue to keep posted. I sold a 997 GT3 engine almost two years ago...wish I still had it now.

Flat6 Innovations

Sounds like a classic... But that "starvation" was likely from oil that was either overheated, or dead before that last session even started.

I have a slew of good 3.4 cores we can build from, after a catastrophic loss, I trust nothing from the core.

lowpue

That's a good point on the core but how do I know that a new core is any better.

Also, if you have some ideas and prices on engine rebuilds please PM me. That is what I asked my race shop to do. Everything from a stock rebuild to 3.8 and even considering a GT3 engine. All probably cost more than the car at this point but I just love that car.

BTW...oil was fresh with less than 500 miles on it.

Cuda911

What oil was it?

lowpue

Motul 8100 Acess 5W40 Synthetic.

BTW...I see you have a 70 Cuda. I grew up a mopar guy with 65 Coronet 440. That is why my track number is 440 :-)

Still looking for the same exact car....