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Car has 154k miles!. Daily driver. Never gave me major issues except for a O2 sensor and a MAF sensor. Not counting parade laps, I have only tracked it twice: once with the PCA at a track day event, the second two days ago. And I am a novice for sure who just wanted to have casual fun with his car.
I really love this car. Everything on it works (except one of my key remotes) It has been well maintained, is clean, and solid, but not to the level that would make the car very valuable. I have done a lot of simple work on this car myself, and spent too much on it already—I just don’t know if I can stomach a new engine.
IMHO I think you are asking for trouble tracking a car with 154K on the clock.
You'd be better off selling it as a roller and buying another 996, set it up properly and enjoy it.
Kinda depends on how the current car is setup. If its got a well sorted supension, rollbar, upgraded brakes, etc, then it would be tough to replicate that with a new car.
Also depends on the OP's mechanical abilities and his bargain hunting abilities as it relates to finding a good engine. There are bargains out there if you can wait and are diligent about casting a wide net.
Misfires/bad coils often sound loud and pretty bad on an M96 even though it's just that, a misfire. Clean oil and no intermix, I would pull a plug and look inside before going crazy about the next steps.
Misfires/bad coils often sound loud and pretty bad on an M96 even though it's just that, a misfire. Clean oil and no intermix, I would pull a plug and look inside before going crazy about the next steps.
I have to agree. I tried to start my Chevy smallbock for the first time and thought I blew something up big time when I heard the equivalent of a gun shot. The timing was off and the cylinder open fired with the exhaust valve open.
Hopefully the OP just has something painless like this.
IMHO I think you are asking for trouble tracking a car with 154K on the clock.
It all depends on how you track your car.
If you're out there shifting at the redline throughout the whole session and extracting every last horse out of the engine then yes.
But if you're instead using the track session to learn the technical nature of a track and try to perfect your turns before building speed then I would argue it's not really that much different than daily driving.
I don't typically take my car to the track, just drive it in the canyons. When I "tracked" it the first time I was fairly conservative with a PCA instructor in the novice (green) group, but was able to do some good lap times. The second (last?) time I tracked it was with a different organization--they moved me out of the novices since I was experienced and I didn't need an instructor. But then they moved me up again, but it turned out to be two steps up (skipped blue and purple, up to black--I'm sure color is meaningless). The next group was very experienced and equipped (Audi RS super cars and Caymans with full race wings, etc.) so I really pushed it--for me anyway--obviously a big mistake.
It seems there were only a few kinds of drivers: kids with their tricked out economy cars, older guys with their brand new leased sedans or supercars, a few fully spec-ed out race cars, and guys with beaters. I was the only one with a rear-engined, 18-year-old, low value daily driver.
The spec Cayman blew his engine too! Not a good day for the Porsches.
Sorry for the bad result here. You can always ditch the roller & grab an e36 m3 to get back on the track. Or a Boxster if another m96 is what you want to drive. Good luck going forward.
I am leaning towards the rebuild route—if it can be. I have researched some of the exchange-type services for these motors as well. It is all pricy, but if it is less than the cost of a well-sorted car, it might be worth it.
I am leaning towards the rebuild route—if it can be. I have researched some of the exchange-type services for these motors as well. It is all pricy, but if it is less than the cost of a well-sorted car, it might be worth it.
But if you're instead using the track session to learn the technical nature of a track and try to perfect your turns before building speed then I would argue it's not really that much different than daily driving.
I don't agree. At a race track I am constantly over the speed limit, even on a cool down lap. Can't compare at all to daily driving.
agree, if you are at the track and it feels like daily driving, you either drive like a maniac on the street, or you drive like a grandma at the track.
Full throttle (even if not to redline) to full brakes, right back to full throttle, with max G turns thrown in the middle is not like daily driving to me.