brwilson

I was considering selling my car as a roller. A rod bearing failure requires an expensive engine rebuild that, if done right, probably exceeds what the car is worth. One option is to get a used engine from ebay and install instead. Intuitively, this is a bad idea, but as my car has over 150K miles, almost any engine I would buy has less mileage than mine. I am actually considering taking an engine rebuilding class to do it myself, but probably could not dedicate the time or funds for a complete bulletproof rebuild for quite a while. So I am wondering, would I at least break even vs the massive loss of selling as a roller? If I do the swap, but can’t get over the sting of the previous engine failure and decide to sell, it would be nice to know I am not too upside-down on trying to save this car.

I am not trying to pull a fast one on anyone--I would disclose that there was a used motor installed if I ever decide to sell. I know there are people who track these things and probably know more about car's vin than I do. I don't think matching numbers is a thing with these cars and it actually seems like I might be adding value if I go ahead and do IMS and clutch and everything is well documented. I just cant see parting out this perfectly good car that I have already put $1000s in to, or sending it off to the crusher.

There seems to be no good data on the going rate of either a good condition roller or a decent used engine. I am always suspect of the buy-it-now price on ebay--I know in other contexts the prices are sometimes ludicrous.

996AE

Used 996 motors are out there.

Its a tough call no matter what you do and there are really no good options as all are 10k and up.

If it were me I;d sell it as a roller, take my loss and move on.

5CHN3LL

If the car is special/collectible (like an AE) or special-to-you, it may be worth plowing the money into it to get it back up and running properly. There are so many good, running 996's that DON'T have mysterious eBay used engines...why is someone going to take a chance on your budget transplant when like-new 996's are still in garages? Lots of 'em.

brwilson

Good point. I would be the one taking the chance for my own use, but I guess I am just looking for an out If I can't live with it. Probably can't expect the next guy to fell any more comfortable....

Noz1974

It’s probably worth stripping your motor down to see the extent of the damage you got nothing to lose by doing that!

Chris(MA)

There is a guy on here working on a Subaru conversion, you might want to ping him? I've also toyed with a Tesla motor if mine blew up, there are various folks who are reverse engineering the electronics to control one, however I'm not sure how far along they are or if they will make a relatively easy to use piggyback computer.

https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/thre...troller.95782/

5CHN3LL

How much have you toyed with the Tesla stuff? I emailed Tesla years back to see if getting parts was even a remote possibility and (as expected) got nothing back. Does Tesla sell stuff to enthusiasts?

Kalashnikov

Isn't this the third thread you made with basically the same question?

Your car is dead. It is a base model 2000. As a roller you will get anywhere from $5,000 to $7,000 for it.

strathconaman

I think it will cost $30K + Roller to build a reasonably fast 200 mile range Electric 996. I would predict saying goodbye to:

1. Oil changes
2. IMS bearings
3. AOS
4. Gas
5. Most everyone at a stop light
6. Rear tires at an alarming rate
7. Engine noise (both good and bad)

Mark Wilson

Seems that rollers sell for $4 - $6K pretty consistently. Used motor @ $5Kish and installation @ $2 - $3K(?) and a running 150K 996 will sell for $15K.

If you like the car, fix it and drive it.

If you're done with the car, decide whether its worth the hassle to get a motor installed to net a couple thousand extra bucks over selling the roller.

Chris(MA)

I haven't played with tesla stuff, but I have created piggyback controllers for other EV stuff. You could get motors from salvage yards, online etc. Same with battery packs

Here is a Tesla powered Lotus evora:

http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f170...-build-390674/

brwilson

Yes, I have had several posts about this car: one about diagnosing, one about the options in a good rebuild and now, and now one questioning why it is such a bad idea to put in a used motor.

I am really just curious what people actually do with all these cars. Apparently, failing engines are an epidemic, and it is probably only going to get worse as the cars age. I imagine someone else would either buy it to part out or do exactly what I am contemplating--mating an old engine with an old chassis--it's all temporary. I know there are LS swaps, electric cars, etc. but that's got to be rare. I'm not in the used car business or engine business, but I assume no one would put a fresh rebuilt motor in this car unless it was their own.

I was really hoping I could rebuild the engine at some point, and found out about learning to do it myself, but that won't happen for a while. Meanwhile, my engine has been neatly dismantled, racked, diagnosed, and is ready for a massive rebuild. Maybe If I can sell the whole lot for $5-7K I should just move on--honestly that's not much less than I paid for the car. 996 owners generally seem to be fairly miserable, and Porsches should be fun.

Billup

If you're not taking much of a hit I would sell the roller as is and move on to something else. Just depends on how much you love the car, there's always others out there (or something different) RTR that you can get with the money from the roller plus a little extra.

dan_189

There was someone on here that went electric with their 996 was a fascinating thread:
https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...-my-996-a.html

Will be exciting to see what the future holds in terms of electric conversions andr how society will view gas powered cars one day.

Convert classics to electric or keep them gas?

If I had to bet i'd say classics will stay gas and electric will become the new standard.

brwilson

A while back, I actually thought about converting my 912 to electric if it wasn't permanent--I saw someone did it to a VW bug. At one point, the 912 was a worthless car, and if you didn't part it out to the 356 or 911 crowd, it wasn't worth rebuilding the motor...