Coopduc

I brought the heads to Hoffman Automotive Machine in GA and told them to do check everything and do whatever is needed. They soda blasted, US cleaned, pressure tested, crack checked, milled the face, replaced all springs, seals, etc, and weld repaired 5 stripped header mounting holes. Guides, valves, seats, cams, lifters were inspected by them and determined to be ok. Len Hoffman has been specializing in aluminum heads for years and really knows what he’s doing. I know several Porsche specialist shops also use him. He is the best!
https://newsite.hamheads.com/

wsrgklt

@Coopduc Thanks for the info. That place looks like they really know what they are doing, and your heads came back looking like works of art.

I will work with a local machine shop in the Chicago area recommended by a Porsche specialist, but this is a helpful checklist for evaluating the shop.

wsrgklt

The mechanic who's quoting the short block swap sent me some references, and I spoke to a previous customer who did the short block swap on his '02. He's put 14k miles on it in the 4 years since he had the work done and hasn't had any further issues.

I was still hoping to hear from some others on the forum who have gone this route. Only two cars here with the short block swap?

oregondave

Hey OP assuming you completed your short block install, any update?

wsrgklt

@oregondave Yes, I went ahead with the short block install and got my car back from the shop last October. With the Chicago winter, I've only put about 700 miles on the car, so I'm still in the break-in period. However, it's running very well and there were no major surprises in the process. I had the job done by a small indy Porsche specialist. In addition to the block swap and head refinishing, I did the clutch, AOS, and coolant tank. The only surpise in the process was replacing the coil packs - one was malfunctioning, so I replaced them all. It threw some codes related to the oxygen sensor when I first got it back, but it seems that was due to oil that had collected in the cats and needed to be burned out.

All in, I spent about about $15k for the block swap, head refinishing, and the while-you're-in-there items. If you can find the right shop to complete the work, I think this is the best balance of cost and quality if your engine dies.

Bash Hat

“Calendars, clocks and shallow pockets waste money every time”... This should be a sticky.

Charles Navarro

Make sure you check your fuel trims. Assuming the original engine suffered bore scoring, bad injectors, MAF, and o2 sensors contributed to that failure and will wipe out the new factory shortblock if these components were not replaced. I spoke to a shop on the west coast that had a factory shortblock score in the same cylinder only 3000 miles. Turned out to be the injector was the culprit.

wsrgklt

@Charles Navarro What would you consider to be the acceptable range of values for fuel trim?f

Charles Navarro

It's supposed to be 1.0, but I'd say anything within .95 and 1.05 is probably acceptable.

oregondave

stupid question but how do you measure fuel trim? And at what point will out of spec trim throw a cel?

Charles Navarro

We've seen cars at 1.25% not throw a CEL. You need a durametric at bare minimum. Needs to be a Porsche specific diagnostic tool.


Fuel trims shown on a PIWIS II

oregondave

perfect thank you!

wsrgklt

Won’t a standard OBD2 scab tool give you short term and long term fuel trim values?

Do the Porsche specific tools measure something different?

Charles Navarro

Someone else would need to jump in here and verify as we only have a PIWIS II and Durametric Pro in our shop.

Imo000

Some OBDII scanners show fuel trims. I think the one I have does and it's just a $200 scanner. Remember seeing the trim value on a freeze frame but that was a while ago.