philbert996

The local Porsche mechanics

wdb

The foam in the vents is a feature, not a bug! Even the cutaway 996 in the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart has the feature.

imhighlander

You're just starting down the path but from my experience, the longer I've had my 996 and the more I've done to it, the more I love it. Looks like a pretty clean $6,666 platform for the project. A number like that begs for a name like "Lucifer's Echo."

The "black foam coming out of vents" is a well-trod DIY path, so that's no biggie. You'll likely run into other niggly issues like window drop problems, etc. but fortunately, there's a lot of good information/DIY helps on Rennlist and on YouTube for simple & rewarding projects.

I'd be taking a hard look at the Renn2.7 swap before putting another M96 in. Those guys seem to have come up with an elegant solution at a price comparable to a M96 rebuild. https://www.renn27.com/ $26k for a turn-key installed motor seems competitive. Otherwise, I'd look at https://flat6innovations.com/ (Jake Raby's shop) for an M96 solution.

Good luck, and welcome to the addiction.

SealG996

With the factory aerokit the car deserves nothing less than a Slakker, LN/Flat 6 innovations Nickies build with increased displacement and engine durability modifications.

Ptaha

I'm really tempted by this engine, but I'm curious about its reliability. Is there any way to gauge that? I tried searching through Rennlist, but either I'm not using it correctly or there aren't many threads on this topic. My main goal is to find something that’s reliable, so I don't have to worry about issues like bore scoring or IMS failures—just something that will work smoothly for a long time.

Carrera51

Non-sunroof, Aero kit, some tasteful mods. Totally priced right. Even if the engine needs a rebuild, plenty of people out there who would want the car, especially someone who has a crashed 996 track car with a good engine.

Mike Murphy

+1

SealG996

Slakker has brought over UKs Hartech developments, they Hartech have threads on the 911UK forum by Lee Jenkins. The Facebook site "Porsche engine gurus site has arguments about Nickies vs steel sleeves". The Facebook site is a broad church. This site Rennlist has many LN Engineering based engine rebuild threads. As well as posts by Jake Raby. There are not many negative posts or threads about Hartech/Slakker Builds or LN engineering builds, and LN engineering have taken over Jake Raby's "Flat six engineering" builds. Negative comments are about price, but these are performance and durability enhanced versions of a Super car challenger of the day. Saving money can mean paying twice, and a slick top factory aero deserves a Porsche engine. Not GM/Audi/Honda engine.

Ptaha

porsche engine the only option as far as I’m concerned. I like that slakker offers 2 year warranty and ln doesn’t not offer a day past 12 months as per their website. But what happens in 3 to 5 years I wonder. Again I’m not a track guy at all, and am not thinking of daily driving it, more like a few days a week spring and summer.

wdb

If you want a long warranty I recommend going with one of the cheaper alternatives. They'll offer the warranty then deny all responsibility when something goes wrong, but at least you'll have a nice piece of paper.

gbarron

Interesting wheel choice by the PO...are they hollow spokes?

GC996

How bad is the engine? Do you have some breathing room to drive it, enjoy it, and study up on the M96? No reason to jump into a rebuild when you don't know what you don't know.

Marv

Want reliability? There is always the 996 Turbo. Those engines are pretty much bulletproof. They are a Mezger engine, which is completely different.

However, an LN rebuild should be equally good.

Porschetech3

^^^^ LOL...One very smart guy once said "offer me the choice of a warranty or a nice Cuban Cigar, I'll take the Cuban Cigar every time..".....

Marv

Sounds like something Julian Marx would say.