peavynation

So, since I already have the lipstick, could I just find the right motor, transaxle, suspension, interior, wheels, 3rd radiator... and have myself a 6GT3.1? LOL!! I mean, it seems like the next logical step and not much work.

Oh, BTW, when I see those early GT3s, they look like they have a little black strip on the back of their taco wing that I don't have. What is that?

jasper

It's a good question Peav, one I've asked to myself more than once. How hard would it be to install GT3 running gear in a normal 996?

More to the point...if one were to blow up their M96 motor, would it make sense to hunt down the necessary equipment to do the conversion. of course it would cost more...the question is how much more?

redridge

the 6gt3.1 is not street legal in the states.... converting your c2 to a 6gt3 has been discussed many times.... bottom line, its way cheaper to just buy one.

the little black strip is called a gurney lip.... and they are hard to come by.

Ed Newman

Why would you do that? The 996.2 GT3 is better in many ways the 996.1 GT3, more HP, bigger brakes, stiffer chassis and better aero.

rwiii

MK II also has a cup holder

Ed Newman

Now there is a GOOD reason to buy the Mk I. Why or why, Porsche do we need cupholders in a sports car?

spiderv6

but none of that is official Porsche designation right?

In fact I don't think they even refer to 996 / 997 in official communications or marketing (at least not to the general public, maybe to motoring journos).

It's always 911, which itself never appears on any 996 or 997 (with the exception of the 40th).

Does that make it any clearer?

rwiii

To hold a cup. Even more necessary when driving a sports car than a family ride where you can just set the cup on the dash. Anybody have a reccommended cup holder approproate for wine glasses, champaigne flutes and other stemware?

IrocMan

I'm surprise you didn't have the GT3 MK1 in North America.
Was the mk1 GT3 cup available ?

jasper

In Canada anything 15 years or older is legal. That means we can start importing GT3.1's into Canada as early a 2014.

Not sure if this would be more economical than buying a US spec GT3.2 but as someone has already stated, the GT3.1 is more desirable in some respects...I've heard they are more pure than the later cars.

All said and done though I prefer the GT3.2 myself for the engineering improvements and because I've never really liked the taco wing much.

peavynation

Does anyone know exactly how Porsche "modified the air-cooled motor to be water cooled" for the 6GT3.1? Is that true, or sort of a bastardized statement of what they really did?

fpena944

I used to think the same thing as well...I remember going to drive-thru lines in my 944 and holding the drinks between my legs. But now that I have cup-holders and life is good.

I don't eat in my car, but I do like to use it to go get food - in that case the cupholders are nice. And to top it off they're hidden unless you need them.

jasper

A bit bastardized but not far from the truth. I cut and pasted this from wikipedia :

It is actually based on the original air-cooled 911's versatile, true dry-sump crankcase, with an external oil tank. The original version of the GT3 had 360 PS (265 kW; 355 hp), compared to the 300 PS (221 kW; 296 hp) of the regular 996.

In GT3 configuration, this so called "split" crankcase (meaning the parting line of crankcase is on the crankshaft centerline) uses, instead of a fan and finned cylinders, separate water jackets added onto each side of the crankcase to cool banks of three cylinders with water pumped though a radiator. Thus, the GT3 engine is very similar to the completely water cooled 962 racing car's engine, which is also based on this same crankcase. The 962 differs, however, by using 6 individual cylinder heads while the GT1/GT3, like the air and water cooled Porsche 959, uses 2 cylinder heads, each covering a bank of 3 cylinders. The GT3 engine could thus also be thought of as similar to a 959 engine, but with water-cooled cylinders.

Up to early model year 2004 GT3 production, the basic casting used for the crankcase of the GT3 was exactly the same as the air-cooled engine and one could see the "964" casting number on the bottom of the crankcase and areas normally machined in the air-cooled application that are not machined for use in the water-cooled application. The crankcase casting was changed in mid-2004 to a "996" casting number crankcase to eliminate these external air-cooled remnants, but internally it is the same.

This engine gives the GT3 a distinct racing heritage that dates back to the Porsche 904/6 of the mid-60's, up to the Carrera Cup and 997 Super Cup and RSR racing cars of today.

Because the 911 air-cooled crankcase uses the Porsche 356 engine to transmission mounting flange configuration, the GT3 uses a manual gearbox also of air-cooled 911 heritage. This gearbox has interchangeable gear ratios and is more durable making it more suitable for racing than the standard 996 type 911 gearbox.

At 450 hp (336 kW), the 3.8 litre flat-six engine in the 997 GT3 RS is the most powerful naturally aspirated six cylinder engine in any production car.

peavynation

Very cool info! Makes me want a 6GT3.1 BAAAAAD!