Another 996 down
10-12-2012, 08:39 AM
#47
Three Wheelin'
Thread Starter
I did decide to go with the CPO engine but the decision was strictly from a financial standpoint. I do plan to upgrade to a 997 in the near future. I bought this car way under market value when prices bottomed out. Now, I know I will take a loss on resale like most of us will. Hell, its a 12 year old car. But, with the $12.5K motor investment, I am now more in line of what the car should have sold for, or close, when I bought it, ie, mid 20's. So, investing 18k+ just did not make sound financial sense at this point if I am not going to keep it for another two or three years. I can stand to lose a few thousand or several thousand if sold as a roller. There is some emotional attachment to the car but not enough to go nuts with upgrades. This is my third Porsche (928,944,996) so it seems I am always moving to the next step every few years.
There is the possibility that I may, at some point, gut it for a full time track car or purchase a prepared one. I would love nothing more than a full rebuild from Jake, believe me. The biggest consideration in my life is my wife. She has tons of input into my decisions since they affect her as well. Squeezing 12 plus thousand out of our asses was not a joy in this economy but had to be done. I will have a car I can enjoy for quite some time and have peace of mind that Jake inspected it (NOT REBUILT IT), the RMS and IMS is taken care of etc.
Can this motor crap out on the way home? Sure. Can one of his rebuilds do the same? Sure. They are mechanical bits and things happen. But, I am not worried about it. All I want to do now is get the car up there, get it back and start enjoying my PCA outings again.
Thanks to everyone who has offered advice, especially Jake Raby. He is a true gentleman and runs a first class operation. Like I said in some previous entries, unless you have been in my position, it is hard to fully grasp how stressful it really is.
I will update the post as things move along.
There is the possibility that I may, at some point, gut it for a full time track car or purchase a prepared one. I would love nothing more than a full rebuild from Jake, believe me. The biggest consideration in my life is my wife. She has tons of input into my decisions since they affect her as well. Squeezing 12 plus thousand out of our asses was not a joy in this economy but had to be done. I will have a car I can enjoy for quite some time and have peace of mind that Jake inspected it (NOT REBUILT IT), the RMS and IMS is taken care of etc.
Can this motor crap out on the way home? Sure. Can one of his rebuilds do the same? Sure. They are mechanical bits and things happen. But, I am not worried about it. All I want to do now is get the car up there, get it back and start enjoying my PCA outings again.
Thanks to everyone who has offered advice, especially Jake Raby. He is a true gentleman and runs a first class operation. Like I said in some previous entries, unless you have been in my position, it is hard to fully grasp how stressful it really is.
I will update the post as things move along.
10-12-2012, 09:57 AM
#48
Three Wheelin'
10-12-2012, 10:15 AM
#49
Three Wheelin'
Thread Starter
10-12-2012, 10:15 AM
#50
Three Wheelin'
10-12-2012, 10:43 AM
#51
Former Vendor
We do the right thing even when no one is looking.. As long as the purchaser remains tactful, respectful and understanding we will bend over backward to extend the same service to them that we'd expect if the roles were reversed.
I can count how many "issues" we have had since 1992 on one hand, which is quite amazing. Of those engines two people turned into jackasses and neither of them received any help; the others walked away with fully repaired engines and no balance due at the end of the day.
I have learned how to watch for red flags and certain terms and questions are a dead giveaway in regard to the caliber of person we are dealing with. Because of that more than 1/4 of the work that finds us is accepted into the program and thats about the only way we can maintain our reputation. Some people have unreasonable expectations of both man and machine. Its important that we ensure those people seek out the competition for their services, because that generally hurts the competition more than it helps them.
One reason why we ship cars from all over North America to our facility and extend free removal and replacement of any reconstructed engine for free as an incentive for the cars to be shipped to us is so we can test them extensively on the road and on the chassis dyno. I typically drive any engine that we build 200 miles so we can carry out the first service, bore scope the cylinders, carry out lak down and compression tests and gather an oil sample. This way we treat the engine like it is guilty and it has to prove it's innocence before we ship the car home. This avoids occurrences of petty CEL illuminations, oil leaks, mechanical noises and other gripes that are always a reality after carrying out extensive repairs on any vehicle/ engine.
In the time we have worked with the M96 engine we have had to "warranty" one engine, which I feel is too many. To restore the engine we had to ship the car from Pennsylvania to Ga, completely disassemble the engine, replace many components and then reinstall it back into the vehicle. I then drove the car 400 miles to ensure the issue was resolved and then we shipped it home to Pennsylvania. Shipping cost us 1100 bucks round trip, the engine work cost us 13,000.00 and the customer didn't pay a singe dime. He was respectful, understanding and gracious and never found an attitude, pissed, moaned or complained. Because of that we did the right thing with no hassles and we exceeded his expectations for the whole project and the repair. The reality is anything thats mechanical can fail at any point and for absolutely no reason, people who don't understand that haven't lived a life surrounded by machines. Here is the note that the owner of that car submitted to us after his vehicle was repaired.
Ed seems to be a great guy with a real expectation of what this engine is. We took a few days to exchange information and now I feel that this engine will meet his expectations.
It only makes sense if the vehicle owner wishes to keep it forever. You won't see cars for sale with our engines installed for very good reason. More people go the 18K route than anyone here would imagine, in fact we have 16 engines backlogged at the present. A 10K engine in a 4K 914 also doesn't make sense, but we were doing that in the mid 1990s.
I can count how many "issues" we have had since 1992 on one hand, which is quite amazing. Of those engines two people turned into jackasses and neither of them received any help; the others walked away with fully repaired engines and no balance due at the end of the day.
I have learned how to watch for red flags and certain terms and questions are a dead giveaway in regard to the caliber of person we are dealing with. Because of that more than 1/4 of the work that finds us is accepted into the program and thats about the only way we can maintain our reputation. Some people have unreasonable expectations of both man and machine. Its important that we ensure those people seek out the competition for their services, because that generally hurts the competition more than it helps them.
One reason why we ship cars from all over North America to our facility and extend free removal and replacement of any reconstructed engine for free as an incentive for the cars to be shipped to us is so we can test them extensively on the road and on the chassis dyno. I typically drive any engine that we build 200 miles so we can carry out the first service, bore scope the cylinders, carry out lak down and compression tests and gather an oil sample. This way we treat the engine like it is guilty and it has to prove it's innocence before we ship the car home. This avoids occurrences of petty CEL illuminations, oil leaks, mechanical noises and other gripes that are always a reality after carrying out extensive repairs on any vehicle/ engine.
In the time we have worked with the M96 engine we have had to "warranty" one engine, which I feel is too many. To restore the engine we had to ship the car from Pennsylvania to Ga, completely disassemble the engine, replace many components and then reinstall it back into the vehicle. I then drove the car 400 miles to ensure the issue was resolved and then we shipped it home to Pennsylvania. Shipping cost us 1100 bucks round trip, the engine work cost us 13,000.00 and the customer didn't pay a singe dime. He was respectful, understanding and gracious and never found an attitude, pissed, moaned or complained. Because of that we did the right thing with no hassles and we exceeded his expectations for the whole project and the repair. The reality is anything thats mechanical can fail at any point and for absolutely no reason, people who don't understand that haven't lived a life surrounded by machines. Here is the note that the owner of that car submitted to us after his vehicle was repaired.
Ed seems to be a great guy with a real expectation of what this engine is. We took a few days to exchange information and now I feel that this engine will meet his expectations.
I don't see at all how $18k motor in $20K car would make sense.
10-12-2012, 11:16 AM
#52
Three Wheelin'
Thread Starter
Well said Jake. My decision to choose Flat 6 was not done in haste. My research had been underway for quite some time even before I had a motor issue. I cannot express to everyone here of how your professionalism and more importantly, your knowledge, has helped through my greiving process. You and Dean have been a breath of fresh air and I cant thank you enough. I am sure there are some great Porsche indy's near me but I know I made the right decision to call Flat 6 first and skip the runaround and unknowns.
Dean just called a few minutes ago and a shipper will be here Monday to haul my 995.5 to you to once again make it a 996. We plan to drive up to Helen when its done and stretch her legs down I-75 for the ride home...smiling all the way.
Thanks again Jake!!
Dean just called a few minutes ago and a shipper will be here Monday to haul my 995.5 to you to once again make it a 996. We plan to drive up to Helen when its done and stretch her legs down I-75 for the ride home...smiling all the way.
Thanks again Jake!!
10-12-2012, 03:00 PM
#55
Three Wheelin'
Thread Starter
As a Seinfeld afficiando, thanks for that. I needed a good chuckle today!
On another note of good news; Dean at Flat 6 arranged a shipper for me. We spec'd an open trailer since it really doesnt matter at this point if the car gets dirty. I was figuring it might take a week or two to get my car picked up. With all of the traffic of snowbirds heading south, a transport was available this Monday! The greater news is that they are getting me an enclosed transport for the open trailer price. 300 bucks to ship this thing. Steal!!
Another plus of working with Jake Raby is that he is able to get the customer the broker price on transport. That is a win for the customer and a customer service feather in the hat for Flat 6. These guys rock!
On another note of good news; Dean at Flat 6 arranged a shipper for me. We spec'd an open trailer since it really doesnt matter at this point if the car gets dirty. I was figuring it might take a week or two to get my car picked up. With all of the traffic of snowbirds heading south, a transport was available this Monday! The greater news is that they are getting me an enclosed transport for the open trailer price. 300 bucks to ship this thing. Steal!!
Another plus of working with Jake Raby is that he is able to get the customer the broker price on transport. That is a win for the customer and a customer service feather in the hat for Flat 6. These guys rock!
10-14-2012, 12:26 AM
#56
Drifting
Will pricing and performance info be released prior to the actual engine release? Will FSI taking in customer's engine for the Gen3 update/upgrade or is it being offered as a turn-key arrangement?
10-14-2012, 12:59 AM
#57
Former Vendor
We always build from the purchasers engine unless it is destroyed. That means we extract the engine and process it into a turnkey arrangement. This ensures that all responsibilities related to the engine and the application into the vehicle as well as testing is arrived out under our roof.
I'll include pricing in our next newsletter, these engines start at 22k.
I'll include pricing in our next newsletter, these engines start at 22k.
10-14-2012, 12:57 PM
#59
Pro
It sucks to HAVE to do it, but man why not mod up to 3.8 or drool 4.2L.
If you have a hot rodder in you, spending $20k on a $20-35k car is normal, hell my 1990 mustang, worth maybe 5k with a stock motor i spent $20k on performance mods. People do it all the time, there are plenty of $80-100k mustangs out there.
Here at least you are still driving a Porsche, and that means something. Heaven forbid if mine blows I would most certainly want a bigger, better motor not just a replacement otherwise it would feel like i spent all that cash just to have what i had before it blew.
If you have a hot rodder in you, spending $20k on a $20-35k car is normal, hell my 1990 mustang, worth maybe 5k with a stock motor i spent $20k on performance mods. People do it all the time, there are plenty of $80-100k mustangs out there.
Here at least you are still driving a Porsche, and that means something. Heaven forbid if mine blows I would most certainly want a bigger, better motor not just a replacement otherwise it would feel like i spent all that cash just to have what i had before it blew.
10-14-2012, 01:04 PM
#60
Three Wheelin'
Sorry to hear about the engine, but you made the right decision. You are going to be SOOOOO happy once you get it back, regardless of which displacement you pick.