Gator996

Jake and I are in contact several times a day via phone, email and text. We thought it might be good for other 'listers to walk along with a Porsche owner in distress and a guru mechanic. I know others have gone through a failure and surely others will in the future. Everyone will be as surprised as I was when Jake called this morning with the diagnosis.

Flat6 Innovations

Ed originally contacted me on my forums. He, myself and Dean have had a lot of communication; he is the one that decided to post this thread here. (I knew that some vendor hater would arrive in the thread at some point- let me guess, you think Gator is a shill and not even a real person? The conspiracy theorist here amaze me.)

Here is a quick video I made of the car and the situation that I posted on our facebook page at this link:

https://www.facebook.com/fixabrokensix

We have to do more invasive evaluation prior to giving Gator his options for how to proceed with proactive procedures. This includes the compression checks, leak down tests, bore scope cylinder inspections, oil sump inspection and a dyno run to see how it rates power wise with all the other 996s in its same mileage point that we have worked with. If the engine has other issues its not worth updating the IMS and other items as part of a deluxe preventive package. At the same time there is no use to just swap this engine out and spend Gator's money on something that he doesn't really need.

Gator will have a lot of choices and options now; previously he only had one. Gator is a good guy with a super clean higher mileage car. Keep up with our progress on our facebook page; now that the vendor haters have arrived its time that I leave this thread.

ZX9RCAM

Color me impressed!

Gonzo911

Not a vendor hater. Not a conspiracy theorist. Just thought it was interesting.

Jake, from the support you receive here on RL, you clearly know what you are talking about when it comes to the failures on the 996 and the repair/replacements as needed. I also think you are excellent at marketing your company. Please take this as a compliment.

C four S

d a r n .....can't see....no facebook account

bornrich

Wow! What a nice surprise. I hope all the other checks go well and Gator gets his ride back soon.

Flat6 Innovations

We don't market other than FB and the website.. No banner ads, no huge magazine ads, no sponsorships. Our works does all the marketing that we need to stay months backlogged year round.

I used to like forum interchange, but not so much these days. People have changed.

Oldskewl

Wow..

Its stuff like this were the internet does not come in handy for answers..

Fear mongers at work.

Any other car has this issue, self destruction would never be the first thought before not even spending 5 min looking at the motor to see what indeed failed.

ZX9RCAM

I don't do FB & I was able to watch it.....

Gonzo911

Sorry Jake, I did not mean to offend. But just to see another side, in my simple observation, Gator's car siezed. He immediately thinks the engine is toast (because of all the IMS, etc threads on these sites). Immediately calls you. Ships the car. Finds out its just an ------- (don't want to spoil your video).

All he had to do was take it to his shop. Maybe they would have found what you found.

By marketing, I am actually talking about how you generally let little things slip in your posts, especially when talking about (and I am paraphrasing) how the non believers should see all the cars in your shop and then they would know how real these failures are....yet you have the time to surf RL like the rest of us.

IMHO, I believe you are an excellent mechanic who knows how to promote his business. It certainly worked with Gator (who I am very happy for by the way).

I am likely the same as everyone else here. We just hope we never need you.

Flat6 Innovations

I understand.

As far as time to surf RL, I'll say this. My work doesn't occur during normal hours and I often will not be finished with my tasks until midnight, or I'll have my *** at the shop by 0500 other days (after an hour commute) to do what is required.

There is no where within my facility that a computer isn't within 20' feet of where I'll be found at any time of the day. Doing what I do means that we have down time and I use that efficiently. Honestly today I should be down stairs tearing down a Cayenne R&D engine for our next stage of development; but I find myself assisting Dean with the management of cars at our facility from 18 states.

Development work is my thing.

Gator996

I certainly see your points Gonzo and can't disagree. Did I panic when I couldn't turn the crank? Hell yes. We have all read the horror stories of IMS failure or other issues with the M96.

So, I had a few choices. Take it to an indie and hope it was a simple issue. Worst case, it was toast and I would ship it to Jake anyhow. Lots of time and money wasted on the indie. Nobody but Flat 6 will rebuild my motor. I lucked out this time and its in the ideal place for some needed repairs.

I needed to have my RMS replaced anyhow and my local dealer had the ***** to quote me 7k for RMS and two cam cover seals. Thanks but, no.

For $300 in transport costs I can have not only the needed repairs done at a very fair hourly rate but also a dyno, bore scope etc. I would have paid $200 to have it towed to an indie since I live in the middle of nowhere.

All in all, I win and Jake wins by forming a new customer relationship.

ZX9RCAM

Is that $300.00 round trip or one way?

Flat6 Innovations

300.00 one way.. Thats a steal enclosed! We just shipped a 996 from Fresno Ca to our facility in Ga for 800.00 which is also a steal.. Both movers have 99% ratings on central dispatch.

This situation with Gator is backward from what we normally experience. Typically the owner takes the car to an Indy shop that gets in way over their head after the car is taken apart..Then its shipped to us in a box and we have to deal with lost parts.

JMLavoie

I don't do Facebook either and was able to see it as well.

Jake;
I assume you are selling/passing on this LN/F6 IMS techno all over NAmerica. Any shop you would recommend performing an IMS'ectomy in the Vancouver/Vanc. Island area of BC?
Good on you folks for making Ed's day, but also for raising hope to the non-turbo 996 community at large. Salut!
Martin