Good grief. The drama and histrionics in this thread is so overblown (pardon the pun) that some of you should be on Jerry Springer.

The M96 engine in it's factory form - is a perfectly reliable and capable track car. I do 6 to 8 track events a YEAR. On average there are 50 cars - of which 40 are M96 derived engine cars - and when I talk to the other drivers most of them are stock - as is mine. We drive these things for 5 hours or so flat out.

In the 3 years I've been doing it - about 20 events in total - I'VE NEVER HEARD OF AN ENGINE BLOWING UP DUE TO OIL STARVATION. I have seen people blow an AOS, blow a coolant hose - both of which shuts down the track for an hour or so while they clean the crap up.

SH*T HAPPENS and I'm sorry your car blew up on you Slicer and we'll never NEVER know if this would have been avoided if the car was kept stock, or the modification was done properly. SO the only conclusion I can come to is that the improper modification contributed to oil starvation.

As for the rest of you that are scared to track this car - your loss.

 

I had the LN low temp thermostat installed in my 3.4L 996. There cars run hotter than the 3.6s and this modest upgrade made a huge difference in both street and track use.
Highly recommended

 

Bottom line about the OP's car problem.

1. He bought an improperly modded abused car.

2. It blew up while on race track, starved for oil because of said modification / prior abuse.

3. He blames and hates the 996 now.

4. This makes no f#$@%ing sense.

 

/Thread

 

This is interesting reading.

part 4 and part 5
http://www.hartech.org/buyers.html

 

Ah, but Porsche was sneaky - when the 996/M96 engine came out they called the new system: "Integrated Dry Sump", I still don't know what that means. Certainly doesn't perform like a dry sump.

 

It means "High volume, wet sump" in my terms.

 

I always assumed that the "dry" part was simply that the cam lobes are not exposed to the sump, as the oil takeup area is isolated. Wet, they are, dry, it is pumped only. Integrated just means isolated, but still part of the main casting. Not sneaky IMHO, but as you said, the only real benefit to the 996 dry sump, is less susceptibility to splash frothing from the cams. The X51 oil system should have been standard. No one would be having this conversation if it was.

 

That's a fairly standard design though, even the oil pump in ferrari v12s (ie enzo etc) use a chain and a shaft that's not keyed. Same thing for Audi V8s etc.

 

jumper,

The Hartech link was very good - thank you!

 

Slicer, I commend you for keeping your cool while under fire. Certainly not fair to you, especially when you are just trying help others avoid the same fate. I suffered an IMS failure on my engine and I cannot tell you how many times I have been told to “beat it” when recommending the LN upgrade to other M96 owners.

I find it amusing that there are countless posts on this 996 forum noting some form of catastrophic failure, and in nearly everyone of these “failure” posts you will find replies arguing how reliable these engines are. I completely and totally understand that you can find a “blown engine” post on every auto site out there, but it really is a shame that the 996 forum appears to trump them all. Numerous catastrophe posts and a 6-8 month wait at Flat 6, this is where the 996 forum does differ from the other (non M96/M97) forums. It just seems to pop up far too often and it is very frustrating as a 996 owner.

Curious, were you on the Big Willow Springs track or the Streets of Willow?

 

I love this clip, get ready to turn the sound up, it amazes me the angles they require to simulate the forces generated on the fluids of an engine....
imagine hot oil sloshing around in this baby.

 

I am on OP side. If for no other reason than I frequent this website. I recently bought a 2001 996 and it is my daily driver; I find myself checking for oil leaks, coolant leaks, and the sound of marbles everyday. I don't know many other vehicles that have this many CATASTROPHIC problems (Chrysler 300 maybe?). I wouldnt care if the crate engines were 7-8K, but now that they are 12-15K that's just crazy talk.

 

There is no "side" to this. The OP lost his engine tracking the car. The engine part that is most famous for being failure prone wasn't even involved in this incident. I think people would find this kind of conversation more productive if it was case specific rather than tossing it on to some kind of bandwagon whether it belongs on it or not.

 

Thank you for your support!