1. if you have an emotional attachment to the car (not necessarily 'love' as JR describes) and money is not an issue, go JR rebuild and get in his queue if not...
2. and you still want to keep your 996, find a good low mile engine for 8-10k (they are definitely out there) and with the right one its likely that you will not have to spend any money 'refreshing' if compression and leak down is good. that leaves you with your core which is possibly worth a fair amount whole are in parts. with any kind of mechanical inclination and skill you can RnR the engine yourself in your own garage and save $$$. total cost maybe 6-12k depending upon how much you do yourself and how much you sell the core for.
3. if you prefer to cash out and buy something else and you have time and space and willingness, part the car out as diablo is doing. lots of work but you'll get more than 5k in roller money and most likely LEARN A TON about the car and how its put together for future reference and wrenching. if not then...
4. sell roller as is, collect your 5-6k and move onto something else
5. there's also the swaps but that puts your nearly into price range for #1 or finally
6. if you want to do tackle the ultimate 996 DIY project, try and rebuild the engine yourself.

 

Always a possibility, and this year, for the first time ever, I am offering an enthusiast level M96 Engine Rebuild Class. In the past its always mixed DIYr's with Pros, because I didn't have dedicated training space to host many classes per year. Thats all changed now as I have added the training facility.

 

Jake, as far as how to minimize ovality and tapering, what advice would you give to a 996 owner?

Frequent oil changes, low temp t-stat, spin-on adapter, avoid cold starts etc? Anything else?

thank you

 

Hi Jake, any chance of a class in SoCal this year? I missed the one in Costa Mesa last year.

 

No way to really avoid it. A low temp Tstat will help, but we can't make up for Porsche's compromise of cylinder strength at the flame ring (upper most portion of the cylinder) without machining away the old cylinder and replacing it with a more robust billet sleeve.

I am not traveling much for classes this year. With my new training facility done here, I'll be staying home a lot and having more classes than ever. We can finally have classes without impacting the regular schedule at the shop. The WTI M96 class may not be held this year, so we can move on to the 9a1 engine classes, which I have already instructed a few times last year.

The WTI schedule comes out next month, so we'll see then. I have added the "M96 101" two day class to my class offerings this year, so even if WTI doesn't offer the class, we'll have a more in depth version here.

 

Hi Jake, when I understand you always stress the ovality and taper issues, I wonder how does it impact the user. Is it a performance issue or a catastrophic issue? We see lots of the 3.6 engines last 100k+ with the stock setup with no issues, that also means the ovality and taper issues do not create catastrophic issues like the IMSB.

I totally understand you won't take the chance to reuse the cylinders because your reputation is on the line. However, for a regular user/DIY'er, is it true that one can reuse the cylinders (but use new rings) despite its natural deformation and just accept the inherent non-catastrophic short coming? Or the new rings will not seal or somehow make this inherent weakness worse? Just trying to understand more and your feedback is very much appreciated.

 

^THIS if you have some expensive parts on your car. Here are some of my numbers if it helps any:

Cost of parts to return my car back to stock: $6,000
- This includes my shipping & packaging costs (using FedEx door to door service), minor paint work, eBay fees for a few items, and some other maintenance items like coolant, tools, etc.
- I didn't buy any "junk" parts," everything looks like they belong on a low mileage car
- Keep in mind that I had a lot of stuff to buy (almost the whole interior, entire emissions system, entire suspension) but still managed to make it cost effective

Income from parting out the car: $16,000
- Almost all of my parts sold within a few days of listing them; to Rennlist members I might add.
- The only item left is the roll bar - it'll sell but I just need to find the right buyer
- I did all of the work myself. These cars are EASY to work on. In my case, I already knew my way around so most of the parts came off/on in a snap.

Looking back I'm not sure if dumping $6,000 back into the car was worth it. If I sold the engine and tranny I probably could've brought in close to $20,000 and then sent the rest of the car to the scrap heap. On the bright side I'm left with a low mileage and 100% stock car that still runs and drives just fine; so perhaps the money spent was worth it.....

It looks like you have some decent parts on your car. Don't discount stuff like your aero kit, wheels, exhaust, etc. Those parts are pretty expensive on the used market and they will sell pretty quickly. If you have garage space (I didn't) that makes it even better. I'm thinking you could bring in $10,000+ depending on what parts you have.

 

Interesting thread about a DC area garage rebuild of an M96.

http://www.dorkiphus.net/porsche/showthread.php?t=33667

 

Yeah, I read it the other day. The engine has 187k miles on it!

Basically they just replaced the main bearings and rod bearings and reused the pistons, rings, rods, and rod bolts. Curious to see if they have any issues after the rebuild. I guess with "free" labor, they have nothing much to loose.

 

I would like to offer my position on why the original OP mentions that Jake seems brusque to some people. I acknowledge that the OP is not saying that. He has seen others be snippy after Jake's posts. Jake is one of the very few posters that presents answers based on actual and accurate data. He can get right down to business and doesn't have to begin with a setup like "Maybe" or end with "IMHO". I had a phone call with him about five years ago on what "could" happen to my car and he was very polite instead of saying, "call me when you have a problem". As the OP says, Jake is the gold standard and we are lucky to have a man of his stature in the business offer solutions on this forum. He doesn't have to do it but he does because he's a giver. IMHO. :-)

 

I too appreciate Jakes help.
I think of him as a drill sergeant. He isn't really trying to kill you, he's actually trying to save you from dying without having a chance to fight back first.

 

My 2 pennies. Jake's motor in my 996 sold my car.

 

Probably because the buyer had looked everywhere and couldn't find another Raby powered car for sale! They never sell!

 

Sorry for the delay in answering. During the week, I don't usually have much time to spend on the internet.

This is a really good perspective and definitely one that I'll consider if I can't work something out with Jake. It would definitely be a test of my patience, but I'm definitely a believer that if I'm going to go through the process to get this car back on the road, I'm going to do it right. It's an opportunity for the car to be even better than before!

 

Someday, when I retire (still 25+ yrs away), I'm going to build a house with a garage specifically for this purpose. In the meantime, I barely have time to respond to posts on this forum, let alone take on a DIY project like that!