Arleigh Taylor

So not so great news. After 2 track days at Thunderhill Raceway getting ALLOT of blue smoke on the drivers side of the engine. Haven't put a camera into the cylinder yet but it looks like it's either a valve guide or Rings / Cylinder scoring.

I'm located in the SF Bay Area and looking for recommendations of a shop that is known to do quality rebuilds on 996 Turbo engines.

I've had my 996 for 3 years and have done a ton of upgrades and maintenance on it so I would to keep it if possible.

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

Dock

Last year you posted that your Turbo was using a quart of oil every 2-300 miles. Did you ever get that resolved?

theprf

A bad turbo can leave quite a smokescreen.

Bernard IV

Have someone look at it first. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the turbo also.

Arleigh Taylor

Hi Bernard,

Yes we checked out the Turbo throughly and there was no oil leading into or coming from the turbo. The turbos were from Shark Werks so we redid the ECM to decrease the boost back closer to stock and that reduced oil consumption by more then half.

I did 2 track days last year and everything was great. This year I've done 3 but noticed that after driving 100 miles on the freeway to the track that my car was smoking quite a bit when I pulled off the freeway at Willows and was waiting at a stop sign. It never did that before. Only smoked on start up and then only some of the time.

After the 2 days at Willows the smoke was worse and more often. I went to a local Porsche repair shop that I trust and they even put in a oil catch on the turbo and got nothing. The hoses into and out of the turbo showed zero oil.

We could spend more $'s investigating but they are 99% sure it's not the Turbo. Also they do NOT rebuild Metzger engines so there isn't any benefit for them to blame the valves or the cylinder as they won't do that work. In fact it's a detriment as if I keep taking the car to the track they keep getting to work on it. The car has about 72K and is great condition other then the engine. It's setup more for track then daily driving but the paint and interior are quite good. I don't want to let it go but I also don't want to spend the value of the car on a new engine. So trying to figure out next steps.

Bernard IV

I see. It could be a ring or valve issue then unfortunately. Not sure about a shop locally but if you can get it out of the car with everything removed you can send it off. Not too many shops do them because of the whole cam timing tools thing and the mega liability of working on something this expensive. I built my own and the labor was... extensive.

Iridium

Jerry Woods down in san jose? Perhaps too "normal" to make their cut but they do/did the builds for Porsche and all the weird stuff (917/30).

nbressette

I had Chris Cervelli in CO do mine. And before you say you want someone local, I promise you the inexpensive transport to CO saved me money in the long run and was a miniscule number compared to the cost to rebuild a Mezger engine.

Chris built me a monster of a 3.8L and rebuilt my trans for less than other were quoting for just the engine. Stand up dude and an amazing shop.

2fcknfst

I would do some oil analysis first to define if the internals are shedding metal...

I recall someone telling me that a buggered valve on a turbo return could also cause smoking.

Then perhaps a leak down/compression test.

And then, what Nathan suggests above - that fellow Chris has made some pretty impressive motors, a couple of which post here.

theprf

I would do, as a minimum, a leak down and a compression test before condemning ANY engine.

2fcknfst

I would be curious to know what it would cost to say move up to say a 3.8

From Powdrhounds comments, moving to a 4.0 is a more involved build.

Bernard IV

The cost would increase for new pistons and liners. I think the CP piston and liner kit is $5,000. I believe you would need a different crank to get to a 4.0.

2fcknfst

Yes, John had mentioned there was 'machining' to fit everything together for a 4.0, I am not sure if that was the crank, or to clear longer rods, or both.

$5k seems, 'reasonable'...

nbressette

my cylinders had rub marks on the from bent rods. The cost of a new set of 3.6 pistons and cylinders was within 10% of what the 3.8 kit was because they made so many 3.8 engines.

2fcknfst

That makes sense. I suspect, still spendy though...