fastb4ck

That's the route I'd go if if something happened to my stock motor, either that or somehow find a way to put the audi 2.5L 5cyl in it.

gutenfreibier

There is a guy out there who has done a turbo k20 swap into a 997. I think it sounds like a great idea, and would love to see more of them. The LS swap is hard to argue though, and is well documented / kits exist.

If you do a swap, your resale value theoretically takes a dive. Many enthusiasts wouldn't consider a frankenstein car, although some would think it's really neat. So if you go that route, think about what else you may need to do in order to make it a "forever" car for yourself. Upgrading suspension, brakes, "while you're in there", etc all will add up. Having the dash function like oem, with ac, etc would be a non negotiable for me, and apparently can be complicated.

The engine in my 1st 997 grenaded itself, and I sold the car as a roller. I will say I very much regret this decision. I should have just had an FSI 4.0 motor built, or done the LS swap you are considering. Either option would be very fun and fast. That said, I'm a pretty big fan of the 997 cars, despite the current predicament of the cost of an engine exceeding the value of the vehicle in many cases. Heck, the engine in my car now is not the original one either!

eclou

The LS swap was the best thing I ever did for my 951 track car. The main issue of the LS motors is high G left hand turns on track can lead to oil starvation. There are numerous tricks to circumvent including special baffles and windage trays, drilling the lifter buckets, adding an accusump, and starting with the LS6 as the core engine.

ATX_Native

In all fairness there is no secret the small bearing cars have a 8% fail rate and the IMS Solution or an upgraded bearing would have saved you a whole lot of headache here.

Yes, it sucks that there was a design flaw. I really feel sorry for the folks that had uncovered failures before this issue was known.

However these days just a little bit of education on a make/models weak points can save you big $$.

Audi, Porsche, BMW… they all have known issues depending on the make/model or engine. You just have to weigh wether to proactively fix them or roll the die.

As another poster mentioned, K-Swap, Audi 2.5 or LS swap and never have to worry about the IMS bearing again.

Bomba

I'm a big fan of Chavis. Tyler helped me out with a wiring harness that I needed for my ducktail install.

He's really stepped it up with his own wiring harnesses and has the LS conversion thing down to almost plug & play. I even think he has the GM ECU working with the 997 warning indicators. Not sure if he finally did it, but that would mean no CEL with the LS engine.

He's developing quite a following on social media.

jamesinger

The Audi idea is so cool. I would love to see that. I also really want to see the 4cyl. flat 4 from a 718 in there or even an STi swap over a K swap.
I would either go 4.0 on my stock motor, or if it wasn't salvageable:
https://www.thedrive.com/news/make-y...ry-audi-engine
as mentioned above.

997_flo

Following!

DesmoSD

I'd do a K24 turbo instead. Keep it lightweight, boosted, reliable and cheap.

Edcantera

I personally love the idea of a k swap. I did some research a while back and I don’t think that there was a kit available but there might be one now.

ArmorDude

So I ended up dumping my 997S for about 1/3 of what it was worth. I couldn't do the LS or any engine swap really since it's tiptronic, and I got cold feet that if I did do a rebuild, something else would pop up. So I got rid of it.

I don't know the exact details, but I'm told that this was not an IMS issue since I had the M97 engine - it was a crankshaft bearing failure. I assume that the two are related somehow, but I gave up trying to figure out how.

I bought a Lexus RC350 that drives a lot better than my 997S did. And if something happens, Lexus will stand behind their product. 62K miles is nothing for them. For early 2000 Porsches that seems like a big achievement!

I've been a huge Porsche fan for over 3 decades. They probably don't care, but they've lost a huge fan and I hope that they lose every endurance event from now on! Yeah, I'm sour, but they could have at least gotten back to me and said "yeah, that sucks" instead of "we're not going to help." F U PCNA!

Oh well, I'm burning my Porsche flags and Porsche legos later today.

Good luck everyone!

Graufuchs

Burning plastics are bad for environment , send me your Porsche stuff. I will gladly take all your Porsche paraphernalia.

ATX_Native

lol at the profile picture change.
Enjoy your RC350, it’s def a nice luxury car.

ArmorDude

Yeah, but that wouldn't be as enjoyable!

aasilvia

Sloss (Nick) is the rennlist guy that did the K24 swap. Looks like he covered the process extensively here

https://rennlist.com/forums/rennlist...y-porsche.html

anyway, i'm sure armordude has moved on but for the rest of us something to think about. I actually just messaged Nick minutes ago and he responded quick. call this an inside scoop, but he's pretty close to putting a kit together to sell! I'm a porsche fanboy like anyone else, but unless there's a more viable cost effective alternative to our IMS Borescore grenading engines, I think this will become the Plan B of any 997 owner. Who knows may be this will finally get the attention of Porsche NA or Gmbh. I mean imagine the PR nightmare that could get created here if an entire generation of 911 were to have honda engines. oh wait a sec, 996 already get LS swaps, never mind....

Graufuchs

LOL I understand! If you change your mind let me know.

Enjoy the Lexus!!