audipwr1

So thinking of doing a year or two of DE and taking a break from racing.

One idea is to grab a high mile 997.1 GT3 for the track. Other is a 996 GT3 or GT4

Add good suspension bits, LSD, and go.

What is a smart course of action for refresh on high mile motors? I am looking at cars with 60k+ miles

Assume some components should be refreshed?

Tom@TPC Racing

It depends on the previous usage of the motor. If it was all street miles, or mostly street then you might not need to do anything other than securing the cooling pipe fittings and proactively replacing water pump. I know folks who turned 80K-mile street cars to stock-class race cars who ran the engine as is and put the money into safety equipment and suspension. I'd budget for a full rebuild but decide after teardown and eval as to whether it just needs a top end refresh, or top end + rings + rod bearings, or full rebuild.

Could even skip the teardown if the leakdown test and dyno numbers look good...
Having a some level of refreshing does add value to the car for resale.

Spyerx

+1 w Tom.

Matt are the cars you're looking at heavily tracked? My car has a fair bit of time on it and I did a leak compression on it a few months back and it came back with less than 1% leak on all cylinders and consistent compression. I do religious oil tests every other change and there are no oddities at all in my samples.

I'd focus on:
Safety
Chassis components - all monoball, new bearings, etc
Braking
LSD
Ensure good shifting
Pinned welded lines
And do the leak down and just drive it.

These motors are stout. Especially the 3.6 variants.

Personally I'd do a 997.1 over a gt4 or 996.

audipwr1

I'd likely never sell it, basically add safety and suspension and go

Guess I'll do leak down and compression

Couple cars look to be just street driven not tons of track

k3v7n

Does a high-mileage .1 GT3 even exist? Most appear to be garage queens.

F1CrazyDriver

This should be a fun project.

Spyerx

It'll be like this forum circa 2009 when people drive
The cars.

And yes. There are several 997 variants here with miles. I've 45, buddy has over 50 with tons of track time, another has mid 40s wth life track time than I do.

NONE has had an engine or transmission mechanical issue. Ok we all needed clutches!!

F1CrazyDriver

i'm at 39.500k , ~ 10 track days - no clutch replacement, yet - knock on wood !
Mostly DD / Canyons / Road trips ( 2 times Yosemite / 1 Tahoe / PCH to Portland / PCH Redding / PCH to SLO / PCH SB. )

Runner

40k miles will soon become the norm. High mileage is 65 to 70.

jaundice

My 997.2 GT3 has 54500 miles and many track days. In great shape with absolutely no issues.

bmwtye

And running strong with no issues

zaitsev

I'm approaching 55k miles.. I definitely think it's time to change the stereo After unknown number of track days, and spirited canyon carving runs, the right side door speaker finally called it quits. Replacing the seat belts in red color did nothing to fix the speaker. Replacing stock coilovers with Ohlins wasn't really necessary, but it was the car's birthday... and I can't come empty handed.

Bottom line.. .1s are awesome and everyone should drive the hell out of them. Money can be invested/made elsewhere

orthofrancis

59K miles here with a few HPDE and and 4 AX and lots of canyon runs. It's my DD - the things a tank. Only blew a water hose, but it's now pinned. Burns no oil

I just started tracking it during the last 2 years, and am addicted - it will slowly morph into a track only car.

997rs4.0

Great idea,

A well set up 997.1gt3 or 996gt3 is a great place to be doing DEs. So many gt4s to play with.

The typical list still applies

*pinning
*diff
*suspension
*safety (Cage, seats)

But, we all know it never ends with that.

r6elmo

i talked to a 997.1 owner at one of mooty's days and he had a cup engine in his car. He said his original motor had 50K-ish miles on it and the rod bearings went and took most of the motor with it. he said the 50K miles were mostly track miles.

so sounds like these motors are pretty reliable.