Q&A

He guys,

I am seriously thinking of making the step from street GT3 to a Cup car. Have been competing with my street car in a couple of races and want to drive safer, and faster. Have a chance to buy a 2006 997 Cup for a fair price. Re shelled in 2010 with lots of new parts. No damage and very little use afterwards. Car comes with a throttle blipper which makes me overcome my initial fear for the sequential revision costs due to me learning to properly use it. Got a nice offer for my 996 GT3 and are almost ready to jump. But new in Cup country so wanted to start with a couple of questions.

Got the attached spec sheet from the very friendly seller. To me this all looks pretty fresh. 6 hours running time after top end rebuild and gearbox rebuild. Logs are from 2010 onwards as you can see. But maybe one of you can have a look at these specs too.

First question i have is about the engine bottom end with now 26.6 hours after previous overhaul: If i am correctly informed, the top end should be checked and overhauled somewhere between 50 and 70 hours or so depending on how i use it. But what's the advice on running hours before service for the bottom end ?

Second i want to do a read-out on the cars ECU. Is that possible and what data should i look out for ?
Can this be done with a regular Piwis Tester or would i need special software for a cup car ?

I am sure i will have some more questions coming. Hope that's ok with you guys.

Attached the spec sheet. Questions would be if this looks like a fresh engine/gearbox to you guys.

Thanks a lot

MariusRacer

You need a special bosh cable to read out the ecu as far as I know. But any reputable shop has one.

J richard

So it needed a top end in 20 hrs.... Over rev? Was it a PMNA top end? I'd check that out just a bit more as a hard over rev is a case for a complete tear down...

Q&A

Car had a severe accident in 2010 and got a complete re-shell and new build up of of more then 80K (according to the seller) Guess it was not just only bodywork damage back then and also engine work. In the spare package are 2 cylinder heads.

Q&A

is it correct that a sequential gearbox overhaul goes into the 15.000 USD range ?
How many running hours if all goes smooth ? 45 ?
If this is the case, i might have the only reason to not do it unfortunately

mooty

based on my research tranny on avg is 15000 each refresh, could b a bit more or less.

if ur smooth, I have seen gearbox with 65 ours. but I wouldn't risk anything more.

MariusRacer

i have seen gearboxes with close to 100 hours in club use without problem.

analogmike

Maybe when new. After a rebuild I'm lucky to get 20 hours, even WITH a blipper... and I don't grind gears.

Moral : don't rebuild

Q&A

Thanks Guys. Have decided to go for a 996 Cup.
Simply don't have the potential gearbox rebuild costs available when i would buy a 997 Cup.

PedroNole

The 996 Cup is a great, bullet-proof car. That said, I know I'm in the minority but I think the 997 gearbox has come a LONG way from the days of the mysterious blow-ups, really expensive rebuilds, etc.

My last one was done at 67 hours (not due to failure just due to wanting to check it out) and it cost me $8k. Now, at the time, it pissed me off because I was told that, "it looked like I was babying it." Ok, so why the $8k???? Anyway, it was $8k and I should get another 60 or more hours out of it.

Nizer

To add to Peter's comments, bear in mind that 996 Cup replacement parts are getting harder and more expensive to find.