Partial motor rebuild 3.2, lets talk upgrades
 

Because speculating and day dreaming is fun!

Motor is a 86 3.2 with about 93k on it. SSI, Wong, Patrick LTV Flywheel and clutch. Bone dry no leaks in site. I dont have much history on the motor and put about 2k on it since It was swapped into my car.

After the swap I had a blue smoke issue along with other fun problems that were ironed out.

Fast forward to today. Major blue smoke is back. I’ll do a compression test this weekend and I have a leak down scheduled for next week.

I believe it’s the rings. Allowing oil to blow thru the motor.

So partial rebuild. Since the case is dry I probably won’t split the case. But do everything outside of it.

So how far do I upgrade without going crazy, gain power and not over build it so it doesn’t make sense?

I would like to retain the factory intake and ecu and have the Wong chip redone after. Anything beyond that becomes another 5k + a tuner. 

Cams, P&P Heads, Pistons, P&P factory intake manifold?

Obviously this can always spiral out of control but I would like to do a reasonable upgrade without going down a rabbit hole.

Not a lot more work to split the case and change your bearings for peace of mind. That way you can install stronger rod bolts so you can spin the 3.2 a bit higher. Add good cams. It's a slippery slope but I wouldn't stray too much from OEM, but hey, that's just my opinion.
On a 3.2 the smoke could be from bad valveguides, I think it's a known issue on them.
If you can keep your budget in check, think about adding short gear ratios or a shorter final drive, most fun per $.

Bruce Anderson's "Porsche 911 Performance Handbook" has a nice section on the 3.2 including a good example of improvements with out opening the motor.

That said, I have seen a couple of guys with just an exhaust and chip upgrade looking very quick.

Gear ratios could make it next level.....

My advice is to rule out anything outside of the engine causing the blue smoke, first.

Don't think there is any HP to be found in a 3.2 through internal upgrades. I would do the rod bolts. Other options are increased displacement (3.4) or a turbo.

Chris
89 Carrera

I'm currently going through this on my 3.2 to 3.4 build. I went into the lower end just for piece of mind. All of my bearings looked great but still replaced them all. I did swap out the rod bolts with some raceware bolts. It's not a cheap build but I want to play so I gotta pay..