Partial motor rebuild 3.2, lets talk upgrades

[mrrolleyes]

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.

[Arlo911]

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 $.

[Trackrash]

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.....

[Neil Harvey]

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

[cmcfaul]

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

[Luke M]

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..