Some questions from a Boxster man...

[insite]

well, i can't find much info on deep engine work to the new water cooled beasts (except of course GT3's and such).

i'm not new to building motors, but i've never built a porsche motor. judging by the photographs, it's not quite the same as building a Toyota.

Anyway, first things first. I am one of the lucky few who is pushing 100,000 miles with NO RMS leaks. i'm about to do a clutch, and in ANY OTHER car, i'd do the RMS at the same time. i have been advised not to touch the RMS if it is not leaking. personally, i think this is BS, since the RMS leaks are caused by creep in either the case or crank, causing a non-concentric condidtion. i figure if my car doesn't have this condition, a new seal will be fine. any thoughts?

second: since i do have 100K on the odo (even though the car is still strong), i anticipate a rebuild in the next couple of years. likely, i'll step up to a 3.6 from a 996, but who knows. since it will already be out of the car, i'll likely want it rebuilt.

if i'm mechanically savy (was a mechanic through high school / college, got an ME degree, worked formula SAE, work designing fighter jets), is this rebuild something i should tackle myself, or would that be a huge mistake given my lack of P-Car motor experience? thanks for your help.

[Porschekid962]

I remember a post from a while back about someone rebuilding a 996 engine. I think the cost in tools alone was staggering enough to put people off on this task. I know some people are tackling this because last stop at my machinist he showed me a 996 case and heads showing the cracking and cracked cylinder bores and the cracks in the heads. He is building a sleeve kit for the case but doesnt know how to fix the heads yet. It isnt a simple task at all and compared to building an air cooled motor its much more involved and time consuming. I could not find the thread I refer to but its titled something like 996 build or want to see a water cooled motor. Maybe someone who knows will chime in.

I think your best bet if you want more power and dont want to take on the rebuild is swap in another motor. cheers

[insite]

wow. it would be hard for me to swap in a motor with any miles on it. if i had a 996 motor, i'd feel COMPELLED to rebuild it. i've read the rebuild procedures in the shop manual. you're not kidding about the tools. good lord.

any ideas on whether to replace my RMS when i do my clutch? it is currently NOT leaking.

[JP911]

There were posts in the 911 tech forum a while back about buying 996 crate motors for fairly reasonable prices. I also remember reading that dealers do not open failed/seriously troubled 996 engines, but rather send them back to the factory and install a new (factory rebuilt?) motor in the car.

[ChrisBennet]

Pasha did a teardown of a 996 in Excellence a while ago and Porsche Phd posted about rebuilding a GT3 motor (water cooled but a different animal in many ways). At $8K for new motor from Porsche it doesn't make much sense to rebuild the newer motors.
-Chris

[insite]

$8K from Porsche? if that's the case, forget the teardown......

[MBEngineering]

HI i have a set of boxter manuals if you do require any info, i have had inquires to strip the engine but the tooling is through the roof and the exchange engine is cheeper, the only people i know who strip the engine to mod' the intergear shaft is AUTOFARM look at www.autofarm.co.uk if you do req' any info PM me with a shipping ADD and i will post. good luck with the clutch, you will need it

regards mike

[David]

I'd call Stephen at Imagine Auto, he's done tons of these and is pretty easy to talk to. I'd trust his opinion on whether or not it's a good idea to replace the RMS.

[insite]

thanks. and why will i need luck with the clutch? it looks really straight forward to me. is there something i'm missing?