find a 3.0 to rebuild or rebuild present
 

I have a 83SC that is daily driven as much as possible. It runs good no oil or air leaks. However, I have always wanted to try to tackle rebuilding what I see as a very enigmatic engine to me (b/c all my experience is w/ the domest cast iron V8) the Porsche flat 6. I am not interested in the electrical mods needed to bump my SC up to a 3.2C so I will be going with a 3.0 CIS. I have read the books and cruised this kick ass BBS a bit. My issue now is rebuild the 3.0 I already have or buy one in worse shape and go with that one. Pluses as I see it are; since I love to drive my SC and am not afraid to drive in any kind of weather or what-not I don't think I would like having my car disabled during this job. However, I am not made of money and if it is going to cost lots more for me to buy a 3.0 someplace then I will have to go with the 3.0 presently in my SC. If I rebuilt a purchased 3.0 then after putting it in my car I would then either (depending how the first job went) rebuild the one in the car and sell it or just sell it stock. Anyone else faced this dilemma?

A decent rebuildable 3.0 is going to be a few grand plus the rebuild costs.

I thought so but I also thought that I could get that $ back when I sold mine and with the $ saved by doing the work myeslf I might get as close to breaking even in life as possible

It was a tossup between a warmed over 3.6 or a pimped out 3.0. We went with an over the top 3.0 base and ended up with a 3.3 itb/efi new tranny and other goodies.

If you want to keep driving the car and are able to buy another 3.0 to build go that route. If not I strongly suggest GETTING EVERYTHING YOU NEED before you even think of dropping the motor in the car to build it. Also line up time with a machine shop asap to ensure you get things back when you need them. You wouldnt imagine the amount of time wasted on running around getting misc. stuff for a motor. If you plan on keeping cis and your exhaust you can buy a longblock and go from there and reuse what you have in the car already.

The only thing I would like to point out is although you might buy a core 3.0 you cant be totally sure of the condition of the internals until you have it torn apart. You might need to replace some things that might be good in the motor you have already. Its really a crapshoot but just a heads up.

Cheers

I'm not totally against the idea, just pointing out. There was a 3.0 from a flood car on ebay. The auction ended yesterday and it didn't sell. German Auto Dismantlers in GA I think had it up but their reserve was more than the $1400 - 1500 that the final bid was for. The engine came from a flood car, Katrina I suppose.

Thanks for the tips. One thing I should mention is that I suck at anything starting with the prefix pre (prepare, preemption, preparation). I just want to start taking stuff apart. Sine this is slated as a winter project at least started looking into this with at least something close to the amount of time needed. My best bet b/c of my inexperience is probably going to be buying a 3.0 from a junker or a flood car and starting from there. That way I have as much time as I need w/o having a car I cant drive or even more around to get my mower, motorcycle, etc.. shifted around easily. Plus you know I am going to make all the rookie errors of bolt breaking, stripping etc... Hell this thing could take me 6 months??? Thanks guys and you better believe I will be back

Another thought on this is to use the time that you current engine is out of the car to clean the engine comparment and take care of the little things that get neglected over time in the ass end of the car. Warning, its a slippery slope. I did this with my 78 a couple of years ago and it was difficult to stop the spending and added a few grand to the total cost. My rebuild lasted 8 weeks but that was the arraingement I had made with the shop. I'm sure if you had all the parts on hand and time booked with a machine shop you would be in and out in a 7 to 10 days.

Mysterytrain since it sounds like you had your work done at a shop do you mind my asking what the cost was and do you get a warrenty from a shop?

Henry Schmidt at Supertec rebuilt mine. He gave me a 2-year unlimited mileage warranty and a reasonable price. he did a great job. He posts here on the engine rebuild thread. If you do a search you will be able to see pictures of some of his work. Call him up and tell him what you want and he will give you a quote. His website is: http://www.supertecperformance.com/