Look at it this way: It's a whole lot cheaper (and more fun!) than years of psychotherapy.

:D

word, and the therapy only messed me up more and more
now i'm in touch with my inner petrolhead self, and I have the Porsche instead of watching my money grubbing shrink cruise around!

I think it's worth every penny. I'd rather have my 87 than a brand new porsche. Of course, that's a personal preference, and unfortunately, I don't have an extra $100k around to run out and buy a new one. I figure if I have to pay $10k-$12k to rebuild my engine, it's much better than going out and paying $30k for a tin-box sports car. (aka my brother-in-law's really fast wrx sti) Especially since a wrx wouldn't be worth anything to me after 5 years of driving hard. So - I guess my point is that a rebuild to obtain another 200k miles out of the car is worth it since it doesn't even approach the price of a new porsche. Of course, I plan to keep it for that next 200k ;-)

After I discovered I had about $8K in the rebuild of the '77, 2.7L I'm going to put in my '69, I thought maybe I should have gone for a 3.0 or 3.2. I'll be happy with the engine I have though. Can't remember all of it, but the main parts are approximately:
1. Long block: $650
2. JE pistons: $900
3. Nicasil cylinders (new, no pistons): $1,750
4. Coatings: $700
5. Valves & valve work: $450
6. Machine work & assembly: $2,500 (got a good deal)
Plus other stuff. I did the gofering and picked up parts here & there when I found a good deal on them. Since I don't have time & haven't done an engine but once every 10 or 15 years, I decided to have it put together by a pro. I hope I'll have the car ready to drive early this coming year.

But when that needle races for the red and you pull off a perfect 915 1-2 shift its all worth it.

I too am building a new engine for my targa, doing all the work myself and doing it on a college budget.

So far my budget has come to the following

~1300 in parts
~500 in a core engine with what turned out to be a most excellent top end (got REALLY lucky can use the heads without major work and the pistons and cylinders with cleaning up)

This being said, I dont come from the average background for my age group and we have a nearly complete machine shop at my home.

I would absolutely love to be able to build a Porsche engine for myself as meticulous as the other engines we build for people, but I simply can not afford certain big ticket items like new pistons and cylinders. Personally I would have loved to send my engine to Supertec or someplace, but I can't afford it. So I am building my engine with as many of the most neccessary new items (all bearings, studs, rod bolts, chains and such) as I can afford. Still not cheap, but I am also picking up all the tools neccessary to work on these wonderous beasts along the way plus I get my car back on the road with a good engine, maybe not meticulous and all new like I would like, but hey I havent made it to the no compromises point in my life yet :D

Eli

P.S. the while you are in there disease has struck....pictures forthcoming