Is it worth it?

[enzoducoing]

Hello everyone,
I being a newbie in all things Porsche, am stuck in a ditch regarding where to take my 911 project.
My car is a 1971T that I've had for a year now, most of which it has spent in the shop undergoing a bare metal re-pait and assembly. My idea from the beginning is to make a "sleeper" hot rod street "T", that resembled down to the last detail a restored and fully dressed "T", but with hidden engine of humongous power and a suspension/brakes package that could handle such HP.
Needless to say I have gone through every possibility for an engine option and I have it narrowed down to a couple of choices, but before I commit to one of these it suddenly stuck me that I had not considered re-building my original 2.2 to it's fisical limit, and in such retain the "original numbers" engine.
Truth be said, I do not know which limit that is, and this brings me to the question that I would like to kindly ask from those with such knowledge;
To what extent could I modify a 2.2 to the max? What would be the wildest street engine one could possibly build from this case?
I appreciate enormously your opinions and guidance in this, all your ideas are welcome.
Thanks
Mauricio

[GH85Carrera]

That could be VERY expensive.

It would likely be cheaper to buy a good solid 3.2 Carrera engine and stick the 2.2 on a shelf for safekeeping. Concentrate on making your car as light as possible.

[darrin]

imo, if you're concerned about keeping the engine "numbers original," the best thing to do is remove it and store it in its current condition and then put in a later engine to get you where you want to go.

While I'm sure that throwing enough $$$ into the 2.2 could yield significant power, you'll likely find that power concentrated in the very upper rev ranges -- a larger motor, say a 3.2 from a carrera, will provide a lot more power throughout the rev range and give you a more drivable car -- or, you could go whole-hog with a 3.6 conversion from a 964/993.

One weak link that will likely come into play is the transmission. Many folks have concerns with a 915 transmission's longevity when coupled with a 3.6, especially if using a 7:31 r&p, so be sure that you address your transmission as part of your power upgrades.

[Evans, Marv]

What these guys said, except I think Darrin made a typo and meant a 901 transmission instead of 915. In the end the car will be worth much more in stock condition when you sell it, so I would make all changes with that in mind. In future years when you get a little older & not necessarily interested in "humongous power," you might be happy driving it in stock condition.

[Matt Monson]

'71 doesn't even have a 915, it has the weaker 901 based 911 mag case.
That said look into the factory ST for what you can do with a 2.2l block. You can take it to 2.5l up the compression, twin plug it and get 250hp. That would be a period correct hot rod engine.

Check out the engine forum and the work of Henry Schmidt at supertec for some ideas. He is at the bleeding edge of early engine building. Expensive but they are works of art.

[enzoducoing]

Thank you for your replies, as a matter of fact early on in my search for an appropriate engine, I contacted Henry Schmitd and we discussed options for a larger displacement one. I never propositioned rebuilding mine, so we didn't get around to that. I believe is time to give him a call and see if a 2.5 twin plug short stroke is a viable option.
I know that rebuilding to top specs smaller-displacement engine is as expensive as a larger one so the more I think about it and listen to your comments, the more it sounds not worth it. As some of you suggest, probably just keeping it somewhere safe for posterity is the way to go