are our 911 s really bullet proof

[calimedeiros]

I hear so many say the 911 engines are bullet proof but yet I hear so many engines getting rebuilt bottom end too end etc with less than 100000 miles on it
are those engines that are being rebuilt mostly because they track their cars

[clutch-monkey]

my track car hasn't had it's engine touched in ten years.
i would say neglect, preventative maintenance, or operator error if it is being rebuilt before 200,000km

[Hugh R]

136K on mine, no smoke, no leaks. Passed SMOG at 25 PPM of NOx at 25 mph allowable is around 600 ppm. Uses about a quart of oil every 5K miles. Hot idling I have around 2.5-3.0 bars on my oil pressure gauge and 4.5 running at 80 mph.

[gamin]

Robust yes but bullet proof no. Any engine can be abused to failure. Improper or no maintenance can lead to failures. Given proper maintenance these engines can last a very long time. I bought a poor running 911 and found burnt exhaust valves ready to self destruct. Turns out that apparently the PO had tightened up the valve adjustment thus not allowing the valves to close completely. This was evidenced by the cam lobes being shiny all the way around. An example of poor maintenance practices leading to problems. Generally pretty tough engines.

[Reiver]

They are track cars or were not properly taken care of, at least the vast majority as nothing is bullet proof (but they are damn close God bless Mr. Mezger).
Driven too little and not long enough to get to prop temp (internal sweating not burning off).
Driven too hard before properly warmed up (alloy expansion issue).
Not properly serviced.

[Arne2]

My car had top end only at 110k. Now with 163k, still fine. No leaks, no noises, good oil pressure.

[RSBob]

156K miles with oil changed every 3K and valves adjusted every 6K. It runs strong and barely burns any oil. Should hit 200K before it needs to be rebuilt to a 3.2 ss

[Nick Triesch]

My 3.2 has 150,000. Runs great! Would take it across the country. A well known Porsche mechanic in San Diego told me these cars will go 300,000 easy if you take care of them.

[Cooper911SC]

3 owner '81 911SC, 312,000 on original engine. Records back to '87.
Regular maintenance.
Doing 2nd gearbox rebuild now.

Our other car is a '95 993. Top end rebuild at 178,000 miles.
Chain housings were leaking and causing annoying smoke from oil dripping onto exhaust. We opted to just do the top end while fixing those leaks.
Tiptronic gearbox (ZF4HP22L) was rebuilt this year at 229,690 miles with a forward gear drive hub failure.

These are pretty robust cars if you do regular maintenance and drive them.

Cooper

[DanielDudley]

Of course there are issues like head studs, and using the right oil is pretty important, but it isn't hard to get 200K out of one of these motors. If you had to do a top end or rebuild, once it is done, chances are it will never have to be done again.

I wouldn't drive one hard without a good warm up, nor would I park it in the driveway and idle it for an hour on a daily basis. But you can drive one hard

[NYNick]

Take good care of your cars and they'll take care of you.

Take good care of your 911, and it'll cost you a lot less money.

[jeffbottman]

Would be interesting to find the highest mileage daily driver 911 on the planet ... and see its maintenance records.

[Doug&Julie]

Some top ends are done to solve oil usage "problems" that a lot of other people would live with, so they're really more preventative / doing it for the long haul reliability than to fix an imminent failure. My 150k motor was done for this reason.

[manbridge 74]

No, they are not. Also, 9mm will give better penetration than .45 ACP on most cars.

[Matt Monson]

Would be interesting to find the highest mileage daily driver 911 on the planet ... and see its maintenance records.

Probably not the highest but a few years back Excellence wrote an article about Dave Buhain's 400k mi 3.2 Carrera.

[keynsham1]

Most engines are bulletproof if you rebuild them every 100K miles, but not every engine suffers from broken head studs, failed con-rod bolts, excessive oil leaks, stripping threads in magnesium cases, premature wear in intermediate shaft bearing shells, early failure of camchain tensioners, exploding airboxes....I am sure I could go on but I guess you get the picture.

Truth as I see it is, as the cars are mostly owned by enthusiasts, and are regularly serviced and rebuilt as necessary they last forever! The 911 I own is the first Porsche I have had and I was surprised how much can go wrong with these engines compared to a lot of other makes.

[Reiver]

Originally Posted by manbridge 74

No, they are not. Also, 9mm will give better penetration than .45 ACP on most cars.

Fun Fact...the FBI/Cops and gangsters in the 20's and 30's often carried the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) in 30.06 as the .45 (Thompson MG or pistol) would often deflect (any angle shot) off of the steel in cars produced in that period.

[tdw28210]

Interesting post on another thread from Targa Me:

Regardless of cold or warm mornings, I start it, let it run for about a minute, then drive. I keep the rpm to no more that 3000 until the needle gets past the warm-up bar.
(310,000 miles on my 3.2, never been rebuilt engine.)

[WANNA930]

Funny how people think 150k miles is bullet proof? Think about it, if your Chevy truck didn't get 150k you would be bashing it as garbage. Then ad that that same SBC probably barely sees oil changes let alone a top end. Porsche engine are usually religiously maintained.

Kind of like the Japanese car myth that they all go 300-500k miles yet not one ever to be found for sale with over say 200k.

To me 200-300 and now are getting bulletproof. If you compare to other sports cars the engines are bullet proof. Ask any Ferrari owner about 100k and they wouldn't even know what you are talking about.

All about perception!!

[Matt Monson]

I've owned 16 Subarus. 5 of them have gone over 200k without rebuilds and one went to 225k before I sold it.

Have also owned 3 Hondas that all went over 200k without major engine or gearbox service.