Quote:
Originally Posted by socal1200r
To say I was surprised at the cost estimates I've been getting to rebuild this engine would be a huge understatement. These parts must be gold-plated titanium and carbon fiber for chrissakes! The car's at this one shop that specializes in Porsches, and they did a compression test as a start. The driver's side cylinders are half of what the passenger side is reading, roughly 80 psi versus 170. So they told me head studs at a minimum, and possibly some cylinder barrels depending on how the mating surfaces are. In talking with the tech who worked on the car, he said some high-tech Gucci head studs could run $100 each, and there are 24 of them in total, so $2400 just for head studs! To me that's ridiculous, since I could get a complete head stud kit, with hardware, for under $500 right here at Pelican. 'Course there are other things that might have to be replaced, like piston rings, gaskets, seals, O-rings, timing chain, sprockets, etc. I'm getting an estimate from another shop, told them I absolutely do not need to have genuine Porsche parts, good aftermarket ones will do for me, to try and save a bunch of money in the process. I mean, good grief, isn't this engine basically just a vw engine with two more cylinders? Why in the world are they so expensive to rebuild?
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On the SC 3.0 engines, the only studs that break are the lower ones that are made of Dilivar. There are 12 of them. The upper studs are steel. They don't break. It can be as simple as replacing the lower 12 studs with the factory steel studs that are about what, $12 each? The upper 12 steel studs are more than likely fine. You don't remove and replace those. But you've got to tear the entire engine down to the crankcase to replace the studs. Now you are in to a "top end" build where you might as well at 98k check the valve guides (at least the exhaust valve guides) for wear and perform a valve job.
So you've got some homework to do around here. Use the "search" function and read all about the evil alloy known as "Dilivar" and while you're at it, search around for "Alusil" and find out how to determine if your pistons/cylinders are either "KS Alusil" or "Mahle Nikasil" before you take it all apart.
My friend the long time PCA member (more than 40 years) who has owned just about all of the production cars since the 60's once told me "Every model of Porsche ever built has it's own Achilles Heel"----and he's correct. With the SC's, the 3.2 Carreras and even the 964's it was the Dilivar head studs.