not a good day at the track. 2006 997S, 100K miles, stock engine. looks like a rod bearing failed, rod piston block broken up. other 5 are ok. my guy says the block isn't fixable due to amt of damage. what are my options. new oem engines or blocks damn pricey. if used engines can be found found, still dont know history. find used engine & rebuild it? find used matching blocks, machine & rebuild? sell as a rolling chassis? put it all in my garage and just get another car? i run about 40 track days/yr, located in northeast PA. know anyone for second opinion? options?? m h elliott 1 at yahoooo

 

Crate motor might be the best alternative. Suncoast?

 

Sell it as a roller, or buy and new crate motor and hope for another 100k of abuse and pleasure.....OR....at forty days a year you may want to consider turning it into a "track" car..????....

 

If I can offer any advice, before you even spend another dime on another engine or rebuild this one, find out the cause of the failure first. You say rod bearing, so it lost oil pressure?


If you do 40 track days a year, to repeat without knowing and fixing the cause is insanity. We all know the definition of insanity??

 

Sounds a bit like you experienced oil starvation from lateral g's. Hate to see this type of thing happen.

 

Assuming the engine's toast and not rebuildable there are two, make that 3 options.


1) Buy a replacement engine from Porsche. Pros: Drop in. Warranty (2 years, 24K miles IIRC.) The car is essentially the same as it was before. Cons: Price. A replacement engine is probably expensive.


Here I might note though that often the most expensive solution at first becomes over the longer haul the less expensive solution and the least expensive solution at first becomes over the longer haul the most expensive solution. How's your crystal ball?


2) Buy a replacement engine from a Porsche salvage business. Pros: Provided you stick to the engine candidates from cars that are in the same model year span as your car, the engine is drop in. Cons: Risky. You need someone who is good as selecting an engine. Ideally you would want an engine that could be started and run -- if not driven -- in the donor car provided the cooling and other critical subsystems were ok. Also, you try to find a business that gives your money back if the engine proves to be crap right out of the crate.


Whether you want to first rebuild this engine is up to you. If you rebuild it and the rebuilder finds the engine not rebuildable you may not get your money back from the salvage business.


You could I guess install the salvage engine and drive the car enough, give it some shakedown time, to determine the engine is at least not blown up or in the processing of blowing up then pulling the engine and having it rebuilt. But of course, the salvage engine plus the rebuild cost really drives up the cost and you are probably close to factory replacement engine cost. Plus you have to really have a good engine rebuilder lined up and what kind of warranty (if any) do you get with the rebuilt engine?


3) Sell the car as is and move on. Pros: Provided you price the car right the car sells and that's that. You can move forward. Cons: You will take a big depreciation hit. How this compares to doing either (1) or (2) above I can't say. You should probably have some idea though to help you make the right decision for you.


My advice would be to take your time, don't rush into a decision just for the sake of making a decision. Do not let emotion cloud your decision either. Sometimes a car for one reason or another has reached the end of its existence as a viable car in its own right and is destined to spend eternity as parts on other cars or being crushed and its materials reclaimed for other uses.

 

I agree. You should find out what caused your motor to go BOOM, so that you can prevent this from happening again.

 

Be careful if you choose to buy a stand alone salvage motor from a dismantler, junkyard, eBay or whomever. I read a story where the seller claims the engine was pulled from a front end collision and it runs perfect, but in fact it has been cobbled together with scrap parts and is a dud that you would be stuck with and out a lot time and money. Caveat Emptor

 

There are some lowlifes out there.


A good tech should be able to spot signs an engine was cobbled together. Ideally the engine should show no signs of having been wrenched on, opened up.


If it does show sign of having been seriously wrenched on -- say a camshaft cover or the oil sump plate shows signs of having been removed then reinstalled -- while the engine may not be cobbled together it might have been partially torn down and found to be too far gone to repair.

 

Porsche requires a rebuildable core engine of the same type as the newly rebuilt engine. Broken case does not qualify & doubles the cost. I belive all the complete M96/M97 engines are gone & all Porsche has available now are rebuilt shortblocks.

 

Its good info and I appreciate it.

 

4th option - GM LSx motor. If you sell the car as a roller that's what's most likely to end up in it anyway... Do fully explore the hassles and costs associated, it's been done but it's not exactly a bolt-in.