Hello everyone! I'm a long-time Porsche owner, a 1979 930 track car and 1983 SC Cab. I'm a gearhead at heart (also own a 1950 Ford Led Sled and an Audi S8) living on the north side of Indianapolis in Indiana.

So your asking yourself . . .'Why is this guy posting here? He's lost'

Well, in a very strange twist of fate, I am the going to be the new owner of a 1999 996. That's sort of the good news. The bad news is that it has a blown motor . . . and the tail of how I obtained it is very dark. The story is we (the owner of the 996 & I) were at a track event and we thought at the time he blew an oil line on his car early in the morning runs. After lunch, I offered to him my car to take some hot laps . . . . and well you guessed it, he put the car off and wound up totaling my car....

In addition, he didn't just blow and oil line, he lost the #1 cylinder, the sleeve dislodged (I'm told this is not a rare occurrence) and basically grenaded his motor. So my friend had a very bad day . . to say the least . . . To make up for my car, he has offered me his car and a budget to fix the motor, which leads me to why I'm posting. I have scoured the net and this forum seems to be the most knowledgeable about 996's and I basically know nothing of this model, and am looking for good, honest advice.

My goals for this car are:
1 - Keep it street legal
2 - Make it respectable on the track - I'm no racer and don't want to be. I really enjoy track days and provide a fair amount of instruction for both local clubs and the Indiana Porsche club

I need to (in priority order)
1 - Fix the motor
2 - Suspension work - basically stock for now (been following the PSS9 v. ROW030 discussions lately
3 - Brakes - how are the stocker on the track?
4 - Aesthetics - never been a big fan of the stockers, mine has the Champion 19's on it now - looking for a new nose, tail and rockers - she is plain now
- kinda like the factory aero kits, but have been looking around. Don't want fiberglass either.


So if I may pick your collective minds, I need to make a decision on what to do about the motor. I've thought of / been recommended:
1 - Just put in a crate 3.4 from Porsche
- I know the benefits, ie warranty, solid motor etc - but what about track usage and oiling problems?
2 - Purchase a rebuilt 3.4 from a respectable vendor
- Significant cost savings . . but no Porsche warranty
3 - Try to rebuild the existing 3.4
4 - Drop in a 3.6 w/ X51 option

My mechanic, whom I trust and respect, suggested the 3.6 w/ X51 - but this is a 1999 car w/out the drive by wire (CAAN system??) so I don't know what the issues / costs will be? He says he know of an outfit in Daytona who has done this before?


Thanks in advance for any pointers / suggestions - it would be greatly appreciated.

Rich Burke

 

the 3.4 is 300 hp and the 3.6 w/x51 is 345 hp. the 3.6 needs an upgraded fuel system... this topic is discussed in www.Renntech.org. I dont know what level of track nperformance you talking, but the 996 can be street legal and be an excellent tracke performer as well. But if you want serious track car I would not put PSS9 (this is more 90% street setup). Between pss9 and row030 I would go pss9. I would recomend gt3 sway bars, B&M short shift kit. Stock brakes are very capable in the track.

If you need more power, supercharging is a great option... I just installed one on my 3.4 for $10.2K installed. There is a big difference in power between the 3.4 and the 3.6 (especially with the x51) when supercharged www.evoms.com.

If I want to keep it n/a, I would get the 3.6 (x51 is very expensive $17k for 25hp is not worth it in my book). Goodluck!

 

Hi Tricki,

I am relatively "new" to the forum as I recently just bought my first 996 myself, but I am more than happy to put my 2 cents in on what I have learned asking questions on this board and on Rennlist.org.

Alex at Sharkwerks believes greatly that the Pss9s are the way to go (he also convinced me as well). The M030 suspension may be too tame for your track purposes. X74 lacks adjustability and fine-tuning.

Unfortunately, since I heard the Pss9s use a mix of stock and aftermarket parts for the install, you may need to get this professionally installed. The X74 I believe is straight uninstall everything on the car and comes with all the replacement parts, where with the Pss9 you may have to reuse some stock parts.

As for engines, I remember hearing that for our model vehicles that Porsche has core credits that they offer in exchange for a rebuild engine from the factory. Given, that will only be a 3.4, not a 3.6.

6Speeders, please let me know if any of my info is inaccurate.

 

On the motor.... It's not an easy job to put a 3.6 egas motor in a 3.4 non-egas model. However if you have the budget put a crate porsche 996 3.4 motor in and with a few in-expensive mods and a chip (the 3.4 has more headroom) you can have the same HP as a stock 3.6. Also the crate motor has a warranty. If you don't have the budget, just put in a used one. Motors on the 996 are cheaper than most rebuilds on older 911 motors so no-one really bothers to fix them unless it's something minor. They usually just buy a crate motor.

 

Thanks DimnSlow & Redridge.

CoreyNJ - could you be more specific on the types of mods? ie headers, mufflers etc?

Also - if I plan on tracking the car (20-30 days a year) how is the oiling of the crate motor? I think I have seen special oil pan baffles available?

Thanks again guys

Rich

 

You may want to search on this as it has been well covered. You cannot put a 3.6L in without spending TONs of money. I researched putting a 3.8l x51 in (basically the same issues as a 3.6) and it was not feasible. My motor let loose (cylinder two is weak cylinder) and I bought a crate motor for $7500 ($4,500K after the $2500 core refund). Don't buy a rebuilt, unless you get one with the ugraded sleeves from Autofarm in England. They can up your displacement slightly too. My car with a lightweight flywheel and a GIAC upgrade has goodd power. THe PSS9's with GT3 Swaybars are great. True they are not as good as a $5k coilover kit, but why would anyone expect them to be. It will go as fast as you want it to until you get super good.

IMPORTANT: I put the Brey-Krause oil pan kit on and the 3rd radiator just to be safe. Great car - Good luck!

 

Thanks racerjsz . . .. I'm tending to agree with you on the cost / effort. From a resale point of view as well - I don't think I'll ever recover any additional cost, and most likley make the car harder to sell in the future if I ever decide to sell.

Rich

 

Tricki,

Sounds like the previous post covered the engine questions. As far as suspension I have been told JRZ and JIC are a little firmer than PSS9s. I have the PSS9s and they are worlds better than stock but since I mainly use my car on the track I wish it were a little stiffer. Money no object Moton Clubsports but those are more than twice the cost of PSS9s. I am having H&R front and rear sways installed next week. I went with those because you can use stock control arms and I have heard good things about them.

As far as brakes I use stock calipers and rotors with Hawk HP Plus pads and they work great for me on the track. I just ordered Frozen Rotors, we'll see if they are any better.
Aero- OEM or MAShaw has some nice options.
Sorry about your 930 but I'm sure you'll have a great time with the 996. Be sure to post before & after pics of the mods!!
kc

 

I REMEMBER THE 996 N/A MOTOR WAS FAIRLY inexpensive less tahn 10 k for it i believe.. the turbo motor in the other hand............. lol