996 Track Car

So I just purchased a 2001 C2. The previous owner decided to sell it and upgrade after the car overheated during a recent DE event. The Porsche dealership suspected that the water pump had failed leading to an overheat. Since the price of entry was good and the car was in great condition (other than the engine of course) this seemed like a good candidate to turn into a (dedicated?) track car now that I decided to sell my Cayman R. Initial troubleshooting showed the following: - Car runs well but there's a ticking noise (valves?) - There's oil in the coolant (fluid more brown than green in the reservoir). No smoke from exhaust and apparently no tendency to overheat - No fault codes from the ODBII - Also drained a small amount of oil and there were small metal flakes. Appeared to be gold in color (perhaps due to the oil?) and non-magnetic - Appears to be a bit of oil on the bottom of the engine in the area below the IMS Next step is engine removal.

So I started the process of removing the engine. Mostly getting it up on jacks and removing things for access so far. I did drain the coolant and removed the water pump. As suspected one of the blades was missing (floating around somewhere inside the engine?). Just like seen in the reservoir the coolant showed signs of mixing with oil (brownish color). Found a broken bracket and at the rear engine support bracket and that a screw had almost worn through one panel under the engine. Added to parts list. Also ordered a X51 oil pan. Stopped the tear-down for today when I struggled to get the power steering fluid reservoir off. Turned the bayonet fitting to release as directed but still can't pull the reservoir off. Any suggestions? Hoping to have the engine out this weekend and then it's decision time: - Get a used running engine, install it (perhaps with some basic preventative maintenance first) and move on OR - Start tearing down the current engine to see how bad the damage is OR - Send it off for a full rebuild. I've talked to ebay seller Porsche-Land in Illinois. Looks like a small one-man operation. Has anybody had any experience with them? Perhaps a combination is the best, install another used engine to get me going while I try to figure out what's wrong with the current...

Interesting dilemma. Have you found the rest of the wp impeller? Interested in knowing what else you find and what course of action you take.

It's not uncommon for bits to break off the water pump and circulate (or lodge) somewhere in the engine. You've got to find that piece.

I have not personally had any work done from Porsche_Land on Ebay, but I have talked with him over the phone about working on my 996. I posted a message to him on Ebay and he called a few hours later. He is out of Steamwood, IL and mainly buys P-cars that owner’s don’t want to repair and fixes them for resell, imo. Has any purchased a Porsche from Marcin or Anges out of Illinois? I have a 996 that is at the dealer now with no diagnosis, so I have been checking out the unthinkable – rebuild! Keep us posted on your progress!

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I called a few of his the references he sent me (including a guy working in the service department of a Porsche dealership). They were all happy with his work so I think I'm going to send it off. Still have a couple of hours of prep work to do before it's ready for the drop. Took awhile to get the AC compressor out, third bolt as a pain to get to... Going to replace clutch, install under-drive pulley and of course water pump while it's out. Anything else I should do? AOS?

Everything's disconnected, ready for the drop. Just need to pick up an ATV jack.

If it lodged somewhere and that could have caused the over heat -- When my Boxster lost a WP by the PO, it blew a freeze plug in the heads. Complete tear down at the time by myself and a colleague -- but for years later -- stills purrs. intermix: You could have: cracker cylinder liners, cracked cylinder head faulty aos faulty oil cooler. flakes in oil w/ oil at bottom of IMS could be signs of RMS/IMS leak and you may have an IMS bearing on its way out. non-furous could be aluminum. good luck with project.

Any news? I'm in the exact same spot as you are, please tell me youre thoughts! Mike

Svensk? I dropped the engine off with the rebuilder this weekend. I should have it back in 2-3 weeks. You can follow my thread on the other forum too if you'd like.

what can a person expect to pay for a 996 that has had this kind of engine failure?? or intermediate bearing? i might be looking if the price is right? [phone removed] text okay regards, mark

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Other forum??

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Rennlist

I put a 3.6 bottom end on my 3.4 race car making a long stroke 3.6 so I have a spare '04 M96 top end that I am about to list if you need parts- it is complete ex-pistons. Its in excellent shape with photos available.

Thanks for the offer. The thing I may need by the looks of it is a crankshaft... Do you have any more info on your build. What all is required for the "3.6 conversion". Any dyno numbers?

Well basically its a 3.4 top on a 3.6 bottom- same bore but different rods and pin placement yield longer stroke. I already had a spare semi-complete 3.6 motor so had parts from it to use, Still, new rods, bearings, crank, rings etc. was more than $5k. I would not have done it this way had I not the 3.6 case to start with. My 3.4 dyno'd at 284whp- prob got another 5-10 hp with some other work. When finished the 3.6 should be circa 305-320 with better tq characteristics. Not a huge bump but moves me towards or at class limit (GTS4)