Would you auto-x or occasionally track a car with suspected bore scoring?

I've had my 2003 C2 for a few years now and nearly sure I bought it with bore scoring (PPI didn't scope the bores - told me it's very rare). Anyway, I have not verified the scoring, but have higher oil use, some knocking from the right side, left sooty pipe plus a bit of spray when cold. I have otherwise lived with it by keeping an eye on the oil level and topping as needed, and have performed a few oil changes in the time I've had it (bought with 46K, now have 53K). I have found no metal particles in the oil filter. The car runs fantastic. One reason I bought this was to have something I can occasionally take to the track and auto-x, and now maybe SCCA Time Trials. However, I'm not ready to rebuild it yet. I've read that many people live with it, and scored cylinders don't mean sudden doom. Never-mind those of you whom wouldn't even drive this on the street with scoring, would you track or auto-x it occasionally?

The first step is to stop guessing, and quantify if you have scoring. You can use my "Focus on Bore Scoring" video series to do this yourself for 45 bucks. Cars with bore scoring typically do "run fantastic" while they dump tons of contaminants into the oil, which chews things up while running "fantastic". If you do have scoring, and you attend an AX or etc, you will just progress through the 4 stages of scoring faster. Further, you will introduce more and more hydrocarbons into the oil, allowing them to increase wear on all the other internal components, due to contaminated oil. The longer you wait to do the inevitable, the more the inevitable will end up costing. Again, the first step is verifying the scoring, then deciding to live with it. My video series covers all of this, with more than 8 hours of direct content.

FSI, What is the Approximate cost difference to fix: At earliest stage mid stage advanced If this is a case where not all rebuilds are created equal, would be interesting to know the cost delta between living with it and allowing it to progress until a rebuild is required VS. rebuilding at first confirmation of the issue occurring.

Typically with my program the cost isn't impacted as much if someone drives the car till it dies completely from bore scoring. This is because we replace so many components whether they are good, or bad, anyway. If someone goes to a typical shop for a rebuild, where they reuse many original components, the costs could double if the car is "driven to death". In that case, the person would have actually came out cheaper with my engine, than the local rebuild. They won't ever get to see that, though.. With my program its takes a lot for a bore scored engine to cost more than the initial base price. The big issue is if you "live with it" too long you can experience a secondary failure due to the hydrocarbons in the oil. These are usually timing chain failures, and connecting rod bearing failures. If either of these occur, the costs can increase by thousands of dollars, since you now have a catastrophic failure of epic proportions to deal with, which has stemmed from a primary condition of bore scoring. Driving a car to death makes no sense. Tracking a car with a known mechanical deficiency simply isn't smart.

Thanks for the reply Jake. I have watched all your informative videos. In fact, I will purchase the rebuild videos if I decide to go the DIY route. I'm choosing to not verify at this time because there is nothing at this point I would do different. I would still drive it as I have been doing and enjoying it thoroughly. One point I'd like your view on, is the fact you mention: Isn't that lessened by the fact I'm introducing fresh oil a number of times between my oil changes, which are shorter intervals?

how would you fix it when the time comes? If you're just gonna put a junkyard engine in, then beat the everloving snot out of the motor you got. If you want to rebuild it at the lowest possible cost, I'd probably not do so, unless you are doing very frequent oil changes.

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I will probably replace the whole engine. I had a water pump failure and the mechanic said he found most of the impeller pieces. He also noted the one which failed was a replacement pump, so there was another possible failure earlier in it's life (no paperwork on that).

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More frequent oil services help this dramatically. As I have purchasers who drive their cars while on my waiting list, I do have a protocol to reduce wear, and part of that is both a different type of oil, as well as much more frequent services.

oops wrong thread