Lessons from my 996 3.8L LNE engine build

My neighbor bought a broken 2003 996 Carrera and asked me to rebuild his 3.6L engine. His engine has two cracked cylinders (1&2) and intermix of coolant in oil. I took on the job because I too need to rebuild my 2006 997S engine due to bore scoring and this project would be a preview of my own 997 build. My background: I have worked on a large number of Ferrari and Porsches, anything from engine out service to IMS bearings, to clutches, to liner replacement, to valve jobs. Cam timing is no longer a mystery or something to be scared of. IMS bearing, well that is just a weekend. But, I have never done a 996 or 997 engine build. So, the broken engine came out, the damage was found to be two cracked cylinders. The 3.6L engine was disassembled to the crank shaft, the case was sent to LNE to be machined to 3.8L. The heads were taken to a local machine shop where they declared the heads to have no cracks and a valve job was done on the head. And then we waited. While waiting for LNE to machine the case, we bought a Raby 6-disc package, the accompanying book, and the torque specs book. The neighbor went through all of the CDs, I stopped at the first CD. All I needed was the sequence of assembly to get to the short block. I knew that this is different from other non-boxer engines and things have a specific sequence. After the first CD, I got what I needed and stopped watching. So for others who may be in my same shoes in the future, here is the sequence of assembly to get to the short block. Assemble crank shaft into its carrier Install three rods onto the crankshaft for Bank 2, Cyls 4/5/6 Intall IMS shafts, chains, sprockets, IMS chain ramps onto the crank assembly Install crank assembly into Bank 1 case half Install bank 1 three pistons to their rods outside the engine Install pistons-rods into bank 1, accessing rod bolts from the empty side Install Bank 2 case half to complete the short block Install one wrist pin clip on to the three pistons 4/5/6 outside the engine Install pistons 6/5/4 into the engine short block, install wrist pins and clips using special tool After the short block, it's just install the heads, the cams, timing and button it up. Other lessons are: 1. You really need to have experience working on other engines, preferably Porsches, doing cam timing and head work if you want to be successful at the 996/7. Don't expect to watch the 6 CDs and become an expert at 996 rebuild. 2. You should already know how to install pistons, grind rings, break in engines, install cam shafts, and time them. 3. Unlike most other engines where cam timing for all cam shafts is done at TDC compression stroke, the 996 cam timing is done at TDC overlap stroke, one bank at a time, and turning crank shaft 360 degrees is needed from one bank to the next. 4. Collect tools: torque angle torque wrenches, wrist pin clip installation tool, engine yolk specific to the 996, cam timing tools for 996/997 engines, and high quality hand tools. 5. That Baum wrist pin clip installation tool is a piece of crap. Based on this experience, I will never buy anything else from Baum. They don't care enough to fix it, I don't care to buy their garbage. 6. Take detail pictures, take notes, you will never remember all of the little things. After 4 months .... it lives again !!!!

Looks great when can you do my engine???

Curious on what the approx parts cost now?

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Probably $5,000 if you spend it carefully. Maybe $7500 if you are not as careful.

Awesome job right there! Love seeing things go back together all clean and tidy like.

Thanks for the pics and observations. I too have done F car 12's and 8's, BMW of all types including exotic F2 motors. Never a boxer style. Have been studying the factory manuals and posts to pick up what you gleaned from the first CD. Actually, looking forward to doing one at some point. With all the other motors I have done, there are always particular small intricate things you can do to improve oil flow. Learned a lot from some guys at Mc Laren Racing when they were dong BMW's here in the states. In my research on the M96, I found out the upgraded oil pump from 997 series (?) actually flows higher than the original 996 version. This due to modified internal clearances, so says Porsche. Couple other factory successions also. Again, thanks for posting. Oh and if I may ask, which Yoke did you purchase for engine stand? Godspeed! Dave

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This one: QSC Porsche 996 997 Boxster Cayman Forged Engine Stand Holding Fixture � QSCUSA

Got it, thank you.

@yelcab I am about to start assembly of my engine. Did you measure crank main and rid journals? I read that this is important however there are no published measurements. So no way to tell if journals are worn or bearing clearances will be wrong.

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Here's a cheaper one: https:/www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1662099

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Just the Nickies cost $5500... Water pump, thermostat and most of the gaskets alone would run another $800 at least. New chains, guides, shipping, etc...I'd be surprised if you could do it even without any head work for under $7000.

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The numbers I gave is on top of the nickies. That alone is $6200 with shipping. The $6500 - $7500 additional is for IMS bearing, gaskets, hoses, water pump, thermostat, and a bunch of little stuff that adds up really quick. For my own 997 that is going to get done 2023, it already got new water pump, thermostat, AOS, starter, alternator, new coolant tank 3 months ago so those are not going to be needed. But, head gaskets, tensioners, chains, ramps, o2 sensors and a valve job would also add up to "sizable" numbers, I bet. Of course, there is LNE charge of $6200 and a10 weeks wait.

Ah, that makes a lot more sense. I don’t think you could do a quality job without spending a bunch of money.

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That's almost cheap - when comparing to costs for EU customers because of added VAT. Add about 20% for those prices and you'll get the idea.

So $11,000-$15,000 in parts alone? And which IMSB? The Solution?

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The broken engine already had an LNE updated bearing but we replaced it with another one. That is one pricey piece.

Makes sense. Any idea what the cost of switching to The Solution would cost in a rebuild case like this (DIY)? I assume you aren�t doing your own machine work, and so adding The Solution should be pretty easy via the machine work?

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~$1800

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You knock $300 off that if its been replaced previously. https://imsrebates.com/

We paid $800 for the new LNE bearing. So if we go up to the Solution, it would be $1,000 more. I think I can probably handle the minor machining of the gearbox to make that fit ... but we did not do it.

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The machining is on the case itself. But it's not a difficult job. You can use a dremel, or any rotary tool.

Since we talked cost, and I've been thinking about buying a 996.1 or 986 and ultimately rebuilding the engine, I decided to put together a cost list. Now you can possibly shop around and get everything cheaper, but I prefer to shop from someone I trust (I don't want substandard chinese crap in my rebuild) so in this case I priced everything through LN Engineering's website. M96 Rebuild costs Nickies: $5509 Nickies pre-paid shipping: $750 Engine block cleaning: $150 Cylinder head porting: $3368 IMS Pinning: $375 M96.01 Rebuild kit: $4228-$7919 M96.03 Rebuild kit:$4654-$8828 M96.21 Rebuild kit: $4747-$9428 IMS Solution: $1900 Total: $12,911 - $21,480 (without shipping, except for case to-from LN) Of course you can go even higher and buy extras. (or if the engine has damage) But you'll be hard pressed to spend less than $13K for a 996.1 rebuild and not skip some things that I myself would highly recommend. At least this list lets me know how much I'm likely to spend rebuilding an engine myself.

$1000 more seems worth it to me, especially given the replacement cost of the limited age of the IMSB down the road.

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My suggestion to him was "every time you do a clutch, throw in a new IMB bearing and a RMS." He is OK with that.

[QUOTE=TexSquirrel;18504563]... M96.01 Rebuild kit: $4228-$7919 M96.03 Rebuild kit:$4654-$8828 M96.21 Rebuild kit: $4747-$9428 I.../QUOTE] Some of those rebuild kits seem to be very comprehensive ... with every single fastener replaced. Well, that seems a little overboard, if you asked me.

True. I guess I�m too gentle on the clutch in my 99, which is still original as far as I know.

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[QUOTE=yelcab;18504826] 986 gasket set ( 986-100-905-00 ) gets you most of what you actually need for significantly cheaper. Need to get the intake gaskets and a few other things separately. I can check my spreadsheet if you want more detail.

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Ironically, the only parts I have received from China were the K1 rods I bought from LN ! Everything else has come from Germany, Hungary, Spain, USA, etc. The motor rebuild kits from LN turn out to be pretty good deals. I spent $1000 on the valve timing kit alone from another vendor.

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Yeah, I am on my second LN Retro. Did my first over 10 years ago. Just replaced it with the second earky the year. The first came out looking brand new, but needed to be changed. But before everybody jumps in and says to do the Solution, let me explain. I tracked my car for 14 years and had my indy drop my engine quite a bit of the years to go over it with a fine tooth comb. Yep, looked at the clutch and flywheel and replaced the rms quite a bit as a precaution. You can call me an enthusiast that wanted to make sure everything was in order, so i didnt see replacing the Retro as a big deal But, I will eventually settle on what I want to do with an engine rebuild in the next couple of years and replace the Retro with the Solution when I do. So for the avid "servicer" the retro is a no brainer. It has a limited lifespan and needs to eventually replaced. For the guy that is not, the solution makes alot of sense. Both are high quality products for different service strategies.

I like the 328 hiding back there

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Ha! This year I've been buying spares of wear items and typical failure parts and have been bitten a few times lately. I've purchased "Bosch" or "Continental" or "Rein" parts only to have either a brand I've never heard of or an unbranded part substituted. I try to only purchase from reputable suppliers, but for some parts there is a low supply and I've had to get what I can scrounge. One place sold me "Bosch" fuel injectors. They came in "Bosch" labeled boxes and they all had identical fake secure codes. I was able to return them so I was only out shipping x2. Surprise surprise! The Bosch fuel injectors I got from LN were real! They were also cheaper from LN.

I have a 3.8 from Vision. What are you doing for a tune or air fuel map? I have a 99 and the DME is kind of a one off with the drive by cable. VR has a HEX OBD tuner which is about the only OBD tuner around for the older systems. Softronic has you send back your ECU for a bench tune and I am calling VR this week as its priced the same as the FVD tuner and I want to see if thre is any ability to map out a 91 octane tune for a 3.8 with all the bolt ons.

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I'm seriously considering getting one of those LNE rebuild kits ("M96.01/02/04 Engine Rebuild Kit (Standard, Premium, or Deluxe") but I'm possibly/probably steering away because there's no information available which parts are actually genuine Porsche parts and which are OEM or something else. I want keep my Porsche as genuine as possible (excluding head etc bolts, sensors, IMS etc from that parts list) so buying something "pig in a poke" makes this decision difficult as I'm able to get everything from Porsche directly with reasonably price (+ with discount).

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You can always call LNE and ask. FWIW, if you are going thru the exercise of rebuilding, you may want to consider better than Porsche genuine parts for: 1. Cylinders 2. IMSB 3. AOS Why wouldn't you upgrade extremely well known issues with higher quality solutions when spending the money on a rebuild?

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That engine rebuild part list contains about 70-80 products. I'm not sure LNE engineers wants to spend time explaining each part if it's genuine or oem. It would be nice if they could update that list on their site to say directly which one is it. Naturally during these times that list probably evolves so maintaining that is another task as well. Exactly, you hit the nail with those - I hope you didn't misunderstand my post. By those engine rebuild kits I mean those part kits that LNE sells (M96.01/02/04 Engine Rebuild Kit (Standard, Premium, or Deluxe) - not for example Nickies solution which is of course THE choice. I'm getting those JE pistons as part of the Nickes project (LNE), IMS Solution (LNE) and UAOS (<- possible - well, likely). Then of course ARP bolts, Bosch sensors etc. But then the rest of the stuff like gaskets, chains, rails, pads, hoses etc should/must be genuine Porsche - perhaps even lifters as you can get the "originals" <1k price. That's exactly my plan ie. upgrade all the parts that are known to cause issues with better components but then the rest should be genuine Porsche. I can get those parts directly from Porsche (German factory) typically in < 10 days. I'm spending about 20k for this project so I want to be 100% sure of the origin of each and every part.

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Sounds like you are doing it right. Hope you have the time to take some pics and document it. We all love seeing this stuff.

I'll document the whole process once I get my block back from LNE and also when I'll have all the parts available. It'll be probably around spring time due to turn over time from LNE and getting everything in place properly. I could perhaps do it earlier but I haven't figured out yet how or where to clean that block since I don't have a water outlet inside my garage and it's winter here