Dead Targa...

Hey all, I'm brand new here, so if I mess something up, please be gentle A few months ago, my father decided that he would sell me his 996 midnight blue 911 targa. Having worked on that car and always wishing I had my own, I was ecstatic. I drove it for 2 months, very carefully I might add, and the engine sort of gave up. Originally, we had thought it was tied to the cracked coil packs, as when those got wet, the car would turn over on the 4 rear cylinders and run horribly, but this was not the case. We removed the coil packs to find that the spark plug in cylinder 1 had been smashed completely flat. As we went on, worried, we removed the headers to be met with a ton of coolant leaking from the motor. We drained the oil to find a lot of metal flakes in the filter and oil, which we hoped was from the spark plug. We paid to have the engine removed (Since we lacked the time and right jack), had it towed over to us, and began the tear down. As we went, I noticed that there were more flakes in the intake. After we took off the heads, we noticed that a valve was completely sideways after a spring failure, and that the piston in cylinder 1 had smashed into it so many times that it was slotted. The driver's side half of the block was also cracked, as well as a section of the heads. However, the IMS bearing was perfectly intact. The car (If I've done the math correctly) is too much money for me to be able to rebuild, and I'd also not like to buy an engine worth half of the car to have it fail again. It's possible that this damage was done by me being a dumb teenager and missing a shift or something, but since I don't recall anything like that and I drove the car fairly slow most of the time, I don't think it's that. What I'd like to know is, well, what would you all do? I truly loved this car, from the minute my dad brought it home. I've never driven a car that handled that well, and that was on the convertible chassis. Am I missing something on the rebuild? Is it cheaper than I expected? Should I seek a replacement? Any help or advice you guys can give it beyond appreciated, thank you all so much.

Sorry to hear. An new engine will run you $24k, and that's if you can find one. You sound like you know what you are talking about so a used engine might be the way to go. Or you you could rebuild one yourself with parts. This place is very popular. http://www.ladismantler.com/

Thanks a bunch for the link man. If I go down the route of rebuilding, has anyone experienced failures like this? Assuming I buy a used engine or buy new parts for this one, are the words "cheap" synonymous with "strong" in the Porsche world? This car will be my daily driver, so I want to reinforce and replace everything I can. I do think it'd be easier to just buy a different car though, since we've already spent so much time on this one just to find out the engine is toast.

I'm ignorant of Texas smog/inspection laws. If they are non-existent or really lax, though, I'd very much consider finding a used LSx, a used Renegade Hybrids conversion kit (or a crazy machinist buddy willing to go for broke), and go about shoehorning a small-block V8 into the space formerly occupied by the kaput flat six. Either that or guilt-trip the old man about selling you a lemon and see what kind of goodwill you can extract from Dad. Heh.

Frank response from me. Based on your post I am assuming you are under 20 years of age. 996 is horrible car for someone without stable income to finance the maintenance and repairs. The last thing you need when you are in college is a car like 996. This car is very expensive to run, and very expensive to repair professionally. Sell the roller, buy yourself a honda, finish school, get a good paying job and come back to the Porsche land. Right now you are looking at at least $8,000 for a used motor with no warranty.

If the purchase price was ridiculously low and you can get out from under it by selling it as a roller without too much loss, get out from under it.

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We looked into this for a little bit, but we both decided against it, since I was insistent upon keeping a flat six You are correct, I'm 18. And, fair points. I figured I was correct in assuming that I'm just beating a dead horse. Thanks for your input. Well, luckily, I'd only made about half of the payments ($10000) when it died, so I shouldn't be out too much. What does an average roller go for, just out of curiousity? Thank you all very much for entertaining my teenage desire to keep my dream car and giving me advice. Luckily, I still have my first car, a 2000 CLK 430 (only $8000!), so I'm not exactly bored.

Geez, you'd think this was the AARP board. The car has sentimental value, I get that. The 996 is a very reliable car which is why you see so many with 100k plus mileage. And as for maintenance, it costs much, much less than my past Audi. I'd look around for a reliable indy that can help you with repairs just in case. You can join PCA and use their message boards and also the free one from pelican parts for repair guidance. I also got help from http://www.theracersgroup.com/ when setting up my suspension. My point is, the free assistance is out there if you are motivated.

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I'm definitely motivated, just way put off by the failure. Ironically, the car died at 99,986 miles- just before it rolled over to 100k. I'll look into buying different parts and ask around some more forums (as well as this one, too) before putting the roller up for sale.

I hate the title of this thread. My dog is named Targa!

Sorry Dennis!

Really sorry to hear about this, and as hard as this is to say; you are probably better off letting go of the car. I know it hurts when we are excited with expectations and create all kinds of wonderful mental images of how great things will be; only to face an implosion and reality stares us starkly in the face. Unless of course you are cool with the reality of being up to your elbows in work, blood, sweat and tears instead of spending your time driving. There will be another time and another car. Dennis - Beautiful dog!

No worries Forrest. Thanks John! She's an 18-month old Great Dane. Back to the original thread - I think I would consider a Renegade Customs V8 conversion if I was in your shoes...

Dennis; cute G.D mines on the other end of the spectrum...a 11.5 year old harlequin. They are great, hope you have as many good years with her as I have. Good luck op with what you do.

http://www.forsche-land.com/items-for-sale.html I have no connection with these people whatsoever, but saw in another thread that they are a decent low cost rebuilder of M96 engines. They are advertising a freshly rebuilt M96 on their website for $7,000. Assuming they are legitimate, as others on here have said, that would seem to me to be the best option for a budget repair.

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Yeah, this seems to be the case more and more everyday. It's really heartbreaking to me, but all good things must come to an end (Sometimes very quickly) It might sound really stupid of me, but I just know that the fact there was a v8 in the car instead of the beautiful sounding flat 6 I fell in love with, I'd never really be happy driving it. I do appreciate the idea, though, thanks Thanks I believe that we checked them out not too long ago when we dubbed the engine toast, and I guess they charge more if the block is cracked. Thanks everyone for being so helpful. One last stupid question: What would you guys recommend as a replacement? I've always really loved the older 911's, and after I got the chance to drive a 964 targa, I'm considering one of those. My other idea is a C5 Corvette (Blasphemy, I know), as they have a bit more sentimental value to me (My father's owned several Corvettes in my life time and I just love them. Not as much as a 911, though ) Thanks!

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You don't need to be apologetic for liking Corvettes. I love my '96 C4 - just like the 996, the C4 and C5 'Vettes offer hellacious value for money. Making some assumptions here based solely on your age, so they may be flawed, but...it sounds like you want something performance-oriented, something that's affordable to work on, and (since you're in Texas) something that won't get keyed. Those things to me add up to Mustang GT, Corvette C4 or C5, or something else with a V8 you can afford to tinker with. I noted your comments about liking the flat six - but you can get yourself a solid C4 or C5 with a cammed v8 and good supporting mods for what you're likely to spend for a used, "refreshed" M96 for the Targa. If you don't have a serviceable core, the price just went up.

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Well, good to know regarding that. I've met a few Corvette owners here in Austin at Cars and Coffee, and talking to some of them (not all), I saw a lot of uninformed opinions and just nonense from them, so I generally try to not be the guy who likes to go in a straight line but can't hit the apex of a corner. That said, there were a bunch of awesome guys there as well, and they loved the Targa the last time I brought it there. Nailed it on the head there (With the exception of getting keyed, that only ever happened when I drove my CLK to school the first time ). The C5 has definitely been in the back of my mind since we looked at the engine. I thought about a GTO as well to pair with my dad's G8, and since my dad wants to purchase another m5 (totalled, wasn't his fault I swear ), I could just outright buy the G8 from him. He also has a gorgeous nassau blue C5 FRC (originally purchased for my sister until he and I both agreed it was too much power for a 16 year old girl), which I'm considering too. I would really like a black coupe though. So, I have several options at this point. Regarding the core charge, that was exactly what happened with us when we looked at their policy. So mr. 911 is dead for now What do you (and everyone else) think would be a reasonable price for the roller? I can post a picture need be, but I was really looking for reference points, as the only 911 roller I've found so far is a rainbow frankenstein 996 (Sorry if that was someone's car on here!) Thanks a bunch!

What year?

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It's a 2002. No reported accidents from the previous owner, and no accidents from us, either. It's midnight blue. Here's a pic, this is when it still had everything working, but you get the idea. I'll be able to post more angles soon, and I'll take pictures of the roller when I get a chance. I've been working 'till 9-10 in front of a computer, so I could use a break EDIT: Also, it's a 6 Speed Manual. So far as we can tell, the transmission is still good, save for the clutch and flywheel the day the engine went ka-put.