Matt's 2001 C2 Project - It lives, it dies, it lives again!

Greetings folks, You guessed it! It's another project car build thread that you will want to read through! Let's get started. I bought my Carrera 2 in November of 2015 for 2015 prices. The car had the original IMS, and had 135,000km on it! I was looking into aircooled cars before this, but the 993 shot up before I could swing into affording to purchase one. Alas, I decided to go with the generation I could afford, and of which I've grown to love. The car over the next 18 months needed a bit of work - pads and rotors, the water pump packed it in, and other maintenance issues came up, and were promptly solved. However, changing the oil in Aug 2017 yielded metal flake in the oil. IMS failure. Yikes. The car was now at around 175,000km. The plan was to save the car from being turned into a roller, so we attempted to save the car. To make a long story short, attempt #1 make everything worse, leading to a full rebuild starting in October 2019. The performance shop asked me what I wanted, and at the time, I didn't really know what my options were. My instructions were simply, "Build the car as you would want it." Apparently, that wasn't a super clear answer, so we went over our options in the process. LS Swap? Used engine replacement, then sell the car? Rebuild to 3.4? Rebuild to 3.8 or 4.0? My decision was to go with a new short-block, go up to 3.8, and keep the car for as long as I could. The build included the following engine fun-stuffs as well as some other goodies: Schrick Cams Deep Sump GT3 Throttle Body IPD Plenum Center Rad Other bits and bobs: Numeric Shifter, 3-spoke Graphite Grey Wheel, Bilstein B8's, Grey Sports Seats, Aftermarket GT3 rear wing. I received the car back from the rebuild in July 2020, and then proceeded to break in the first thousand miles as instructed by the shop. Then, the car returned for various checks after the break in period. Then, I added more goodies: 997 GT3 Master Cylinder Stainless Steel Brake Lines GT3 brake ducts UAOS installed As well as some other small problems that popped up, some from the car sitting for a while. New injectors also went in the car. So, as it currently stands, the car is broken in, and drives very well. See the dyno sheet: [insert dyno sheet] The car is running very nicely, and producing good power. My list of things to do: 1) Tidy up the interior for what I can. Maybe replace the shift ****, paint the center console and seat backs. Eventually, I'd like to wrap more things in leather. 2) My washer bottle leaks when I try to fill it up. I'll have to figure out if it's cracked or something has come off of a connection. 3) My power tilt doesn't work on my driver's seat, but does on the passenger. I'll have to check the fuses and troubleshoot that. 4) I was wanting to paint the entire car (as seen in my description), but I may hold off. The paint is still in good shape, so I may just paint the wing in a different colour, and match that to the center console and the seat backs. 5) Install my contrast colour seatbelts which are already re-webbed. 6) 6.2 GT3 rims are acquired, but need tires. The tires just came in, so I'll get those mounted. 7) Recondition the sports seats - they're in need of some love ( @2fcknfst don't let me forget my bottles of Leatherique, and post your review of the motor in this thread) 8) Rework the suspension - I received a suggestion of doing sway bars and springs. More to follow, and photo uploads, when time allows!

Holding extra page in case.

Matt, Congrats on your project. You mentioned that you went with a new short block and 3.8. Can you explain? Did you go with a factory exchange, or what did you do? Thanks for the details.

Would love to see the dyno sheet when you get a chance. Also did the runs include all the extra items that are now on the engine?

I second the dyno sheet. I haven't seen much talk about aftermarket cams on these cars, how are the Shricks?

Working on getting the dyno sheet - the shop is incredibly busy and did the run for me for nothing as a datapoint for their records/selling the upgrades to other customers. So, hopefully I can get it soon! The run was with all of the current mods, yes. I also forgot to note that I'm running the Fabspeed Sport Cat system: https://www.fabspeed.com/porsche-996...ipe-1999-2004/ , as well as the cold air intake (yes, I know it actually docs HP, but I bought it a few years ago before I knew that: https://www.fabspeed.com/porsche-996...tem-2000-2004/ ) @ Aftermarket Cams: I mean, I really like how the car feels and there is a definite difference in the before and after. @2fcknfst , can you chime in on what you thought? @GC996 The crank was toast in my motor (long story), so around here, buying a new crank was going to run 2/3 of the price of the shortblock from Porsche (I had a connection to get a very reasonable price on the motor). The shop and I chatted about just leaving the car at 3.4 vs. getting a new shortblock and then going to 3.8 (since some might say, if you're getting a whole new thing, why not just leave it original?), but I figured I was getting everything new, so why not just go big? I believe I did have the core exchanged against it at Porsche. Cost at the time was...I think 9k CAD, so about 7k USD if my napkin math serves me. The heads were usable from my original motor, (and had been ported and such already), so we kept them. The car pulls EXTREMELY well past 3k to redline (which I haven't tickled yet), and the delivery is great. My windshield wash bottle broke, so I guess that's another thing to put on the list.

​​​​​​Matt, Sounds like you are on a good path. If you have the chance sometime in the future, it would be great to hear from start to finish the process you went thru with your engine. Eventually, all of us will need to rebuild or replace our engines. Nice to know the path you took, including the what, why and hows. The news on the Porsche exchange program was big during the years of the RMS. Then as the IMS and bore scoring overshadowed the RMS, and LN engineering's program and FSI took center stage depending on your objectives. Be good to hear your trials and tribulations.

The difference between when I first drove it, and with fixed injectors, is quite simply remarkable. My take is that even though it appeared to be running well when we picked it up a month + ago, I did not really have a frame of reference as to what it should be doing. It did not run poorly for me per se, but when Matt came to swap it out (on his way home, of course...) it most certainly developed a miss, and then a code. The other day when I took it out on the highway, I will admit that I most certainly would like to spend a bit more time with it, preferably with fresh rubber (as I did not do a very graceful power slide and hurt my thumb on the steering wheel as it snapped back on me...), but by God does that thing pull now. I have yet to see the dyno sheet, but it reportedly is at 370hp - wheels would be nice, making it around 420/430 crank, but again, I have no real point of reference for this - data is King, and I am not sure if that would be a reasonable crank number - sure feels good though. My world is dominated by a 996/991 turbo, an M5CP and various hi power diesels, so I am somewhat used to serious powered cars, and Matt's is no exception. Plus, I have his turbo in hand and that thing rips pretty good too. Get Jeff to get us a copy of the dyno... me needs data to properly understand.

My 6.2 GT3 rims came in a while ago, and was just waiting on tires. Michelins were going to be on backorder, so I decided to try the Nitto INVOs. Price was pretty good at 1400 CAD installed. They'll be on the car Saturday morning Also getting a few finicky problems looked at Saturday: drivers seat tilt doesn't work, driver's headlight pod needs some love, getting the headlight washers removed, getting the washer bottle changed, and a few other goodies. More to post on Sunday! Still waiting for the shop to get me the dyno sheet. Forever waiting.... -Matt

So, I was sick of waiting for my dyno sheet, and so I tracked down the dyno place that did the run, and they posted the log sheet. So, overall, I'm actually not super duper impressed. The service manager quoted me 370, but wasn't the one who took the car there nor saw the readout, so he was mistaken. So, I've been operating on the assumption that 370 was the number, and everyone who has driven it so far has believed it. 310 feels way low. After chatting with @2fcknfst today, there's definitely room to push more power out. I'm surprised it's actually making this little power at 3.8L displacement. So, time to figure out what the car should have to eek out more power. 2fcknfst also suggested a tune, so any thoughts on that? Car only has the Fabspeed Sport Cats, so obviously headers are an option here to get a little something, right? Put the GT3.2 rims on. Mounted the Nitto INVO's. So far so good, only a baby bit of rub in the front. The rears are a bit taller sidewall since they don't make the EXACT size, but it's only up 5mm, so I think it still looks fine. Headlight washers are out, and it turns out my bottle isn't cracked. However, it's still not spraying out, but at least it's not leaking onto the ground now. So, one more gremlin to track down. -Matt

Matt, looks good buddy! Really like those wheels... very nice contrast on the blue. As I mentioned I think the power output is based uo a 2001 experience and program, so a little tuning would probably help unlock 100hp/liter... Oh yeah! Starting to come together!!!