Best shop to do pre-failure directives

I'm looking for a shop in northern California with the experience/expertise to perform the pre-failure directives as outlined by Jake Raby on his site: 1) IMS bearing 2) water pump 3) timing chains, vario-cam wear pads 4) AOS Will have clutch and RMS done while they're in there. Car has 56k miles and I'd like to keep her for a while. Suggestions? TIA.

Is Black Forest near you? TRG?

Ask Jake?

drive to Seattle?

I have a truck in your neighborhood right now dropping off a car that we just finished these same procedures on. We have cars coming to us from all over the country and Canada on a weekly basis and two trucks are roaming across the country picking up and delivering cars to and from us. Typically shipping isn't much more than Cali sales tax that would be applied if done locally, with us there is no salex tax. While we do have some contacts in NorCal I have not worked with the shops long enough to recommend their services. I am very picky about who we recommend as they are ultimately our representatives and thats something I take very seriously. No matter who does the work, you are making the right decision to do these things as elective procedures.

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You might give Jerry Woods a call. He's in Campbell, CA. (408 area code) Also, there is SharkWerks in Fremont, CA. (510 area code) I've never used either of these businesses, do not know if they even do what you seek but I both know both have considerable experience with the Porsche engines. Sincerely, Macster.

Thanks Jake for responding. I would prefer to have your shop do the work for obvious reasons. It was the cost of shipping the car that was scaring me. I will be contacting you next week to discuss particulars.

No worries.. With the amount of cars we are having shipped to and from our facility the trucking company is extending the best deals possible to our clients. Call Dean at my Office at [phone removed] for details. I may not be available, but if I am I'd be happy to speak to you.

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Might you be the original owner? If not, have you tried to ascertain whether any of the above items were taken care of by a previous owner?

Talked to Ed today.. Looks like he is exploring his options and we might see the car here at Flat 6 sometime soon! Our truck is 3 hours away from him now, so he might take advantage of that.. Ed, no pressure at all, we'll be happy to help ypu if you want to send the car this direction!

Jake, after talking to you and Dean, I've decided to have you do the work we discussed. There is no price I can put on "peace of mind". Josh will be picking my car up on Wednesday. I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but I can't wait to drive the finished product!

Excellent.. Josh is a great guy, he is an expert at transporting Porsches!! He brings them to us from every corner of this Continent.. Four are in transport now, inbound or outbound! We'll treat you right.. Dean will be in touch as soon as the car arrives here at the Flat 6 Compound!

Josh loaded up my baby last night. She's on her way to Flat6 Innovations. Work your magic, Jake!

I unloaded Ed's baby last night after it's safe trip across the country.. Then we loaded up another one heading home after our magic was performed :-) Ed's 996 is sweet for sure! Ed, if you want I can post all your update pics here as we do our work, thats generally a fun way to educate people and give you daily updates while the work is being carried out. I'll be carrying out diagnosis and initial Dyno work on Tuesday and we'll go from there!

Please do, Jake! Please save my old IMS bearing. I'm gonna use it as a paperweight.

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Anyone in the Rhode Island / Massachusetts are yet that can do the IMS and other fixes? If not, maybe I will do the shipping thing. My CPO runs out in June and right now the car has 18K miles.

Ed, We always save the IMS bearings. We generally save them to disassemble and evaluate, but we can leave yours intact if you'd like. There are shops in the NE area that can do this work, but no one in the country has developed a program like ours. Shipping from RI to the Flat 6 facility runs around 500 bucks and we'll have a truck there in the coming week. We have two trucks zig zagging across the country now picking up and delivering these cars. Or you can schedule a date and time and take a vacation in the NE Georgia mountains and drop your car off at Flat 6, you can even hang out in the area and we'll be done in just a few days :-)

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Jake, speaking for the peanut gallery, I'd LOVE it if you'd do this. It'd be a great reference along with Shark Attack's thread, and Cefalu's, and ride23's, and a couple others. Ed, thanks in advance for allowing your car to be shown off in the name of science!

inviktus: My pleasure! Jake: Then by all means, take mine apart, for the best of Porsche-kind...

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Sounds good - as I said in my PM, I plan on taking a road trip after my CPO warranty expires in June - so I will plan something with you at some point for July. Any accomodations nearby the shop? Doesn't have to be anything fancy. I don't want to spend too much on rental cars etc. because having the work done etc. will lower my budget.

Yes, accommodations within 5 miles of the shop that are affordable. We can set you up with everything from a decent hotel room to a one bedroom cabin thats in the middle of the national forest and just minutes from the shop. Email Dean at [email removed] for some info and to see what our schedule is like. We have a TON of engines being built over the spring and summer, so those take priority and we don't have as much time for upgrade procedures.

We were able to get Eddie's 996 in the shop today, a day later than we planned to carry out the pre-procedure evaluation. All is looking well at this point, I had to take the afternoon away from the shop and handle some marketing stuff so I plan on having the pre- eval complete by Friday and I'll share some pics. If all goes well with a3.4>> 3.6 complete build up that we are doing now, we'll be able to get Eddie's update work done by the end of next week! Pics to come, I took some today :-)

Thanks for the update, Jake.

I took the plunge myself and I am shipping my car in late June right after my CPO warranty expires.

We are finishing up a 3.6 Big Bore procedure today.. All of Eddie's parts are now in stock and ready to go, so we'll finish our pre-check tomorrow and dig in to this baby! I'll do my best to keep you guys up to date :-)

Fingers crossed!

Eddie, I think you'll be fine.. The 3.6 big bore just breathed to life and is hitting our dyno now.. If all goes well we can get your work done while I am carrying out my field testing on this Big Bore Boxster!

Here is the first round of updates for Ed and the Rennlist family. We finished all the pre-procedure testing this morning which included a Dyno evaluation of Ed's 996. The engine made great power for a higher mileage 3.4 in need of some TLC and preventives. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igCbH4DazQU See the dyno graph, this is a very strong 3.4, but it has some bumps in the graph at vario-cam changeover that are indicative of some wear on those components. I believe that the graphs will be smoother and flatter everywhere after we finish the updates- they almost always are. After the dyno we completed the remainder of the pre-eval work and got Ed's engine pulled. We noticed that the adaptor for the B&M short shift kit was broken and we'll be replacing that. We also noted that his slave cylinder needs replacement and that the flywheel is worn beyond spec and has a ton of wear and hot spots on it's face. We'll be replacing that with a good used unit from our core bank that has 20,000 or so miles on it and is like new. Other than that the engine had no other apparent issues, we haven't really found any other major gripes with it.. Here are some other pictures of the progress. Ed has been great to work with, with any luck I'll be putting road test miles on the car over the weekend and it'll be heading home next week!

Here are some more pictures of the process, Ed's engine is now in our O.R. :-):

Looks like my baby is in the best of hands. Great talking to you today, Jake. BTW, I had a sense she was strong...

Eddie, Yes this baby is strong. I can't wait till we make the updates and re-dyno the car. It probably won't make must more peak power, but the changeover will be more linear and the graphs not as bumpy.. Its a nice car, reminds me a lot of my '99 C2 Aero that my Wife set her Land Speed Records with.. I wish I hadn't sold it!

Today's progress... Began working with the vario-cam related items and inspecting the heads for cracks. Note the wear on the vario-cam wear pads.. This is totally normal at any mileage over 40K and is the cause of that bumpy torque curve and the radical plot changes at variocam changeover @ 5,200 RPM

Here we are finishing disassembly of the valve train, looking for cracks forming in the heads under the lifter carrier and measuring the lifter carrier for wear. Worn lifter carriers lead to lifter failures, so we use a telescoping gauge and a small bore gauge to measure for this. Simply "changing" lifters without these precautions being taken leads to failures. We have had to create our own specifications for this wear, because none are posted by Porsche. By the end of the day we'll have the IMS bearing pulled.. Just took a lunch break and decided to post some pics. Now on to upgrading the oil pump drive key, chain rails and other vario cam based components..

"Peace of mind" is flooding over me...

Some more progress. Ended the day at a good stopping place. - Some upgraded FSI lifters. -A worn Upgraded -I upgraded Ed's cam drive sprockets from the early two piece (problematic unit on the right) units to the later revised units that are single piece -Pic of the early and late cam drive sprockets -Shot of the crack-free 4-6 cylinder head

Its been a crazy few days around here.. I haven't had the necessary time in the Office to update the progress with Ed's 996, so i apologize. The good news is the car is good to go and has passed all my tests with ease, we just need to replace his B&M shifter arrangement that was broken previously and do one final dyno run, then hunt down a squeak in the suspension for him. Here are some more pics of what we've been up to: Crankshaft locked at TDC for reinstallation of camshafts and camshaft timing procedures Camshaft Timing Procedures being carried out Installation of revised camshaft drive sprocket Close up of new vario cam wear pads and 4th/ 5th drive chains Comparison of OEM oil pump drive key and the update billet drive key. I've lost an engine to this, so we ALWAYS update them! Installation of the new billet drive key Machining the case for the under drive crankshaft pulley. Shot of the nasty OEM IMS flange Flange pulled to see the dual row IMS bearing Extraction of the OEM IMS bearing using the Flat 6 "Pro" level extraction tool. Bearing extracted.. Here is the release of oil that proves the bearing was at stage II of the four stage wear sequence. The inner and outer seals were compromised Ed's Dual Row IMS bearing Cleaning the seal debris and nasty oil from the IMS tube Insertion of the new bearing with our worn out driver! Thats the first driver that was made, its well used! (big hammer for added effect!) Dual row ceramic composite hybrid retrofit bearing inserted and ready for the lock ring to be installed Installing the lock ring Billet IMS drive flange installed and torqued. Flange was then serialized to quantify that Flat 6 did this retrofit. The flange number matches our logbooks and the retrofit sticker in the door jamb Pulling the RMS Installing the new RMS RMS installation complete Engine and transaxle married, ready for integration back into the vehicle Up and in! Ready to add the rear bumper and go from there! Ed's mileage total.. The trip odometer reads the mileage that I test drove the vehicle prior to "blessing" it to go home to Ed. Thats a test drive, but we have to do this with cars being shipped cross country for our work. The "NO BS" decal that proves the job was done right, by the people who perfected the procedure. This is Retrofit #202 for the Flat 6 Team, more than anyone else! Ed wanted enough of our Flat 6 Oil for two oil services, so we dispensed 5 gallons of the secret sauce and will be shipping it home in the trunk of the car for him :-) This one is done, one more dyno run and she is outta here!! Ed was great to work with, like all of our clients. Thanks for the opportunity to serve you, Ed

What are those hexagonal-shaped pieces, Jake?

Ed, I added captions to the photos... They explain the hex drives :-)

Thanks for everything, Jake. Wish I could shake your hand!

Very thorough. I'm guessing all of this work is not part of the $3,500 service?

Correct. I got the engine upgrade package as well.

Nice! Jake was able to fit you in with a 3-4 week turn time. You are one lucky man.

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Yes, he was lucky.. Only because all the planets aligned and we have 3 engine builds on hold due to a slow down with the Nikisil cylinder plating process. We have an empty truck on the way back from california with space open if anyone is interested.. Ed's car will be heading back on that truck.

Funny, my wife says that often...

Ed is lucky to have his 996!! The car drives and handles awesome, I had fun putting the test drive miles on it :-)

How much should I budget for Pre-failure R&M?

She's loaded up on the truck and headed back to California. Can't wait to drive it!

The car is on the way home!!! Ed was great to work with, his car is well prepped and I enjoyed driving it the 300 test miles on the back roads of North Georgia!

Jake, interesting to see the process in photos. Do you have the final dyno? Also how do these upgrades impact the cars ability to pass CA smog? Are there any issues if someone went from a 3.4 to one of your performance oriented upgrades? TIA

Yep.. Will convert and post it tomorrow. None of these mods altered the engine internally. We simply replaced components electively. We added just a couple of items for performance, but they will not impact smog at all. Just because the engine is internally modified already makes it illegal to apply in California, whether or not it passes smog. When we sell engines to Californians the proposal states that the engine is for off highway use only, unless it goes back together bone stock, only with reliability and longevity enhancements.

Thanks goodness we have CARB to look out for us

Well, that was the longest 44 days... Took delivery of my car today and put about 60 miles on it. I loved my car before this. Now, I don't know if I'll be able to keep my hands off her! The engine note has changed. It's "sonorous", aka, flippin incredible when at song. Quieter at idle. Power is very linear. The clutch is no longer a left leg workout. Kudos to Jake and Flat6 Innovations for caring about these wonderful cars, spotting the issue, and engineering a fix. As a result, more will stay on the road.

Hows that last dyno look?..... congrats Ed! Jake thank you for sharing.

Thanks. Didn't gain anything. I was prepared for that. However, now it's turbine smooth. The harder you push the loud pedal, the faster she goes.

Ed, Glad to hear that you got the car with a flawless return trip.. 44 days for a car shipped from 2500 miles away round trip to include our procedures has to be a new record! The car spent as much time in transit as the procedures took! A lot of what we capitalize on isn't notable on the dyno.. The part throttle performance at less than WOT is super notable and the engine just runs silk smooth. Ed was great to work with.. His car is nice and we are happy to have made it much nicer. BTW_ That truck that dropped Ed's car off is headed back soon and will be here dropping off on May 2nd, when it woll grab the next round of west coast cars heading back home. Anyone that wants to catch a ride on the truck as it heads back across country and get services like Ed should call me ASAP! We have set aside May as the IMSR month and thats all we'll be doing all month.

I am new to the forum and forums in general and was just readi this thread. It started with a request for a reputable engine shop in the NorCal area. I live in South Florida and blew the motor (bent valves and damaged piston in cylinder 5 due to the scavenger pump on that side letting go) of my Seal Gray '03 996 in March. It was a real body blow at the time due to the state of my finances. I talked to LN and to Jake and to a shop in Miami. The Miami oufit made all sorts of promises for less than 1/2 of Jake's price. I went with them due to the aformentioned financial issue. Four months and 9,000 totally wasted dollars later, it blew much worse than the first time (left hook to the jaw). This time I cashed in some FF miles and went to meet Jake and the guys. Long story short, my car is now in Cleveland, GA in the early stages of one of Jake's Stage II rebuilds. I have a November build slot and am counting the days. I've kicked myself in the *** some many times I can't sit down over the lost $9k. I wasn't fully aware of the scope of work included in FSI's rebuilds until I visted the shop. There is no comparison between it and what I got in Miami. Talk about penny wise and thousand dollar foolish! I strongly recommend that anyone with a blown M96 really do their research before committing hard earned dollars to the myriad engine rebuilding outfits springing up all over. I haven't driven a FSI engined car and certainly have no firsthand knowlege on how they hold up. I will share my experiences with the FSI motor when I get the car back in December. Thank you.

Mike, since you posted here I hope you don't mind if I make you our poster child.. As the old Indian Proverb reads "Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment." And then when you talked to me I didn't make any promises, didn't tell you what you wanted to hear and my price seemed to be way more. I am overly blunt, won't give anyone any information that makes them over expect from us. Everything we do is in a written proposal format with ZERO fine print. If anyone doubts any aspect of what we do to include development, knowledge, business ethic or integrity; I refuse to work with them. Back then you made the same mistake that people do everyday and you assumed that all engine builders are the same and that we are just bolting things together. I am glad to see that you actually understand the differences now, its too bad that words can't describe what sets us apart from those other guys. We have developed every aspect of our engine from the sealants to the oil and every component that comprises the engine. We don't un-box parts and throw things together, we do it all the way or not at all. If you think a quality M96 engine is expensive, wait until you see how much a cheap one costs you! We don't get to meet very many of our clients, so its very nice when someone schedules an appointment to see what its like behind the curtain here. I bet you had your mind blown when you found our facility in the middle of no where :-) Few people get to see where the magic happens :-) And luckily we were able to find you a crankshaft and IMS assembly to make up for the destroyed ones that the other guys left you stuck with. Add 2500.00 for the replacement for this useless crankshaft Add 700.00 (DAMN thats a deal) for the replacement of this dented and no longer straight IMS assembly Thats why you need to contact the guy that just called us and sent me this picture. [IMG]https://rennlist.com/forums/members/flat6-innovations-albums-bro ken-stuff-picture12022-2005-c2s-will-he-make-the-right-decision.jpg[/IMG] This is the perforated crankcase that he now has after a rod bolt was compromised at turn 11 of Mid Ohio.. He balked at my price tag for repairing this and reconstructed the engine the right way. Since we have already established that the quickest way to waste 9,000 dollars is by trying to save that much, I believe that he needs to hear about your experiences. Right now he hasn't made a mistake, but he certainly seemed like there was no way he would be willing to spend the money to pay the price of admission into the Flat 6 Innovations engine family. Like I said, words cannot describe what we do.. Neither can pictures or video. You have to see what we do, where we do it, how we do it and the people who do it before you can appreciate what we have created. I post very little on the site, purposely. Hell, I have plenty of comparatives to that in our scrap metal bin! Want to see how much these people value their work and reputation? Want to see how little they respect the pile of junk they had to send to another facility? Check this out... Its exactly the way we received Mike's engine cores. This is like going to the supermarket and you get the luck of drawing that 16 year old punk with his hat on sideways that don't give a damn about your eggs and bread and smashes them with frozen foods or a container of ice cream.. Same difference, only he screwed up parts worth hundreds of dollars. They have zero pride, looking at how these components were disrespected told us all that. It would have cost you even more if I hadn't given you a replacement crankcase from our core bank. Doing it once with us isn't expensive; its priceless.. I don't think those guys in Miami will ever have a purchaser email this to another potential customer of their shop who questions their warranty: My name is Jack Koch and I live in Vancouver WA. Like you I had serious concerns with the warranty section of my proposal for a rebuild of my 98 Boxster engine. I chose to make the leap of faith after talking with friends who are big air cooled VW fans. They knew of Jake’s work and told me he is known for doing great work and “Making it right” if his work did not stand up. I received my engine and had it installed locally and it purred like a kitten until the 8k mark. The engine suffered from a bad lifter that actually blew out of the valve cover and my heart stopped. Jake was very apologetic and attempted to work with qualified local shops to do the repair at his expense. Due to the lack of knowledge about the Boxster engine he could find no one that was willing to do the work. I talked with Jake and he informed me that he would fly out and do the work personally to make it right. He arrived and not only with the parts (camshafts, lifters and carriage) for the damaged side but also for the other side to make sure had I had no more issues. He completed the work and I have been driving my Boxster trouble free to work every day since. The repairs Jake made were over 10k miles ago and my engine is purring like a kitten. If you would like to discuss my experience with Jake / Flat 6 over the phone just let me know. Jack Koch Key words "springing up"... We were working with this engine in the days where they were no parts available other than what we built or modified from other engines. In those days the majority of other shops told us that we were crazy, because a new engine could be bought for 5K. They went on to explain how the engines could not be rebuilt and would never make any power.. How it would be impossible to become profitable when working with something so internally complex and unknown. Just in the past 3 months more "chop shops" have sprung up that are building these engines from piles of core junk, in salvage yards. The people doing this work can't be experienced, because as little as 6 months ago I know of one of them who didn't know the difference between a 2.5 liter Boxster engines and a 3.6 996 engine! Hell, he almost sold me a running 3.6 for the price of a 2.5 because he did not know the difference! Today they are whoring their services out to everyone for 1/2 the cost of what we create and it will put them out of business, just like it has the others. Today we are writing the book on the M96 engine, teaching some of those naysayers how to build these engines as students in our engine assembly schools and have had those curriculums accepted in training programs like the Worldpac Technical Institute. At WTI in January 2012 I'll teach hundreds of technicians from all over the world what they need to know about the M96.Its no longer a laughing matter to those guys. Long story short, the quote I inserted above has been the only engine issue we have had with one of our engines since day #1 of the program. We do it right, take our time and don't give failure the opportunity to visit us. We run this business in a military manner with exceptional communication and couple that to old fashioned hard work, respect and integrity for both the engine and the owner. The end result is purchasers all over the world that get more than they pay for and are willing to go out of their way to recommend our services to friends and family. Thats why we are backlogged till June 0f 2012 for reconstructed engines. This can't be rushed; you'll not find a single clock in any of our work areas and no one is paid based on production rates~ That said, the parts bill for Mike's engine exceeds 15,000.00- How the hell did that other guy even make it run for 8K? If it seems too good to be true; it really is. BTW- I had trouble inserting images into this thread... Sorry about that

gasp. subscribed (unless of course 996c2 makes his own thread).

I've got a '00 996 and I sometimes "mine" the various forums for information, but I've never posted on one. When I saw this Rennlist thread on 996 motor failures and Jake Raby's pioneering efforts in the area, however, I wanted to share a few experiences. When I bought my 996 with 71k miles in early 2007, I had been researching the 996 for about 18 months and was very familiar this engine's weaknesses through the experiences of others. So, instead of buying a $50k 996, I waited until I found a super clean example for $30k and then banked the difference. The car looked and performed like a nearly new car, which was impressive for its miles. I've had an '86 911 and an '86 930, and I love this 996. I have been lucky in that in over four years, 20k add'l miles and three seasons of PCA DE track driving, I had only normal maintenance and absolutely no failures of any kind. All work on the car was otherwise elective. Nevertheless, I knew that at 90k miles I was probably starting to push my luck. When I had my car tech'd in September '10 for an upcoming DE, I heard a new ticking sound while standing beneath the nose of the transmission and looking rearward. I suspected the IMS, so it was time to upgrade, not rebuild (big difference). One reason for my suspicion of the IMS was that I had taken Jake's inaugural M96 engine assembly course in February '10. One thing we covered in detail was the IMS, and we got to examine quite a few that had been pulled from motors. Being familiar with Jake and his crew's experience with this motor, having seen the spotless shop, and learning so much about the motor during the three-day course (including knowing I shouldn't try this as a hobbyist) made my choice an easy one. In fact, the most important outcome for me was that I knew that Flat 6 Innovations was where I was sending my car when it was time to upgrade my motor. Fast forward to mid-August '11...I've just gotten my car back from Jake and the engine is truly awesome, this with stock intake and exhaust systems bolted on (actually, the originals). Despite all the upgrades being internal to the engine and run by the factory ECU program (no-flash), this motor has an incredibly wide torque band that comes in strongly at 3,000 rpm, with a peak of 246 ft lbs and 286 hp--at the tires. Peak power arrives 1,000 rpm below redline, so this will be a long-life motor since I don't need to thrash it to push the car along quickly. Friendly daily driver, too. To date I've only been to Mid-Ohio since getting the car back, and wasn't pushing it hard. Yet I soon discovered that I no longer needed to downshift to 2nd gear through the Carousel, Keyhole, or T7 at the end of the back straight, nor down to third gear at T1 before heading up to the Keyhole--there's so much power available in the next higher gear that there's no sense staying in a lower gear during high performance driving (this isn't racing and I'm the sole sponsor). Headed to Putnam Park in two weeks for another DE weekend. I got exactly the motor I wanted in terms of performance, as well as all the upgrades that Jake and Charles have perfected. This 996 is a keeper, and I'll be very surprised if the Raby engine isn't still powering the car on weekend drives, road trips and at the track...in 2021. Oh, and on dis-assembly of the factory motor, a "tightening up" IMS was the only likely suspect for the sound I'd heard. I am so glad that I did this now. For one thing, I get to enjoy this marvelous engine right now and not at some indistinct point in the future. I could not be more satisfied! Because this is a major investment, in my mind this makes it a do-it-once, do-it-before-failure, and do-it-right situation. Jake and Flat 6 have my highest recommendation. Mmm, I think I'm going out for a drive...

Greg, Glad you finally stopped lurking (why do all our purchasers lurk?!!!!) and did a little bragging on that car :-) You should be jealous of 996c2, because he got to see the heart of your engine... When he stopped by that day for his visit your baby was going together :-)

Pictures Greg, pictures... pleeeeease. And of the engine too. :-)

Glad to, so I am getting some pics together and will post them later today.

Note that Greg has 286 RWHP with no ECU alteration, with a stock intake and stock exhaust system! All that power is coming from the internal enhancements that we have developed and applied to Greg's engine :-)

logray: I've included a handful of pics below as an overview of sorts. If you or anyone else has particular interests, I'll look through the photo chronology that Jake provided during the build and see what else I can find. These essentially are in reverse order in terms of assembly, installation and testing... 1. my '00 996 on the Dynojet for its first post-assembly run 2. assembled Performer engine and transmission upgraded by GBox ready for installation 3. JE pistons and R&R Pro Billet rods in LN Nickie cylinder'd case half (now 3.6L) 4. closeup of JE lightweight piston in Nickie cylinder 5. case half with Nickie cylinders (note Batman headgear image in red on the cylinder walls included at no extra charge; engine is well protected...) 6. triple-row LN ceramic bearing (yes!) and billet paddle 7. closeup of head surface, valves and seating; note different appearance of intake and exhaust valves in terms of color and finish Two years ago I upgraded to the X51 sump plate, as well as LN's low-temp thermostat, spin-on oil filter adapter and deep sump kit, so these simply were re-installed on the Performer upgraded engine. Also, when I upgraded for aesthetic reasons to the GT3 aero kit around the same time, I installed the OEM center radiator kit. I still find it amazing that the huge power increase is all internal, but there's no doubt about it--you can see the stock intake and exhaust systems, with the "patina" of the latter pretty hard to miss. Enjoy! Greg

Wow, great looking engine candy. Great pics, thanks.

Thanks for the pics! This might be enough to put me over the edge for the 3.4 to 3.6L upgrade.

The cost for the bump from 3.4 to 3.6 liters is between zero and negligible given the Nickie cylinder, JE pistol and R&R rod combination. That .2 liters, however, is a six percent gain in displacement, so it is an important component to the overall horsepower and torque gain. 3.4 and 3.6 injectors are the same price, and the 3.4 intake, exhaust sytsem and ECU handle the increase in displacement just fine. I wouldn't hesitate to go 3.6.

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Thanks... you bring up a good point. When I rebuilt the top end on my 3.4L I had my original blue injectors sent out for clean and test. They came back good as new. I understand there are light green injectors with improved spray patterns - I am wondering if those would be required if I go with the 3.4 to 3.6L upgrade or if I could re-use the original blue ones. - Or if there is a completely different part that is recommended. More research to do! Well certainly a "drop in the bucket", probably considering overall rebuild cost from Flat 6... [by no means implying those services are not fairly priced]