Three minutes at the red line. Who said the M96 is fragile?

I broke down and ordered a Durametric a week or so ago. I was out of town and the first thing I did when I got home today was to figure out how to make it work and plug it into my 99 C2. I was of course very curious about the Category 1 (>7300 rpm) and Category 2 (>7900 rpm) over-revs. My car was purchased by Michelin Research and Development in April or May of 1998, when the 996 first went on sale, from Brumos Porsche in Florida. They installed a full roll cage (with the extensions that go into the drivers and passengers foot well) and Euro GT3 seats. Michelin proceeded to use it as a tire tester for about 14 years and 42,000 miles at their test track in Spartanburg SC. A young single gentleman in his 20s purchased it after that and put about 47,000 miles on it, primarily commuting between Greenville SC and Spartanburg SC. I know he “drove it as Dr Porsche intended” on multiple occasions. He told me he had it up to 168 mph (that would have been 103 mph over the speed limit where he drove it – newsworthy if he had been caught) and I believe him. I am the third owner and I have had it for about a year and a quarter. I have put about 3000 miles on it. Getting to the point, the Durametric told me my engine has 2486.5 hours of run time. There are 65,535 Category 1 ignitions, the last being at 2397.6 hours (that would be me ). Dividing by 3 ignitions per revolution and dividing by 7300 revolutions per minute gives me about 2.992 minutes at the red line. I will likely add more when I take my car to Road Atlanta on Tuesday. Fortunately, there aren’t too many Category 2 over-revs, and they are old. There are 1315, with the last occurrence at hour 850.9, most likely when Michelin owned it and the car had roughly 32,000 miles. 1315 ignitions equates to about 3.3 seconds. I know some people have had engine damage with fewer ignitions, but the data log doesn’t tell you how may events it took to get a total of 3.3 seconds, or how far over 7900 rpm the engine went. I don’t recall anyone posting a number greater than 65,535 Category 1 ignitions. I know I have seen Category 2 numbers greater than 1315.

Quotes source post: 15152954

Good to hear its still going strong. No ones posted more than 65,535 because thats the most the DME can record.

Quotes source post: 15153051

Well that makes it even more interesting. I wonder what the real number is then. No way to know. It does make me think I need to start saving for the inevitable rebuild. I probably should have added that I don't think the engine and transmission have ever been apart. The previous owner thought the clutch might have been replaced before he bought it, but he has no evidence. Crawling under it, I don't see any evidence. Everything looks completely stock and original. The only engine related component that I know is not original is the alternator. I will see what I get into this weekend when I do some maintenance and upgrades.

Quotes source post: 15153084

Don't think there are any signs that would indicate the gearbox has or hasn't been pulled but at 148,000kms (92,000miles) perhaps it is the original?? Anyway, i'd say treat it well, who knows how long it will last but fingers crossed it does!

My 996 had 997 Category 1 ignitions when I checked it before buying. Wny couldn’t it have been 1 less? I have added a few more since. My car had just over 50K when I bought it last Sept, but the previous owner had the clutch replaced at 32K when the IMS Solution was installed. Since it is my daily driver (52 mile stop and go traffic) the clutch is getting a good workout. I hope it lasts me a while still.

Quotes source post: 15153308

I would think so! I have 136K miles of mixed driving on the original clutch.

That is some awesome history, so they ran the crap out of that thing for 14 years? Fairly easy to get a lot of over revs when racing, maybe they had a section at the track where it didn't make sense to shift into next gear but just continue before the turn. Some times it makes sense to rev a little past shift point since a shift takes time.

My 2000 Boxster has 65535 range 1 ignitions, and only 1 range 2 ignition, I feel it the range 2 is likely a glitch, can't recall the hours but I recall that it was a while ago.

That would be me. Still stand my statement, especially now that I'm rebuilding the 4.0 after finding metal everywhere.

no DME report on my car, but last summer another RL'r got me to go to a HPDE https://www.tracknightinamerica.com ridiculously fun, ran my car at near redline for 3 / 20 minutes sessions, not to mention the gumball rally that was the trip there (thx Alex) my car ran so much quieter and smoother all the way home, I was genuinely surprised at what it was capable of on a small track

Quotes source post: 15153051

Trivia: An 8KB computer memory chip can store a total of 65,536 bits of data. Some old video game scores maxed out at 65,535 or 65,536. Any missing bit is a zero

Quotes source post: 15154016

It almost has to be a glitch, as qty 1 would be 120 degrees (1/3rd a revolution) of the crank.

Quotes source post: 15152954

Sounds like you have one of the �good ones.� Some people beat the heck out of their cars while they are still under warranty, because, if anything fails, warranty will cover it. But a side benefit is that anything that�s a weak link on the car might show or manifest itself early on. A lot of times, these manufacturer cars that are given to a 3rd party for testing, reviews, advertisements, etc., are maintained better than owners cars. The reason is because they don�t want to risk having a perceived problem of performance while on the track that could cause reviewers to complain or worse, start talking negatively about the car to others.

It's said that the early build 996's are the most trouble free. Regardless I love seeing people using these cars how they were meant to be used.

^^ The early 996s have quite a few advantages. They have the old dual-row IMSB, old style cylinder head gaskets, lower torque and HP, so less heat and lower bore scoring pressure, less need for the 3rd radiator, etc. Of course, no cup holders, no glovebox, plastic rear window on cabs, etc. But cheaper because of that.

Well, I may have discovered one of the reasons my engine has held up so we'll given it's history. I should have noticed when changing the oil in the past that there was a non-factory bead of sealant around my oil sump plate. I installed the 2 qt deep sump kit this past weekend, which comes with an X51 type oil baffle. When I noticed the sealant, I was thinking "oh crap, someone has gone into this engine, but why?" Well I took off the plate and to my surprise, there was an X51 oil baffle installed! Definitely during Michelin'' ownership.

Looks kind of similar to the one in the kit.

My oil pan was super clean with no noticable metal particles. There were a few pieces of valve guide plastic, so new guides are an upcoming project. There were a few pieces of valve guide plastic and one piece of selastic on the pick up tube screen.

While I was under there, I also installed the spin on oil filter adapter. I ran the car at Road Atlanta on Tuesday and it did great. The car is much more capable than I am. I had an instructor for the day and when he drove it, he could tell there was some issue with the rear suspension. We drove it over to L2motorsports which is adjacent to the track. They put it up on the rack and determined that the camber bolts had almost no torque and that the suspension was just worn out. I left it with them yesterday to completely redo it. They will install some trick pieces too to make the car more adjustable. It will cost about 30% of what I paid for the car, but it will be worth it to have a safe car that I am confident in.

What suspension (brand) are you going with?

Quotes source post: 15169557

Most of the parts are Porsche equivalent (just not in the Porsche box), such as Meyle components and *** bearings, but the lower control arms will be RSS 2 piece adjustable. They are going to set the car up with a little more camber than you typically have on a street car and you can make a broader range of camber and caster adjustments with these.

Nice one, you didn't opt for coil overs?

Quotes source post: 15169691

It has Bilstein B8s that are fairly new, so at this point, I didn't plan on swapping them out. To be honest, I am not a good enough driver to make use of coilovers, or even to tell the difference!