3.8L stroker....... or Supercharger?

i recently spoke to GMG and they told me they can do a 3.8L stroker kit....for about the same price that it would cost to supercharge the 3.4L ....... what is a stroker kit, how reliable is it and how well does it run....? it is worth doing vs a supercharger? anyone with experience pls chime in.... debating to supercharge or go this route.........

stroker kit is where they bore out(???) the block put in larger pistons, and rebuild the engine with a larger capacity...they will probably also do something intake and exhaust wise to match the engine...no clue on reliability....depends on how much material is in the block....i have heard in the past that if you go too big, the cylinder walls get thin and you can pot a piston through the block....but thats for extreme bores....maybe you should ask GMG what they do and how reliable is it...if they offer a warranty...how many they have done....etc....but a 3.4L to 3.8L increase isnt that big to jeopordize reliability...the next question is how much power will it produce? A supercharger will probably produce more high end power, but have less low end torque, so street driving in a 3.8L will probably be nicer, but if you live in the high rpm range a s/c may produce more power there...I would go with the 3.8L with all things being the same....less stuff to go wrong...less to deal with if anything does go wrong...like the muscle car guys used to say..."there is no replacement for displacement...."....Also a s/c costs about 10k....so can they do this for about 10k? That would be amazing....

I would assume that since they call it a "stroker", that they would increase the stroke of the piston rather than just boring it. Perhaps they would increase the bore a bit also, but I'll bet much of the displacement increase is from the stroke.

ahh...yes...the stroke...lol

Stroker kit typically means increased swept volume without increasing the cylinder diameter which in turn means a different crank.

If it is truly a stroker, you may lose a little upper RPM range due to the longer swinging of the crankshaft I would imagine but I dont know the specifics. Seems you may lose the characteristics of the motor a little. The S/C would obviously make the most power all the way around but force feeding a 11.3 compression motor is scary with tons of cylinder pressure. I think the best would be a resleeved block with big bores (up to the 3.8L) and leave the crank alone.

hmmm... you guys are pretty knowledgable... GMG told me it would cost around the $10K mark, and it would pull a little harder then the 06 911 now......it's also because our cars, or the 99 are a little lighter, although since mine is a cab i think that negates the weight difference..... but sounds like a sound idea... i think i need to inquire more.......

Are you going to use the additional power ? IMHO if you're on the street, you've already got a lot of "get-me-in-trouble" performance ! But then again, its your money and your car I'm guessing a well designed 3.8L is better than overstressing a 3.4L engine by supercharging it. Don't forget to upgrade your brakes and suspension too !

suspension is in the works now..... well see about brakes after....

One of the drawbacks of a stroker engine is the lost of rpm. Because of the longer throw of the crankshaft from the increased stroke it takes the engine a longer time to complete a revolution. There are two ways to increase displacement: one is by way of bore and two by way of stroke. Usually on larger displacement engines most engine builder usually bore and stroke the engine for increased displacement. In my opinion the joy of driving a Porsche is the ability to rev out the engine to redline and hear the engine sing. A stroker engine generally produces more torque and horsepower down low and not at the upper rpm bands. However after performing a quick search on Google for larger displacement 996 engine revealed most builder utilize only a larger bore for increased displacement so you might be in luck. All you have to worry about is the heavier piston from the increased diameter can affect rpm.

Super charge it dude! and you get at least 420 hp talk with vivid racing.

Getting stroked and blown sounds like a lot of fun! I have had both stroked and supercharged engines in my vehicles (Saleen with a 331 stroker motor, 99 Range Rover with a supercharger) Stroker motor.....very useable torque & horsepower gain plus you have a rebuilt engine. Easy to justify to the spouse when the engine needs rebuilt anyway. Supercharger.....best bang for the buck, not recommended on high mileage engines without a rebuild. Supercharged & stroked.....lots more horsepower and torque. You will be the only kid on your block with a supercharged & stroked 996. Autofarm in the UK offers stroker motors up to 4.0 litres as does Motor Meister in Los Angeles. I have not seen any information on the performance gains from the stroker motors. The benefits of the three supercharger systems have been well publicized. Either option sounds like fun.

i highly suggest everyone here to get a stroker and a blown kit......

When I did research on this I found that the most cost effective upgrade for the 3.4L is to go to 3.7L, to get to 3.8/4.0 required swapping out to the crankshaft and bearing cradle to one from a 3.6L. The 2002+ 3.6L engines have totally different cylinder heads and crankcases so they can go to 4.0L In the end it was too spendy for me as a pure upgrade for my power but an option that I will certainly take should my 3.4L ever develop an out of warranty engine failure.

Im a self confessed deal junkie. I always consider the deal when making a large purchase...and in my opinion, the supercharger is the better deal. I don't know how long you plan to keep your 996 but I assume you will eventually sell it. When it's time to sell, you can remove the supercharger and sell it on rennlist or ebay and get half what you paid for it (give or take a little). With the stroker, you will get nothing and I don't expect the car would sell for much if any more with the engine modded... So, in my opinion, if they both cost $10k, then the effective net cost of the supercharger is only $5K. Is the stroker worth double? I personally don't think so. just my $.02

Nice points....but you have to consider labor on the removal as well which may be a couple grand...so you are looking at 3k....would the 3.8L be worth 3k? YES...I do mods based on my enjoyment, not based on the value of the car...I guess because I plan on keeping for a LONG time....so my thought is long term reliability. As many have said, supercharging a high compression engine is usually not a good idea....If he is gonna sell soon, save the 10k and put it towards a TT....

Yup, newport my thoughts exactly.... I my engine blows, I'll rebuild it with more power. For the same $ and HP I would much prefer to drive the NA Bored & Stroked engine vs a SC. Just my preference.

Good point Newport996...I will admit that I really don't know what Im talking about and have never seriously looked into either mod...and if you plan to keep your car forever or a very long time, then go for the one that gives you the best performance. I do think there are some people here who have supercharged there engines...and I haven't heard bad reviews (about engine failures etc...) so I don't know that it is necessarily too unreliable. I do agree about the TT. That will be my next purchase.

well... i do agree with all the points made....great ones by the way....you know... it's tough to say whether i will keep the car for a long time or if i come across a great deal i might just jump on it..... passion and impulse is stupid when it comes to car buying... especially if the car is in the range of 100K plus..... in terms of mods... i agree with newport in that do what you like... ultimately, i'm the one enjoying the car. but then once you do decide to sell..... the first thought in my mind is how do i get back that money.... which will never be the case...... i just sold my G35 Supercharged... loved the hell out of it... costly to have it done and when i sold it, i didn't get back even 35% of the finance that i put into it.... but if i wait for a TT..... that's going to take some time... given that i just got married, and planning on a family within the next two years........ So do i enjoy Now with a stroker/supercharger or wait probably 5 years for a TT?

Why not enjoy it as it is? The stock 996 is amazing in terms of performance....I would do suspension, rims/tires, etc...then find my local canyons and have a blast....

i agree... i am in the process of rims and suspension now... just got my iforged 19's 8.5 fronts with the 11's in the back.. now looking for pss9........ system already done with the alpine head, focal speakers with a 10" sub headers done, exhaust, and now looking for something with a little more kick..... i mean i come from a supercharged g35 with 410 hp and a twin turbo z with 520 hp... it's tough with a 300 hp car even if it's a porsche.....although i can't argue about the handling and the way it makes me feel.....

unfortunately you bought the wrong car for cheap engine mods....a TT would have been a better choice....you could get 500+ hp pretty easily.....

yeah..... well... never had a porsche before and didn't know about rennlist and all those car forums until now..... so if looking back, i would have gotten the tt but i was worried about all the high maintanance if something went wrong ...... this is my intro car.......

I don't what part of the country your from, but here in N.CA putting a SC on you can can be very problematic in regards to CAB or emissions laws. If a CHP officer or for any police officer feels you have modified your car's engine they can have the car impound right then and there, at the very least he can send you to a special referee station and you wont pass Even if the emission as better then state requires you'll fail on visual, period. Just another issue you might half to consider when, a stroker will pass, S/C will fail. Or you just save the money and buy a GT2 you can get away with so much more from visual performance side.

Good point never thought about it....In CA...you must smog every other year....if you cannot find an "underground" smog shop to pass you, you have to pay to remvove it and smog then reinstall it that could be a $3K-$4K cost every other year on a S/C.....

good point cls.... i am in socal... so my hands are just as tied.....i don't think a lot of cops out there really knows what a porsche sounds like... hell i don't even know it well enough to know what mods are on the car..... and i listen to my car and every porsche that passes me everyday.... but in light of it, you are correct, moded cars in california do get shafted pretty hard........ i spoke to Vivid and they told me that the evoms sc was suppose to be carb legal soon, but i think they say that all the time......... selling strategy you know......sneaky bastards..........

Yeah the EVOMS was supposed to be CARB legal like for YEARS.....

well when i spoke to vivid they sad in january of this year..... i guess they missed the deadline....

you know... it's wierd though... i have the Vortech supercharger on my G35 and it's carb legal... from what i know isn't the EVOMS also from Vortech? is it that much of a difference that they can legal one and not the other....?

Its actually really expensive and time consuming to have a lab do the CARB certification durability tests and I'm not sure they would sell enough additional kits because of the CARB number to make it worth their while? The EVO kit was designed by VF Engineering. Anything they say should be taken with more than a grain of salt.

well i think they like to give hope and won't reallt tell you where they are if they are not close....