Out of interest. What is the rough cost for an engine rebuild

I was talking with a fellow Porsche ( early ) mate the other day and we spoke about 996 ownership and I mentioned i am looking at a Turbo. He said him self that the 996's where starting to make sence to buy as a modern day Porsche to just turn key and enjoy. So with that in mind the dreaded IMS and engine failure all come racing to the forefront of our chat. So with that in mind what is the going rough rate of an engine rebuild in the hands of a normal Porsche non dealer workshop for rebuild? I thought I heard sounds of the likes of £6500 he thought £4500 so that is why I am asking. Because I am looking at Turbo he can't go that far north but if a 996 for say £10,000 was to be bought and went bang we where thinking well a 912 or 356 engine rebuild is £8000-10000+ suddenly standard 996 ownership for a weekend car looked workable on paper. Turbo for me this time, I'm fed up of having the underdog in the 911 world [ ] time for the big guns [ ][ ] Although i did see a C4s ?? is that right looked on paper very nice.

Is turbo not a different engine and not suffer IMS issue?

yes, I am talking about the main stay of 996's 3.4's and 3.6's

Most 996 rebuilds with basic IMS or bore scoring damage cost between £4 and £5k to fix . and yes the turbo doesnt suffer from either as its using the bottom end of those old air cooled cars[ ]

you see suddenly the cars make sence then. Clearly you don't want to buy a £10k car and then wait to spend 50% again with the grief and hassel. But a 996 decent spec and a rebuilt engine for £15k is alot of car for your money. In the world of performace cars i feel. or am I missing some thing?

I agree if money was no object then 996 would be second choice. I bought my 996 as it was within financial reach spent 1800 changing to ceramic which hopefully will reduce risk -

I touched on this years ago when i first looked at a R reg 996 back in 2005 i think... at that time the number of engine failures where around 5% what do you think the going rate is today? Considering the Boxster is the same engine. Also I was aware of this http://www.imsporschesettlement.com/faqs/ I remember this and thinking your brave but it would seem they got some where. Who would have thought Porsche would be in court for non engineering excellence.

As I understand it, the stats on the dual-row 3.4 IMS bearing are lower than the later single-row type. Also, the 3.4 doesn't seem to suffer from bore scoring. A nice vanilla C2 is a cracking drive, and at sub-£10000 for a good one makes a sensible buy IMHO. I like those horrible GT1 headlights too! [8D]

Last time i spoke to Northways on this, the number of Boxterr/Cayman engine failures is 5% of the total 996/997 engine failures, yes that was 1 to 20.

I guess you would have to ask your self if your a gambling man. I'm not LOL.. I'm also not sure that miles come into play as alot now are over 100,000 miles and they have new issues now to contend with. All interesting stuff and the more time goes on the more people will come up with solutions and certain Hartech have managed to gain alot of new customers and cornered the market in a way. Some one had to.. you could say save Porsche LOL

Gordon, you must be a "glass half empty" sort of chap [ ] The "glass half full" guy would say 19 out of 20 will never have a problem. [ ]

I had Hartech sort my 1998 3.4 C2 Cab last year. At 85,000 miles. Engine out and attended to everything that needed doing. They replaced clutch/RMS/oil air separator/tappets. All serviceable but done anyway. The bores were fine and post rebuild comp test showed 180 psi on all 6 cylinders. They did lots of other sundry jobs like replacing all the corroded manifold studs and suspension parts plus the full gold service. It cost £6,400 but the car now has a clean bill of health and the Hartech 6 page inspection report to back it up. Done about 1000 miles in it since. Goes like a dream. I basically wanted to future proof the car either for myself or the next owner. After 10 years I have decided its now time for the next owner. So she is for sale. PM me if interested.

Gt1 headlights look much better than those mk2 sally's.[ ] Sally is a Girl.

If the US legal action figures are representative then the engine failure stats indicated that the issue was 5% in total - so is this 5% of 5%? (taking the 'glass half full approach').

LOL, wouldn't that be 100%

I was just giving information on how small the percentage of Boxster failures to 996/997's. I didn't even mention that most of the issues start showing between 30and 50k miles and fail in the next 5k or so

I apologize for adding some maths to the discussion, but if the failure rate is 5% and the cost of an engine build is £5k. Then the cost of a £10,000 996 is 10,000+(0.05*5,000)=10,250 i.e. the cost of the risk of failure is £250. I took that bet and have had 8 years of happy motoring in my c2 cab [ ]

.....and a person with one foot in a freezer and the other in an oven is on average, comfortable.

It funny you know, I had an intense dislike for the headlights on the face lifted (Jocylene Wildenstein?) 996. Then I sunddenly found myself with the wherwithall to by a 17,000 mile 996 turbo cab. It suddenly dawned on me that when you are in the best place of all, the driving seat, you can't see them. After the weekly blow out, just to keep the battery charged officer, you park up and find yourself saying to yourself," do you know what, I can live with the 'jocylenes'".

what is it like to open it up? floor it in second OMG,OMG,OMG, OMG, that cant be the red line already!; third, don't pull out don't pull out, don't pull out. Appy middle pedal to clean up the disc faces:- as you do. What a lovely few minutes

Hi Mark, Thanks for your enquiry. I cannot email or PM you from your login. Anyway, a photofile of my car is here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/109419758539528201378/albums/5983201652345514673 Happy to answer any questions. I have had the car for 10 years so there's not much about it I don't know. Cheers, Simon