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Newbie Porsche Virgin - 997 C4S Project

dan4s997

Well-known member
Joined
13 Apr 2017
Messages
104
Hi,

I've always wanted a 911 and after selling my beloved e46 m3 coupe i decided to take the plunge. Originally i wanted a Carrera 2 S as Carrera 4 S's looked well out my price range but after a months of searching i came across a ultra cheap midnight blue 2006 Carrera 4 S project a few months back which had a great spec including aero kit, lsd, short shift, sports seats, gen 1 turbo wheels, sports exhaust etc. As the car has suffered engine failure my first plan is obviously to get the car on the road. After that im thinking of getting gen 2 turbo wheels, drls, rear led light, black pcm and change the steering wheel.

I really want to do a progress thread as ive have already invested alot of time in the car and want to show you guys where iam with it.

My old m3



The new car

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I've moved your thread into the 997 sub-forum and look forward to following your progress. . :thumb:
 
i brought the car as a rolling shell which was a finance re procession with no paper work. I knew i was taking a huge risk. Did all the checks on the car and they all came back fine with no outstanding finance or previous accident damage.





After receiving the log book i managed to trace the original owner on facebook and after numerous attempts to contact him he got back to me with the story of the car. The car had suffered full engine failure and the engine was taken out to source a replacement. After missing a payment on the finance the car was seized. But the best news was that he still had the engine, gear box, service history, pretty much everything to make a complete car. After a 200 mile round trip and a van full to the brim i came back with everything.





I decided to take the engine to Ramus porsche in west bromwich who stripped it down for me. He said it was the worst engine failure hes ever seen. They said the engine had thrown four rods, smashed the crankcase, smashed four pistons, bent the crankshaft, destroyed the carrier and damaged most of the valves on the head.













Since i brought the car ive been looking for 3.8 engines and they seem to be as rare as rocking horse poo so decided to search for individual parts. I was going to get new heads but there fetching over £1000 for a pair so decided to repair the ones ive got. I took the heads to bilston cylinder head repairs in the west midlands who said they can repair them and i would need 16 new valves reground and seated. After nearly having a cardac arrest after seeing how much the stealers wanted i looked for some second hand. 9apart managed to sort 12 used ones out at £10 each and managed to get the other four for around £20 each from car parts for less. Considering porsche wanted around £35 pound per valve i thought this was pretty good. After months of searching i managed to found a bloke breaking a 3.8s. So went down to swindon to see him. Came away with a crankshaft, carrier complete with four rods, four pistons, flywheel, secondary air pump, oil cooler and crank cases. Pretty much everything mark at ramus porsche said i needed. I've found someone that has some second hand rods. Im not sure as there from a different engines if they'll all need balancing or if i get three rods off this bloke and but them all on the one side if they'll be balanced. The other issue ive got is the crank case has one scored bore so it will need to be lined and there is a repair one corner of the crank case. The other side of the repair is a oil gully. As i have no idea of whos welded it i dont know how good the job is. I either use it as it is and start rebuilding the engine, try and rerepair the crack or get a new crankcase. i know previously after contacting every porsche breaker in europe how hard crankcases for these engines are to find. I'm going to speak to some welding specialists to get some advice. Ive been told it may be better instead of having the crack full of weld to cut a piece out my old crank case in the exact same location get it machined into the new crank case after cutting out the weld then weld round it. Any advice would be very appreciated.

 
Blimey that's a big project you've jumped into. What a result tracking down the original parts and history file though. Armed with that, if you can fix it for reasonable money there might be a few quid in the finished car (if you're looking to move it on)

Good luck with it :thumb:
 
Holy smoke! :eek: Absolute respect for taking it on fella :worship: and really looking forward to seeing your progress. :thumb:
 
FRZ 911 said:
Holy smoke! :eek: Absolute respect for taking it on fella :worship: and really looking forward to seeing your progress. :thumb:

+1

Very best of luck to you :)
 
Good luck with the build mate, looking forward to progress updates!
 
You can always bolt in a small block Chevy V8? They do adaptor kits and it would be a lot cheaper! :D
 
That car is going to be great when your done, midnight blue with Aerokit the perfect choice... well I would say that lol .
A big project but at least you can bullet proof it as you rebuild it, and as they are holding their value and starting to go up so a decent investment of your time and money. :thumb: :thumb:
 
you are very brave mate taking that on and an interesting thread i will be watching....as phil says an aero kit with a rebuilt engine should be a very nice car when its finished although you may be a bit older by then :)
 
Really interesting to see and great thread in the making!

Mind saying what you paid and what you are budgeting?
 
Welcome,
Great project your a brave man but I'm sure it'll be worth it and you will have a lovely car at the end of it.

Your CS looks lovely too. interlagos blue is a fab colour. I've had a couple of E46 M3's myself, still have a 2005 vert with Cinnamon leather and only 53k miles that I'll be selling shortly now the nicer weather is returning.

As nice as the M3 is it can't match the ability of a 911.

Good luck getting the engine rebuilt and back in the car.

:thumb:
 
Wow :eek: Great thread and fair play for taking on such a project, you will get great satisfaction when you complete it!

I would find a top welder to have a look at the crankcase, someone with experience of doing something similar. Might be worth having a chat with Hartech see if they can point you in the right direction, they must have come across similar damaged engines before!

+1 on the colour... Midnight Blue is the best :thumb:

Look forward to the updates!
 
Thanks for all the comments guys! resigner ive pm'd you. I havent got a exact budget at the moment just gonna spend what ever it takes to get it strongly rebuilt and on the road!
 
Didn't want to spend much money on the cars exterior until it was on the road but saw this OEM GT3 lip on ebay and couldnt resist...

 

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