To invest or not to invest that is the question!

[Robertb]

The question is whether its worth spending £10k-£12k to get many more years use out of a car you evidently enjoy a lot, and I'd say it is, but its not my money.

Alternatively, once the engine is in bits, there may be savings to be had by not going the whole hog and just repairing the damaged parts. Given that there is apparently only a modest premium in the used market for a rebuilt vs non-rebuilt car it will make practically no difference to the eventual resale value, but you will save up front.

Or, if you are going full ££££, you could even consider a 3.9 ltr upgrade, to get something different for modest additional outlay. I reckon that would suit a tip cab well, all that relaxed mid-range muscle...

How bad is the scoring? Are we talking tap-tap-tap, or non-symptomatic?

 

[Luddite]

Have to admit I ticked the box for sell it on, and without knowing you or your involvement with your Porsche it seemed the logical option..? Given the green agenda, climate change, the cost of fuel (that seems unlikely to ever go back down..?) and that from that which I have read on here that LV and perhaps others may be making "excuses" not to insure some folk in the forums Porsches, blaming LV`s underwriters...? Yeah could all be fake news but I too am with LV... time will tell.! It seems much may be stacking up against ICE vehicles as for the rate of change..? I suspect there may an element of gamble in all that, and if you add to that, the age of the average Baby Boomer with good pensions, and paid off mortgages who seem to buy Porsches, and may be due to loose their grip on the perch sooner than later...Hmm..?

Yeah with the Covid effect I reckoned Porsche values would drop like a concrete parachute, boy did I get that wrong, I had to pay circa £15k over that which HPI valued the 991 I bought...!!!

My first Porsche was very corroded and I mean VERY corroded a 69, 912 bought in the late seventies, it had engine issues too.. I bought that Porsche knowing it would take me forever, and any spare money I might find over a very long time to get what would end up as a welded up patchwork Porsche to MOT standard, and back on the road.... Investment...? Your having a laugh, in terms of time effort welding fumes filler dust and all else a would-be Porsche enthusiast is prepared to put up with in a cold damp garage..

For sure there are still enthusiasts like that out there who are more than ready to give it their best shot to restore old boats cars and houses for a multitude of reasons that make perfect sense to themselves when others around think that they are mad, might never be worth that which they are prepared to put into it, or kill them in the process.... Been there done that, and more than once, just to old to do it any more. (-:

At least investing in something solid as opposed to shares seems less of a gamble perhaps, if financial investment and profitable returns are an important aspect in decision making then you best admit to yourself that you are gambling..

Good luck in making the best decision for YOU.. :thumb:

 

[Dammit]

I think an important question to ask here is whether you'd miss the ~£12k, or whether it'd just be a bit of a dip in your savings.

I have absolutely no hesitation in saying rebuild it, then enjoy it - as long as you have the money to do so.

Viewing these things as an investment I think is unwise, viewing it as putting money into something that you enjoy and find rewarding to own, to drive and (if you're like me) get excited about the refreshed, improved version of a car you are already a fan of - that I think makes more sense.

ICE cars are dying off, fossil based petrol is probably also going to become increasingly hard to find - but there are synthetic petrols that will become increasingly available. They'll cost, but these are not daily drivers anyway.

And, entertainingly, there is literally no comparison in terms of who is greener between running a 20 year old Porsche on a synthetic petrol vs ordering a new Tesla.

But it comes back to your own circumstances - if you have the funds, have the inclination, 100% do it.

 

[sparticle]

Here I am again, thanks to everyone for their thoughts.

I can't believe it's over 2 years since this thread went up.

The car is still driving and still passes it's test with zero advisories and keeps on trucking.

The noise is worse (No surprise) but it still drives great. I have since sold my 991.2 C4S Cab so it's now the 996 or no Porsche!

We now have space in the barn so could theoretically drop the engine out, strip it and send the block to Hartech (I saw Baz popped up on here) for them to do their thang! Hopefully, save a lot of cash in the process and learn a load of stuff. If I ever got it back together again afterwards I can be very happy and even more invested in it.

If anybody has any good taking engine out videos and 996 engine strip and IMS sort videos that would be great. It's a gen 2 C2 Tip Cab. I am sure there will also be lots of really difficult to get to pipes that will need to be sorted at the same time.

Anyway food for thought. I just couldn't sell it when it came to it! You were right @Dammit

 

[jerzybondov]

How many miles have you done in the car since you first identified the scoring? Is it burning much oil?

 

[sparticle]

How many miles have you done in the car since you first identified the scoring? Is it burning much oil?

It's not a daily driver I think between the last 2 MOT's it had done about a thousand miles. In that time I think I used about .5L of oil.

Also a few years back I put a super strong magnetic sump plug in and some strong magnets around the filter. There was nothing on the plug when I changed the oil last year.

Cheers

 

[corneg1]

This is a great example of 'don't panic' when you discover bore scoring. Two years of motoring and she still goes OK! Gives you plenty of time to save up for the repair, if thats the route you're going. Thanks for coming back at letting us all know the status.

 

[sp1ke]

If anybody has any good taking engine out videos and 996 engine strip and IMS sort videos that would be great. It's a gen 2 C2 Tip Cab. I am sure there will also be lots of really difficult to get to pipes that will need to be sorted at the same time.

This channel has some playlists on removing a 996 engine, rebuilding it, & reinstalling

Man in a Garage

Man in a Garage Porsche Repair and Restoration in a tiny garage, for fun! If you learn anything from the videos or even enjoy a mild giggle please consider Subscribing and Pulverizing the like button! You Rock ð¤ð https://www.maninagarage.com/

www.youtube.com

The My911 channel has a series covering a long term refurb of a 996, which might be useful for other "while your in there" stuff


& Martin's epic thread will no doubt be a useful reference too:

2001 C4 project car

I've done various jobs on my cars before and put them up as separate threads, I thought I would start this as a single thread to keep everything together. The background to this is that I wanted to rebuild an M96 engine to have as a spare for my 1999 C2, just in case anything ever goes wrong...

911uk.com

I don't have the link right now, but infrasilver had some posts covering his engine rebuild.

 

[infrasilver]

I have a few engine rebuild threads on here, and I have done a couple of videos of the more technical parts of the rebuild on YouTube.

Getting the engine out is relatively easy, and can be done in a weekend with just the car on stands if need be.

There are also a few of on here that can point you in the right direction and give advice to all the steps of the process from start to finish, if that is how you would want to go. I've saved £1000's doing my own rebuilds and learnt a lot along the way, I also enjoy the process.

 

[bradgillette]

If anybody has any good taking engine out videos and 996 engine strip and IMS sort videos that would be great. It's a gen 2 C2 Tip Cab. I am sure there will also be lots of really difficult to get to pipes that will need to be sorted at the same time.
@Dammit

Not a video, but the Pelican Parts website has a really good step-by step instruction page with photos. I've used that, while making sure I made a list of everything I do so I can follow it backwards while putting it back in. That, and bagging and labelling everything you take off - every nut and bolt.

This is a great example of 'don't panic' when you discover bore scoring. Two years of motoring and she still goes OK! Gives you plenty of time to save up for the repair, if thats the route you're going. Thanks for coming back at letting us all know the status.

Sure, but only 1000 miles. I'd definitely like to get a lot more than that out of my 996 with bore scoring.

 

[martin t]

I recommend my Plan B: I bought a 996 with a duff engine and went through all the options for the engine. In the end I bought a garanteed engine from a breaker in N Ireland (who delivered it in person) and fitted that. Cost £6k.

I bought a quick jack to make the job easier and if i did one again I would also buy a hydraulic trolly from ebay. Removal too 4 x 1/2 days, putting it back took 1.5 days and the engine fired and ran perfectly plus I had a whole spare engine for reference for any future work.

So that would be my proposition, all the adventure of removing and replacing the engine, plus doing all those special jobs which are easy to do once the engine is out (including cleaning every suspinsion component and cross member) without the cost when you will only be driving 1-2k a year for the next 10 years.

 

[Uncle Monty]

Take it out yourself, strip it down yourself, set up a camera to film it all , takes lots of photos too and get it sent off to Hartech for 3.7 or whatever they're doing them out to now.
The fact you've still got it and you've sold the 991 (and that was a cab too) means deep down you know it's the right thing to do..luvly jubly

 

[TV8]

Glad it’s still going strong. Given how you use it, just enjoying it must be an option

 

[T8]

This is a great example of 'don't panic' when you discover bore scoring. Two years of motoring and she still goes OK!

I think a bit more 'panic' would have been involved if he hadn't had other cars to use and/or was planning to do more than 1k miles in that 2 years.

 

[Harryblue]

I'd really like to do the work myself, I used to spanner my race bikes and build the engines, but dropping a 911 engine out and stripping it down is a bit (well a lot actually) intimidating. Someone should run classes like Jake Raby did in the USA, if I remember correctly he did a week long course where you'd take an engine out, rebuild and put it back. I'd quite happily pay someone to attend a class like that in the UK.