Charles Navarro

Unless you have a base 2.7 or maybe a Boxster S 3.2, I would not advise direct plating the blocks due to all the cylinder issues associated with the M96/M97 engine (slipped sleeve, d-chunk, ovality). The 2.7 and 3.2 are the best of the blocks and can indeed be direct plated, but again, why sell yourself short and not add more horsepower and torque with a displacement increase to maximize the work being done. I've seen too many 3.4, 3.6, and 3.8 engines that have failed after having been direct plated, so those are a no-go without sleeving. The platers will do anything you ask them even if it shouldn't be done. They are not Porsche experts or even experts in this engine.

The other issue we commonly see are bores that are improperly honed (too rough) which will result in the engines losing ring seal and consuming lots of oil in a very short amount of time. Unless you own a profilometer and know what the finish should be, you really don't know if the cylinders have been honed properly.

Back when we used the original pistons for the RND Engine program, we would remove the iron coating and replace it with a teflon coating. For the rings, we would take a factory replacement ringset and only use the cast second piston ring and then we would order rings from Total Seal that were compatible with Nikasil. That said, it's not worth the effort. If you are going to redo one of these engines, it makes sense to go bigger and use new pistons which will already include the correct rings. We stock oversized replacements from JE, CP, and Mahle Motorsport.

Here's most everything that you need to know if you plan on rebuilding one of these:

https://lnengineering.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=tkg
https://lnengineering.com/education/...brary/m96.html

Eggbert

It's been a while, but today I finally got the Bank 2 Cyl. Head off and here's a pic of Cyl. 6 scoring. Should have the block split open by early next week. Now to figure out where to send it. I have been looking at the Canadian Rep for Hartech, but their website is mysteriously gone. I must call them to see if they're still in business. LN would be nice, but it involves sending the block halves across the border which means numerous transport changes and that means risk of damage. Just in a cardboard box? Maybe plywood and angle iron.... Anyway, just how much should one insure it for? Probably the price of a whole used engine... maybe $10K ???

By the way, many thanks to Harvey Ferris as he's been a great help with lots of technical info and advice.

Charles Navarro

Since you're in Canada, it's not convenient to have us send our custom block boxes to make shipping easy and safe, but we still have lots of people make it work.

What we used to tell people to do is to use a double wall box and box each case half separately with at least 2-3 min inches of rigid cardboard on all sides of the case half. Any studs and locating dowels need to be removed or they end up bursting through the box. I'd insure each box for market value for a used block - the last two used 3.8 blocks we purchased we paid between $3-4k ea. If you really want to cover your butt you could insure it for the cost of a new block from from Porsche.

Do not put both halves into one box and for sure do not put anything else in the box with a case half like the IMS shaft or anything else for that matter. You'd be amazed how people send their blocks to us and how much shipping damage repair we have to do. :-(

JCP911S

First.... rebuilding a 997 engine is a money pit.

Second... I'm just testing that my logon works... so please respond

RennHarry

No horse in this race, but you have indeed logged in and posted!
Cheers