AndrewMT996

That's really good info, thanks. How time intensive was the process?

I'll keep that in the back of my mind as a fallback option, but I'm not sure that I have the time or the space to take it on right now. It does sound like a good way to get intimately familiar with the car though!

AndrewMT996

Based on the responses so far, it really does look like the options are a lot more limited than I expected for 996 engine replacements. A lot of these cars were sold, so that actually speaks well to how the original engines have held up.

The GM engine swap doesn't have much appeal to me. My FIL is an avid Corvette guy, but I prefer to stick with an porsche engine.

gnat

For those of us that would go the Raby route, what are the options there? I mostly see 3.6 bandied about, but I've never been clear on if that is just that the 3.6 is the most popular rebuild or if he is reworking the 3.4s to have a higher displacement. I think I've also seen something about a 3.8, but don't remember for sure.

In our case we have an 01 3.4 and when/if it goes I'd ideally like to upgrade the power as well as reliability.

So what are the displacement/performance upgrade options from Jake?

Jake Raby

For many years these engines were not worked with at all. When we started the development no one was tearing into them at all. The first year that I offered engine classes I had 5 people interested, today those classes fill months in advance.

Back then, anyone working with these engines was laughed at, as others would say "you can buy a new crate enine from Porsche for 5K, why should I learn about them?" and that mindset carried on until the recession hit.... Then that 5K engine went to 12K over night, and no one knew how to work with the engines, because they screwed themselves.
At that point we already developed all the components and processes and the first engine program, too.

By the time others started working with the engines, they had to learn really fast and they used their customer base to do the development. They couldn't take years and spend the cash required to truly develop the engine. On top of that, they already knew who was at the top of the food chain, and even if they tried to develop something comparative that they were already 10 years behind. The easiest thing they could do was patch the engines up, offer a cheap rebuild and hope that it worked.

Thats where everything stands today. The same thing is happening with the 9a1 engines all over again. No one is learning, but we have 5 years of experience with them, including taking them past 4.2 liters. People still don't want to learn, still won't spend the required money to develop, and in a few years they'll wonder why we are so far ahead.

In early 2010 I took apart the first 9a1. It was pulled from a car with 11 miles on te odometer and we built it to 4.2L, going as big as we could right out of the gate. Aggressive development is all I'll do.

VA951

I see that VERTEX has rebuilt longblocks for the 3.6 for $10,900 plus core charge. That would be a reasonable option assuming whoever is doing the rebuild knows what they are doing and are not just throwing these together (to Jake's point above).
Has anyone had any experience with these rebuilds?

Noz1974

If your thinking of tackling the build , search 986fix on YouTube , this guy rebuilt his boxster s engine which is the same, it's got step by step video clips, obviously doesn't tell you everything but you can see if it's something you can handle !!

Also I would drop the engine and transmission out, it's worth stripping the engine to see what's worth selling, heads go for good money if ok as do cranks , plus you can see what happened !!

Jake Raby

From 3.4 my Stage 1 is 3.6, Stage 2 is 3.8, and Stage 3 is 4.0.
Stage 1 is a developed for street only use. Stage 2 is DE/ street and Stage 3 is primarily track, but is street able.

For the 3.6 Stage 1 is 3.8, Stage 2 is 4.0, and Stage 3 is 4.2

For the 3.8 Stage 1 stays at 3.8, but makes 20 more HP, and Stage 2 is a 4.0

There's currently no Stage 3 for the 3.8 base engine. The cylinder heads won't support anything larger. 3.8 heads are my least favorite, the factory crippled them purposely. Same goes for the cams.

Stage 2 engines are what we build most often.

I don't have these details on my site. I pulled a lot off the site, purposely, and haven't ever put it back.

Copilot

Jake - what does the Stage 2 and 3 from a 3.6 (ie the 4.0 and 4.2) put out in HP, approximately?

Joe Ricard

Here is an unsolicited factoid. My engine was freshly installed by Flat six Innovations when I bought the car. I read that stock the cars make 25 MPG. well on my drive home with now 1000 miles on the motor I was averaging 27.2 MPG. I re-set it and also hand calculated the milrage for the whole 400 miles trip. So what ever it is they do I can tell you they do it better.

gricec

Wasn't there a guy that put a boxster s engine in his 996?

Cost about 4k or around that area.

aggravation

In addition to horsepower I'd love to see the torque curve on a stage 1 and 2 Raby built 3.6 compared to stock since one of those is the way I'd probably go.

Jake Raby

Torque curve is where it's at...

I share torque curves in my webinars.

Copilot

If you were averaging 25 MPG in a 996, you were definitely not having nearly enough fun.

ocmacman

Wow, I would be interested in that class. Maybe you could do it at Cypress College in Anaheim. They have a really good Auto Mechanic program there.

5CHN3LL

even if you do find a CARB-certified LSx motor that can be shoehorned into the 996, you will still be at the mercy of a CA smog referee who can fail you for any emissions-related issues and may fail you even though someone else successfully registered the same setup at the same station the day before. Imagine how much it would suck to drop 15k into a conversion only to learn that you have to trailer it to track days if you actually want to drive it...