Excellence article

[flipper]

Does anyone have a digital copy of the Jim Pasha M96 article in Excellence?

I cannot find the magazine in my small town.

Thanks all

Shawn

[Jake Raby]

Any posting or sharing of the article would infringe on the copyright of Excellence Magazine, something they take seriously while issues are current.

The article hasn't made it to news stands yet as Subscribers just received their last week. Look for the issue on the stands around the 20th of this month at Barnes and Noble.

Jake Raby

Edited November 10, 2008 by Loren
Removed commcercial signature

[seafeye]

Any posting or sharing of the article would infringe on the copyright of Excellence Magazine, something they take seriously while issues are current.

The article hasn't made it to news stands yet as Subscribers just received their last week. Look for the issue on the stands around the 20th of this month at Barnes and Noble.

Jake Raby

Got it today at Barnes and Noble. I used to subsribe to Excellence but i kinda like supporting the local stores and sitting down reading the mag with a cup of java.

I saw that you had a picture of extrudabody but there wasn't really any info about it. Do you have an engine running with it? Looks great but i wonder how it all will work with Porsche's DME. I'm sure Porsche won't make this conversion easy.

Looking at your website (Great btw) there are a lot of upgrades that can be done to the motors. Something in the article that wasn't mentioned is the timing chain failures and the wear on the rails.

I don't think i ever saw the wear on an early 911 motor like on the m96. The rails are severely pitted, chains falling apart. I haven't looked on the parts list but i wonder what generation of chains they are on and if they are actually stronger.

From what i understand the IMS was removed in the newer motors because Porsche now has chains that can withstand the strain. Sounds like a great upgrade if available. The article did mention that the pistons were of excellent quality. So why do you recommend replacing? Compatability with the nikisel cylinders?

Do you know if anyone has changed the 2.5 to a 2.7 by going to a 996 crank? or only through larger pistons?

Autofarm says that they put a "Key" in the cylinders to prevent them from turning in the case. I didn't see LN Engineering mention this. Unnessasary?

Well that's all i can think of for now....Cheers...

[Jake Raby]

Actually the pistons are horrible quality- that portion of the article was a bit incorrect. We must replace the pistons when doing our upgrade work because the Nikisil plating of the new cylinders is incompatible with the ring tensions used on the Boxster pistons.

And a set of Piston rings is only 150 bucks less than a full piston/ ring/ wrist pin kit from JE and they are stronger, lighter and not a Porsche part (we are avoiding Porsche parts wherever possible!)

I believe the new engine will be just as problematic as the M96, but probably in different areas. Time will tell, but the accounting department at Porsche certainly had as much impact on this design as the M96. The M96 is a great engine, Porsche just cheesed out on the most critical aspects of it to save some money.

The Extrudabody set up works fine sith stock DME, but most engines that run these run an aftermarket ECU because they are at the higher end of our levelp of preparation.

[70Sixter]

It is not like this is new to Porsche engines. Timing change tensioner failure was all too common. I still thank God I never had a total failure at high rpm. I really hate the sound of colliding pistons and valves. Fortunately the chain rattle alerted me three times. Once in my first (new) 914-6 and twice in my 70 2.5 911S.

Then there were the exploding airboxes. Really exciting and rarely gave a signal that it was about to grenade.

The plug fouling problem in early cars was small taters in comparison and was finally solved with CD ignition.

[Jay H]

I'll add to 70Sixter's list of Porsche design issues...

1974 to 1977 Porsche 911 motors typically lasted 30,000 to 60,000 miles due to a poor design and emissions equipment. Those cars will probably never regain the resale value that they lost due to this stigma.

I have a 1990 964 that should be leaking like an Exxon tanker due to the design of the cylinder to head area. Porsche took 3 years to fix this. Add in the failing dual mass flywheel issue and the dual distributor belt breakage and the 964 never has recovered from these shortcomings as far as resale values go. The beloved and "faultless" 993 has now developed CAI issues that are troublesome in the emissions testing station and can be very expensive to fix. I remember very vividly back to the time when 993's were thought to be completely bulletproof. I have a good friend that recently sold his 1996 993 and found resale values had sunk a bit due to this issue.

1978 to 1983 911SC's can suffer from broken head studs. Some 3.2 Carrera's had premature valve guide wear issues, and the list goes on and on and on and on and on. All of these fixes are expensive. So, poor motor design from Porsche has been around for decades... It's too bad that the 986 couldn't be a bit more robust.

In time, the aftermarket will take care of all of these issues and Jake's company is the start of better things to come (and really good profits for his company too due to Porsche's mistakes!). For example, if you buy a mid year 2.7 liter 911 and rebuild the 2.7 liter motor correctly, remove the thermal reactors and get a real fan in there, you will have a great package and a very reliable car. I can't see why the M96 motor will be any different. There are just too many 986/987 cars out there for the aftermarket to ignore. I'll also bet that in time, you'll see plenty of ads for Boxsters that will proclaim "new Jake Raby motor at xx,xxx miles" which will add value.

Maybe I drink too much Porsche kool aid, but I sure enjoy the driving experience of my two 911's and now the Boxster. The feel and experience is extremely hard to duplicate in most new cars made these days. It's too bad we can't have our cake (a Porsche) and eat it too (100% reliability).

Jay

02 986

90 964

84 3.2

Edited November 25, 2008 by Jay H