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Old 08-27-2008, 05:47 AM   #26
cnavarro
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Illinois
Posts: 145
Jake and I have been working together on numerous projects for years and years and it just seemed logical for us to team up on addressing some of the areas with these engines that could use improvement and make them accessible.

We've been developing and doing the updated 2.5 and 3.4 blocks on a one by one basis now for probably almost 2 years or somewhere thereabouts, but only now have we decided to stock completed stock and big bore blocks on an exchange basis. I really got in high gear when I was teamed up on by Wayne Dempsey and Bruce Anderson and was hinted at Porsche's eventual discontinuation of reman engines by multiple sources.

Up until probably two months ago, I had never had any inquires or calls with regards to failed 3.2 engines from a d-chuck cylinder failure, but that has changed. Regardless, I figured eventually someone would want a big bore kit for this engine as we can increase the bore significantly to make a 3.2 into a 3.6.

Where our Nickies solution differs from a traditional steel sleeve (like Autofarm) is that we keep Porsche's original design more or less intact - open deck, aluminum sleeve, etc. We also maintain the cast in trusses on the crankcase side of the cylinder sleeves to provide added support to our sleeve whent he piston is travelling at BDC. For any increase in bore size, we proportionally increase the wall thickness of the sleeve to maintain the same thickness as the original cylinder would have had. The only difference here is that our alloy is significantly more strong and ductile than the original alloy. We use our proprietary alloy that was developed for our aircooled cylinders which is significantly stronger, more thermally conductive, and has greater ductility than the original casting alloy used. We use a nikasil process on the bores, similar to what Autofarm does on their ductile iron sleeves.

To keep things simple, we digitized the original piston crown and have JE make a piston sharing the same design, on their forged side relief blanks, allowing for a much stronger and even lighter piston than the factory cast ones. Our cylinder alloy also best suits the expansion rates of the JE Piston, just as the original cast pistons were properly matched to the original block and sleeve alloy.

Similarly, we've been addressing individual engine components as needed, such as making replacement connecting rods and more recently, developing a much needed update for the early IMS. Other simple, but much needed bolt-ons like a spin on oil filter adapter (to allow use of better, cheaper oil filters) as well as filter relocation kits which allow for external oil coolers for track or extreme climates. We're also trying to get a new low temp thermostat and thermostat housing done, addressing both high oil and coolant temps as well as the oe design where the retaining tabs for the factory thermostat break off. Be sure as Jake finds other areas that could use improvement, we'll tackle them. I also have a local factory trained technician that is very willing to contribute as well, making suggestions to where improvement is needed and who is also helping me document failures.

I welcome ideas and suggestions and even would like to hear from you if you have a failure so we can document it. The best way to make improvements is through analyzing failures. Honestly, I think the 986 and 996 engine can be make robust enough to outlive it's aircooled predecessors.

Although in it's early stages, I'm sure the aftermarket for the Boxster and later water-cooled Porsches will be just as big if not bigger than that of the aircooled ones.

Come visit us at the Ventura German Autofest in September!

Charles Navarro
LN Engineering
http://www.LNengineering.com
Aircooled Precision Performance

Last edited by cnavarro; 08-27-2008 at 05:53 AM.
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