Originally Posted by AdamT
Sorry, I kind of disappeared for a few years. I see someone chimed in earlier this year looking for an update, and I'm sure this won't be useful for that guy.
Actually, it may not be that useful for anyone. I got the car back and, as I would usually expect with a job like this, had to return once or twice for tying up some loose ends.
Within a couple months after getting the car back from the engine swap, it got stuck in 3rd gear, and the shop tried several repairs and determined that it was an issue internal to the transmission and recommended replacement. I took it to another well-liked local shop for a second opinion, and they resolved the issue with a new shifter cable.
Then I got leukemia, and the Boxster sat in my garage for most of 2018. After getting back to somewhat normal in 2019, it had a few needs. The battery died; the ignition switch went bad. Nothing major, but the recovery from treatments was pretty brutal, and I was not up for spending much time working on it. It got driven maybe 300 miles between 2018 and 2020.
Last year, I was pretty much back to being a whole human being and figured COVID was a great time to tinker. The first time I tried, one of the top transmissions gave up, jammed the top and bent the clamshell a bit. At that point, I unhooked everything to get the top shut, locked the car and walked off. It sat until last weekend, when I put a new battery in it, and it started right up.
I am kind of amazed that the car runs fine and everything works as it should. I washed it off, so I can get it to the shop to take care of the top and a clatter from the rear end over bumps (bushings or motor/transmission mounts, I'm guessing). I was browsing back through recent threads on here and came across the recent reply to this one, so I'm giving it an update.
So to bring this current, my Vertex engine has lasted just fine for four years .... and about 2000 miles. I see some folks had bad things to say about Vertex on this thread, and of course I cannot tell you anything about the longevity of their work. I found their customer service to be excellent, and their pricing was very good -- in addition to the fact that they at least then had the remans on the shelf for immediate shipping.
Just driving the car a couple miles this weekend reminded me how much I love it, and I'm excited about getting it straight for Fall driving (I'm in SC, where it's too dang hot to drive a convertible in the summer). I hope I'll be able to give some (hopefully good) updates about racking up mileage on the no-longer-new engine.
Adam
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