M96 Engine Disassembly
 

I grew up helping my Dad rebuild old chevy and ford V-8 engines. Ive spent the last month or so reading about how mid engine cars work since my Boxster is the first one I have ever touched. I read a very detailed teardown article at pelican parts today to see how the Flat 6 is put together. Is it just me or does this engine seem overly complicated with a bunch of pieces and parts. I love German Cars as Much as American Muscle but the V-8 seems much simpler

The V8 is simpler, but this engine packs a lot more moving parts into a small volume (not necessarily power though). There is definitely a German engineering vibe going on here that can make the engine seem more like a puzzle than a machine. Who else but the Germans would come up with the unnecessary mechanical complications to turn a clock into a cuckoo clock? Curiously, some engineering geeks like me appreciate it.

If you think tearing them down sounds hard the real torture starts when you start putting one back together. I could assemble a high compression 350 CI Chevy engine in about 6-8 hours. I believe it took all but 30 hours to assemble my first Boxster engine. It was a none stock bore and I'll bet I spent 6-8 hours sizing the ring end gaps.

Horizontal option makes for a few more parts. The engines have a lot of parts, but after familiarization, they are simpler to work with. Thats what my 4 day Engine Rebuild School is all about.

I hope on day I can go through the class. Right now I operate out of the Bentley Manual but I always learn better hands on. I'm trying to learn everything I can from mechanical to paint and body. This has turned out to be quite the stress reducing hobby

I have always considered Porsche to primarily be a chassis design company that designs their engines to fit within the chassis. People ask me why Porsche's are so expensive, I tell them if you decided you wanted a car designed to drive to a road-race, win the race, & then drive home. Wouldn't you want the most successful company in history to build the car for you, & wouldn't you expect to pay more?

Yep, my mispent youth was wrenching V8s and they are indeed a lot simpler. I still managed to get it wrong sometimes though. :o I no longer have the patience or interest to dig into internals so I refer that work to the guys with lots of tools and experience.