Anyone have a Raby rebuild yet?

[silver arrow]

Jack,

I really appreciate your comments in this thread. Thank you for the real information, something that can be lacking when dealing with Porsche when discussing their engines. Your web site is very interesting and it is shocking to see the shoddy work that Porsche puts into its remanufactured engines.

I look forward to seeing your 2.9 results. I hope I don't need it anytime soon, and so does my 401k, but it is nice to have an option.

My wife and I were talking about a quality engine rebuild vs engine swap today and she brought up an interesting point. Swapping in a 3.4 may increase the value of the car for resale and have some ROI for the cost, but you will be right back where you started if it goes pop, and some $30,000 in the hole. It's a pretty big risk to take unless you sell the thing after the swap right away. I plan on keeping this car as a toy and ax/de car and this seems like it will be a great option.

Thanks again
Sean

[Lil bastard]

Jake, Welcome !

My question is about cost of your engines, especially for the early 2.5's. As you say this is where you have concentrated to-date and feel this is a major market for you.

Given these cars low current market value, will the cost of your engine make it a viable alternative, or one which is too rich for many's blood?

If you have a MY '97 or '98, how much sense does it make to put a $10k or higher motor into such a car as opposed to just going out and buying another car? Many of the 2.5 owners are 2nd or 3rd owners and have the 2.5 because they are the only cars in their price range.

If the car's value drops any further, as it may well do because of high fuel prices, shifting demographics, etc., these cars may be in danger of becoming 'disposable' as opposed to throwing a big bucks repair at it.

How will your motor compare on a cost basis with a factory reman?

[grantsfo]

You can also go direct to source of the key component of these rebuilt motors. I'd like to see a few builders using these Nickie 986 cases.

http://www.lnengineering.com/boxster.html

Anyone know much about the place in the UK that has done inserts for cases as well? Looks like free market is driving some solutions.

Raby tends to be high end. I'm looking for Toyota of engine builders - solid quality at reasonable price. Jake is more of a one off specialty engine builder - he does a great job but his prices tend to be out relm of most who get into a sub $18K 2.5 986 Boxster like most of us. I'd like to see a higher volume engine builder take on these motors to drive cost effeciency.

[insite]

Originally Posted by grantsfo

Anyone know much about the place in the UK that has done inserts for cases as well? Looks like free market is driving some solutions.

autofarm. that guy's name is Raby, too. any relation, jake?

[Jake Raby]

Originally Posted by insite

that guy's name is Raby, too. any relation, jake?

The article on autofarm was writen by Philip Raby, a well known British editor. I did not know the Owner of Autofarm was also named raby.. I'll look into that.

My name is rather common in the the UK, especially in the North, around County Durham where my ancestor's Castle still stands today. I visited it in 2006 www.rabycastle.com

:-)

[insite]

Originally Posted by Jake Raby

The article on autofarm was writen by Philip Raby, a well known British editor. I did not know the Owner of Autofarm was also named raby.. I'll look into that.

it's probably philip i was thinking of. so your shop is in cleveland, GA? can i come up and check it out sometime?

[Jake Raby]

Originally Posted by insite

it's probably philip i was thinking of. so your shop is in cleveland, GA? can i come up and check it out sometime?

Yes our test and assembly facility is located in Cleveland GA and the components and case update work is carried out in Momence Illinois.

We are not a walk in type facility, we generally don't see more than two customers a year as we work odd hours doing behind the scenes stuff..

I'd be happy to schedule a tour for you if you'd like to come see us. Wednesday evenings are the best time for this.

We'll be testing for the next 3 weeks, so the chances of us having a time for a tour would be slim to none through the end of September...

[Jake Raby]

The IMS will be seeing our upgrades with this engine, just like the earlier engines will. I'll let Charles address the specifics since he has headed up that development with the bearing and retainer enhancements.

Engine management for this mod is something that is not yet defined as our other upgrades to the earlier engines can be fulfilled with a re-flash and some manipulation of the stock ECU.

With the 3.2 we'll have to see exactly what occurs.. We believe that the stock DME can be utilized to attain serious power levels, but as of yet we don't exactly know at what level.

We are trying to do as much as possible and still retain the DME because it controls so many aspects of the car. Currently we **believe** that the 3.2>3.6 mods will be capable with the stock unit with some work and maybe just an injector upgrade. Some say it won't but others have experience that it will, the only way to know is to test it out in the lab.

Only time will tell, as we stated the earlier engines have been our main subject thus far with the Boxster engine development program. All of this work requires a bit of evolution to perfect and fully understand, even the use of advanced engine design software and modeling cannot make up for practical application and actual experience.

[Sputter]

A very intriguing thread Jack.
I,like many folks will be watching as things progress.

Jim