|
Just curious,
What guy considers rebuilding an m96 motor that has never considered engine balance tolerances? Of all the possible motors to rebuild, this one requires the most precision and attention to detail north of those crazy Italians.[/QUOTE]
Topless sorry for taking so long to reply, work took priority. You also made me think about my reply. I've wondered how long it would take before someone asked a similiar question to me!Haaa! Below are my thoughts.
Amongst other traits, people have told me I’m practical, analytical and a perfectionist (I don’t wish this on anyone) therefore I don’t like making mistakes.
I live in an area where the nearest Porsche dealer is 4-4.5 hrs drive away.
There are two local shops that will change normal wear items on a Porsche but they don’t want to go further than that.
The nearest recommended Rebuilder is 1 hr drive away, but he hasn’t worked on a Porsche before. 4 hrs away the Rebuilder won’t rebuild but he has machined for Porsche engines before. Both of these guys do local race cars.
I think Glenn made a pretty good statement on his website (986fix.com) “"if your car doesn't deliver excellence, it is not impossible for you to do so." – Glenn.
Also recently Jake “Anything is balanced if your tolerance of acceptance is wide enough. These engines are dynamically balanced very poorly from the factory; they just installed a 37 pound dual mass flywheel to smooth it out. The accountants said it was cheaper that way.”
So if big Porsche won’t build a reliable precision Engine, yet their cars still run well (until they fail)and shops like Jakes are able to do it better and more reliable, than there is a chance I can fit in there somewhere.
If I don’t know how hard it is to rebuild a basic car engine then I don’t have anything to compare to. I will have to learn only one way, on a precision engine. It could be a great base line. I think ignorance can be a good thing as long as I remain open to be taught.
Just because we haven’t done something before doesn’t mean it can’t be done or we can’t do it, it may just be we haven’t been presented with a good enough reason to try. That being said one must know their limitations and know when to use Plan B.
When the engine failed I started reading more about them and what my options would be. I spoke to different Porsche people one of which was Jake Raby. There is a lot of helpful information in books and on internet forums like this one with good knowledgeable people willing to help out.
After seeing the cost and benefits for the different options and the residual value of my broken engine and considering I was going to have some spare time this winter , I was up for the challenge to see how far I could go with this new learning process(its been huge). I now see rebuilding will be the pinnacle of this challenge.
So for a practical person with minimal mechanical experiences none of this makes sense, I should have cut my loss and run but I was ready for a new learning challenge AND it was an impractical car I cared about (emotions, dangerous with value).
If I lived within an hours drive of Jake or some other reputable shop on these forums I would have sent my car straight to them BUT I would want to be allowed to be able to watch the progress and see this engine opened up.
|