Engine question for Jake and Charles

[Jake Raby]

Its a modern world... Until I bought a Boxster the newest thing I owned was a '76 model... Older cars were and everything else was made to last much longer than in today's modern world.

The design of engines has been focused on production and the car being just good enough.

Most everything in today's world is just like a Bic lighter... Use it and throw it away. The Zippo doesn't have the merit it used to have.

It'll be interesting to see just how many Boxsters around in 20-30 years.

[tnoice]

Got to thinking about it. Even if the factory motor went bad, what would stop a person from doing an ev conversion rather than spending 15-20,000 for a new motor.? You would be helping the environment while also still driving a pretty cool car. RUF finished an electric 911 that I guess is amazing to say the least. Just curious what others thought.

Ruf 911

[70Sixter]

Originally Posted by tnoice

Got to thinking about it. Even if the factory motor went bad, what would stop a person from doing an ev conversion rather than spending 15-20,000 for a new motor.? You would be helping the environment while also still driving a pretty cool car. RUF finished an electric 911 that I guess is amazing to say the least. Just curious what others thought.

Ruf 911

It has certainly happened in the 914 world. Having two trunks for batteries and being able to balance the mid-engine weight distribution is a plus.

Personally I'd park my Box and drive an econo-box until I could afford to let Jake loose on it.

Which I plan to do anyway when I can afford it.

Unless the liberal marxists further wreck my 401s with a few trillion spent here and a few trillion there.

[sd_boxster]

Until I can do an EV that includes hub-mounted motors and a really good delivery system (something along the lines of what Tesla uses), no EV for me. I'd be all over a 300WHP AWD electric Boxster with a range of a couple hundred miles.

I'd want to do a high-end conversion - but all of the stuff I've seen online at EV diy sites is all lower-end.

[smcgeary]

New cars are great for about 5 years and then you are rolling the dice on all. I own a 1954 Chevy Truck, a 1979 911 SC, a 1992 MB 300E, and my 2001 Boxster S. Sometimes I wonder if keeping the Boxster in the garage is worthwhile over the 300E as I might actually own that thing longer (being one of the last truly well built MBZ). In a previous life I worked as a Mercedes warranty processor at a dealership and was shocked by what I saw in terms of quality mishaps. Still I only saw a few warranty engine replacements over three years of employment and about 80 cars through the doors a day. Millions of electronic repairs but virtually no motors. Most of the problems with the motors with MB were fixed at the dealership. Why is Porsche so different? Seems weird to me and makes me believe that there is something odd here.

Every time I get tired of no power steering in the 54 or 79 I remember that I can keep them forever. I really hate having stuff that i feel like I will have to throw away.

Jake I want you to build me a motor if the feds don't mess the economy up further, but do you think the rest of the car is up to the engineering you put into the engines?

If I get a 3.6 for the Boxster I would want to feel like I could keep it forever. Maybe I am just going to have to be an old car guy only.

[root_werks]

Love my Boxster, but everytime I open the door and the window goes down that x-amount of mm's, I cringe. That's one less time that'll happen.

With more "stuff" comes more failures eventually.

I've owned I think about 30 914's in my life so far. Love those until it rains.

If I had the money and room, I'd have many different cars to satify my needs. But I don't, so I drive a 986.

[timothy]

Originally Posted by root_werks

That's one less time that'll happen.

Bah. That's totally the wrong attitude! Everything breaks eventually. Sometimes it's the window regulator, sometimes your heart. I don't suppose you count heartbeats the same way.