[ds968]

When it rains it pours! Sorry to hear. Is this all?

Friggin' Bob, you had to say that , didn't you ?! And jinxed the damn thing it ! ( LOL, Just Kidding, I'm not superstitious , but had to bring this up )! Yes, that was not " all " , as it turns out ; he was putting the motor together today and realized the rods - all of them - are very slightly bent . It was not initially apparent because they're all equally bent so everything was symmetrical , and again tne curvature is not severe , but when he started measuring everything and then placed them next to some other straight ones he has from a different 968 engine there , it became obvious . Unfortunately the spare ones he does have are early generation ones R-1,and I'm clearly not going to use those , so...I now I need new rods. Ugh. And Bob ( RAP ) , please don't say " what else could be next ? " , because it appears there's a nearly infinite number of things that could entail ..

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[Rap]

I think your ju ju is bad. You need to make a virginal sacrifice to the gods to make amends! Have you thought about buying a beat 968 and using it for parts? I assure you I get no joy in listening to your weekly travails and actually cringe when I read some of the news. In this Lenten season we are all breathlessly awaiting the arising of your car!

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[ds968]

This IS my beat 968 & contingent ( NLA ) parts car for the other 968. The silver lining is that it will now be comprised of almost all fresh and new parts , which may become donor parts at some point.

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[jfrahm]

">so...I now I need new rods. "

 

Were the old one the 1R rods?  This seems unlikely in a 1994 but it's worth asking.

I have a few sets of Turbo forged rods if you are in the market.

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[flash]

they were -02.

 

he is going to use turbo rods.  i will have him reach out to you in case the builder does not have them

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[ds968]

Thanks Joel, the builder indicated he has two local sources for the turbo ones and they were available at both of them ( each had one set ) so I presume he already got those and they're at the shop now to get balanced ( the bulider will machine those himself ) . I'll confirm though ..

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[ds968]

Still work in progress ..no new surprises ( yet..) but just seems to take a while longer than expected . I miss my car ! Driving the manual on weekends to get my " fix " , but I need my fun commuter !!

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[ds968]

Absent any unforeseen "surprises" the car should be ready by mid-next week, but I won't pick it up until the end of the month at which time I have several business meetings in L.A. so it's easier to combine all of that into a single trip. On one hand, I'm looking forward to having what I hope will be a perfectly running car back as my daily driver, on the other hand that may be a very short-lived joy ride because in August it's very likely I'll buy my boss's 2014 Maserati GT for his end of lease option price and that will become my daily driver, so I'll have no use for the tiptronic 968 , or the MBZ which means I'll sell both. Pity after spending a load of cash to rebuild the entire engine on this car it might go up on the block for someone else to enjoy it . It's not a sure thing yet, he has not made up his mind whether or not he'll keep the car, but he's inclined that way and he's also looking for a Ferrari 599 Fiorano so if he finds one, the Maserati is mine . Ugh, so many mixed feelings about this ...

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[jimham968]

A pretty nice quandary that you're in. SC 968 cab with rebuilt motor or Maserati GT as a daily driver. Prius drivers don't have to face these types of problems!

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[ds968]

SC968 coupe, not cab. ? And then another SC968 coupe in the garage, which will remain there ( forever ) as the fun weekend driver no matter what. But yeah, the GT vs. the rebuilt 968 as a daily drivers quandary is a good dilemma to have. I view it as pretty much a win-win situation no matter what the outcome will be in August. So then why the conflicting / mixed feelings about selling a perfectly fine 968 and replacing it with a fairly new Maserati ? - It comes from the realization that I'll be paying upwards of $ 90 k for something I really don't need. Then again most of the stuff I bought in life was not based on need, rather, it has mostly been driven by want and like. But talk about depreciation; the car was over $ 150 K when new just a couple of years ago . So it makes me wonder how fast it'll continue to drop in value ... It's fully loaded, it's in showroom condition, has only about 18 k miles on it, and in a brilliant dark blue, not to mention its superb Italian body lines. All appealing reasons, but the most compelling factor by a long shot is the exhaust note. Yes, I may be borderline insane to spend that kind of money for something I don't need with essentially a primary purpose of listening every day to THE most beautiful, intoxicating and addictive sound I have ever heard a car make , but that's just how I am . Well, I'll just have to see how a 968 engine with practically 0 miles on it feels and that might sway me to reconsider the Maserati alternative...or not...?

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[Rap]

You seem to forget that you will be exiting an exclusive class that you may never be able to get back in and that the Maserati can't confer. How many of us own 2. 968's? I'm not saying I won't talk to you or will look down my nose at you but hey lets get real!!

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[ds968]

Not to mention that one of those 968s is the only SCd tiptronic on earth. Well, with the D1R SC that is, maybe someone else out there has a tip with some other brand SC on it. But I have to say the SC ( even a low boost one as the D1R ) is not an ideal mod for a tip 968. Although we don't know if the extra power and torque might have expedited the engine's failure to some extent, we do know that it tore up a brand new flex plate in a short two years and 25 k miles. Of course my driving habits probably contributed to that a little, but it sure seems those dampeners can barely manage the stock ( 225 ft/lbs ? ) of torque, but the roughly 300 ft/lbs torque is maybe way too much for it to handle . If I don't end up buying the Maserati and continue to drive the tip long term, we'll see how much the flex plate lasts under what will be a gentler kinder driving m.o. ( no more of those two gears downshift hits on the plate ) Not doing that to save the plate specifically , I just don't want risking another catastrophic engine " explosion " , as minimal as that risk my be now...

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[968Syncro]

Maybe we should take Dan on an all-expenses-paid trip for Paso Robles wine tasting -- maybe then he'll forget this silly Maserati idea and stay with his 968s!  Or maybe we can give him the forum, or maybe we can send all 968s for sale under $3,000 to fill up his yard, or maybe a custom gold plated 968 watch, or maybe we can hold elections and vote him in as 968 president, or maybe we can put his picture on the forum home page, or maybe he wishes to be moderator, or maybe get Flash to share his 911 with Dan, or maybe get him a really nice gift for his 968 TIP (perhaps a cup holder), or maybe ......

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[ds968]

Just owning two 968s does not entitle me to any of those things, lmao, you must remember we have a member ( forgot the name but I believe he was in Holland ) who at one time owned eleven 968s , I recall he was selling 4 of those so he might have only a mere seven 968s by now. He is The King . All bow to the king !

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[Bulti]

Porsche968CS. Holland indeed. I couldn't find an original pressure plate anywhere. He got two of them lying around somewhere. :-)

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[ds968]

We found them readily available here in the U.S., a couple of dealers even had them in stock ( as opposed to ordering them from the P-hub in Atlanta ) but most had the prices anywhere from 30 % to as much as 50 % above what Sunset charged.

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[ds968]

So I was talking to one of my friends about the engine saga, and he says : " - since the blue 968 is by far your favorite car, and pretty much in mint condition, why don't you switch the engines and put the freshly rebuilt one in that car ?! " Bloody hell, he had to open his big mouth and plant that idea in my head now ..it would have never crossed my mind , but now I can't stop thinking about that option ...

Of course the time to have done that was last week while the engine was still out of the green car - drive the blue car there for the switch, drive it back and then have the other transported home .. Now the job would require one more step - but a big one !

Trevor, is the six speed transmission adaptation to the tip engine set up a major hassle, or not really that big of a deal ?!

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[az968]

I think that's a really good idea, wonder why none of us thought about that before now.  Do it, do it, do it :clap:

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[ds968]

The engine in the six speed is a very tight motor , always has been , the head is practically new ( less than 5 K miles on it since the rebuilt ) and it runs incredibly well , so I'll have to drive this one maybe 10 k miles to see just how well it does, although it's very tough to compare the " feel " and the performance of one engine vs. another in cars with different transmissions . Conceptually I suppose it can be expected that an engine just rebuilt bottom to top would be better than another with 125 K miles on everything but the head, but concepts or theories and real life don't always synch.

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[Rap]

If the engine in the blue car runs well don't tempt fate. Just keep the other car as a parts car, albeit a really nice parts car. You can still get the Maserati. Boy talk about having your cake and eating it too!!

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