Since the engine is at the shop, maybe they would allow you to ship them the engine, they evaluate it, and then send you the updated bill without the core charge, pay the $20k and they ship the long block???

 

They are rather inflexible here. I offered to do this and also offered a sizable deposit pending receipt of motor. No go. In addition they told my tech the price shown on RND website was wrong, too low. As of now car is in shop, motor is down, and I am awaiting funding from my friendly local bank. Hope actual work goes more smoothly than the business transaction.
Thanks for your concern,
Gerry

 

One option which you may want to consider is shipping the car to Jake Raby at flat six innovations and having him perform the engine overhaul. Unless the engine is rebuilt with different components you'll run into the same issue down the road.

It's sad that these cars have this fundamental flaw which requires around $20k to address regardless of the severity of the failure.

 

What I want is a long block rebuilt with upgraded parts and available on a swap and install basis here where I am. The familiars in the field have yet to address this directly. I am going with the SSK/RND rebuilt block and my tech here in NY. To me this is vastly preferable to shipping my car and waiting a year unless you want an oversized engine with performance mods. If I had piles of money at my disposal the car would be back on the road already with the improvements. Just waiting for finances to gel. Thanks

 

You can do what I did. I had the engine removed locally and the block sent to LN for the bore work and re-sleeves. Once LN had the block it took 6 weeks. Then your local guy gets the block back and rebuilds it. Whole process took 5 months from drop off to pick up. You can get the upsized bore if you want but don't have to.

It can take up to a year if Jake does it at his shop as he has a pretty good backlog

RND is a more turnkey solution but ya gotta pay the piper one way or another....

 

Feel safer w the long block option.


Glad your build worked out Vern.


Enjoy.

 

Looks like new motor order goes in next week

 

great! Keep us updated! What did you end up going with RND? Upsize bore?

 

I'm in the same boat - keep us posted. I'm trying to decide if I want to rebuild or replace motor. If I buy a used motor I'd plan to get out of this 997 by year end and go 997 turbo or 991.1S or base 991.2. If I rebuild I'd go with the 4.0L conversion...but 5 months is a long time.

 

Yes. Rnd. Stock displacement. Never felt it needed more hp. Time is the main issue, that and reliability. Order goes in next week.

 

[QUOTE=DrJordan1911;4596725]I'm in the same boat - keep us posted. I'm trying to decide if I want to rebuild or replace motor. If I buy a used motor I'd plan to get out of this 997 by year end and go 997 turbo or 991.1S or base 991.2. If I rebuild I'd go with the 4.0L conversion...but 5 months is a long time.[/QUOTE


Vern had it (4.0) done in 5 months by having his tech do the rebuild w LD parts as I understand it. Could take even longer unless you have a real talented shop you have great faith in. You hear horror stories about builds never completed.


When looking for a cardiac surgeon you want one that does a lot of your needed procedure. I'd rather a speciality shop do the long block build.


As original owner my plan is to keep this car. If you are not attached and your car is running alright I'd just trade it in and let a dealer fix it. Selling it privately to some poor soul just doesn't work for me.

 

Yes 5 months is a long time but now that its back its all water under the bridge...

Obviously you have to pick the right people to do the work and I am happy with my guy. I have a 2 yr, 24k km warranty

I wouldn't have gone down this route without ending up with something special. If I was going to drop serious coin and be without my car all summer (bonus was I got in good shape biking to work!) then it had to give me more than I had before

The car doesn't "need" more HP but now that I have I couldn't imagine it without that. And combined with the full exhaust upgrade, it IS something special

Good luck guys