997 3.6 tougher than the 3.8?

[chumley-warner]

How come when they were tweaking the engines to add extra power for the GT3 and the turbo, they used the 3.6 engine and mot the 3.8? Are the 3.8s a weaker engine when more power is extracted from them? Or did more parts from the 996 3.6 fit at the time?

[damianc4s]

chumley-warner said:

How come when they were tweaking the engines to add extra power for the GT3 and the turbo, they used the 3.6 engine and mot the 3.8? Are the 3.8s a weaker engine when more power is extracted from them? Or did more parts from the 996 3.6 fit at the time?

The standard 3.6 found in the 996 and the 997 non-S models is a completely different block to the one that's used in the GT2/GT3 and Turbo, this is a GT1 derived block that's pretty much bulletproof and is considerably much stronger.

[kennyboy]

The carrera 3.6 and 3.8 engines are not the same as the 3.6 unit in the GT3/GT2/Turbo.

The 3.6 in the Turbo etc is based on the old GT1 block and is Porsche's tried and trusted reliable block for the big power engines.

The carrera engine is based on the boxster/996 engine that was all new when the boxster came out.....

I think most engine builders will tell you Porsche cut a few corners with the new 3.6 engine - I don't think it was ever intended to be a basis for the more exotic models.

edit: Damian beat me to it, glad we said the same thing!

Edited by kennyboy on Tuesday 10th April 18:13