997 Carrera S Engine Rebuild - Opinions

[John Laverick]

Morning all,

I’m after some opinions on a car I’m going to be viewing later today which is advertised with a full engine rebuild after bore scoring.

I’ve been following the 997 Carrera S market for a few months and I’ve looked at a couple of cars but not taken the plunge yet. I’m fully aware of the engine reliability issues (bore score and IMS) and whilst I could afford a £10k rebuild should the worst happen I’d very much like to avoid it!

When I was in the market for a Cayman S a few years ago I ended up buying a Gen 2 as I didn’t feel I could risk it …. a Gen 2 911 is out of budget though I’m afraid.

I’ve been looking for a car with less than 70k miles and with a full Hartech rebuild and less than £30k. Either that or a cheap car at circa. £22kish to allow for a rebuild.

The car I’ve seen is advertised with a ‘full-rebuild’ by Portiacraft but only new liners on cylinders 4/5/6. Here is the list of work:

Remove & strip engine then rebuild with new liners and pistons on cylinders 4/5/6, piston rings on all 6 cylinders and new timing chain set. Oil fed IMS bearing kit. This was done about 2500 miles / 15 months ago under a Portiacraft used car warranty (I believe).

It's also had a borescope within the last fortnight with no issues found.

What are peoples opinions on this? Will it make for a reliable engine going forward?

My concerns are:

At only 2500 miles since the work is the re-build ‘proven’?

Is the partial repair (i.e. not liners in all 6) a concern?

Is the Portiacraft work up to scratch compared to a Hartech build?

Thanks for your help, John

[John Laverick]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Thanks for your post, it's much appreciated.

Your opinion echos my concerns exactly arrgggghhh .... everything else about the car seems spot on and the exact spec. I want but it's circa. £28k.

I can ask the question regarding bearing shells & heads but the fact they're not listed tells me they've probably not been done. If I were in Portiacrafts shoes at the time and I had to rebuild a recently sold car under warranty i'd be doing the 'bare-minimum'. It would seem a no-brainer to put new shells in during the build but they would have had no incentive to do so.

Years ago I bought an import Impreza Type R with a fresh rebuild which only lasted 500 miles .... i'm keen to avoid that disaster again!!

Edited by John Laverick on Monday 19th March 08:58

[John Laverick]

ooid said:

You should check portiacraft's warranty section. Not sure about their engine rebuilding skills/experience but they had decent warranty terms as far as I can remember.

Thanks but any warranty it had at the time will be expired now as it was done 15/16 months ago.

[John Laverick]

I went to look at the car .... lovely bit of kit.

It needed a few bits and bobs sorting but overall very nice.

One to have a think about but £28k for a partially re-built engine is holding me back!

[John Laverick]

BertBert said:

Edited by BertBert on Tuesday 20th March 22:52

Exactly as per the first post .... basic repair of cylinders 4/5/6 with new liners (type unknown) and upgrade IMS. No other work .... I think I've decided to keep looking.

[John Laverick]

Pearcy said:

Sounds like a red C2s I looked at around a year ago as a private sale in London. I looked into it in some detail, contacted Portiacraft etc. - They used Westwood cast iron liners on that bank and as has been suggested due to it being a warrantee repair rather than a rebuild only the damaged parts were replaced, so no bottom end bearings etc. which did put me off.

Also, the oil fed IMS bearing used is a serviceable item, not a 'fit and forget' item - I seem to recall every 3 or 5 years. At the expense incurred it seemed strange to not just fit the latest Porsche bearing.

That's the one!