Rebuild question...

[Shark]

This might be a silly question, but I\'ve now turned the rebuild fund that was my old merc into cash so have started thinking about this.  

I\'ve done about 64k without rebuild and all is still going fine, but that doesn\'t predict the future.

I\'m thinking of street port or possible a small bridge port on rebuild, the car is otherwise standard.
I\'m wondering if there is any benefit in doing this now.  I\'m just thinking about what would need to be replaced now, versus what would need replaced after it dies and causes damage in the process.  Also thinking of the costs of having it off the roadwaiting for a chance to get rebuilt and the costs of transporting it to be rebuilt.

What do you folks think?

[20B_boy]

Firstly, before u start thinking of big port jobs, bare in mind that with all that you will have to upgrade a load of other stuff. An ECU wil be a minimum. Then fuel system. Intercooler etc. No point having a big port if you cant run it hard enough to make it go as quick as it should

Rebuilding before some thing breaks will save you money, how much depends on how much you CHOOSE to reuse. At least if you take it apart by choice you will have good rotors to reuse, hopefully side housings etc - depending how much you dont want to spend you may have rotor housings to reuse too (altho most builders use new ones whatever). Doing the deed before it blows negates the possiblility of bust seals doing damage to your turbo pack should they make a run for it out of the exhaust port

It doesnt usually take long to get it rebuilt at a garage. And from Oxford you dont have that far to go to a few people who can rebuild it.

[gsb876]

I think a street port would be better suited??? rather than a bridgeport???:confused:

[Shark]

Cheers Rich,

I don\'t plan to go single, want to keep the sequential twins and don\'t really want to create a drag car, but fast road/occasional track would be the goal.  So not planning any huge porting.  Just enough to be up with the 911\'s instead of the boxsters.

Hopefully you can help me out with some answers on the essentials that I\'d have to do straight away, and what I could do at a later stage.:confused:

I know I\'ll need ECU and am planning PFC for that.
Exhaust?
Intercooler?  
Will the rad need uprated?
Injectors, plugs, leads?
Anything else?

I think I\'ll make a few phone calls over the next week or so and see whether or not I have enough money for the work and the associated stuff before I spend it on bodywork:D

[sadgoth]

1/2 bridge, 1/2 bridge, 1/2 bridge.... You know you want to!

yes ECU needs doing, standard stage one mods, induction, de-cat exhaust. Intercooler for the future also uprated injectors, fuel pump and maybe (depending on injector size) fuel rail. But it all depends on how much power you want versus how much http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008\' target=\'_blank\'>http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/7/7_15_5v.gif\' border=0> you want to throw at the project. If you are sticking to the stock twins, you probably won\'t have to go too overboard on other ancillaries.

[antnicuk]

i dont know but i would thought there would be no benefit to bridgeporting and keeping the stock twins as you are allowing the engine to breath but restricting it again with the turbos. I think you can have a mild street port on the twins without any wastegate problems. (boost spikes etc)

[20B_boy]

I\'m with u Ant - whats the point in a bridgeport if you\'re gonna strangle the motor with the stock turbos?:confused: Waste of time and money for me.

Shark, ECU is step one - a good addition even on a stock setup.

[Shark]

Made a quick call to dragon earlier today to get an idea of how much cash I\'m looking at.  Don\'t have enough cash for the rebuild and other bits.

Street is likely to be the way I go, but PFC will be done real soon anyway.
Best to replace housings on rebuild I\'m told, so no real saving there.  With PFC in place I guess the risk of detonation is all but gone so unlikely to damage the turbo pack... if it goes pop it will probably be down to old age!

Still, saving a little more ain\'t a bad thing if I can force myself to not go silly on bodywork :rollin

Will it hasten engine death significantly if I do induction and exhaust after PFC?  then I\'d need less cash in one hit and get some gains along the way.

(Can you tell I don\'t really know much :rolleyes: )

[20B_boy]

Yes, best to repalce rotor housings - most builders do whatever any way.

If yer motor shits itself - like they do when they get old, it doesnt matter much if u have Power FC or not, apex seals still bust and kill stuff

Any mods will reduce lifespan in reality to some small degree, upping the boost is probably the most \'damaging\' to longevity.

At the end of the day 60K miles is not bad mileage - shit happens and it breaks sooner or later...

[Shark]

Fair points well made.

Not sweating the fact of rebuild to be honest.  More concerned about not having a motor if it goes than anything else.

Biggest problem I\'ve got is knowing what order things can be done in!!  A wonderful world it would be if I could get PFC, rebuild and port, then do induction and exhaust after when funds permit.  This would be a bad idea though, wouldn;t it?
Plus it would be pretty galling to have it ported and not be able to take advantage of it.

Guess my pockets will have to get a little deeper. :rolleyes:

Time to read up on exhaust and induction bits and look out for quality bargains....

[antnicuk]

you will need induction and exhaust if you are going to keep the twins but no point if you are going single cos it will change again.  If you are having a bridge then you will have to go single to get the benefit.  From my experience of modifying rotary powered cars, both myself and paying others for it in the past.  You need to decide what you want, how much power and most importantly, how much you want to spend.  Otherwise you can spend money on mods that you wont beneft from because you havent done some thing else.
You are doing the right thing by planning ahead, now would be the right time to decide what you want, preferable before your engine dies (less chance of damaging your turbos as rich says).
If I were you and you want to keep the twins, i would buy a PFC, have it rebuilt when you can afford it, with a mild streetport, induction, exhaust and fmic or similar, at least this way you can do the last three as and when you can afford it and before or after your rebuild and is all you have to do when you change something is have it mapped,  ( so its cheaper to do it all at once).  I would guess that you would see 350 fwhp with out to much difficulty.  
Just my thoughts which i am sure will differ from other peoples ideas.
Hope it helps,
regards
tony