Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

What's that skip? The heads are out flowing both the manifolds? Strewth, you're right- what do we do about that then?

Optional extra of internal pond?

Reckon its had a historic leak or that its maybe been sat somewhere for a long time (scrap /salvage car thats made its way back to the road?)

@Dammit Could you please explain this i laymen terms? I take it your car will be faster, but how much?

The charts are the result of testing the head, intake and exhaust manifolds on a flow bench. The goal is to identify what the stock setup would yield, should everything be optimised (circa 375bhp in 3.7l guise) and then extrapolate from what we have to what we might get should the heads, cams, intake and exhaust be developed - between 415 to 430 bhp.

The head is capable of flowing more air than the stock intake manifold can supply to it, and that the tubular manifold can then get rid of.

When you compare flow value increases from going to the 100mm bore you can see that the exhaust side benefits more- and is also a bigger restriction than the intake, this suggests that investing in an exhaust manifold that is less restrictive is where your money should go first.

Next question to answer is what do the results mean in the context of a road car engine, and that's still unanswered.

fucking HELL! My Euromillions garage starts with a tatty 300 SL racer, got no time for the preening, chrome-bumpered show winners

Not normally arsed about concept cars but that EV Renaultsport Zoe looks ace, if they could sort out the battery life

On the back of those pics I have a plan to slam my Zoe and fit big wheels.

AIUI it's all Clio suspension so it ought to be easy.

I expect it'll stuff up the already rubbish range even more tho.

Agreed. Snot what he asked tho. :)

That said my R1 engined Fury was perfectly bearable as a road car with its redline at 13k and max power at 12.

So long as you wore ear plugs and a full face helmet.

This x 100, there must be some tried and true way of modding a 996 engine without opening up the worlds most expensive can of german worms

I supposed if you've got the money and enjoy the journey, fair fucks

The least common route is to rebuild to a larger capacity, whilst also updating the IMS bearing. The M96 engines have weaknesses that unless addressed will be exacerbated by any increase in power- there's no shortcut available here.

The most common upgrade route is simple bolt ons- bigger throttle body, more free flowing exhaust. That's fine if you only want small gains and will sell the car after a year or so and let the next owner roll the dice on IMS-B, bore scoring, bore ovalling, main bearing wear etc.

You post above suggests you'll be getting 375 -> 430 hp out of it.

I'd have thought there are pretty well-heeled Porsche fettlers around. Is there genuinely no standard way of safely getting an extra 55 hp out of a Porsche engine - like no ones ever done it in such a way that isn't a bit ropey?

Edit - I guess you've already answered this above. I'm surprised - it doesn't seem like that big a power boost for the work required.

Most people, if they want a fast 996, buy a Turbo - for which there are numerous respected tuners who will give you anywhere from 500 to 1,200 bhp. Just add cash (in an exponential fashion) for more power.

I'm somewhat unusual (no sniggering at the back) for wanting to see what power we can get a) NA and b) from the M96 rather than the Mezger (shared between the GT3 and the turbo).

There's a load of go-faster parts for the GT3 as well, but again - different engine.

In fact it would have been easier to say that there are loads of options for the Mezger engine, practically none for the M96, guess which one I have.

So you've got the wrong engine if you want big gains, in the wrong body (because no roof?) and don't want to swap in a more suitable engine. Sounds right up my street! Let the engineering commence.

I could just buy a Mezger, it'd be more straightforward in many ways - but where's the fun in that?

I'm genuinely interested in where we can take the M96, it's an unloved engine in a car that's been unloved itself for the past 20 years - and is only now starting to gain in popularity.

Do you ever worry about the resale value, or are you fine that you won't see most of this money again?

Will you own any of the intellectual property associated with this? Is there value in said IP for people following in your footsteps.

Beyond forum kudos, of course.

^^I came to the conclusion that I might as well just have fun with it after the second massive bill arrived - forced me into the decision that I may as well keep it forever, which changes the ROI calculation fairly significantly.

Will you own any of the intellectual property associated with this? Is there value in said IP for people following in your footsteps.

Beyond forum kudos, of course.

Yes, we are actually generating IP - which is something of a novelty. I can't reveal certain facts and figures, which is all very cloak and dagger.

This may all have a cash value at some point - but that's not why I'm doing this.

Found a guy on youtube who has spent the last year or 18 months buying (4?) crash, fire and flood damaged tesla's to make one good working one. Think he gross outlay is around the $60-70k, however he has recouped a huge amount of that through parting out the remains of what he didn't need and came up with an outgoing figure of $6.5k USD.
Many folk had a go at him that its not an accurate figure, because what about the 500+ hours of time he has put into the project of his own labour, however to him (and the way I'd view it), its a hobby project. He would never have bought one new (or lease), and if he didn't spend that time on a tesla, it would have been on something else, something maybe less 'remarkable' and definitely done to death. So yeah, doing something new that others have turned their nose up at previously is a good thing to do, might not make sense to others but if it feels right, just do it.

More general touching up this weekend

Post wash pre-wax trying to hide from the sun

Nice work.

That's my sort of tinkering. A lovely way to spend a Sunday.

When are you changing them rotten wheels for the lovely OG minilite-a-like 14s?

Thanks. The Team Dynamic wheels get good reviews and think they're fairly light too. If anything I'll get them swapped for the original 15" BBS wheels or E30 equivalent that are cheaper, more readily available and wider. Post payday will be getting silicone hoses to replace everything and install the new radiator.

Sounds interesting - Can we get a link?

It's a strange little thing. It was serviced every year until the end of 2015(got the stamps) and it's only done 5000 miles since then. The interior is pretty immaculate for a 12 year old car (bar the puddle), but the outside is.. a different story. It's a proper beater, which I actually quite like really.

I got it off some posh old boy who said he was selling it for his fil who'd had a stroke. Which kind of fits(it's an old xtype estate) but who really knows!