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And lots of quite wealthy people have 996, 987, and 997s and are just waiting for bore score to blow £££££ on relining and rebuild. They're actually quite popular as track toys as well as the last 911s with hydraulic steering.
The fact the motor has so many inherent design flaws probably makes it easier for Dammit to sell engines... I doubt there would be any market at all for the same amongst, for example, 997.2 owners.
Having said that, my dream car is a 996 GT3 and I'd definitely just buy one rather than developing an engine, or buying a swish engine for a non GT 996 - but that's just me, not that I'll ever be able to afford either.
number21-
Or you could buy a hatchback and stick some murdered out A/T wheels on it...
Who's the schmuck? 🤷
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The M96 (generally) benefits from a rebuild around 100,000 miles. Not because of the bores or the IMSB per-se, but because it’s likely that the main bearings are very much past their best by then. The crank is cantilevered on the flywheel end, without a bearing to take the loads from “excitable” gear changing the nearest main bearing also wears faster than the others and in extremis the crank can snap.
And of course, bore scoring and IMSB on the 3.6 - 3.8 litre cars.
So we have cars that are (for what they are, chassis wise) very cheap indeed, that are an engine away from being a 60k GT car, with engines that perform well but have a handful of serious issues.
Resolve the issues, add some power and some character, whilst keeping costs within a range that someone deploying man-maths considers reasonable and you may have a proposition.
Or not. But there’s only one way to find out, which is why we registered a company (H2 Engineering Ltd) to start offering some of the parts we have made for these engines, and if all goes well on the dyno the engines themselves later this year.
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Dammit
I don't know Dammit's answer to this. I would put forward though, that as the cheapest 911 it's the one that's the best candidate for an engine swap. You (or at least, I) wouldn't put anything non-stock on almost any other Porsche and hope to keep any of it's value.
At current prices, I don't think a 996 is a terrible choice as a 2-seater-something to mess about with.
(edit - I actually quite like the 996. Certainly the 997... I don't think there's been a better looking one since. There's a 992 next door to me, it's too big - I guess the cabin has a lot more creature comforts to fit in, but it looks closer to a Nissan 350z in proportions)