flat6Innovations LN Engineering

[smshirk]

Have you guys heard about the breakthroughs the two companies in the title have made with the M96 engine? The December edition of Excellence magazine contains the final article by Jim Pasha, completed by Excellence staff writers after Jim passed away. Not sure if Excellence is published outside the states, but it is an all Porsche rag.

At any rate they have redesigned the intermediate shaft, LN has redesigned cylinders, forged the rods, and can either do a straight rebuild to fix your blown engine with core, or do a big bore performance engine. I am not affiliated in any way, but I am having my 2001 Boxster S rebuilt to a 3.6 high torque model. I plan then to take courses Jake is going to offer, then rebuild my 996 myself.

As I write this I think I may be repeating myself. I have talked about this so much, since I am really pumped about it. But it seems Lefteris has commented to me on the subject. If this is redundant I do apologize. It isn't the same sort of rebuild the Brits are doing, and the cost is about the same as a factory remanufactured engine, unless you go for the performance motor. After all, HP is never free. I am opting for torque, rather than the high revving high HP version of the same displacement. That is my choice since I don't feel I can use the high revs around here much anyway. In my opinion, and for my individual driving style, torque is easier to get to than ponies.

[.Lefteris.]

I am with you on this, torque is a must, thats why I love my 928, 5.0L and V8 ! :)
Now, about the flat6Innovations or LN Engineering (or whatever the name is) upgrade, do they give a guaranty for this?
Do you know any other Porsche friends that have make this and they are happy with the engine and the after market service and support?
Because as you know the factory remanufactured engines has all of the above!
BTW the Excellence mag it is available to us here in Europe also!
Also the GT3 and turbo engines are not the same as the 996/7 986/7 and Cayman ones, they are based on the GT1 race engine and they dont have intermediate shaft problems! ;)

[smshirk]

I may well be one of the first paying customers. Jake has some mules both on the road and still on dyno. His warranty is equal to that of factory replacement engine. I believe his business model will ultimately involve signing up independent shops to offer his engines. I do not believe Porsche will continue the fairly economical replacement policy with the M96 engines for too much longer. Now that they have moved on ,it just doesn't make sense for a new car manufacturer to stay in the maintenance business with new motors. I don't believe you could buy a new 2.7 for a 911S. Rather extreme example but you get my drift I'm sure. LN Engineering is already advertising their nikasil, cylinders, bearings, etc in major Porsche related publications around the world I believe. Jake's reputation is impeccable here in the states and I have no worries in trusting his work or his word for that matter.

Again, please let me reiterate, I have no relationship with any of these guys, other than that of customer. I have been wondering for some time when someone would finally solve this seemingly systemic problem with M96 engines. Porsche has been much less than forthright about the nature of the failures, even while doing plenty out of warranty replacements, though who knows what their criteria is determining who gets help and who doesn't.

I can also say, I have two M96s now and had one previously I sold with over 100k miles. I have had zero engine failures, but I have never followed the Porsche 15k mile service interval either. I've been changing my oil every 5k all my life and didn't change just because Porsche said it was OK. Perhaps that's why I've had no issues. I also drive the doggie do out of them. In any event, I am doing this for the performance gains. I could go out and buy a used Turbo I suppose, but I want a Boxster with similar torque and throttle response, and I like that it is normally aspirated power. Not that I have any issues with forced induction, but this just rattles my cage in a very good way. I can't wait. Also, I have some time in the next few months to explore new avenues, and this sounds like a good thing to do. I will enjoy immensely sharing the experience and will recruit some local help to time 0-60, 1/4 mile, etc. Jake builds the engines and tests the car on a chassis dyno, so I will know exactly what I have before I get it. I anticipate a great experience. I just have to be able to drive it correctly, as my Boxster has no PSM or other electronic help. Well it does have ABS, but that won't come into play....I hope. I haven't been this excited about a car..........well, ever I suppose. :D

[.Lefteris.]

Ok then! lol

[smshirk]

My latest update. Things are proceeding nicely, though it will be a few months before everything is complete.

I had the good fortune and pleasure to visit Jake Rabys shop last week. Actually, calling it a shop does not do justice to the facility. He has an unbelievable working lab, as well as a fully functional machine shop with the ability to build anything automotive, and really anything you could think of related to motive transportation. Hell he could build a ship if he wanted to and had a customer who asked for it.

I have spent much of my life working at AT&T Labs, and while our facilities may look pristine, we have nothing on Jake, at least not since before 1984 when Bell Labs scientists were allowed to operate as independent thinkers. Much of his work is done the way engineers in the 50s, 60's, and 70s came up with new products and processes. He has an idea, and then works out the details until he makes it work. Then he makes it work better until you can't break it. To say I was impressed is a gross understatement. Companies simply don't work like that anymore, or very few anyway. For most of modern American industry there is way too much pressure for immediate results to spend time figuring out new ways to do something better than it's been done ever before, particularly if it already works pretty well, and turns a profit. Everyone just has to get it done and in the market as soon as possible. The term ASAP wasn't coined until American companies stopped doing the kind of work Jake Raby is doing in the N Ga mountains right now.

While I was there I saw several air cooled engines in various stages of build for customers from around the world, including a wild turbo for a VW bus, various M96 engines that had been shipped to him, from a 2.5 spec motor, to a 3.2 with an IMS failure, to an X51. There is development work in his lab measuring everything you can imagine in an engine on a dyno using probes and instruments Jake made himself. M96 work is at various stages of completion, and one of the things that blew me away, even though unrelated to the cars, was he had one of his mechanics in the machine shop making a support beam for the new section of the facility still under construction. Jake is too much of a perfectionist to leave anything to chance. He is even building his building.

Most companies I am familiar with have lost the ability to improvise, to come up with an idea, and see it through to a product. He has spent a lot of his own money developing just the tools required to put these engines together. While I don't disagree with Jake's concern about controlling everything possible in the beginning of his product rollout, I don't see any way he can miss. Just the difference in the IMS alone is enough to convince most anyone that his engines are superior to stock, and he has come up with some very ingenious ways to not only get around the Porsche stranglehold on parts, but to make them better, not to mention developing tools to assemble the engines, which is a real feat all by itself.

To top it off I got to see Jake's wifes VW Beetle with a 200 RWHP 1.7 Porsche engine. It started life as a 1.7, thought now it is a 2.9. It is a work of art and should be on display in a museum somewhere. Seriously, if you like Porsches, at some point in your life you had to love VWs, and this is the grandaddy of all bugs. The engine looked better in that space behind the rear wheels than any factory engine I've ever seen in any car, and not one thing covered up with plastic. I've been pumped about this whole project since first hearing about it on Pelican right after the Excellence article came out. Mostly because I have been worried that Porsche would abandon us after a few more years. They don't have much of a history in supporting their products once they've move on to a new design, and they have moved on.

I am even more excited now than ever. I should be driving my Boxster with one of Jake's RAT motors by spring anyway. I have to make it look different too, just to do justice to the engine, so I'm planning on all the goodies I can put into and onto it between now and then, even if I have to sell a couple of cars to do it.. On second thought, I never can bring myself to part with a Porsche. I have regretted every one I ever sold. I'll just have to spend more money on something for the wifey and then I can do whatever I need to do. Hopefully it won't have to be dollar for dollar.

Here it is now, I can't wait to post the after pictures.http://www.7speed.eu/picture.php?albumid=20&pictureid=248

[.Lefteris.]

I love mods my friend Steve!
Thanks for the update!
Lefteris