I was looking at a 912 earlier today that has a hot rodded engine in it (which is part of the appeal). If I buy the car I'll probably end up using it like it is intended to be used, so there is a good chance that it'll need rebuilding at some point. I have a fairly good handle on repair prices for 911s, but does anybody have an idea how much a "normal" rebuild on a 912 engine would cost?
I owned 356's thirty yrs ago when $6500 would buy you a really decent example and a Speedster was still under $10 K. They are a simple engine and back then it was easy to find a spare engine in a wrecking yard. My buddy had a dune buggy with a 356 engine in it and about three junker engines for parts in his garage. He also picked up a 4 cam Carrera engine for $800. I had first dibs but turned it down. Somebody please kick me hard.
I'm out of the loop now with these cars, but suppose they're much harder to get parts for nowadays and that the prices have gone way up.
The engine is every bit as simple as a VW bug, but unfortunately there are no interchangeable engine parts between the two if I remember right.
I wouldn't run away from the technical aspect of the 356 engine because they're not complicated at all. You'll have to check out the cost of engine rebuild parts. Back then they weren't expensive, but I have no idea what things sell for nowadays.
Wear parts doesn't seem to be that much of a problem, but they're in the usual Porsche price range. Not sure if cranks and engine cases are that easy to source anymore, but TBH if I'd blow up the motor that bad, I'd probably try to find an SC engine or similar to stuff in the back.
For some reason these engine seem to have acquired a rep to be complex in the rags I read, but that might be because the authors might be throwing the 4 cam in there with the other engines.
The base four cylinder engine is Easy Peasy. Seriously, as simple as can be. Some of the parts are expensive or hard to come by, but if you're just doing bearings, rings, valves and such, you can afford it all and do it yourself in a weekend.
You can price out the part costs yourself on-line, no need to cast about here. There are re-build packages available and deals everywhere. Might want to get what you think that you'll need ahead of time and just hold them until a re-build is necessary.
No mystery or magic here. None at all.
Of course, if you plan on paying another to do the work on the 912, ANY of the work . . . don't buy the car, it'll eventually bankrupt you.
TC
Yeah, I looked at the prices over on Pelican and they all looked fairly reasonable. It was more of a case of trying to find out if these are "OMG you must have 50 years experience rebuilding them" - for some reason a lot of jobs on Porsche 911/912s seem to be shrouded a certain kind of mystique when they're actually pretty DIYable.
"for some reason a lot of jobs on Porsche 911/912s seem to be shrouded a certain kind of mystique when they're actually pretty DIYable"
I think there are people with a vested financial interest in these cars now that the prices have gone crazy who are trying to create a myth that they're complicated when in fact they're basically just a VW bug. But then a lot of people (investers) buying older Porsches nowadays wouldn't know the difference between a screw driver and a socket wrench, so will end up paying through the nose to get work done.
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