Lee Sibley
Poole, UK
9WERKS Radio
Model 996.1 CARRERAYear 1998Acquired JANUARY 2019
Model 996 40 JAHREYear 2003Acquired APRIL 2023
It had to happen sooner or later. After 150,000 miles, of which 71,000 have been completed by yours truly in the past five years, the M96 engine has been lifted out of my 996.1 Carrera, aka Little Irish, for some maintenance.
For the cause of this drastic action, we need to cast our minds back to October, and the 9WERKS Driven Not Hidden Collective road trip to Porscheplatz. About half-way through France en route to the Porsche Museum in Germany, my 996 conked out and left me at the side of the road, unable to restart. After finally getting going again, the same thing happened in Germany later that day.
The fault was diagnosed as a knackered crank position sensor, which seemed to rear its head when the car got warm. Indeed, the 996 behaved itself over winter, when ambient temperatures were cool to cold, which is why I waited until March to have the corrective work done, fully aware that the engine might need to come out to do this.
Although it’s possible to change a crank position sensor with the engine in situ, my preferred specialists for maintenance on the car, Wrightune in Oxford, warned that mine was crusted pretty firmly into the block, situated at the back of the engine. I would therefore need to brace for the inevitable.
And so to D-Day, with Little Irish on the ramp at Wrightune and the guys trying to tease the sensor off as gently as possible. Thirty seconds later, with all of us staring at a crusted and sheared sensor bolt head, the inevitable was confirmed: the engine was coming out!
As is well known within Porsche circles, a small job can quickly snowball into open-wallet surgery, for while the flat six is fully out of the car, there are a host of ‘while you’re in there’ tasks that you should sensibly take advantage of. In my case, it led to a new starter motor, air/oil separator, throttle cable, coolant hose, oil-pressure sender, as well as a new clutch that was found to be pretty close to the end of its life anyway.
You may know that I rock a CSR single-mass flywheel on my 996 Carrera, and absolutely adore it. It’s one of my favourite mods, giving me razor-sharp throttle response compared to stock. I was keen to keep it, which necessitated sourcing an uprated clutch with springs in the middle of the friction disc, to aid against clutch slip. This was sourced via RPM Technik themselves and, as we needed the clutch pronto, meant I could take a trip across the Oxfordshire countryside in Wrightune’s own 3.2 Carrera, while Joe and team got to work on other aspects of the 996’s engine surgery. Every cloud, and all that!
The guys at Wrightune were first class. We had the engine out and back in again in 36 hours, along with new brake discs and pads all round, and new rear anti-roll bar bushes, with Little Irish given a clean bill of health. Because of the work involved and those extra jobs, Chris at Wrightune advises that whenever your engine is coming out of your 911, you should expect a bill starting at £3-£5k (bearing in mind Wrightune’s labour rate is more competitive than most!).
My bill was indeed hefty, and yet I’m philosophical about this, preferring to look at the situation holistically. I’ve visited 11 different countries with Little Irish in the past five years, accomplishing multiple track days, hill climbs and road trips alongside general daily driving. This little 911 has given me so many cherished memories and, it’s hoped, this spend will enable me to collect even more. The cost of these are priceless, and so I was more than happy to part with some cash to allow the car to keep on truckin’. So, where are we off
