RCR 917 motor options

K I know the car is set up to accept only the oil cooled flat 6 cyl porsche engines. My question is what years/models were these motors in porsches? Also I know it will vary from the years but what kind of horsepower did they create stock? Can the RCR 917 accept a turbo without any modification? Price of the motors?
 
K I know the car is set up to accept only the oil cooled flat 6 cyl porsche engines. My question is what years/models were these motors in porsches? Also I know it will vary from the years but what kind of horsepower did they create stock? Can the RCR 917 accept a turbo without any modification? Price of the motors?

You could get some very long answers to your questions as there is a lot of factual detail to address. But, basically, the 904 came with a four cylinder four cam engine and the 906 came with a flat six. I think the 908 also came with a flat six but I'm not positive. The 917 came with a flat 12. When it was first introduced (around '69) I believe the 917 put out around 550hp. In its last version I think it was over 1,000 hp.

I believe the RCR 917 can accept a wide range of engines including SBF and Chev in addition to a flat six porsche.

The flat 12 was never run in a production street porsche.

A original four cam four cylinder is very expensive - in good/rebuilt shape it might be $50,000. A 3.0 or 3.2 ltr flat six came in 911s from 1978-1988 and these are good running solid engines which can be had for between $5,000 and $10,000 as good runners. The later 911 engines are considerably more complicated with water cooling systems for the heads (and block in later cars) and more complex electronics.

Hope that helps!
 
the main problem with watercooled engines on 917 replica (what ever the origin) is that there is no room for water cooler.

917 was originally designed with an air cooled engine (Flat 12 named 912), so it's easyer to install an aircooled flat 6.

the power range for porsche stock flat 6 is for N/A : 130 bhp (2.0L) to 300bhp (3.8L Varioram 993)

for stock Turbo : 260bhp (3.0L no intercooler)
to 450bhp (3.6L 993 TT late version)

I think it's possible to intall a porsche turbo, you have just to think where you gonna put the intercooler... and how to give them fresh air...

some of customer of LMK or BE have done it (one with 993 TT, the other with 962 race engine)

The engine bay of the 917 is wide enough to accept a lot of sort of engine...
 
with respect to porsche engine costs, it really depends on how much horsepower you want to make. Complete 993 engines (last of the air-cooled motors) are available on the internet for about $7K. 965 motors, early 90's vintage are a little less. Carrera 3.2's are available for about 4K. But then you have rebuild costs. P's & C's are about $5K, figure about another $5k for all the bits and pieces. If you an EFI update, that's about $10K.

I've figured that a twin turbo motor with efi producing about 450-500 hp on street gas will cost about $35 - 40K to be done correctly. Without EFI the cost is about $10K less, but there are questions whether the stock fuel injection & ignition can reliably support this much hp from only 3.6 liters of displacement.
 
I have a 1985 911 3.2 and can attest to the bulletproof nature of the engine...243,000 miles and the only thing done was a top end due to valve guide wear at 200,000. It still runs strong.

Mike
 
How much power does your 3.2 have sydermike?
I would love to install a chevy or ford because they seem like they aren't very high maintance compared to a porsche motor, but I was under the impression fran was only offering it to accept the flat six porsche.
 
Fran is just selling a 917 kit, He recommend a porsche air cooled engine, because he has already installed it with success, it's the same with 930 gearbox...

Now, if you want to use a water cooled, a rotary, or a helicopter engine, this is your problem.

If I have to make a choice ?
- porsche 964/993 engine, race tuned (3.6 or 3.8, cams, heads, rods, PMO, headers) 360/380 bhp
- porsche 915 gearbox (wevo side plate, oil cooling and strenghened), new gearing...


915 gearbox, is lighter than 930, and offers 5 speed.... but it had to be strenghened to support torque)
 
the zfq transaxle (5 speed) is also now available for the rcr917. It can handle the torque of a big hp motor.

you can actually start with a Carerra 3.2 motor and build the turbo motor from that. It is a bit less expensive to do it this way, rather than spend 8 to 10K on a used 930 motor and rebuild it. The newer you get, engine-wise, the less headwork you need to do.

don't know what a conversion to carbs would cost, but I'm not interested in going that route....at least not yet...
 
I would highly recommend the 993 engine. I have been around these for some time and they are bulletproof. I would NOT recommend mating it to a 915 though. While it certainly can be done, it will not last for long in my opinion.

Besides the 917 should have a 930 gearbox, keeps it close to original that way. If you really want to go to a strong 5 speed, then again just in my opinion here, you should go with a G50.

Erik Johnson
 
Anything other then a Porsche gearbox though, in a 917, just seems wrong. LOL

I am a die hard Porsche fan though.

Erik Johnson
 
Hi Guys

The ZFQ/917 transaxle has the input shaft extended by 5" to allow the motor to be moved forward in the frame to help with weight distribution when running a flat 6 instead of the much longer flat 12 engine.

So if you want it to handle as well as it looks then you need a ZFQ/917 transaxle.

Regards

Chris.
 

Attachments

  • DSCF0068.jpg
    DSCF0068.jpg
    42.6 KB · Views: 506
This is my idea of the ideal engine for the RCR917. It is based on Porsche 2.7L components, Heads, Cylinders, Connecting Rods. Most other components are custom. It could displace between 4.9 and 5.4L. 500 Hp should be no problem. I'm about 75% done with the design. Hopefully someday I will be in a position to build it.
 

Attachments

  • SOHC 12 CYL 640x480 101909.jpg
    SOHC 12 CYL 640x480 101909.jpg
    197.1 KB · Views: 2,030
This is my idea of the ideal engine for the RCR917. It is based on Porsche 2.7L components, Heads, Cylinders, Connecting Rods. Most other components are custom. It could displace between 4.9 and 5.4L. 500 Hp should be no problem. I'm about 75% done with the design. Hopefully someday I will be in a position to build it.


great Stuff mark !!!!:thumbsup:

That's THE 917 engine for replicas....
 
The 915 box is just fine if it's bolted up to a 3.0/3.2 911 engine. It would probably be fine bolted up to a 3.6ltr as well. It's not like the 915 is a "weak" box at all. It certainly can handle a bunch more hp than the stock 3.0/3.2 that it came with for years in 911s. The 3.0/3.2s max hp/tq is about 280/240 with the typical mods (webers, cams, compression bump, twin plugs, etc.) - not a lot when compared with a 400+/400+ hp/tq SBF.

No doubt the 930 box is vastly stronger however, so if you're bolting it up to a SBF or similar hp/tq then that's the ticket.
 
I would highly recommend the 993 engine. I have been around these for some time and they are bulletproof. I would NOT recommend mating it to a 915 though. While it certainly can be done, it will not last for long in my opinion.

Besides the 917 should have a 930 gearbox, keeps it close to original that way. If you really want to go to a strong 5 speed, then again just in my opinion here, you should go with a G50.

Erik Johnson

From my personal experiences of circuit racing i have had no problems at all with my 915 mated to a 3.6 ltr 964 engine. 802 kgs and driving 15" rims and Dunlop CR82s, building carefully and being mechanically sypathetic makes a big difference to reliability and long life.The very stresses of motorsport do inevitably take a toll on most parts, and i,m sure that one day something will give way, but so far all is good and that is since August 2005. Picture shows my current 915 box whilst out of car during engine top end rebuild last year.

Pay your money and take your choice .............. Porsche parts cost heavily.

Graham.
 

Attachments

  • my pictures001.jpg
    my pictures001.jpg
    61.7 KB · Views: 753
When I visited DRB's workshops a couple of weeks back, they had a customer's replica 917 in there and it uses a (shock, horror) Ford V8. They found one real 917 V12 engine available but it was $500,000. The budget didn't run to that. The original V12's finally produced about 1100 hp, with so much torque that it was a good thing Porsche took the drive from a gear in the centre of the crankshaft to minimise torsional twisting of the crankshaft.
Back in the real world, the 911 3 litre and 3.2 litre engines (1978-1988), in standard form, have proved reliable to the extent of typically logging 300,000 miles and more without any major engine work. Sometimes the valve guides need replacing due to wear. You can get a reliable and flexible 325 hp from a carburetted 3.2 by taking it up to 3.5 and doing a number of other tweaks. For more power turbo-charging is the way forward. You definitely need an expert mapping the engine management, either way.
My 2c worth,

Dalton
 
When I visited DRB's workshops a couple of weeks back, they had a customer's replica 917 in there and it uses a (shock, horror) Ford V8.

Dalton

Is there any pictures of this car anywhere? Was this a Bailey Edwards car?

I always thought that a flat engine was the only thing that would fit in a 917 without chopping up all the bodywork... I love the idea of using a porsche engine, but the price of those lumps can be prohibitive, especially when trying to make serious power.

It would be nice to have a realistic alternative...
 
Back
Top