Watercooled Engine Conversion
(M96 & M97)
What is engine conversion?
Let us explain. Engine conversion is the alternative to engine revision. Instead of doing an revision with the OEM parts, you can turn your engine into a higher performance and higher durability engine. With conversions such as 3.2L to 3.8L engines. Interested in how we do this? Read more!
The first step is to drop the engine and disassemble it. The engine block would then be shipped to us for our Nickies sleeving process. To make this easy, We offer a pre-paid block shipping option where we ship you a custom box with molded inserts to ensure your case halves don’t get damaged in transit.
Conversions
We machine every block for Nickies sleeves which replaces the cast-in Lokasil liner with a billet aluminum nickel silicon carbide plated bores. At the same time, we increase the bore size which allow for an increase in displacement and performance. We include matching JE, CP, or Mahle Motorsports pistons. Here is what we can do:
Our aluminum Nickies sleeves keep the engine running cooler and the NSC-plated bores, like those coated with Nikasil, reduce friction, all resulting in more horsepower through increased efficiency.
While the engine is apart, addressing the IMS issue is also a must. We offer an intermediate shaft reconditioning service. This allows us to inspect the bearing housing bore for runout and also to pin the main drive sprocket, which can slip and cause a failure. We will also fit an IMS Retrofit or IMS Solution depending on what replacement ims bearing you want to go with. If your engine has suffered scored bores and was already fitted with an IMS Retrofit, the bearing should be replaced at time of rebuild. However, if your engine was fitted with an IMS Solution, you should be able to reuse it during the reassembly process.
For a street engine, we would also recommend a 160F low temperature thermostat to help keep the engine cool and ARP rod bolts to replace the weak factory rod bolts. This provides a solid and reliable foundation for a reliable engine for your Porsche Boxster, Cayman, or 911.
If you ever plan on autocrossing or tracking your Porsche, additional upgrades need to be made to address other weaknesses inherent to the M96/M97 engine. These upgrades include:
By replacing the above components during your engine rebuild, you are addressing the known issues associated with the Porsche M96 and M97 engine used in 1997-2008 Porsche Boxster, Cayman, and 911 models and will have a track ready engine that should give you years of reliable service with proper maintenance.
Yes! To simplify the reassembly process, We offer engine rebuild kits for Porsche M96 and M97 engines including M96.01, M96.02, M96.04, M96.03, M96.05, M97.01, and M97.21 engine designations with everything we recommend replacing.
Nickies Sleeving for Cylinder Bore Scoring, D-Chunk, and Cracked Cylinder Failures
Porsche Cylinder Bore Scoring Explained
Nickies for M96 M97 1997-2008 Boxster, Cayman, and 911 Models
Nickies for 9A1/9A2 MA1/MA2 2009+ Boxster, Cayman, and 911 Models
Custom Concepts B.V.
Oude Baan 6
4825 BL Breda – Nederland
BTW nummer: NL863597312B01