Has anyone ever tried to fit a 986/996/987/997 motor in a 914? As they are cheaper to source than a similarly powerful 993 or 964 motor, I started to look into this.

I don't think I've ever seen one done and perhaps there is perfectly good reasons why not.

I am looking to see if I can get the width of the motor as that might be a non starter.

Has anyone considered this and decided not to?

Wasn't there something posted about having to chop out the suspension ears or something? Can't remember but someone has tried to fit one.

Yep, just asked that last week, one of the real smart fellas said they won't fit between the suspension ears.

Ah, I did a search and found zip, so I'll try to find that thread!

Thanks for the info,

i was told by a pretty knowledgeable porsche enthusiastic fella that those water-cooled flat 6's are more less disposable. i didn't completely understand all the reasons he listed.. but one thing he did say was that those water-cooled engines are very difficult to rebuild, due to the way how porsche cast them engine cases in such mass production style. that might explain why the early 996 and 986 resale values are so bad..

ok, but it's a 3200lb. car too. i'm not saying we should re-engineer our car
to fit it, but it would be cool to give 986 a half-ton diet (add a bomb gearbox to the equation).
i'll bet it would dish out as long as you wanted to eat...

Porsche wants them to be disposable..
LN and I have taken the engine to a different level, totally reconstructing the majority of the engine's components here in the USA.

I have one sitting on my bench that we took from 3.6X51 specs to a 3.8, I expect it to put down 375RWHP on my dyno jet in a couple of weeks.

In factory form the engines have 19 modes of failure that we have documented so far. They are a great foundation, but the assembly of one is not for the faint of heart.

If you want a high powered water cooled flat 6, then get a Boxster and put a 996 engine in it. You'll be better off in the long run. Besides you can get a Boxster with a bad engine for cheap.