Just got an ad for this ($18,000) air cooled four cylinder engine case fed into my internet browser. So of course I clicked it.
Yep. It's exactly what you'd think.
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Very cool, Ed- I'd never seen a bare Carrera case before!
And at that price, you'll never ever see one again...
That's a really nice looking case ! $1800 isn't out of line for that............bruce
@LeadPedal posted:Not surprising. Everything is being reproduced for the 4 cam 356 engine. A complete reproduction engine is about 150k or so. You need a King Kong size wallet if you want to play in the 4 cam sandbox.
My point was that engine case doesn't have to cost that much. Do you think the case I posted has a much different price point to manufacture? Of course not. I realize the Porsche case is a whatever the market will bear situation.
I would imagine Carrera cases are cast in lots <5 and T1 cases in lots of 100+.
“Economy of scale.”
And just going by the look of their respective pictures, the quality of the castings is a world apart. Does it matter if you’re building a Dune Buggy? No. Does it matter if you’re building an engine for a 356 Carrera restoration? Of course. A $150K engine in a million dollar car makes sense.
Dang. RosePassion. I’d like to find out who makes them. My guess is it’s someone in northern Italy.
@dlearl476 posted:I would imagine Carrera cases are cast in lots <5 and T1 cases in lots of 100+.
“Economy of scale.”
And just going by the look of their respective pictures, the quality of the castings is a world apart. Does it matter if you’re building a Dune Buggy? No. Does it matter if you’re building an engine for a 356 Carrera restoration? Of course. A $150K engine in a million dollar car makes sense.
Dang. RosePassion. I’d like to find out who makes them. My guess is it’s someone in northern Italy.
Once you have made the mold, the cost to pour them doesn’t change much. The TF-1 is made in batches of 100. I don’t know how many have been sold since they came on the market about 20 years ago, but I would guess around 500.
David, tell me what material the reproduction Porsche case is using? Was the original Porsche case sand cast or die cast? What was the original case made from?
I went to their website and looked at the pictures. They look to be sand cast, no difference that I can see. Maybe you have those special Porsche glasses?
The TF-1 cases are 356-t6. They are cast here in the USA. The machining is superb. I would feel comfortable building a huge horsepower engine in one, on the order of 600 or more horsepower. They were originally designed for off road endurance racing, so that should give you an idea of how well they are designed and built.
Whether or not the engine is going into a million dollar car doesn’t really matter, because it is not an original engine, it is nothing more than an overpriced reproduction.
Yeah, I have no idea either. That’s why I was lamenting info on Rose’s site leading to the manufacture. They look sand cast to me, too, and I can only assume they’re made with either the original alloy of a modern, better one. AFAIK, they’re magnesium. That why I suspect northern Italy. It’s a hotbed of forging and casting alloys.
ps: I have no issue with the T1 cases, just noting their finish. Probably infinitely better than OEM.
btw: RosePassion is a great site to find obscure NLA Porsche parts.