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Watch In Awe How A Porsche Flat-12 Engine Is Being Rebuilt

The flat-12 and the greatest sports car manufacturer to come out of Germany are brought together by an intertwined history. First things first, Ferdinand Porsche is the man credited with developing the first flat-12 in the ‘40s.
Porsche flat-12 engine rebuild 11 photos
Photo: screenshot from YouTube
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As for the magnum opus of breed, the Type 912 is arguably the most celebrated of its species. Designed to propel the Porsche 917 family of racing cars to victory, the 12-cylinder motor was produced in three main variations: 4.5, 4.9, and 5.0 liters. With this tower-of-power under the hood, the 917 was capable of hitting more than 240 miles per hour, which is a ridiculous top speed even by modern hypercar standards.

It’s rather clear, then, why the Type 912 is so revered by Porsche and the automaker’s die-hard fan base. For Canepa Motorsport, however, appreciation goes one step further. The California-based shop recently took in a 917 to perform a nut-and-bolt restoration, and as expected, the engine needed a little bit of tender loving care of its own. And this gets us the 4-minute engine restoration video featured at the end of this story.

Don’t, however, think that it takes approximately four minutes to take the cylinders and head off the block, for Canepa employed the magic of time-lapse to speed things up. Other than the fact the powerplant is an engineering marvel that brought Porsche its first overall win at the grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Type 912 also happens to be beautiful to look at.

And on that note, it’s worth staying through the end of the clip for the sound clip. If you thought that today’s Le Mans racers sound a bit odd due to the obsession with going green, the remedy is to get a load of this screamer here. Even when idling on an engine test bed, you get the sense that old school is indeed the best school there is.

Eventually, Porsche developed the Type 912 until it produced 1,580 ponies in qualifying tune. The receiver was the 917/30, hailed as the most powerful sports prototype racer ever built and raced. The secret to that colossal grunt can be attributed to a larger displacement (5.4 liters) and not one, but two turbochargers running up to 39 psi of boost.

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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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