odonnell

I recently picked up a 1982.5 motor with an alleged 40k miles on it. I've never fully rebuilt a car engine before so I'll have some questions along the way. I'll use google and the WSM for as much as I possibly can, but there will be a lot of judgement calls I think. And a lot of pics as I go along, I'll kick things off with this, to show why I'm going to probably benefit experienced feedback along the way:



(timing belt is still intact, somehow. I have reason to suspect these are original belts)

Dougs951S

That's badass if you have OE 1982 belts. Those are trophies. Those things were old enough to drink before I was in middle school.

porscharu

How can it have original belts with an updated water pump?

jeffrsmith

Good catch!

V2Rocket

Post pics of the balance shaft covers and the upper coolant outlet to confirm it's an 82/83.

odonnell

Doh!! Amateur hour over here. Good catch.

I'll snag those pics later today. The block (behind flywheel) has the 82 casting with the little ring around it as does the head and cam tower, donor car was a 5/82 build date. Hopefully that doesn't interfere with getting the right seals for some parts, I think I read that the 83s had some differences for the oil pump seals and maybe something else.

odonnell

I've since removed a lot more stuff since taking these pics. So far no seized fasteners, almost everything still has the factory cadmium plating in like-new condition which is cool. Going to refresh the oxidized heads and replace all hardware that doesn't have intact plating.

CVR_Rally

I'm building an 83 myself for my wife's car. I thought mine was in rough shape but that has been out on the elements for a long time. Luckily there are plenty of parts out there so as long as there is no internal damage you should be good. Good luck sir!

Oddly mine did have the old style water pump.

Chris

Van

Maybe this will help a little bit:



Have fun!

Noahs944

That engine is DISGUSTING... but it's in the right hands with Odonnell. Glad nothing broke on you!

odonnell

Thanks gents! Yeah this engine is weird...some areas are FILTHY, like what you see above. And some areas are actually really clean, like for example the intake ports and areas that weren't exposed to the elements. The stand-offs on the block for things like the uprights are virgin aluminum, probably never removed before. Can't wait to drop off a lot of these parts at the machine shop for a cold tanking. Today I'm going to shop vac whatever I can. There are (no exaggeration) more than 20 of those mud-dauber nests in various areas....should have seen the rest of the car.

Van, I've probably watched that video a dozen times

Noahs944

Van makes the best 944 vids.

joeystanker

Wow Mike, you are just the guy for the task. I cannot wait to see how this goes. After you totally disassemble and clean and re-gasket and re-ring and re-seal everything you are gonna have a perfect runner :-) Hey man, I dropped my head off at the machine shop and $300 later it was planed and all the valves made perfect again ;-).

Looks like you have a garage to work in! WOOOHOOOO!!!!

odonnell

Is she purring now? and yeah...I'm not sure I survived without a garage before. Life changing.

To the experienced engine builders: any words about piston coatings? For $100, Swaintech will do a ceramic thermal coating on the top of the piston... which will help alleviate hot-spots. That'll be nice for knock control but maybe someone can chime in if it's usable for 944 motors, or just feelings.

Arominus

IMO, its the feels there if its staying NA. If your boosting... maybe? but even then, lots of turbos running around without any coatings and boooooooost.