okie981

TSB coming soon to a Porsche dealer near you....


I'll be filing these off on my car also, thanks for the heads-up!

Crazy Eddie

needmoregarage

Right back atcha Ed!!!!!!

DrPhil Gandini

Not going to worry about lost header bolts anymore:



New bolts, drilled, torqued using 2-stage method: 11ft-lbs, then 22ft-lbs, then wired.

Amendment: I got a FB post from a guy who works with helicopters who told me while my idea was good, the fact that the wires touch the header tubes was a bad idea. He gave me a much better idea, which will also be a little easier. Just wire them across the top, and bottom! I will redo when possible.

okie981

It's an awkward location to be doing safety wire in, so I'm not being critical of your work, just offering comments to help produce the optimum result. Ideally you will have more than 1 cross-drill through the fastener head to give you more options for running the wire so that you end up with each fastener wired such that if it were to loosen it would tighten the other fastener it's wired to. Reference the photo below (from quick Google search) and imagine one of the fasteners trying to loosen. If one did, it would tighten the other fastener.

Also, when you've completed your work, ideally the wire between each fastener will be taught so that if you pluck it with your finger, it might even ping like a short guitar string. This reduces vibration in the wire. Extended vibration with loose wires can cause them to wear at the fastener holes and loosen even further. I've done safety wire work back in a previous life, on the internals of large (1,200 to 6,500 lb.) industrial turbochargers. I also did post-mortem failure analysis of older units from the field and I've seen a lot of loose/broken safety wire and loose fasteners when not wired properly. Mechanics who do aircraft maintenance work for a living can make a safety wire job look like a work of art.

FWIW, I checked out the factory exhaust gasket when I was at a Porsche dealer parts department recently and it appears to be of a material and design that won't compress much, if any, over time with heat and clamping force. The safety wire should provide belt and suspenders security.

DrPhil Gandini

Thanks for the comments. I totally accept that this, being the first time I've ever wired bolts, is a completely terrible amateur job! I got a note from a helicopter tech who told me how to wire them better, and I think more easily, which should give me more chances to achieve a result like the one you included in your post. Unfortunately the option of greater access is unavailable--I'm not removing the engine and headers just to get better looking, and potentially stronger wires.
In the end, I might just have a belt, or a suspender, rather than the two together. The problem I'm trying to solve is total loss of the bolt--which occurred twice previously. Although I think that was due to improper torquing by the installer (not me), and now I have corrected that with new bolts and proper two-stage torquing, the wiring is just a little (perhaps unnecessary) insurance against bolt loss.

okie981

For your first safety wire job, in such an awkward location, you did a great job.

When I get around to putting headers on mine, I'll recheck the bolts at intervals of 6 to 10 hours of driving and if I keep finding bolts that need tightening, I'll take the next step of locking fasteners or safety wire. But if a bolt doesn't loosen in about 20 hours of driving, I'll call it good and declare it needs no locking fastener or safety wire.

Mech33

What tool are you using to twist the wire?

DrPhil Gandini

There's a special tool that looks like a pair of pliers with a central pivot. You lock the pliers on the wires and then pull the central **** and the whole tool twists. Let go and repeat until you have enough twists. Got mine on Amazon where there were many choices. They are called "wire twisting pliers" believe it or not... Also got SS wire there.
okie981: If you follow the 2-stage torquing procedure that has been promoted here, I doubt you will have any problems. I am confident it works, but since I lost bolts, I thought the wiring might just be added security.

Tom@TPC Racing

A must have tool for every race or track car mechanic. :-)
https://www.amazon.com/OTC-4795-Safe...fety+wire+tool
or
http://www.harborfreight.com/6-inch-...ers-45340.html

okie981

Roger that.

Regarding the tool, a video is worth a thousand words, skip to the 2:00 mark if all you want to see is the pliers twisting the wire:

morjo02

Thank you for providing the parts manual

aryork

Thanks!! When I looked at the tool on amazon, the first thing I thought was "I have no idea how to use that thing!"

Indeed, twisting header wires using the tool would be challenging.

I never knew the trick about wiring them such that if one loosened it tightened the other. A simple, elegant solution!

morjo02

the link does not have the document

needmoregarage

You're right - the page says "under construction"

I searched GT4 PET catalog and found another source. It looks different from what I remember, but I scrolled through a few pages and it looks like the "real deal"

Here's what you need to do:

Go to PCA Cayman Register and join (you won't have permission to download the file unless you are a member with an account) - no cost to join
^this is the link to the page with the download
once you're logged into the Cayman Register go to the link above and download the file

Hope that helps

The Cayman Register is a friendly place loaded with info specific to Caymans.
No "for sale" section - just folks sharing info, asking questions (and usually getting answers), and in general sharing ownership experience.
Just like RL - I've learned a lot on the Cayman Register and many that are members here are members there.

I have no stake in the Cayman Register. It's simply another resource and is supported by PCA.