SeattlePorsche

Thanks Ice! I do have receipts everywhere. This was definitely cheaper than a top-end or complete rebuild (thank god). Man, I just checked my oil and I was down alot. I don't think I will drive it hard until I get the distributor off and tighten down that oil line. It is annoying to note that the only leak I have is the one torque spec I didn't have. At least I didn't know of one. Actually, all the oil lines including the big ones didn't have a torque spec, but I remember when I assembled the cam tensioner oil lines that the only thing I could read was "don't tighten it too much. You can always tighten it further later."

FYI the JW advice of K&Y copper gasket spray seems to really work well. I sanded down all of the plates flat on glass and sandpaper, and I don't see any leaks there. I am stoked that all my valve adjustments were right. JW said it sounded correct. It really helps to have a mechanic check your work. Now, back to that oil line. Well maybe later today...

Yes, next year is your turn. I can't wait!

Later bud,

theiceman

so you sprayed all your gaskets with copper gasket spray ? even the timing chain cover ones ? i oftened wondered about that.

also did you put anything on the gasket between the chain box and the cam tower ? ( my leak )

SeattlePorsche

Yes, I used copper spray on anything paper. Except the chain box to cam tower I used Curil-T.

I wasn't going to use it on the valve cover gaskets, because I figured I would eventually need to get in there again for a tune up. But the story is I had installed the rockers and then rotated the engine in the stand on its side. I had installed the rocker shafts dry, but then I remembered I forgot to oil the rockers thru the little holes, so I needed to get the valve covers off again. When the engine was on its side for a few days, some of the oil remaining in the engine had pooled at the bottom of the valve covers, and I saw some oil sweating out of there. If it was sealed, it shouldn't have leaked. So I used copper spray when I reinstalled the gaskets. The torque spec on the valve covers is something really small, 8-9 N.m I think.

If you are gonna seal that cam tower leak, you will have to remove the camshaft. I think it could be done with a partial drop, but you know how it is, when it's your first time, exposure is everything. (That's why I don't like my patients to have minimally invasive bypass surgery. I don't want the surgeon doinkin around in there just to say he got it done. I want the surgery done right the first time.)

SeattlePorsche

Hello guys. Ice, here is the update. It is official, I now have a leak free engine. Yeah! Here was the culprit: the oil line to the chain tensioners and cam spray bar. I think I just never tightened it down enough. Normally I put a sticker on any bolt I didn't tighten down to torque specs to remind myself, but I didn't have a spec for this so I think I just screwed up. Even though it was a drip, at idle, after only one day of driving I was down 3 quarts of oil! Yikes, glad I took care of it right away. I had to pull out the damn distributor to get to it. Anyways, no leak now after 2 weeks of driving and oil tank remains full.

I took my car back to JW to retime my ignition and it wasn't advancing anymore at WOT/5000 RPM. Guess what, my distributor was broken. JW installed an older SC distrib. without a retard vacuum line (black) but this strange noise I heard when accelerating was now gone, and the engine seems like it has new free horsepower now. I mentioned before that the noise sounded like the engine was searching for something, for lack of being able to explain it better, and I guess it is the noise when the dist. is not advancing, almost like a partial ping. I will rebuild my old dist. with Moto-Parts.com for $168. JW said the bearings in the dist. were broken. He said it wasn't anything I did, just an old dist.

I installed new drop links to my rear sway bar and reinstalled the sway bar. Car is tight again. This was a "to-do" from the original PPI.

I installed new transaxles with new bolts and schnorr washers. I am still not sure what was wrong with the old axles, but when the car was up on the lift, JW inspected them and pointed out some play that wasn't supposed to be there. Took awhile to get the parts and gaskets. One photo shows the old and new axles. One side took me one day, the other side one hour. Alot of kneeling, loosening, then standing to pull the emergency brake on or off. I realized I could turn the axle enough to get access to two bolts at a time. Each axle hub required three revolutions of tightening down until the torque wrench remained tight. That was a little scary. I am glad I didn't rely on just one torque per bolt.

Remember that rain leak that filled my drivers side floor pans with water? Well I have been driving the car to work in the rain and no more leak. I guess that hole at the base of the windshield WAS the problem, so that repair was worth the headache.

The engine is running great now. It keeps pulling to 6500 when warm like it could go higher, but I don't want to try. Not sure how much of it is SSI's and how much the 964 cam grind. That is still pretty fast in 3rd gear. My tranny is very nice now. 3rd and 4th are still breaking in, but 1st, 2nd and 5th are like butter. When the clutch is in I just go back and forth on 3rd a bunch of times, then same with 4th. Last night I went into a tunnel with the windows and sunroof open, 3rd gear, WOT. That alone was worth the long effort.

theiceman

Great work James as usual.

Given the reports of cv bolts backing out I would suggest retourquing after about 5,000 miles or so. You are right though, what a pain having to keep rotating the axle and putting the handbrake back on to retourque the next two bolts. Good reminder to me to go out and retourque mine. I found it really difficult to get the half shafts back in without makiing a huge mess. But I did get it done :-)

SeattlePorsche

Iceman, now I realize it was your post about a year ago that warned of the bolts not being torqued enough. I guess it was in my subconscious. Thanks for the advice of the past and now. Yes, I will retorque these this winter now.

SeattlePorsche

Iceman, now I realize it was your post about a year ago that warned of the bolts not being torqued enough. I guess it was in my subconscious. Thanks for the advice of the past and now. Yes, I will retorque these this winter now.

Originally I was going to put those little retaining plates that hold down two bolts at a time, but they don't make them for 8mm bolts. It was JW's recommendation, but he didn't find any plates in that size. Anyone have an opinion on those plates?

theiceman

Well Guess what ......

After I read you post I went out, jacked up theback end of the car and checked.... I did my CV ljoints at 174,000km . at my 180,000km oil change I checked and all was fine ...

Today when I checked BIG TROUBLE>>>>>

one of the inner passenger side bolts was backed right off and only the folds of rumbber in the cv joint were keeping it from falling right out. the two at either side of it also were now only finger tight and id di a couple of turns with just the driver without a handle on it before it got tight. I ended u[ backing out those thress bolts, cleaning them up and the threaded whole with engine degreaser and put it back together.

There is definitely a warning here for anyone who has had an egine drop or CV work done recently.

Boy do I feel better now ..

SeattlePorsche

Hmm, I put antiseize on all my bolts. You think this was not good?

I put those special schnorr washers on each bolt. It is a spring washer, but looks corrugated at an angle. Do you have them on? JW gave me 24 of em. Said they will lock it down.

Wow, that is scary. The next sound you would have heard from the back end could have been ugly.

theiceman

Actually my car did not have them on originally and I could not find any ( sounds like your car did not have them either. )
I think with them you will be fine . I think I am going to do some more research to see if I can find them.

SeattlePorsche

PM me your address and I will mail you some.

theiceman

Actually James there is a metric hardware place not to far from here, let me check there first.

Thanks James