am

I'm almost done with the ''rebuilding'' of my 1970 911 and i would like to know how much oil i should put exactly in my car.
1st the oil tank is not the original one, when i tried to put it back it was a bit tight and the oil filter i ordered for a 1970 did'nt fit, i found the right filter for me was for a 1974.
2nd in my manual it says 9 liters, i'm up with 10 and my gauge shows a bit over 5 (the indicator in the tank is brand new) and when i check the engine oil, like they do it in the manual, i see just a bit of oil at the tip of the dipstick.
I'm kind of lost with the oil capacity i should put, could it be up to 12 liters in a 1974 ?

Amber Gramps

check your dipstick when the engine is hot and idling. The 3.2 and I think the 3.0 hold 14 quarts. 12 that can be changed and 2 that are in the lines.

JV911

10 is plenty. as doug said get the oil up to temp and recheck with the car idling

use the stick not the guage in the car. many people will tell you not to fill all the way to "full" on the stick

Mike Murphy

There was an article in Excellence I think in January about how to break-in a new engine. It included how oil was added, etc. Let me try to find it...

EDIT: Found it:

The following is taken from the January 2008 edition of the Tech Q&A section of Porsche Panorama:

Q: The rebuild is complete and I'm ready to re-install the engine. Can you suggest protocol for engine break-in?

A: (Mayo) ...I don't use any special break-in oil...I put in about 10 quarts to start with...as soon as the engine starts, I keep it at 2,000 RPM and hold it there for 5 minutes...once everything is buttoned up, I go drive it, accelerating reasonably hard from 2,000 to about 5,000 rpm repeatedly. After that about 20 times the rings are mostly seated...I give the car to the customer and tell him to drive it as hard as he'd like, but to avoid long periods of constant rpm for 1,000 or so miles...After 500, but certainly 1,000 miles, I consider it broken in...
__________________

Peter Zimmermann

douglas: Cool new avatar - good thing they didn't think that your camera was a gun!

Oil capacity: We (my shop) got to the point where we followed the following guide: If you just performed an oil & filter change add 8 quarts to cars built before '74, add 9 quarts to ''75-77 cars, add 10 quarts to SCs, and add 9 quarts to 3.2 cars. After the initial fill drive the car until the car reaches 180F oil temp, or the front oil cooler becomes hot to the touch, and top up the oil until the level is approximately halfway between the upper and lower marks on the dipstick. If the engine has been apart and has been freshly installed, add one quart to each of the above numbers. We worked on any possible combination of cars on any given day, and because those cars had a wide variety of equipment (front coolers, etc.) and were built in different years, the above eliminated any possibility of (1) hurting the engine due to low oil level, or (2) overfilling. Porsche's own capacity numbers are often "approximate" numbers. For example, P-car service literature lists the capacity of '69-71 cars as "approximately 9 liters" a 911S with front cooler from the same years as "approximately 10 liters" and a Sportomatic from the same years as "approximately 11.5 liters." They list the oil change fill for all models ('69-71) as "approximately 9 liters." We never gave capacity a thought, we just used the above top-up system, and every car went out the door with the correct amount of oil.

3.2SLANTNOSE

After you change it a couple of times, it will get to where you know just how many quarts to go ahead and just dump back in. Mine it takes eleven for the first big fill, then topped off with most of the 12th quart. Each time it basically take me a "case"

dshepp806

I've always used the quantity Pete noted for the 3.2L...always filling with 9,...then add (after driving her for a good 40 minutes or more) whatever's necc to get mid point of oil stick.

THIS, of course, being on a 3.2L!!!!!!

Best,

Peter Zimmermann

dshepp806: Correct, for some reason 3.2 cars take less oil to fill & top up than SCs. We found at the shop that cars such as yours rarely took more than 10.25 quarts (sometimes only 10), while some SCs took as much as 10.75 quarts. Of course, engine temp at the time the oil was removed affected the fill total slightly, but not as much as one might expect. We were really **** about consistency, and I never had to worry about a customer calling after he picked up his car - I always knew that his oil level was somewhere around half way, maybe a touch higher.

dshepp806

Mobile One: needed 10.4

BP: needed 10.2

How's that for being ****?

Best,

Peter Zimmermann

You qualify !

dshepp806

I feel better....

am

Thank's guys, this forum is always the best place to get brilliant answers, you're the best

3.2SLANTNOSE

I guess the extra plumbing and oil lines going to my front center mounted oil cooler, plus the smaller cooler in the rear makes mine need just a few ounces less than the entire 12th quart to fill.

Peter Zimmermann

That's why we never cared about capacity - we also took care of a few cars with extra plumbing, coolers, front-mounted thermostats, etc., and it didn't matter how much they took, only if they were topped up hot correctly. I put a center-mounted competition cooler and a Troutman thermostat in the front of my 914/6, and ran aeroquip lines from the engine along a recess in the floor of the car. When I drained the oil in that car the stars aligned right, because it took about 10 quarts to fill it, compared with the 8.5 quarts typically needed in a stock "6".

3.2SLANTNOSE

Yeah Pete, that is one advantage of only having to change the oil and filter on just one car. You get to know real quick what it takes with the one, while doing the service for many of them, you have to do it just as you say. Just about like the "first" change, you have to sort of feel your way around a little. Tony.