New member, older car...
10-12-2012, 01:12 AM
#47
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Just catching up on this-looks like fun. I've not seen a case painted like that...
You'll come out of this with a lot of engine knowledge. Wait until you get the opportunity to REALLY tear it down-that is when you get the most rewarding feeling, as you put it all back together. Nothing like the first twist of the key.
You'll come out of this with a lot of engine knowledge. Wait until you get the opportunity to REALLY tear it down-that is when you get the most rewarding feeling, as you put it all back together. Nothing like the first twist of the key.
10-12-2012, 07:02 PM
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I imagine the turn key will be as satisfying as finally finding the tools to get into the engine... the cam sockets are out of stock across pretty much all of planet earth. I kept my eyes open and after 3 weeks I found one on ebay used. 
10-19-2012, 11:41 AM
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Planning to get into this pretty heavily on Sunday after finally getting my hands on all the tools. I had a half hour last night and tried out the tools on the cam bolts. Unexpectedly, they came off nice and easy... unlike the horror stories I've seen. Should be able to get the disassembly done this weekend to know if I need more parts. I'll post pics when I get further in that might help out other first timers.
12-14-2012, 09:55 PM
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Note to fellow members- grad school and engine refresh projects don't mix. Finished the semester with barely any time to touch the car and now just getting back to it.
02-02-2013, 08:31 PM
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Thanks Ed.
Engine tear down continues:
Heads are off to the machine shop for service. Chose Exotech in Plaistow, NH for the job at the recommendation of other folks on Pelican. Also need to send the cams out to webcam for service as one lobe is worn a mil or so. More update soon I hope as I have a goal of reassembly before March 1.
Engine tear down continues:
Heads are off to the machine shop for service. Chose Exotech in Plaistow, NH for the job at the recommendation of other folks on Pelican. Also need to send the cams out to webcam for service as one lobe is worn a mil or so. More update soon I hope as I have a goal of reassembly before March 1.
02-15-2013, 11:13 PM
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Allright... some progress but still waiting on more bits and probably won't have everything (cams specifically from webcam) in-hand until March 10th. Picked the heads and cam towers up from the Exotech tonight. Quite satisfied with the appearance of the work done as it was exactly as specified and shows that care was taken.
-Cut Valves and seats, confirmed guides within spec, new stem seals installed.
-Replaced intake studs increasing length 1CM to allow the Porsche Mail Order carburetors to hold more than 2 threads
-Installed Eibach 20444.212 (Set of 12) High Lift Spring 31.75 mm 17.3 mm 90 lbs @ 36 mm 277 lbs @ 23.3 mm 12.7 mm
-Resurfaced/cleaned all heads
-Cleaned cam towers, removed and evacuated oil tubes/carriers
Ordered the hydraulic chain tensioner kit to update from the mechanical style chain tensioners. All for now, more to come as we begin the reassembly.
-Cut Valves and seats, confirmed guides within spec, new stem seals installed.
-Replaced intake studs increasing length 1CM to allow the Porsche Mail Order carburetors to hold more than 2 threads
-Installed Eibach 20444.212 (Set of 12) High Lift Spring 31.75 mm 17.3 mm 90 lbs @ 36 mm 277 lbs @ 23.3 mm 12.7 mm
-Resurfaced/cleaned all heads
-Cleaned cam towers, removed and evacuated oil tubes/carriers
Ordered the hydraulic chain tensioner kit to update from the mechanical style chain tensioners. All for now, more to come as we begin the reassembly.
05-20-2013, 05:38 PM
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Long time, no update here but I have been busy.
From cylinder 1 exhaust:
Elephant's foot:
Fan cover is going to need the red paint completely stripped as it's bubbling up and flaking off. I expect the paint was not high heat capable... I plan to body match the shroud with engine temp (500*F) capable paint.
More interesting was the cleaning/disassembly I did today. The engine was quite the leaker and from many different places even though it had been sorted and resealed. I've learned to expect that it would be normal to leak in a place or two but this baby was snail trailing due to about every cylinder base leaking which didn't make sense... until today.
Here's why it's leaking... the last time the engine was rebuilt they powdercoated the case including the surface where the cylinder base seals. This would be the equivalent of powdercoating the deck of your watercooled engine block before putting the head gasket on and bolting down the head. Here you can see a curl of the powdercoat that was trapped between the gasket and case... oops!
Coming clean after a few hours with Wd40, brass brushes, shop rags... finished up with compressed air to get grime from behind the studs. I'm not going for concourse detail on this car as it will get driven so just cleaning up and getting as much of the loose powdercoat off as I can get to.
Some BrakeClean and scrubbing to remove all paint/powdercoat from the case sealing surface on cyl 4. I'm taking a measurement to determine the shim height needed for proper clearance/deck height.
All coating removed:
Cleaned up the piston and jug for the mock-up and measurement:
Piston on with no rings and wrist-pin 3/4 of the way through for ease of removal after measurement taken:
Dropped the jug on ensuring the surface that rests against the case is perfectly clean:
Took a long time to clean and disassemble... still need to go get clay/solder to glue to the top of the piston before bolting the head on and to determine measurement. I'm using the old head studs to take this measurement for convenience. I'm planning to get the order placed with the host for the correct base gasket/shim size to bring the engine to the 1mm clearance spec and then continuing to clean, remove the old studs, install the new and wait. Talked to Webcam on Friday and the cams are now expected to ship next week. I have plenty of work to do before I need the cams still... they're nearly the last part needed.
Today's adventure started with a trip to Home Depot Motorsports but they didn't have acid core in larger than 1.5mm. So off to the next best place... Walmart... glorious.
Picked this up from the crafts aisle; not my first rodeo doing deck clearance measurement with putty as I've done this method before on a VR6 we took 1mm off the top of the block for performance. That engine drove for almost a decade including 7yrs in Phoenix before the owner sold. It's an easy method and gives you the measurement... I know there are clever people building contraptions to take the measurement with a dial but this also works.
Arts and crafts:
Roll the piston down in before installing the head and torquing down:
Turned the engine 5 times and removed head; result:
Caliper says I have .68mm clearance now. Not looking to be a hero finding the last hp by running .93 so ordering .5mm from the host. That should put me at 1.18mm with a bit of a margin for safety.
From cylinder 1 exhaust:
Elephant's foot:
Fan cover is going to need the red paint completely stripped as it's bubbling up and flaking off. I expect the paint was not high heat capable... I plan to body match the shroud with engine temp (500*F) capable paint.
More interesting was the cleaning/disassembly I did today. The engine was quite the leaker and from many different places even though it had been sorted and resealed. I've learned to expect that it would be normal to leak in a place or two but this baby was snail trailing due to about every cylinder base leaking which didn't make sense... until today.
Here's why it's leaking... the last time the engine was rebuilt they powdercoated the case including the surface where the cylinder base seals. This would be the equivalent of powdercoating the deck of your watercooled engine block before putting the head gasket on and bolting down the head. Here you can see a curl of the powdercoat that was trapped between the gasket and case... oops!
Coming clean after a few hours with Wd40, brass brushes, shop rags... finished up with compressed air to get grime from behind the studs. I'm not going for concourse detail on this car as it will get driven so just cleaning up and getting as much of the loose powdercoat off as I can get to.
Some BrakeClean and scrubbing to remove all paint/powdercoat from the case sealing surface on cyl 4. I'm taking a measurement to determine the shim height needed for proper clearance/deck height.
All coating removed:
Cleaned up the piston and jug for the mock-up and measurement:
Piston on with no rings and wrist-pin 3/4 of the way through for ease of removal after measurement taken:
Dropped the jug on ensuring the surface that rests against the case is perfectly clean:
Took a long time to clean and disassemble... still need to go get clay/solder to glue to the top of the piston before bolting the head on and to determine measurement. I'm using the old head studs to take this measurement for convenience. I'm planning to get the order placed with the host for the correct base gasket/shim size to bring the engine to the 1mm clearance spec and then continuing to clean, remove the old studs, install the new and wait. Talked to Webcam on Friday and the cams are now expected to ship next week. I have plenty of work to do before I need the cams still... they're nearly the last part needed.
Today's adventure started with a trip to Home Depot Motorsports but they didn't have acid core in larger than 1.5mm. So off to the next best place... Walmart... glorious.
Picked this up from the crafts aisle; not my first rodeo doing deck clearance measurement with putty as I've done this method before on a VR6 we took 1mm off the top of the block for performance. That engine drove for almost a decade including 7yrs in Phoenix before the owner sold. It's an easy method and gives you the measurement... I know there are clever people building contraptions to take the measurement with a dial but this also works.
Arts and crafts:
Roll the piston down in before installing the head and torquing down:
Turned the engine 5 times and removed head; result:
Caliper says I have .68mm clearance now. Not looking to be a hero finding the last hp by running .93 so ordering .5mm from the host. That should put me at 1.18mm with a bit of a margin for safety.
05-20-2013, 05:42 PM
#58
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More cleaning tonight of the hydraulic tensioner chain covers and all the pistons... sigh. My fingernails are all black... but parts now look as good as I can get them. Tried wearing gloves but didn't notice pin holes once they started ha. I've ordered SharkHide from Eastwood to coat all aluminum to keep the corrosion at bay. Should be here next week about the time it's needed.
Took a picture after I finished the first one... which was worse.
Dropped off the metals that were all desperate for Powdercoat; some aluminum could use blasting for cosmetics. From initial inspection most of the tins were painted with a brush in places previously. The paint is all flaking and loose... full professional blasting and professional coating will be applied to all.
Lead time 2wks minimum but hoping for the air deflectors to be done inside a week so I could begin reassembly of the bottom end before then. Parts are with Good Hues in Derry, NH.
More parts for reassembly arriving from host and other sources:
Viton case seals and .25mm / .5mm cylinder base gasket sets... TBD which is needed for the jugs en route.
As many know, I decided to ditch the Mahle RS p&c's due to material issues around the head stud failures and my desire for a more scientific solution.
Moving forward with iron cylinders. These came in a few weeks ago. Qsc look fine and measure dimensionally as a very near match externally within .006mm on my caliper for critical dimensions. The jugs have the bore confirmed as true at my local engine machine shop as well as double checking the height to ensure they all truly match.
The pistons appear to be a replica cis which means aftermarket cams with additional lift will be a problem unless you want to machine the valve reliefs. I have new webcam GE40 cams with high lift so I have ordered JE pistons.
Mahle RS and qsc side by side:
Qsc 92mm 9.5:1 911 piston:
Cams are back from regrinding and look great... this was previously the part I thought would come last but now the hone for fitting the pistons is holding me back.
Stripped the shroud and painted it along with the rear engine mount crossbar. Looks like the shroud wasn't scuffed before paint last time which might explain the flaking. It was glassy smooth underneath almost.
Took a picture after I finished the first one... which was worse.
Dropped off the metals that were all desperate for Powdercoat; some aluminum could use blasting for cosmetics. From initial inspection most of the tins were painted with a brush in places previously. The paint is all flaking and loose... full professional blasting and professional coating will be applied to all.
Lead time 2wks minimum but hoping for the air deflectors to be done inside a week so I could begin reassembly of the bottom end before then. Parts are with Good Hues in Derry, NH.
More parts for reassembly arriving from host and other sources:
Viton case seals and .25mm / .5mm cylinder base gasket sets... TBD which is needed for the jugs en route.
As many know, I decided to ditch the Mahle RS p&c's due to material issues around the head stud failures and my desire for a more scientific solution.
Moving forward with iron cylinders. These came in a few weeks ago. Qsc look fine and measure dimensionally as a very near match externally within .006mm on my caliper for critical dimensions. The jugs have the bore confirmed as true at my local engine machine shop as well as double checking the height to ensure they all truly match.
The pistons appear to be a replica cis which means aftermarket cams with additional lift will be a problem unless you want to machine the valve reliefs. I have new webcam GE40 cams with high lift so I have ordered JE pistons.
Mahle RS and qsc side by side:
Qsc 92mm 9.5:1 911 piston:
Cams are back from regrinding and look great... this was previously the part I thought would come last but now the hone for fitting the pistons is holding me back.
Stripped the shroud and painted it along with the rear engine mount crossbar. Looks like the shroud wasn't scuffed before paint last time which might explain the flaking. It was glassy smooth underneath almost.
05-20-2013, 05:45 PM
#59
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First of the stay-cool bits for the heads arrived. Billet upper valve covers which are a bit heftier than the OEM items and also utilize a newer style captured gasket instead of the old style sandwich gaskets that are known to leak big time. These are available from the host here. The lower valve covers were produced separately; had the machinist (Mark) create a custom file for a flat top so as to better accept heat sinks welded on. Items are from http://hargettprecision.com/
Finished the heavy cleaning of the case - the amount of grime that continued to loosen and come off was impressive.
Mock up for heat sink clearance:
Heat sink material arrived. Huge.
ARP Head studs installed tonight:
Starting on replacing the case through bolt o-ring seals... popped one off to make sure the previous engine builder didn't slather them with RTV as some manuals recommend. Got lucky, he installed them dry.
More baby steps... finished up the top row of case through-bolt seal replacement. Many were leaking oil from behind...the o-ring seals were installed over the paint/powder coat just as the cylinder base gaskets were. To make matters worse most weren't lubed/greased by the last engine builder so they smeared and were destroyed during installation.
Supplies for the evening...
One of a few that came out in one piece:
One of many that smeared/were destroyed during previous assembly:
Because there is an oil feed jacket behind many of the bolts I didn't want to get debris from cleaning the outer surface when prepping for the new seal. Not sure what technique you would call this but I stuffed a small plug of paper towel into the hole and covered it with my finger while packing it with the through bolt from the opposite end. Gave a nice seal and just pushed it out with the bolt once I was done cleaning.
New viton seal lathered up with the Krytox GPL 207:
I used a sharpie marker cap to get the new seals over the threads during installation. With all the cleaning and prepping it took me about 5hrs to do the top row. :eek3: At this pace it should be back on the road in 2015.
Finished the heavy cleaning of the case - the amount of grime that continued to loosen and come off was impressive.
Mock up for heat sink clearance:
Heat sink material arrived. Huge.
ARP Head studs installed tonight:
Starting on replacing the case through bolt o-ring seals... popped one off to make sure the previous engine builder didn't slather them with RTV as some manuals recommend. Got lucky, he installed them dry.
More baby steps... finished up the top row of case through-bolt seal replacement. Many were leaking oil from behind...the o-ring seals were installed over the paint/powder coat just as the cylinder base gaskets were. To make matters worse most weren't lubed/greased by the last engine builder so they smeared and were destroyed during installation.
Supplies for the evening...
One of a few that came out in one piece:
One of many that smeared/were destroyed during previous assembly:
Because there is an oil feed jacket behind many of the bolts I didn't want to get debris from cleaning the outer surface when prepping for the new seal. Not sure what technique you would call this but I stuffed a small plug of paper towel into the hole and covered it with my finger while packing it with the through bolt from the opposite end. Gave a nice seal and just pushed it out with the bolt once I was done cleaning.
New viton seal lathered up with the Krytox GPL 207:
I used a sharpie marker cap to get the new seals over the threads during installation. With all the cleaning and prepping it took me about 5hrs to do the top row. :eek3: At this pace it should be back on the road in 2015.
05-20-2013, 05:49 PM
#60
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Wow, that is unbelievable, that they coated the case and then slid cyls on. For some, it's all about the bling. Thing how much cooler it will run.
I checked my clearance with rings on, to keep the piston from skewing. But, I suppose checking at both sides should cancel any error out.
I checked my clearance with rings on, to keep the piston from skewing. But, I suppose checking at both sides should cancel any error out.