Geo

Skip! You're alive!

I've been thinking about you bud. And the fact I haven't seen a post by you in a long, long time.

Looks ugly. Not as bad as the engine I pulled from my G20 when I bought it (one bearing was only half as long as it should have been, such was the carnage), but that's pretty icky. Sorry dude.

I'm getting ready to pull/drop my entire drivetrain. My business partner and I just rented a building and we've been getting it ready for move-in which will be next weekend. After that the car will lose the doors, the hood, the hatch, all the glass, and then the drivetrain. Sometime after that the suspension will depart the body as well. It's officially time for the big push.

Good luck Skip. Good to see you making it back to Rennlist.

Zero10

Why does everybody want to go out the top?...
I took my 951 engine out the top, and swore I would never do it again, it should be 100x easier to go in/out the bottom, after all, that's how the factory did it....

david fracolli

As stated earlier if you have a lift I would agree that taking it out the bottom would be much easier. It's just the though of raising the car high enough without a lift that scares me.

Jfrahm

If you are pulling the trans you might consider dropping the engine, trans, torque tube and rear suspension as a unit. With good jackstands it's not big deal having the car up that high. You don't need a ton of height, and once the engine is on the deck you can lift the body slightly to slide it out.
I supported my car on jackstands resting on a couple of 12" square pavers. The extra height was nice.

When I tore apart my Turbo S I dropped the trans and then dropped the motor, eventually dropping the rear suspension to get the TT out. I would not do it that way again. Way easier to disassemble that stuff with the powertrain dropped as a unit.

-Joel

Geo

You should only have to raise the front pretty high. I've done that several times on my SE-R and G20. It looks strange and unstable, but it's anything but.

That said, I have a lot of options for mine since I'll have the fenders and hood off (among other things). But I'll probably drop.

L8 APEKS

Who ever said these had to come out the bottom anyway?! Seems silly...no more work is required than any other car that I know of to pull it out the top!

Nasty rod bearings man...is it safe to assume that crank is toast, or can the journals be turned?

johne

The problem I had when taking the motor out the top is that the Main pulley hits the hood latch. I know that it doesn't seem to be a big deal, but it took us over an hour to finally wiggle the engine past the latch. We also scratched the crap out of the latch and I had to go back and repaint it.

Hope this helps people in their decision making.

-John

david fracolli

Had the same problem....That's why I removed it the second time.

Zero10

Main pulley hit the hood latch, oil filter hit the frame rail, oil pressure sensor hit the frame rail, exhaust wouldn't fit, etc....

From the bottom, you can fully assembly everything where you have tons of room, and good visibility, the raise it up into the car. If you were rather ambitious, you could do the entire driveline in one shot. Seen it done a couple times.

That said, getting the front up that high isn't hard at all, and if done properly, not dangerous at all either. It's most definately my preferred method, and I'll be re-installing my 951 engine from the bottom, so I can have the full exhaust installed, and everything.

Skip

Parts to fix wouldn't be too bad since it's the only thing that went - needs either a crank or a crank job. Other than that, bearing, seals and new rod nuts/bolts.

Skip

Not shown in the picture is where I zipped the two-pc pulley off to get some addtnl room. Once labeled a cheater, now I'm a weiner... uh, winner!

Skip

Coming out the bottom has only one advantage, you can leave more of the engine and compartment in tact. That said, and having gone "both ways" [careful], out the top is faster, easier, safer, etc. My humblest of opinions, of course

Besides, out the bottom is the way Porsche intended. So, fight da power, I say!

Rod journals are okay, I guess. Different crank will go in anyway (buyer is building a stroker). Yeah, I've never seen a bearing go that far before (my third).

Bii

I’ve also had the opportunity to do this job both ways. The motor is easily pulled from the bottom on a lift. Most of us here who are doing our own work don’t have this option. And yes it is easier to drop the entire engine with drivetrain rather than the engine only even though it looks overwhelming.

Your better off taking it out from the top if your working on the floor.

Skip

Here's a picture to illustrate the difference between a simply "spun" bearing and a catastrophically "anhialated" bearing!

The #2 rod bearing is our favorite and typical bearing to spin. This one obviously had spun well before the engine siezed. The other half of the bearing was not to be found - only small fragments remained. The #3 bearing appears to have suffered from prolonged oil starvation - it was spun, about 1/10 turn, and was nearly welded to the crank - I had to work pretty hard to free it.

The shape of #3 is still fully intact, though with noticable grooviness. #2 had melted so far as to make it very think (it's brittle) and have it form to the connecting rod (notice the rounded edges). Think of the crank journal as the rolling pin, and the rod bearing as the dough. Pretty neat, eh.

david fracolli

Skip you should put up a warning before posting a picture like that