WolfeMacleod

Woops, disregard my message on your phone. I was going to suggest taking it over to a guy I know in Maryville. He makes plate-mail armour and has extensive knowledge on welding sheet metal. Hell, he could probably make an entirely new tank!

bjzorn

Ken, I may come over sunday if your not to hung over, I don't think tommrrow will work as I am gettign for a news years get together at my place with some people from my church, but I will call you tommorrow and let you know my schudule.

brandon

Granite 944

Not to worry! I don't generally go out on "amatuer night"........anyway! No hang over here!

If ya make it, great! If not, thats just fine too. We all have a life to live, and MUST stay adaptable! Which reminds me..........maybe I NEED a life!

Granite 944

Yep, I started the head gasket thing! God, am I a dinker!

Got her downjacked to a comfortable height, stripped off the manifold, did a bunch of cleaning on the engine (don't ya just HATE working on DIRTY/FILTHY engines.... ). That upper balance shaft/aft O-ring, is in for a total silicone sealing! Don't ya just love that design! Crappy O-rings.....why there? Its a leaking like a seive, what a mess! Wish I thought to take a pic of what it looked like before I started cleaning under there. I will be replacing the O-rings on the oil filler tube also, along with replacing the DME temp. sensors harness wire connector, a broken thermo-valve on the back of the head (damn....someone must have GLUED that vacumn fitting on! ).

I got to this point, and left it. Tommorow is another day. Lots of dinking today!
tommorow, I'll take off the belt sprockets, rear cover, clean some more, drain the block, and FINALLY take the tower, head off. OHHHH, we're having fun now! Ya think I should paint, or powdercoat that camtower in black? I did one in paint, maybe go for the powdercoat?

By the way...........HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! BE SAFE!.....HAVE FUN!!

Pics include my garage companions! Bernie and Porsha (she's the all black one....WHAT a SWEETHEART!!) ......I love 'em BOTH dearly!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Granite 944

I got out to the garage again today! (I just wish I could get a paycheck, playing like this!).

I took a couple of transmissions down to my local car wash, and blasted the grit/grime/grease off of them. Now, I’m not so afraid to touch ‘em!  All new seals are in store for the one going back in my ’83 (input, both output, and even that little shift lever seal).

I got the front sprockets, pulleys and covers off the engine, did a little more cleaning on the block, then pulled the tower and head. And, even as hard as I tried not to break anything, I broke one of the hex head bolts on the back of the head that holds the water tube to heater valve! Oh well, sure isn’t the first, or the last one I’ll break.

Just for grins and giggles, I thought I’d post a pic or two of the process I used to remove that broken bolt from the head (after I got it on my bench, of course). The pic is of a spare head that had the same exact, broken bolt in it. I removed the one from the target head, and then thought about doing the other one, since I was already set up for it, so I took these pics.

For what its worth, I think it’s a good idea to cut a piece of sheetmetal, shim, or in this case, aluminum flashing I had left over from a home project, punch a hole in it, and use it to protect the aluminum gasket surfaces below that vise grip from possibly getting scarred up by the vise grips while turning that bolt out. I’m also very lucky to have at my disposal an acetelyne torch outfit. The propane bottle torches, generally won’t throw out enough heat fast enough to do any good in this type of application. I’ve removed many a broken/frozen bolt just this way. Start by heating up a large area around the targeted bolt to be removed, and work the heat closer towards the bolt (NOT ON IT), keep a little pressure on your vise grip while your doing it, and you will feel it release, and start to turn out. Get-R-Done. 

The head I removed from my ’83, I know this about so far. Its been removed and machined before, the head surface has been shaved, and is measuring at .932”. New head is a S/B of .948”, and wear limit is .928” (give or take). It appears to be the stock size gasket under it, though FSM says to use the 1.4mm gasket. It has passed my 15 minute wet leakage test. (I use PB blaster to flood the tops of all valves, and then look for leakage underneath). Tomorrow, I’ll be removing the valves and springs, and checking the valve guide wear (I have been getting the obvious puff of blue smoke on cold startup). I’ll probably just end up doing a quick lapping of the valve seats, putting on new guide seals, and of course……..all that clean up! I will be using the stock sized head gasket under this head. Corrosion pitting is at most, very,very little (seeing as how this head was done once before already, what a surprise! ). And what surprised me a little more than anything else……I could not see anywhere on the gasket, any indication of water seepage into any cylinders. I WAS expecting to see indications of leakage into #2. I must have “thought” I saw a little coolant in that cylinder with my borescope a couple months back. Oh well. It still is a good, overall drill, if nothing else. And, I really need to seal this engine up anyway from all these little oil leaks! I still think its much easier to pull the engine out of the car, do all this work, and then put it back in. I think, from now on, and what I’ve experienced before, this IS, how I’ll do it, instead of doing while in the car like it is right now.

Dmitry S.

Nice work. So far over break, I have quite a bit of time invested in my new 944 n/a.

I have done the rear wheel bearings, and oil pan gasket. I am finishing up the clutch job tomorrow.

Oil pan gasket was by far the worst.

Granite 944

YEP! Like a BAD dream, I'm BACK!.....or, at it again!
Damn!, I've got to got to work tommorow, and I've got a LONG WAY TO GO! Hehe!

Rough cleaned the head, did the valve guide to stem check (per the HAYNES manual, not the FSM, as I thought it was in). Looked REALLY good to me! PLEASE correct me, if ya think its NOT good! Stem to valve guide movements of .006" to .009", with one at up to .0012". Looking good as far as I know. I've got more cleanup to do to it, AND the block, and I had a heck of time cleaning that tower gasket off! I think I know why. It was glued/adhesived on, due to gouges in the metal due to an improper tool/process used to scrape the gasket off! I used a gasket remover, and carefully scrapped it off,using WAY to much time involved doing it! It wasn't me! I'm gonna have to use a sealant on the top of the head, to make sure it isn't gonna be a leaker too!

Pics below of some of the processes I did, and of the transmissions I took, AFTER, I took it down to the local car wash, and cleaned it. I was to embarassed to show a pic of what it looked like before (I forgot to take a picture of that nasty, anyway).

Edit: The first valve guide close-up pic is of the one I took off my car. It looks like it is threaded. Definately different from what I've seen or experience before, but, looks like I WON'T have to use glue/adhesive on the new valve guide seals!

The second valve guide pic is of one of my other "spare" early heads, that has NO grove, or any type of cutouts/threads, and is just smooth bronze, like what the TSB says that "requires" an adhesive for the valve seals.

apierce918

damn, that tranny looks new

bjzorn

Hey Ken,

Sorry bout not making out this weekend. I get next friday off and hopefully my rear seat delete stuff will be here. If It is i need some help putting it in. what'd ya say. And anybody else is welcome to come over and help as well.

Brandon

Granite 944

Brandon,

I get home at about 3:00 pm on Friday, and well, I'm not sure that I won't have a TON of work to do with my car right now too, BUTT.....MAYBE I can make it!

If, ya got the "stuff", and I'm not all that pooped out by then (I'm and 'ole fart, ya know...hehe), and the wifey doesn't have a problem with a fridaynite "Porsche thing", ..........WELL.....COUNT ME IN!!

Keep me/us up to date!.....Holy crap Batman........thats almost a week away! I go day by day......most the time!

Granite 944

Gas or Fuel Tank Smells,Leaks,Repairs,Full Tank,Inside? (I made this statement, for "search function" reasons).

I just picked up the fuel tank that I took to my local radiator shop for repair.

First of all, I want to extend a BIG THANKS AGAIN! for the thread started by Neil, on the Pelican discussion boards regarding this “fracture” situation. I may never have even noticed these fractures in the top of the tank (under that long expansion tank) without someone pointing out the fact that it “could” be a “common” problem area. I agree, it sure looks like it may very well be!

See his thread here……….http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showt...hreadid=251194

The real and most prominent problem with the tank in my ’83, was a fracture in the lower end of tank, just above the transmission. It occurred after having the car for a while (I wasn’t getting the leaky/gas smell, with a full tank in the beginning, right after I got the car). I believe it was a stress fracture caused by jamming the transmission up into the tank, causing a small dent in it, during a previous install. So, be forewarned, about installing your transmissions, and the possible delayed problems from this! These steel tanks are not very thick, and they are not galvanized in or outside.

The tank I had repaired here as a replacement, was from one of two early parts cars that I have. BOTH, of these tanks had these fractures. The target tank that I need to replace, thats in my ’83 is still in there, waiting for this replacement to get ready, so I haven’t verified that this one also has this type of fracture(s) on the top of it. Butt, I SURE won’t be surprised! (now, I really wonder about the tank in my avatar car, as I haven’t completely solved that car’s gas smell issue). Regarding the parts car tanks, I’ve seen one fracture on one tank, and a double fracture on this one. Combined with what Neil has said, and shown, and from what I’ve seen, AND from what the repairman at the shop said, I truly believe this is surely not an uncommon thing! According to my repair shop, it sounds like Jaguars have a more severe problem of manufacturer’s build process tank problems, then Porsche does. So keep this in mind! Fractures like this, are SURELY not uncommon, and it doesn't take much of a such a small fracture, to get these "smelly" problems.

Moral of my long story here ………..

1: Total cost of this repair: $47.12 (including tax)

2: The process he used to repair it:

Finished grinding down to bare metal, a larger area, cleaned well, drilled 1/16” holes in each end of the fracture(s), used 18 ga. Copper sheeting, and molded the patch to cover area completely, and soldered it in place using a large hot iron block.

3: If, you DO remove your fuel tank, look it over, very, very carefully for these very tiny fractures. Especially, around areas of the contours created by the stamping/manufacturing process of the tank.

4: If your having fuel smell problems, and have exhausted all the other “easier” fixes first, you REALLY need to consider this one!


Here is the pic of the repair. I'm gonna clean it a little more, and spray it with an undercoating paint. Should be........a repair that I NEVER have to re-visit ( I hope!).