mbonner

Well I had my 2 year old timing belt checked by a mechanic familiar with 944 Porsches last fall before I put the car up for the winter. He said the belt was good, and the tension as well. He installed the new belt 2 years ago.
The car does not get used that much, I suppose I put on 300 miles on the car this spring, and I was driving it to a service station to put new fans on it today, , and the car suddenly cut out. It does this periodically and I suspect the ignition switch, so I have a new switch ready to install.
Anyway the timing belt broke. I did not hear any noise of pistons hitting valves, but there was no compression.
What are my options, repair the motor, drop in a reconditioned motor, buy a used one and drop that in, what's the opinion of you experienced Porsche owners? Is it just a case of bent valves?
The car is in excellent shape with a new metallic graphite paint job so it's worth fixing up somehow.
Mike

hardtail15

pull the head, check everything out, if all is well, which it hopefully is, replace the head or valves guaranteed u bent some valves.

my tensioner went a few weeks after i bought my car, pulled the head off, everything looked fine so we put a head on off the 87 parts car i have, been runnin strong ever since.

good luck.

mbonner

What should I have to pay for a good used cylinder head?
Mike

Darwantae951

I don't think you'll have to replace the head. Pull the head and see if valves hit pistons (which more than likely some did) then go from there.

DarylJ

Just went through this....you don't want to put a "good used head" on. The first one I got was cracked (no fault of the seller at all....I sent it out the be decked and it was only found at that time) and the second one, while pretty decent, needed some work as well (valve guides, etc.).

If your head is in good shape other than some bent valves, just find a goo machine shop, have them deck it and replace the valves and do any other work that needs to be done to it at the time. If your head is junk, be prepared to pay $100-200 for one that will probably be in reasonably rebuildable shape (yes, that you could bolt right on, but for $200-300 worth of machine shop work, you're better off getting it done right).

The valves shouldn't be expensive, and I'll even give you some for the cost of shipping if I can get my hands on the right valve spring compressor to pull them from the 2 heads I have sitting on the bench.

mbonner

Darryl, thanks for the advice and offer of valves. I'll take you up on that and gladly pay the shipping.

I talked to a local machine shop today, they rebuild engines and I'll get them to do it. They can plane the head and do all that work too. I had them work on my RX7s a few years ago and they are very good.
Mike

DarylJ

Then you should be all set. Get yourself a head gasket kit, but don't bother ordering it until you take the head off. Chances are good you'll find some (relatively inexpensive) vacuum lines under the intake than can use replacing.