bonus12

That engine looks pretty rusty, plus that roller looks pretty worn, so all of a sudden you have an engine that is not fit for torque specs, and that includes how tight the BS truly needs to be. Seems to me like you need fresh parts to do it right.


I love the Porsche mystique too, but to offer the other side of the story, 95% of problems are user-error. And over-engineered is just a compliment to one of the best-handling front-engine cars ever. That's right, that's what Porsche did to the 944.

Fronkenstein

Oh I can definitely see a jammed cog belt stopping an engine - especially how this cog belt became uniquely enwrapped with the the T-belt. When the roller failed and the bolt unscrewed the balance belt sprung toward the passengers side and catapulted the roller. The the balance belt got sucked into the the lower t-belt cog pulley in between the cog and the t-belt. As the engine continued to turn it reached the end of the balance belts' slack causing the t-belt to jam immediately. Since the engine wasn't idling more than 700 RPM it's ability to produce any real HP for load the engine cut. The clunk I heard was likely the roller being jammed and the belt balling up.

The lesson is I am a butt head for not replacing the rollers no matter how "good" they looked. The other lesson is there is such a thing as a second chance and I am not looking a gift horse in the mouth and will be replacing the rollers. Stupid @** rookie mistake - oh well...

Pete

Fronkenstein

Famously enough Dr. Porsche's admiring critics said "he could complicate common sense". Don't get me wrong I am a big time admirer of German engineering and therefore the owner of 3 porsches and soon a BMW. The 944 NA car is impressive in many ways not the least of which is the amount of fun you can have on the cheap. Having owned over 200 cars and motorcycles up till now I can say there is no domestic or foreign car that will give you as much payback in fun as the 944 or 928 for that matter. Granted the 928 is a barge in comparison, but it is a fun car. And I have to say that the 914 on a road like the Dragon would also give you the time of your life set up appropriately. They are a cheap and fun mid-engine car.

And I totally agree on the user error:\ I have proven that too true in the recent 48 hours. I consider myself very lucky I am getting a second chance with this car.

PelicanParts.com

Hoping all comes back together again soon and you fire her up and all is fine. Update when you can.

Mark/Pelican Parts

StoogeMoe

If you're lucky enough to have escaped bent valves, I would replace the t-belt again with all new rollers. That t-belt took quite a bit of stress stopping the engine. It is not designed to do that!

Fronkenstein

Yeah we are going to replace everything.

CyCloNe!

disturbing but yet some how I'm intrigued

Fronkenstein

UPDATE: So the post mortem examination shows the lack of Lock-Tite. Hrrrumph

william_b_noble

I once destroyed a head on an NA by carelessly installing the belt and cracking the plastic tensioning roller - watch out for that.

Fronkenstein

Thanks for the advice. I would love to know why after all of the t-belt jobs and updates someone hasn't fabbed some replacements with higher quality bearings. The belt cog gears don't wear out their bearings do. And if I were ambitious enough I'd find a source for those bearings and press new ones in. My point is that a higher quality bearings and materials would easily last 80K miles. Replacing the belts is one thing, but the rest of the parts including the water pump should go the distance. Heck cheaper marquees go the distance why cant we make these great cars do the same? Not that I have spent a lot of time studying the 944 engine, but I have to wonder why the balance shafts are not gear driven internally - maybe not possible, but... Anyway more to come later this week.

Gawernator

Very glad to hear the good news

Fronkenstein

Just ordered a ContiTech kit with five rollers and two belts. Jeeze I can't wait to get this thing out of my hair so I can start on the real 944 project.

bonus12

Good luck!

william_b_noble

you will have a heck of a time getting bearings to last longer, do some research on bearing design and loads - I find that I can change rollers every other belt change, and water pumps last well over 150K miles (my care is an 85.5 that I bought new). The bearings wear out because most people over-tighten the belts, if a new bearing whines, the belt is too tight.

You can't press new bearings in, but you could probably machine the center part and CNC a new cog gear that would press onto a bearing - and your cost would be around $500 rather than $30.

Voith

Its a saying here, but it probably sounds strange in english.