hacker-pschorr

I know removing the engine might have made the job easier - I don't have the room.

After talking to Glen online and reading over Airflight40's similar thread, I was expecting a few stubborn can tower bolts. The 928 Gods were smiling down on me yesterday. After about 6 hours, bit of swearing, few bloody fingers and one bruised lip (dropped wrench) both heads are off, not one stripped or broken bolt. Even the exhaust manifold and flange bolts came out without much drama.

Tips for anyone else planning on this job:
1. Move or remove the alternator and A/C compressor. I was able to reach all but 2 lower cam tower bolts from below by snaking my had between the frame and A/C Compressor.
2. Order Quick Carl's cam tower removal tool. Not 100% necessary, but it does make the job easier.
3. Drain the coolant - I forgot - cracked the seal on the first head, BAWOOSH all that coolant pouring out. Oh well, I'm not 100% sure pulling the block drains would be any cleaner.
4. Having a low profile socket wrench would have helped. On a few spots the socket wrench would not fit between the 6mm tool and the inner fender. I had to use a 6mm open end wrench from below to inch away at the bolt with Carl’s tool already in the head of the bolt.

Here are some pics - I was in a hurry to pull the heads to get them off to the machine shop. I'm trying to make a track event the first week in April.

checkmate1996

Can you post your parts list? Costs? Approximate time for job? I'm looking to do something similar depending on what my leak down tests show...

thx

hacker-pschorr

checkmate,
Parts list is still TBD - the gasket kit from 928 International will be the bulk of what I need. Last fall I replaced the 8 rubber connectors on the intake, TB and a few other misc rubber items.

It took me about 1 hour to remove the fuel rail's, fuel line's, intake manifold / runners and airbox. The 6 hours I quoted above were for the cam towers & heads. Assuming you have the same luck I did with bolts, 8-10 hours I would suspect is doable if it's the first time you've tackled any part of this job. The first time I took the intake off was about a 3 hour job. This time I took the spider off in one piece, much faster. Problem is, one stuck or stripped bolt will greatly increase the disassembly time.

Question for the group:
How are you supposed to torque the cam tower bolts? There is no way my torque wrench will fit on the lower cam tower bolts.

Lagavulin

Good job Hacker!

Are you having Todd do the heads?

I've got a lot of work to do on the Z for Road America, but it's been too frickin' cold out!

BTW, have you tried Sprecher Dopple Bock beer? Oh man...

Flint

Erick, I missed what you're doing to the heads, but now that I've resigned my car to "project" I might consider the same thing (gaskets & such).

mark kibort

is this a US 4.7 1984. whats the game plan for the reassembly. any changes? cam, intake, etc?
mk

Richard S

I bought the smallest torque wrench I could find, about 10 inches long...still couldn't reach all the bolts so just had to do it by feel and comparison with other torqued bolts. It's amazing how much room there appears to be with cam towers and even heads removed.

hacker-pschorr

Not sure, haven't had much of a chance to talk to him. I only need a basic valve job and valve guides. Jason at Page has done this work on the 944 before, he is very qualified for this work. I don't need any custom machining on these heads. No real point to modify a stock US 16V head.
The drivers side head gasket started to leak last fall - time to replace. Good chance to really dig into one of these motors.

I received a jet heater for my b-day last year. 30,000 btu's does wonders.

Sprecher is the official beer of RA - excellent stuff!

Just routine maintenance - to me it was a good motor to tear into. Being a stock 4.5 not a big lose if I totally screw things up. My long term plan is a 5.0 lower end. With a wedding this year, $$$ is tight, going the budget route.

I have a set of Euro S intake and TB - not going on. Tim Murphy and I have been working on a SC setup for my car for about 3 years now. Only delay has been on my side due to other issues I had to sort out (clutch was the main one). Now with the leaky head gasket fixed, we can go ahead with this setup. I talked to Quick Carl about running a SC with the Euro S intake on a 4.5. I'm trusting his recommendation to keep the US intake for now. With the 5.0 lower end (maybe next winter?) I'll probably bolt on the better intake. For now 100% stock except for the 8psi of intercooled air being shoved down it's throat.

No kidding, once the cam towers were off I was like "Holy sh*t, there's tons of room!"
Oh well, worst case scenario is a small oil drippage if I don't tighten them down good. At least I'll be able to add a few turns after the fact. If I don't tighten them down 100% the first time.
At least it's not a cork gasket.

mark kibort

If you are just slapping it back together, i have a set of 2 valve heads in perfect shape. valves dont leak, very clean, and no valve guide leaks either. (well taken care of , amzoil, etc.
may be quite a bit cheaper than re-fab of your heads.
just a suggestion.

they have been in a plastic box, indoors for 5 years now.

MK

hacker-pschorr

Mark, thanks for the offer. If I f*ck up mine, I know who to contact.
I know this may seam silly to some, but I'm using this rebuild to prepare myself for my 944S motor. I plan on putting that engine together once this is complete (it's totally torn apart right now). The 16V 944 head is much harder to get parts for than any 928 head. I have yet to do any head work, so this is my start. I plan on doing everything except putting in the valve guides, even that I'm considering doing myself. I'm probably going to give up the track event in April to give myself plenty of time for this. There is always the PCA DE Memorial Day Weekend.

TOOL HELP -
Anybody know of a good valve spring compressor for the 16V heads? I will also need one for my 944S - I'm guessing whatever would work on an S4 will also work for the 944 16V. Thanks!

JP Rodkey

Cool.......you proved that those heads can indeed be removed with engine in the car. I never tried it and now know it can be done. The issue of access for torqueing was one reason I always thought it best to just pull the engine, but you should be okay by setting the bolts you can get at, then going by feel for the rest. Have fun!