'84 US head gasket failure...suggestions?
09-23-2013, 12:03 PM
#108
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Join Date: May 2011
Location: Foxboro,Ontario,Canada
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Simon...that is fantastic, on BOTH counts.
Congrats on your new arrival, i trust both baby and mom are doing fine!
I admire the vigour with which you have tackled this large repair...fingers crossed here for start up!
Cheers,
Congrats on your new arrival, i trust both baby and mom are doing fine!
I admire the vigour with which you have tackled this large repair...fingers crossed here for start up!
Cheers,
09-23-2013, 04:05 PM
#109
Pro
Thread Starter
Thanks guys! Both mom and baby are doing great--in fact, the baby is sleeping on my chest in the hospital as I am writing this. Definitely puts car repairs into perspective. 
05-18-2014, 11:34 PM
#111
Pro
Thread Starter
Hey everyone, I know it's been awhile since I updated this thread, but for the sake of posterity I thought I'd chime in and let everyone know how the engine rebuild went. Just a little backstory--I didn't have any car repair knowledge whatsoever before I got my 928 in 2011 (never even changed oil before), but since I got the car I've had an amazing time learning the ins and outs of this awesome vehicle.
I discovered that I had a head gasket leak last summer about a month before my first kid was scheduled to be born, and most people suggested that I get on my horse and pull the engine before the kid arrived and do the necessary repairs. I followed that sage advice and worked my tail off pulling the engine and replacing every gasket I came in contact with, all the way down to the head gaskets. I even turned the engine around and replaced the oil pan gasket and the motor mounts while I was there. I was able to get the engine put back in the car just days before my kid was born. Once that happened I was able to spend a little bit of time here and there reconnecting hoses and wires and generally buttoning things back up, but having a new kid combined with the worst winter weather of my lifetime kept me out of the garage for a few months. Recently with my kid being a little older and the weather warming up I was able to jump back into the project and fix a couple of little leaks and stuff, and...(drumroll)...EVERYTHING WORKS! No more head gasket leak, and the car runs great! I have a little weeping from the tensioner, but it's not even enough to leave anything on the ground below, so I'm not terribly concerned about it. I think I'll address it over the winter, but for now I just want to drive the damn car.
I want to give my sincere thanks to all of you who helped me out on this odyssey...I know this project is child's play to a lot of you, but to a complete noob like me this was an incredibly daunting task to do on my own, but a number of you chimed in with incredibly useful advice, and even loaned me parts and tools to help me to continue moving forward on the project. Without your help I wouldn't have even contemplated starting this project, let alone having a car that drives even better than it did when I bought it. This is an awesome community with a number of incredibly generous individuals, and I just wanted to give you all my sincere gratitude.
And to anyone else who is faced with a similar project in the future---if I can do it, you can too. Do as much research as possible and ask as many questions of this incredible community as you need, but most of the steps are actually pretty straightforward. Put everything on the same way you took it off.
Cheers everyone, and thanks again for helping me fix my engine! It was a lot of fun, and I am really looking forward to the pleasure of driving my car again!
I discovered that I had a head gasket leak last summer about a month before my first kid was scheduled to be born, and most people suggested that I get on my horse and pull the engine before the kid arrived and do the necessary repairs. I followed that sage advice and worked my tail off pulling the engine and replacing every gasket I came in contact with, all the way down to the head gaskets. I even turned the engine around and replaced the oil pan gasket and the motor mounts while I was there. I was able to get the engine put back in the car just days before my kid was born. Once that happened I was able to spend a little bit of time here and there reconnecting hoses and wires and generally buttoning things back up, but having a new kid combined with the worst winter weather of my lifetime kept me out of the garage for a few months. Recently with my kid being a little older and the weather warming up I was able to jump back into the project and fix a couple of little leaks and stuff, and...(drumroll)...EVERYTHING WORKS! No more head gasket leak, and the car runs great! I have a little weeping from the tensioner, but it's not even enough to leave anything on the ground below, so I'm not terribly concerned about it. I think I'll address it over the winter, but for now I just want to drive the damn car.
I want to give my sincere thanks to all of you who helped me out on this odyssey...I know this project is child's play to a lot of you, but to a complete noob like me this was an incredibly daunting task to do on my own, but a number of you chimed in with incredibly useful advice, and even loaned me parts and tools to help me to continue moving forward on the project. Without your help I wouldn't have even contemplated starting this project, let alone having a car that drives even better than it did when I bought it. This is an awesome community with a number of incredibly generous individuals, and I just wanted to give you all my sincere gratitude.
And to anyone else who is faced with a similar project in the future---if I can do it, you can too. Do as much research as possible and ask as many questions of this incredible community as you need, but most of the steps are actually pretty straightforward. Put everything on the same way you took it off.
Cheers everyone, and thanks again for helping me fix my engine! It was a lot of fun, and I am really looking forward to the pleasure of driving my car again!
05-19-2014, 12:04 AM
#112
Right on Simon. Here's to a long summer of trouble free driving!
05-19-2014, 12:20 AM
#113
Nordschleife Master
Thanks for the happy ending. Congrats on getting it going again.
So many of these seem to have no resolution.
Did they fix it and get it running? Or is it sitting, waiting to be finished?
So many of these seem to have no resolution.
Did they fix it and get it running? Or is it sitting, waiting to be finished?
05-19-2014, 12:31 PM
#115
Pro
Thread Starter
