Chris Moon

Well that's two California 951 engines biting the dust in a single week. Won't know about mine until I pull the motor, but likely spun bearing.

Hey Dirk, at least YOU weren't driving to work.

Hopefully, it's not too expensive for either of us.


CM

Gary Gaukler

Wow, Dirk, I feel for you...

Where in the Bay Area are you? I'll gladly help with pulling the engine if you'd like. Never yanked an engine myself, but four hands should be better than two, right?

Let me know!

Gary.

Tom M'Guinn

Bummer. I'll be back in the South Bay within a week or two, and would be happy to lend a hand when time permits. --Tom

"We can rebuild him. We have the technology... Better than he was before.
Better . . . stronger . . . faster."

turbite

Chris:
oh no! Actually, I would have prefered driving to work.
It cost me for track time I didnt use, and renting a uhaul to drag it back.
Good luck for you also, let us know how it goes.

Gary,Tom:
Neither have I, but four hands is definately better than two!
I'll probably pull the engine next weekend!
pm me if you're interested.

-Dirk

Danno

Dirk, sorry to hear about your mishap. Does sound like rod-bearings went. Saw that happen at Sears Point a couple years ago with this car:




May be for the Easter Pizza Run, we can have the gang over and help you pull it all out for inspection & rebuild? Someone posted that there's a shop in San Diego with a whole bunch of 944 blocks laying around. I think from Huntley projects that were never paid for.

turbite

Danno:
Is the stuff under the car just dirt?
Everyone is welcome to come over on the Easter date, but I hope to have the engine pulled by then.

Did you end up heading to buttonwillow on sunday?

DanD

Dirk,
Bummer. Get it out and inspected asap. There's a 1800 engine in the classifieds that might be a good choice. (If I only knew then what I know now..)

The good news is they do run again. Mine is getting it's piggy back tonight. We'll see how that goes.

Let me know if you need something. I have the spare sitting out back.
Dan

turbite

Dan:

Thanks man!

Yeah I've been thinking about sh944's 1800 engine. It sounds like and alright deal.
The thing is, if I only need a block and crank, I can get those super cheap.

Time will tell!

Danno

"Is the stuff under the car just dirt?"

Actually, it's some oil-absorbant stuff the used to clean up the trick, kinda like kitty-litter. It's all over the track going down the hill. Here's some videos of people running it over and throwing it up at me in a futile attempt to keep me at bay:

Porsche951vsAudiS4.avi 6.5mb
Porsche951vs928S4.avi 16.3mb
(requires DiVX codec)

"Did you end up heading to buttonwillow on sunday?"

Nah, didn't make it. I was too wiped out by the day of dyno-tuning and driving 4 hours that I just couldn't finish up my car in time to head out there; much less pulling the all-nighter.

turbite

Good lord, I think I only lost a quart or two.
Did he actually send a rod threw the block?

So the car is all tuned now, Danno?

Danno

Yup, he completely blew it up! Rod through the side of block and, I think, the oil-pan too. If you look closely at the last picture, you'll see that he actually crashed the car beforehand into the tires on the outside of the curve between turns 1 & 2. Doug talked a little about it in Chapter-83 of his NSX-files website.

Godzilla's not quite fully tuned yet, gonna wait until March 20th dyno-day. At low boost (relatively), it should be OK

P.S. Fixed the 928S4 link above.

turbite

Pictures are available at
http://metaloft.com/pics/951/buttonwillow/

The block is almost certainly toast. I found a piece of shrapnel, and it looks like the #3 rod went through the block, and that spark plug is totally smashed.

clubracer6

Turbite - sorry to hear about your mishaps. I'm going through my own motor issues now. It seems like everyone has gone through some sort of hell with their 951, right Perry951?

Can a motor really be rebuilt for $2k? I'm might start a thread about that right now.

Also did you say you only had 5k miles on the motor? If so - that sucks even more. Who rebuilt it the last time?

Finally, I guess I can take my time w/that airbag cover for you....

Dal Heger

Yup that sucks.

Yes, a motor can be rebuilt for cheap. Get good prices on the gaskets and all the parts, and as long as the engine was running when you took it apart it can be rebuilt on the cheap. Just take the crank out and have it micropolished. If it spun a bearing, then it'll cost a bit more, get the crank ground and the rods checked/straightened/shot peened (stress relief). Get the head rebuilt, new guides/seals, seats cut. If I was to rebuild my 951 engine then it would cost me right around $2k for everything. This assumes that you (and friends) do all the labor. It's also a good idea to take the block and pistons to a machine shop to have it all cleaned, and while it's there have them check the dimensions/clearances to make sure everything is still within allowable tolerances.

So, if you don't have to replace too much, then yes, it's possible to do a rebuild for less than $2k. You can get the stock turbo rebuilt for about $350 if you look around.

Dirk, it sucks, if I was closer I'd come help.... Rebuilt a couple engines in my time.

Dal.

Gary Gaukler

You have pm...

Gary.