aventari

The car is an 89 Turbo that I bought last year for $6000. It had quite a few problems(and still does) which is why I was able to get it so cheap. There is a huge exhaust leak in the headers, it leaks oil and power steering fluid, it would randomly die, and the ball joints, tie rods, shocks, brakes, etc are shot. The previous owner didn't take good care of it at all.

So I've been working on it and finally go tthe motor running decent 2 weeks ago, and then last week my headgasket went and steam was coming out of the exhaust...

This weekend I pulled the head off to survey the damage.

The head looks good, ceramic liner not cracked


the gasket didn't look good though



heres the worst of it, at cylinder #4 (i'm gona get the Lindsey Steam Vent kit..)



and here's the tool my dad and me made last night to remove the valve keepers:


How do you guys remove the valves??? We were joking about making these tools and selling them.



So the bores and pistons look good to me. Now I have lots of questions...
Where's a good shop in San Diego to take the head to to get it cleaned, tested, decked, and new guides pressed in? I'd like a shop that's good with Porsches.


Also, when I got the headers off, I found that the #2 cylinder primary pipe was COMPLETELY CRACKED IN HALF. As in it moves independently of the rest of the header. The only thing keeping it on is the head shield. And the #4 cylidner runner it close to completely cracked through.. So I need new headers. I'd like to do it as cheap as possible, but something reliable. So I'm not welding these back together. Are the Lindsey Racing headers good? Are there any out there that are cheaper than $1200??

Thanks a lot!

Chris White

Speedforce Racing is in your backyard - drop in and visit Tim and talk to him. If all else fails tell him Chris White sent you!

toddk911

So #3 and #4 both blew?

toddk911

And they always seem to go in those weak areas of the HG.

david fracolli

If you were on the east coast I would say take it to Chris White but since you are on the west coast I would go to speed force racing.

The DareDevil

Sounds like my Turbo before I bought it I'm still workin' on it!

Good luck!

lart951

speed force racing is a great option but you will need a lot of $$$

aventari

I just called Speedforce and talked to Tim there. He says $500 to deck the head and do a valve job on it assuming my valves are good.

He also said they don't do the work in house, then have a machine shop in their building do it for them. So right there I'd be paying that mark up.

I guess I'll call some other machine shops in the area

Chris White

A little mark up may be worth it to make sure the job gets done right.
Do you know all the correct specs to give the machine shop and how to check to make sure they did it right?

aventari

Thats true.
But I do know how to check the head surface for flatness and feel if the guides are properly honed and we have a micrometer to check the deck height.


My normal machine shop who has done great work with my VW motors said they can do my 944 head, but the guy didn't know about the ceramic exhaust liners. He said he doesn't think if will be a problem, and I asked him what kind of media they use when they media blast the head to clean it. He said they use glass beads. Will glass beading hurt the ceramic port liners?

aventari

Also, does anyone have any ideas on replacing the exhaust headers?

DHC8FO

Dan Hall's Automotive Machine in Portland, Or.
(503) 289-5015
1831 N Killingsworth St
Portland, OR 97217-4452

Redid my last head, is familiar with 951, and has Sunnen machine to hone the Alucil sleeves. I actually took a head to him that was warped, and he was able to straighten it. I thought it was garbage, saved me some big $.

He will be doing my rebuild this upcomming winter.

Acetylene

You can send it to LR for about the same money - just another option.

lart951

What if you buy a used turbo head from a 87 951 with 97k miles and headers from the same car without cracks for about $ 475.00

DHC8FO

"What if you buy a used turbo head from a 87 951 with 97k miles and headers from the same car without cracks for about $ 475.00"
That would be a great deal! the headers alone are $300