I must first begin with an apology, I’ve not previously penned a proper introduction, even though I’ve been the custodian of my C4 for nearly two years, due to laziness, Noob anxiety and an irrational fear of “pride before a fall” so apologies fellow Rennlisters for a very tardy start. I’ve since spent hours poring over the many informative, inspirational and entertaining threads and also had the pleasure of meeting a few of you at some London Owners meets.

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But back on topic, the car has 107K miles on the clock and for some time she has leaked oil when running so a reseal has been on the cards for a while now. The last time I drove the car I noticed a new engine noise which I suspect is a broken head stud so the engine is coming out for some TLC.


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There are no plans for any major mods whilst I’m in there as I’m generally very happy with performance, the budget is not enormous and she is an everyday car. Should I later decide that more hp is needed then I can always look at engine management on what I hope will be a solid “standard” engine.

Due to work commitments and limited skill-set this work will inevitably take an age. The DIY I have undertaken so far has been fairly minor by comparison so I will be enlisting help in the form of a very clever chap called Simon. Who, while more at home working on group B rally engines, has a soft spot for air cooled 911s.

On the basis that no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy I’m anticipating a list of things we’ll find along the way and a contingency fund for these items but I’m hoping I might have some budget left over for the only “performance upgrade” – some driver tuition at Millbrook.

All in all I’m looking forward to getting a much better insight and appreciation of my car. I will endeavour to document the more interesting parts of the (slow) progress with plenty of pictures and I’m sure I’ll be seeking some insight from the community once everything is in bits on the garage floor…

 

Engine is out without too much drama. The mild steel tinware has well and truly had it. Looks like a full set of Dansk ones will likely be north of £700 plus costs of powder coating. I'll look into GRP ones.

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Very keen to see this progress. I've been thinking about this as a winter project (2015) but daunted by what I might find!

Can the tin ware be patched up and treated?

 

I may be able to salvage the right hand side but the left, Left Front and and rear look too far gone with more rust than steel and some big old holes!

 

The Fibreglass tin comes highly recommended ... And is around £600. Pm and I will give you the supplier's details. He is a top chap and very good at what he does.

 

Looking forward to the updates!

 

With the engine on the stand we have narrowed the oil leak down to everywhere...
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Tear down has gone well, Head studs were all intact after all but these will be replaced with Supertec ones. Decided to split the case as well so the oil pump has been stripped, cleaned and reassembled and I can now replace timing chains with continuous ones. Piston/cylinders look in good shape but there is wear on the exhaust valves and also one cam is pitted. Next steps will be cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning and seeing if the cam needs to be replaced.

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Impressive work! Yours is moving much more quickly than mine. C4 makes dropping the motor extra-fun. Cheers!

 

The heads are off at a machines shop for new guides. Aside from my cleaning regime (my overalls and trainers are now banished to the man cave due to unrelenting smell of degreaser) on the weekend I gave the starter a thorough clean and replaced the brushes. Not major work I know but something that was on my list and at least i could do it outside in the sun

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nice work, happy cleaning...and more cleaning
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Interesting, will follow from now on...

 

The large white wire attached to the starter tends to just disintegrate so if you can, replace that too.

 

I am enthusiastically following your project. By splitting the case you have officially entered "the land of the brave" in my books! I've had the engine out of my C2 a couple of times (once for a clutch, the second for a top end job along with a major clean & detail prior to the 2006 Porsche Parade).

I'm probably due for another clutch in the next year or two and (at the risk of tempting fate) I'm almost looking forward to getting into it again!


Cheers!

Jim G.

Picture from my last enginedectomy:

 

I bought a new brush box rather than do the individual brushes which has a new solenoid wire attached. sorry about pic quality
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I have a foot firmly planted on either side of the brave/stupid line.
I'm quite enjoying the project but that may be as a result of inhaling too many degreaser fumes my main concerns are the time frame as I'm due to go to le Mans Classic and the fact that I'm missing out on driving her in the sun

looks like you have a well equipped man cave to undertake the work in, very envious