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Not exactly the route I'd want to go for my purposes, I just like turbocharged engines better, but that thing is going to sound about a hundred times better than ANY turbo 968 ever will. I'm dying to see and HEAR a good video of it on full boil!
After spending over a week in Zambia and then having to catch up at work, I finally have time to get back to this project. I have a few friends coming over tomorrow (I hope) and the plan is to pull the old engine out of the 968 and install the freshly rebuilt one. Hopefully will have my daily driver back up and on the road soon Anyone in the B'ham area that wants to help, drop me a PM!!!!!!
Got the engine pulled. I will admit that it was much more work than I thought. Guess I'm used to pulling the engine from my race car that has not accessories attached, that baby comes right out. At any rate, here are some pics from the weekend. Mostly shots of the old engine, which has a blown head gasket and was leaking like a sieve. Last photo is a teaser of the new engine that is waiting to go back in. That won't happen till next weekend, need time to order some parts including a new clutch and flywheel.
Sorry for not posting, I took the family skiing in Colorado and just got back.
The project got delayed a bit since I had to order a new clutch, the old one was warn to the bone! Engine went in fairly easily. Started the car car up and it built pressure quickly! The valves were ticking quite a bit until they pumped up (remember the head was redone). As they quieted down and after about 15 minutes of running a sudden knocking began that is directly proportional to rpms. The knock sounds like it is coming from the #4 piston. I good friend, who is a far better mechanic than I, came by to give me his opinion. He thinks that possibly a rod bolt snapped and the piston is slapping the head. Now I need to find time to drop the pan and determine the problem Really disappointed as I thought that everything had gone together well. I did use all new rod nuts but did not think to replace the bolts.
Car is back on the road as of last night and got to drive it to work today I still do not know what is wrong with the engine that I rebuilt, I will open it up this weekend. In the end, I replaced the head gasket from the first engine and had the head and valves redone. Turns out the the head gasket was sooooooooo bad that it allowed quite a bit of corrosion on the bottom surface of the head. Enough that it had to be welded before being cut flat. Piston rings, rod bearings, and cam guides had been done less than two years ago (12k miles), so those where not touched. All new belts and pulleys of course. Car is purring like a kitten.
Old thread I know, but I wanted to revive it, as I'm starting to rebuild this sweaty 968 motor I bought from Joe Cogbill. It came from John Sheiry's blue car. Sent the cams to Pete Fitzpatrick to have them re-ground, and I'm going to have the head cut 10 thousands. While that's all being done, I'm going to overhaul the bottom end... Fun Fun Fun!
From: Central MD & Southern WI - 89 S2 Megasquirt + Variocam
How are you determining piston/valve clearance with the reground cam and head shave, factoring in variocam changes to valve timing?
I am curious because I am interested in a more aggressive cam but not sure what cam specs can be run with variocam (and haven't been able to find alot of information on this). Is there a maximum cam profile that is known to work and not cause interference or some further documentation or information you can share?
I have read folks like Michael Mount say that they disable variocam when going to a more aggressive cam (which basically converts the 968 head to an S2 head with larger intake valves). I think at that point it would probably be better to run a modified S2 head with 968 intake valves over the 968 head due to the simpler chain tensioner design. Ideally I would like to retain variocam but run a more aggressive cam, just not sure what will work.
Last edited by walfreyydo; Aug 8, 2025 at 11:14 AM.
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Anyone in the B'ham area that wants to help, drop me a PM!!!!!!
Really disappointed as I thought that everything had gone together well. I did use all new rod nuts but did not think to replace the bolts.
I still do not know what is wrong with the engine that I rebuilt, I will open it up this weekend. In the end, I replaced the head gasket from the first engine and had the head and valves redone. Turns out the the head gasket was sooooooooo bad that it allowed quite a bit of corrosion on the bottom surface of the head. Enough that it had to be welded before being cut flat. Piston rings, rod bearings, and cam guides had been done less than two years ago (12k miles), so those where not touched. All new belts and pulleys of course. Car is purring like a kitten.
