Endoman

I found this bad leak when I dropped the engine. O-ring on the rear cam cover.

Churchill

You can remove a valve spring retainer and test the play in the valve stem, but it's a little complicated. Do you have any sense of how much oil the engine was burning before the leaks? If it wasn't burning oil, it's also fine to just re-seal it. If you have a home garage and the free time to do the work, nothing wrong with pulling it in the future to do the top end when necessary. Given the labor involved it's simply one of those things that'd be easy to take care of since you've already gone this far.

Endoman

With the headers off you will be able so see the back of the exhaust valve heads. A heavy build up of carbon would indicate valve guide wear. Although it is a topic heavily covered in the States it does not appear to be a problem in the UK. Probably beacause we don't have the dreaded SAI. and I always use Shell Optimax.
I am doing exactly the same as you fixing leaks, changeing PS and dizzy belt (give it to Didi) ,general clean up and powder coat replate this and that. You did very well to remove the headers without fracturing a stud, I'm not touching mine.
Unfortunately I have some chassis leg corrosion to fix, too much salt on local roads. They spread when it's not freezing and don't when it snows. Very few people use winter tyres so it's chaos.

Swallowtail

Hey guys,

just wanted to let you know that the engine came out yesterday. Made it harder than necessary for myself by not removing the alternator in time. It doesn't clear the halfshaft so I had to remove it crawling on the ground.

Thanks - i took a look at in on my engine and it is a little wet in the area, though not as bad as in your case. Do you know if I can just remove the cover (three M6x55 bolts) and put it back on with a new o-ring? What is the other screw (M6x10) for)? I'm afraid of messing something up with the camshaft...

I can't really tell but I never noticed blue smoke or something similar. I will think about it some more...

How far along are you with your reseal? What I could use would be a part list so I don't forget some little o-ring or similar which will cause me a headache next year. I put my current list on the end of this post.
The corrosion doesn't look good but it should be a straightforward fix if you can weld.

Kettenkasten:
Dichtgummi 18 964 105 140 01
Bundbolzen 18 964 105 583 01
Druckscheibe 18 964 105 445 00
Dichtung Deckel 2 964 105 181 01
O-Ring 6 X 2,5 2 999 707 288 40

Zylinderkopfdeckel:
Kombischraube M 6 X 30 38 900 067 238 02
Dichtung oben 6 993 105 173 02
Dichtung unten 2 993 105 135 02
O-Ring 8,3 X 2,4 4 999 701 449 40

Nockenwellengehäuse:
Kombischraube M 6 X 55 3 900 075 328 02
Sk.-Schraube M 6 X 10 1 N 010 210 13
O-Ring 40 X 4 1 999 707 293 40

paulkromz

Chuck W.

I am envious of your abilities. I change the oil in my 993 (half day job) and I stand back with my chest puffed out like I have accomplished a major task!

I just had my mechanic (Jason at RS Enterprise in Ventura) drop the engine and transmission and do a top end job and all the while you're in there stuff. It also pushed me to do somethings I had planned on doing over time; Transmission Mount, Golden Rod & SSK, new engine pad, rebuilt LSD and new shock and springs.

It would have been great to do what you're doing. I can only live vicariously thought your eyes and post. Thanks for that.

Swallowtail

Thanks for the praise but I'm just following instructions and asking for help here if I don't know how to proceed
The stuff you did sounds great, though! I have also planned some suspension upgrades but I don't want to go too far off topic.

Endoman

Yes it's just neccessary to replace the O-ring on the rear cam cover. The small M6 set screw holds a P-clip for the crank sensor and head temp sensor wires, mine snapped. The 3 retaining bolts came out easily. New parts on the way.

Swallowtail

Quick update: things are progressing. Engine is cleaned and I have all the parts necessary to completely reseal everything reachable without head and chain housing removal. Also, I have found a lot of oil on parts of the intake manifold, so I will reseal it as well top to bottom as well.

I spent a lot of time googleing the correct way to install the O-rings and gaskets. From what I found most people recommend installing them either dry (less common) or lightly oiled (more common).

I have good experience with silicone spray for this purpose on other cars. I believe this is a very good option but I found no experience with this in the porsche forums. What do you think?

OverBoosted28

Chuck W.

Ahhhhhh..... but you understand the instructions. Keep us posted . Some of use live vicariously through folks like you!

Endoman

New cam lid, p-clip and O-ring fitted lubricated with Molycote. A design change somewhere down the line?

Swallowtail

Got the thing off today with a slide hammer. Glad I had to old design - new new one would have been even harder to get of by the look of it. Someone obviously had been botching around with in in the past. Thing was glued in with surface sealant and screws had been over tightened. The thread of one has been ripped out completely. Tried repairing it with epoxy unsuccessfully. Unfortunately there is not enough room for a proper repair with a helicoil or similar.

cobalt

Did you do a leak down or compression test before disassembly? My intake valve guides were shot at 40k miles which I found surprising. Also my hydraulic lifters had some grit in them. Clearly the PO didn't take care of it.

Swallowtail

No, but I will do a leak down test in the next couple of days (as soon as the tester I ordered arrives). I'm finished 90% with the reseal so I really hope things turn out okay. I want to redo the whole suspension as well and have other projects waiting. I want to get the car off the lift by Christmas.