Robin 993DX

3 hours... it took me to get the distributor out of the engine... not without a struggle, had to take off the alternator, fan duct in order to get a pry bar down there to force the distributor shaft to come out. Took me another hour to take the distributor apart.

The DIY instruction listed in my site contributed by a 964 owner was way too complicated, my steps were a lot easier and quicker.

Here are some pics for reference, I will update the DIY site with my instruction once everything is complete.

At 86k miles the belts were brittle, there were fragments of the belt inside of the housing, cracks were on both sides of the belt. Definitely time for a replacement.

Before putting it back together I do have some question in regards to the type of grease and oil to use for the bearing and the shaft? Anyone have any ideas on what to use?

BTW, this is definitely not a regular service item that you perform on a regular interval. I think at 90k it is good.... way too much work!



It's out, look at all the belt debris that's inside.


Unfortunately you have to drill one of the pins out, no way to punch it out. I tried and it was way too soft.


On the 964 DD DIY it asked for you to grind off the taps to take the cover off the 2ndary distributor housing... Which I found to be totally unneccessary.


All you have to do is to remove the 5 housing allen bolt and then punch one of the pin off and whoa la! It comes apart enough for you to change the belt.


Picture of the belt at 86k miles

epj993

Great write up Robin. Glad to know 90K as a replacement point as I was thinking about doing it (just for fun ) as a preventative measure at my current mileage of 52K. I think I'll wait. Not sure about the grease - maybe a synthetic like Mobil 1?

amfp

Robin thanks for the write up.

I plan on doing my belt soon, not because of miles, but time. I suspect belt is already brittle because of age. If it breaks serious damage to engine can occur if under hard acceleration.

Haven't decided yet, to only replace belt, or exchange my current distributor for a refurbished "new" Porsche distributor with belt already installed.

BS911

Hey Robin. Glad to see you shortened the procedure. I wrote the initial one using little tidbits of information I found. I know several people did an abbreviated version of it, not requiring as much disassembly, but as you certainly know, I didn't want to take it out again to update.

Mine was a bear to get out of the crank as well. A pry bar didn't even help, had to come from below with ... achem... some brute force.

Flying Finn

Thanks for the heads up.

I always thought the DIY was too complicated and have been getting stress over this (I have 55K and was thinking of changing it @ 60K).

Please update the DIY as soon as you can!

Robin 993DX

Brian, so it was you! LOL! Thanks for the big contribution, it was your write that gave me the courage to attack this DIY, it is way over due, and the engine was pinging recently under hard acceleration. Luckily as I found out it was not because of the belt. Probably have to do with lousy Califronia gas and the fact that I haven't change the DD cap and rotor and plug for 50k miles....

Thanks

BS911

Glad that it helped get you going. So did your pinging stop following that and the cap/rotor r&r?

Robin 993DX

Brian,

I haven't put the car back together yet.. Still many items on the list I need to do before I put her back together.

Currently she is in this state....

John H

Robin

What did you use to replace the pin you drilled out?

Mike J

Thanks Robin!

I should check this while my engine is out and apart...since the distributor is just lying there staring at me....

Cheers,

Mike

Todd B

Robin,
Thanks for the update. I have all the parts at home, including the Bosch gease. I can check tonight and post what it is. I have 54K miles and have been thinking this would be a good thing to do, since I track the car. I didn't expect to read that pulling the distributor would be such a pain. On other makes, ones I've removed have just simply pulled out once the retaining bolt is removed.

Todd

dp2boy

Robin, let us know if you find out where your high RPM (or high load) pinging is coming from. I also suffer from the same malady and my belts are OK. It doesn't happen much but when it does its scary.

JasonAndreas

Put a socket on the alternator fan nut and then use that to turn the crankshaft clockwise (you might need to squeeze the belts together with your hand) a tiny bit. The distributor should pop out without too much effort.

The shortened (to less than 1 hour) procedure is covered in the Rennlist 964 DIY section but it could use some updated photos.

Robin 993DX

John,

The part number for the drift pin is 930 602 922 00.

Todd, where the hell did you find the Bosch grease?

A quick run down of the procedure since my memory is still fresh.

Remove both distributor caps, but leave the plug wires attached.

Put the engine to top dead center position, there is a mark on the crank pulley that will line up with a mark on the bottom of the fan housing. To be sure that you are on TDC of the Cylinder #1, you can check the rotor position after you remove the caps on the primary distributor, it should be pointing at around 1:00 o'clock position. To turn the crank pulley just squeeze the pulley belt with your finger and turn the fan pulley nut with a wrench in a clockwise direction.

Remove th 13mm nut on the bottom of the distributor shaft, there should be a washer below that nut, for some reason I didn't find the washer.

Pull the distributor assembly out, whatever method suits you....

Drill out the drift pin and pull the gear off. It require some force to get the gear off, make sure you position the washer behind the gear the way it comes out so you know how it goes back in.

Remove the wiring harness by pulling put the retaining clip on the inside of the distributor housing, push down on a little click on the white plastic piece and fish the wire through the housing.

Unscrew the 4 philips screw inside the main distributor housing that secures the shaft plate in place.

Push the distributor main shaft up, then carefully remove the belt gear and notice the washer position under the belt gear and place them on the side accordingly.

Remove the 5 allen bolt holding the upper distributor housing to the lower.

Tap out one of the drift pin holding the distributor housing together, it is the one that you tap out, the other one you can see the end of it.

Wha la, the housing now should come apart and you can replace the belt.....

You can figure out the rest.

Flying Finn

Thanks Jason.