ddidit

Followed AMFABS recommedation of using guitar string and it was simply just a piece of cake to do my SAI Flush. The feeling of feeding the guitar cable 10-12 inches into the SAI ports gives me extreme confidence that these ports are clean as a whistle. Blowing air through confirms a completely clear passage.

My car through a fault code for banks 1-3 and I got concerned since I have put my car on the market. Having a car that is perfect to sell in every sense but having this little issue concerned me for the prospective buyer purchasing with confidence. I just want to make sure the new owner whoever it will be will be extremely happy and service free with their purchase of my 993.

I finished the flush in about 3 hours total working time. Semi-clogged ports were 2 and 3. While I am there, I will replace the lower valvecover gaskets, change the oil and let any prospective buyer know this vehicle is ready to race, drive ,cruise, show, you name it.

Thanks goes mostly to amfab and I think he should become a lifetime member for his finding. The guitar string was so good compared to steel cable because the helical coil fed its way into the ports like a reamer with threads. Just take care when you do it and use good strings that are not over stressed. Once you feel binding back off and go and strike oil (carbon cleared). I didn't even need to use the old SAI valve for a compressor fitting. I just threaded a cut garden hose into the SAI manifold and held it in place with one hand while the other pressed the blower. Only need about 60 psi at most if not even that. I used nylon tubing that fit the red extension tube on the B12 to aid in squirting the cleaner into the ports. The nylon tubing fitted the ports just enough to have a seal. After the reaming. I would spray the cleaner and it would flow out all the ports on all 6. By spaying into each, you can hear a sound pich knowing it is clear. If one sounded different, I would reream it and do again and hear the sound. All were perfect. Filled the garden hose with b12 and blew and cleaner came out like a water fall not misty meaning the ports were flowing. Kept spraing cleaner and you can hear it filling all of the sai passages.

At this moment, I will flush it every night for another three nights while I wait for the gaskets to come in from pelican. Change the valve cover gaskets and prepare the car for a perfect PPI when a buyer becomes available. Knowing my car is great makes me think I shuoldn't sell it but I have to since I need to get something bigger for my two little girls. When they get about 7-9 years old, I will look into getting a 997 gt3. Funny that a 993 is as good as a 997 gt3 in my eyes and feel of what a car (porsche) should be!

One note! In the packet of strings, use the 2 middle sizes. The smallest is too small and the largest can jam if you are not very careful. Just be careful and take your time.

Dindo

Amfab

No, no, no, people like Mikej get lifetime memberships

But I am glad it worked for you : ) Its such a good feeling when the string makes it bast the bend in the passage

goofballdeluxe

Hey Andrew and/or Dindo, I am one of those unfortunate souls who keeps having his check engine light coming on because of SAI codes, even though my car is far from a top end re-build, according to my oil consumption. Since you both live in L.A., as do I, if you're ever interested in some great Karma by showing an incompetent moron how to do this bass guitar clean out face-to-face, I'd gladly bring my car to you and provide a bottle of your favorite spirits in return...

Amfab

It took me two days to do it because I needed to soak a bit more. Truthfully, I would be scared to work on another persons car. But with a bottle of grey goose I possibly could be persuaded . . .

goofballdeluxe

Funny, I happen to have a bottle of Goose right over here! Anyway, no pressure; my next smog check is not until next February. But if you ever have a free afternoon and a penchant for fine distilled vodka, let me know. I'd love to see how you figured this out. Thanks, Philip.

ddidit

goofball,

Oh how much I would love to help you, but my wife always needs my help with our kids. My suggestion is to try it. To remove the heat exhangers takes about 30 min. No special tools. I bought the cheapest bass guitar strings from guitar center that looked like amfab. What made my job easy was the nylon tubing that fit the red tube on the b12. Like amfab said, you feel like roman king when you pass the 90 degree bend. You fell like a pharoah when your reaming 10-12". Only tools used were channel for the sai valve, compressor for nail gun, dewalt cordless drill for the bass guitar strings. the rest was cake! Just be very very careful not to get to excited as the cable can break if you are not careful. Mine didn't break but one got jammed so I just very carefully extracted it with success. The more cables you use the less risk of breakage.

So, like amfab said, this process I would be a little scared to do on someones car because if it does break and you can't remove it, well, we will need more than a spirit to cheer us up.

goofballdeluxe

Haha! No worries, Dindo. I appreciate your response. The only thing that sounds better than clear SAI ports is feeling like a Roman King and a Pharaoh! Haha! Very funny!

I totally understand the worries about working on someone else's car. I am just keen on finding a solution so that my CEL will stop without paying through the nose to have it cleared by my wrench and I am not very mechanically inclined. My best to you and good luck selling your fine machine.

Amfab

Where in LA are you Goofball?

goofballdeluxe

Hancock Park, near La Brea and Beverly Blvd.

Amfab

If you have a garage and air compressor and a floor jack we could try it at your house if you want, My garage is really tight and pulling the boat out and stuff would be a pain. But I could bring my AC jack stands over and some tools. When I do stuff I do it really slowly. So you would have the car in the air for a couple days, so it would be better at your house.

goofballdeluxe

Wow Andrew, what a thoughtful gesture! Please forgive my ignorance, but from Dindo's original post, I just assumed this was a job that could be done in an afternoon, but it appears to be much more than that. I don't think I could take more than an afternoon of your time for a bottle of Grey Goose though. Also, since I have no education about fixing these cars, I don't have much in the way of tools either. However, your generosity to offer your time and shlep your tools for a perfect stranger says a great deal about you and your character.

Tell you what; if you ever are working on your 993 and find that you need a second hand, I'd be more than willing to help, just to learn. Maybe if you take me up on my offer, and I kill a few Saturdays helping you out, then maybe we can talk about you helping me out with your bass guitar SAI flush. Sound good?

Either way, thanks a million for your kind offer. It inspired me to finally join Rennlist as a paying member. Thanks again, Andrew. -Philip

Amfab

It is not that complicated. I just work slowly
1) The car goes onto the air; pop it on some good jack stands. 10 minutes
2) Undo the muffler tips, 5 min
3) Undo the muffler straps take out three bolts on each side from where the headers/heater boxes join the mufflers. 15 min a side, 30 min total
4) Take off the six bolts on each side to get each header heater box off. 12 min a side, 24 min total
5) Then you have access to the exhaust ports. Make a vodka tonic, sip quickly, and sit down 10 min
6) Go up top take off the air box cover, remove the filter then remove the air box, (a couple bolts) then you have access to the SAI VALVE, 10 min
7) Remove hose clamps from SAI valve, 2 min
8) Dick around with a pair of vise grips and channel-locks, squish and tear apart the old SAI valve, have a couple sips of vodka tonic, 15 min
9) Tear of the residual sheet metal from the SAI valve and then you can get to the threaded part of the SAI valve to remove it have a couple sips of vodka tonic, 15 min
10) Put clean cardboard under the motor and fill the top of SAI manifold with a little Techron or Berrymans B-12, blow it down the passages, repeat 5-6 times having sip of vodka tonic every 2- 3 fills. Check drip pattern on cardboard to see which are clogged. 5 minutes
11) Plug 5 exhaust ports with the rubber stoppers and blow more solvent in, one at a time to make sure you get the solvent to all of them. 15 minutes
12) Trim and modify bass strings to get ready for drilling procedure, 5 min
13) Begin drilling ports. Some may come clean in 2-3 minutes, some may take repeated drilling with several strings, possibly up to 20-30 minutes each port if they are bad. This process can take 2 hours plus. And if they still aren’t cleared you may have to wait overnight for the solvent to soak.

Fortunately, you can still have a second vodka tonic, because the above is 13 steps, not 12

So for me it is like a 4-5 hour process just to take it apart and clean and then maybe a two-hour process to reassemble. If I go any faster than that or try to do it on one day, then I don't enjoy working on it myself.

And maybe you are right, we should do it here, ‘cuz I will inevitably need something I forgot to bring.

Maybe we can meet sometime for lunch in Hollywood and talk about it. I am in Calabasas but work near Sunset & Highland so that is not to far. And you can hear the LPMMs and see if you want to do that while the mufflers are off.

And great about the membership, the amount of information here is amazingly valuable.

What year is your car and how many miles?

goofballdeluxe

Lunch sounds great; I'll PM you my info. I would love to hear LPMMs in person.

My car is a 1996 C4S with 61,500 miles. Just did 60K service, plus PSS-10s and TRG sways a month ago.

jaholmes

I have been f-n around for the past couple of weeks doing the SAI flush. I thought I had it but the middle cyl was not flowing when I tested it again. I finally stole a guitar string and ran it up there and the crap that came out was amazing. I need to get a base string because a normal guitar E string is not beefy enough.

Anyone doing a flush with just dumping solvent and pressurizing it will not get it clear. I thought it would but I doesn't . You need to really ream the crap out.

ddidit

Goofball,

You are the kinda of person I would call a good man. Amfab is the kind of guy I would help out just to do it. Oh how I wish I could help you out with your 993 seeing how you understand the barter agreement. So many times in my life have I so willingly helped others and to not receive help from them when I was in need.

According to AMFAB, his time intervals are almost to the tee. The only thing I did differently is I did not remove any of the mufflers. Just the heat exchanger together with the flaps in one piece. The thing that actually takes long is letting it sit. Funny how it takes actually 3-4 hours of real labor, but it could take days if you don't have any solvent leaking. My ports were mildly blocked so like I said it was a piece of cake. I am waiting for the pats to come in from Pelican to button it all up. One thing to know while it is soaking, sitting or you are finished, change the lower valve cover gasket or any lifter (maybe) at this time. Last night, I removed my valve covers which were having some oil seepage. To my hearts delight, the prior porsche expert mechanic decided to use RTV to help seal the covers. Well, it took me a mere 5 mins to remove the covers and about 1.5 hrs to remove all the rtv from the seal channels. What a pain, you think they would know the process of just lightly lubing or installing the seal dry and button it up just like that. Sometimes, when I work on cars, I just can't understand why some of us, like myself, would even bring our cars to anther mechanic only to have the work to be done improperly. Well, I guess it is equal to our time. Luckly, I have the time since I have to have this car perfect for the next PPI. It was a blessing to see that the cam lobes were smooth like a whistle. Prior owner of this car took really good care of the vehicle, too bad his mechanic didn't put the time like us DIY guys.

Dindo