amargari

I started this thread to document the rebuild of my 2004 C4S Cabriolet engine rebuild. Unfortunately I fell victim to bore scoring with only 78K miles on the engine. I'm am going with a 4.0 rebuild and having LN Engineering installing the Nickies liners. I purchased and watched the Raby video and am confident I can do the rebuild. Below is a list of what I am planning on doing and replacing let me know if you see something I am missing.

Upgrades (I updated this list)

• LN Engineering Nickies liners with matching pistons and head gaskets
• LN Billet IMS to Crankshaft Tensioner Blade Paddle
• LN IMS Shaft Rebuild including pinning
• LN Chromoly Oil Pump Hex Drive
• IMS Solution
• UAOS
• ARP Crankshaft Carrier Bolts
• 997 Oil Pump Piston
• LN Engineering 160F Low Temperature Thermostat
• K1 Rods from LN Engineering
• 997 3.8S Engine Balancer

Replacing

• Porsche Main Bearings
• Porsche Rod Bearings
• Porsche Thrust Bearings
• All 3 Timing Chains
• All Chain Guides
• All Gaskets
• Oil Cooler
• Bank 2 Tensioner. They all looked good, but Bank 2 is a major job to replace if it goes bad in the future. The rest are simple
• Crankshaft Position Sensor. (Old one was stuck and would only come out in pieces)
• Exhaust Lifters (All the intake and exhaust looked good, but I already had purchased Exhaust lifters on sale)
• Coils
• Spark Plugs
• Oil Pump Spring
• Camshaft bolt for vane cell adjuster
• Intake cam bearing sleeves
• Intake cam washers
• Spark Plugs
• Water Pump
• Flywheel
• Clutch
• Throwout Bearing
• Pilot Bearing
• Flywheel Bolts
• Injectors

Here are some pictures of the progress.

Here is the engine out sitting on my Harbor Freight table and trans jack


Engine without transmission


Car without Engine and Transmission


Cylinder 4's Bore Scoring. This was the worst one. Number 5 was bad as well.




Crankcase Carrier with pistons


A close up of Piston number 4



The Crankcase Carrier apart. Everything looks great except for a few pistons.


Block is packaged and off to LN Engineering a few weeks ago

amargari

Here is what everything looks like as of today.

zbomb

Cool - I love these threads, I would be curious what the bill comes out to be if you would feel OK about sharing.

Are you using the gapless ring setup ?

I would replace the injectors also while you're doing such a thorough freshen up.

Good luck, look forward to following along.

amargari

I’ll share the bill. I’m keeping track on a spread sheet

Not sure which rings come with the LN pistons. I’m going with what is in the kit.

I’m planning on doing the injectors. However; they are back order indefinitely right now. I’ll update my original post.

zbomb

Awesome dude ! Good luck again, I'll definitely be watching.

The gapless rings are pretty cool tech.

Mike Murphy

Awesome, I’m rooting for you! What about metal spark plug tubes? I heard/read those are a nice upgrade over the plastic ones that become brittle over time. I guess it’s not really an issue until many years pass on the plastic ones.

amargari

The 3.6 engine doesn't have spark plug tubes. They changed the design.

GC996

Thanks for posting the build. Looking forward to seeing it as it happens and hearing about it.

Goofy1

Nice project!

Maybe a stupid question, but what did you notice on the car that made you suspect bore scoring and feeling the need to rebuild?
was it driving badly? smoking badly?

158Sierra

If you are going up to a 4.0 liter displacement, it is recommended to upgrade to forged rods

amargari

Soot on the left tailpipe. A ticking noise that kept getting louder over time.

amargari

I was concerned about this as well. I checked with LN and they stated the rods were only necessary if I was going to track the car. The major concern with the rods are the factory rod bolts. I am upgrading them to ARP bolts. The 4.0 shouldn't put out any more torque or HP than the 3.8 engines in the 997S and they are using the same connecting rods. Also, the 4.0 pistons are lighter than the 3.6 pistons so they factory rods should be good for street use.

Imo000

Good job. When time comes to put the engine and transmission back into the car, save yourself the headache, remove the clutch slave cylinder and installing it onto the transmission before putting the whole thing back into the car.

theprf

I see a 70-73 Camaro back there - I had a '73 in high school that was originally a 6 cylinder with a factory tach and floor shifter! It had been swapped to a 454 (455? or was that the Olds engine?) before I got it for cheap because it didn't run, I replaced the distributor and it was fine. It was rather a rustbucket even though it was only about 12 years old and one of my buddies from work ended up buying it from me.

amargari

It's a 73 RS Type LT. I built a Pro Touring car out of it. It has an LS6 and T56 from a 2055 CTS-V. I also have a lowered suspension and C5 Corvette disc brakes all around. Here are a pair of pictures from the photo shoot a few years ago.