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I finally got underway on my latest project with the car: pinning the coolant lines and cams. I plan on keeping the car for the long haul, so it's something I want to take care of so I can hopefully enjoy many years of trouble free ownership. While the engine is out, I will replace whatever else I come across that will be hard with the engine back in. I saw another thread with a great list of items to "while the engine is out replace".
First things first, I had to get the car up on my QuickJack 5000 TL's with the SUV extensions to give me the most room to drop the engine. My garage is also sloped, so I have to deal with that. I made some wooden blocks, jacked the car up, put the wooden blocks under the tires, lowered the car, and then I had enough room for the QJ's and the SUV extensions (the picture shows the rubber blocks, I wanted to give myself more room, so I changed them out for the SUV adapters). I solved the slope problem by putting on QJ on a 2x8 which got the car level to safely work under.
Today, I took my time and got the basics off, tail lights, bumper, intake, and intercoolers, the car is now ready for me to start doing some serious wrenching.
Next weekend I plan on getting the driveshaft & axles removed and then just keep on going till I get the engine out, and then the real hard part starts, all the pinning work.
I'll keep this thread up to date on the progress of the project, I'm expecting the whole thing to take several months/a full year, as I only have a few hours on the weekends to work on it, but excited to get to the know the car on a deeper level. This will be my first Porsche engine pull, not my first engine pull, I also own a Z32TT, I pull that engine way too much. lol, but I am excited to really dig into the engineering that went into this machine. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about the setting the timing, I did record my timing variance before I started, so at least I'll know if I get it back in range of where it was before, although, I see no reason I can't do even better than what I recorded (it was within spec, but on the outer ends).
My one question is, do I replace the timing chain? When I bought the car, it had a very small amount of range 5's (24 ignition cycles) and range 6's (4 ignition cycles), not sure if the extra time, headache and money is worth it for something that I don't care about (they all happened more than 200 hours previously), but at some point if I ever did sell the car, a new owner might and it could help with resale value and mitigate any fears about the DME report...?
It's a fun project. I'm half way in to mine. Had to send one cam to Todd at Protomotive. Lots of people willing to help here. Ed has been very helpful when I have questions.
It's a fun project. I'm half way in to mine. Had to send one cam to Todd at Protomotive. Lots of people willing to help here. Ed has been very helpful when I have questions.
Well I know who I'm pinging if I get stuck. 🤣
I didn't find a good guide to pull the engine, I'm just going over what I know needs to come apart to get it out.
Feel free to hit me up as well if you have questions, just did this twice. Don't be me, do it just once. I did everything except the cams. I used the 996 work manual it was alright overall, butter than nothing. It's for a manual so if you have a tip is wrong in several places. Also I did a good job the second time documenting the torque values as I found them hard to find. I'm really glad I did the work myself as well. I know it was done right and with care, I know the car so much better now as well.
I'll keep this thread up to date on the progress of the project, I'm expecting the whole thing to take several months/a full year, as I only have a few hours on the weekends to work on it, but excited to get to the know the car on a deeper level.
This is the best part (for me) of doing everything you’re doing. Link to my thread to use if it is of any help:
What did you have to do twice? What did you not do right the first time?
Thanks for the offer for help!
#5 fuel injector plug was not snapped down, ended up fully off. Came off on shakedown drive and you can't just reach it, can't even see it. I also had an install issue with my injectors, but thats because I upgraded injectors to id1050s. if you don't do that part, i wouldn't knowing now what I do now, it isn't a worry for you. I was so very careful to torque everything correctly and mark every bolt and triple check them all, but clearly didn't double check electrical connections. 2nd drop just allowed me to do the engine and trans mounts that I should have done the first time anyway. All good. Now waiting for shipment of t clamps, I have a small boost leak. Want to sort that before I drive it.
You wrote " I did record my timing variance before I started, so at least I'll know if I get it back in range of where it was before"
I wonder how you are going to do that without the timing tool. You should be able to reproduce the correct angle within a couple of degrees.
You do not need to remove the driveshafts to lower the engine. Loosing them at the differential will do.
If you want to replace the timing chains you need to split the crankshaft housing. I do not know if there are timing chains on the market with a master link system (like motorcycle chains)
If you want advice or help you can contact me any time
Here are a couple of PDF's to help remove and disassemble the engine.
One of the things I think I would do differently is etch marks into the cam ends and the camshaft housing for the Cam positions. I see no reason that this wouldn't do the same thing as the mechanical locking device that I was fortunate to be able to borrow from my P-Car dealer. It also would mimic the same setup I have on the audi's I work on, however the big issue would be locking down the cams so they don't spin when cranking down the cheese head bolts on the chain side. So I am not sure my idea would work. Baum (and I think others) make a tool for around $1000 to use in place of the Porsche tool. Whatever way you do it, rotate the engine several times to make sure things are lined up.
The other thing I would do is replace all of the guides (I did the tensioners only) for the cam chains. I do not know if further disassembly would be required to get at them or not, but better to do while the engine was out. That is probably the only maintenance item I did not do.
Good luck, it is a very satisfying, if intimidating at some points, journey.
It took me about 6-8 weeks total, a fair amount of that time was waiting on some parts. I didnt pin the cams on mine, however.
If you need, I can email you the engine drop procedure from the WM.. very helpful as I printed it out and checked steps off as I went.
I would leave the AC compressor with the car. And the starter needs to come out.
And clean everything befiore you put it back in..
Here's mine all cleaned up and ready to go back in..
Wow that looks great! I wish I had the b@lls to do my own engine removal and installation - maybe some day. I paid a shop to clean my engine while it was out for coolant fitting replacement/pinning and it cam back looking nowhere near as nice as this. I like the black exhaust tips too! Are those Speedtech ceramic tips? I may have to swap mine.
Also to the OP - great idea using lumber to gain more height with the Quickjacks! I used the same trick with mine when I removed/replaced the front differential seals a couple of weeks ago. QJ are one of the best additions I have made in my garage.
01-29-2022 | 09:56 PM
It begins: the great pinning project
