[morbid]

Greetings to all fellow members. Long time since last visit...

I have a '83 engine to which I made a major rebuilt in 1998. Not due to engine problems, but because parts prices were cheap then. Then I used the car until September 2000, because I had a serious accident in my job. I started to use the car again by February 2001 until November 2006 when I stopped the car because the underbody went real bad. Took the engine and transmission out of the car, and kept them in a safe place. So I started to use a 1984 944 I've already had, and drove it until 2007, when clutch went out. That car was kept the same place the other engine and tranny.

I sold the short block of the '84 in 2009, thinking to swap the '83 engine on it in a near future. December last year, I disassembled the engine, and looked very clean inside. I've always used synthetic Motul engine oil, and RedLine Water Wetter coolant additive in it. The body of the '84 car is in better shape than the '83 one, but not as good as I want it to be. So I thought that rebuilding this engine again would be a little waste of money. Today the rebuilt kit cost double the price. As the engine was in a very good shape I just bought a new full gasket set, assembled the engine again, and installed it in the car by March... I'm doing this very slow, because my full time job and other responsibilities didn't leave me enough time. But I love the 944.

I ordered some other parts needed, like timing and balance shaft belts, tensioners, rollers, motor mounts, master and slave clutch cylinders, and some new sensors. Last week, I noticed I did not replaced the lower balance shaft bearing case for the p/s pump, I kept from the '84 engine block. That happens went you go on a project, about 6 to 7 years after having the idea!

Today I thought to install the timing belts, connects the wires and hoses left, and if the engine starts and runs well, replace the p/s unit with the manual rack I still have. After reading a lot of posts about p/s vs manual last night.

Unfurtunally, for a reason I don't know, when I installed the timing and balance belts, and tried to tight the crankshaft bolt to its torque specification, the engine stucked not rotating when the bolt started to fasten... Strange, because I suppose to use a flywheel stopper to torque the bolt.

I made a test and put a little aluminum washer (one from the camshaft bolts plug) over the bolt, just between the crankshaft bolt cap and crank; and the bolt got fasten rotating the engine without problems. It's like for some reason the crankshaft bolt cap put pressure on something that won’t permits that crankshaft to rotate freely.

Any comments????

My worst nightmare is having to take the engine off and tear it down again... I feel that the wasting of money I was trying to avoid, happened anyway. My love for this car is becoming hatred.