Jacob's rebuild thread

[nocarrier]

Awesome! Sounds like this engine will be "on the money."

You could also match the rods to the crank by the amount of clearance for each journal.

[jwasbury]

Assembly began today...but first I want to show a picture of one of the old exhaust valves that were replaced. Note the dimples on the top of the stem. My machinist says that this is a telltale sign that the valves have been floated:



Here is the "man-cave" "doghouse" engine building studio. Actually a real studio apartment on the ground floor of my city townhouse.



Assembling the crank and rods. Used ARP hardware.



Checking for a consistent rate of falling between the installed rods:



Completed assembly:



Next up is case cleaning and then its time to seal up the short block.

[Vin-barrett]

Nice Jacob
I'll be in JC Saturday, maybe I'll swing by.

[Slantnose Steve]

Jacob: How's the rebuild comin' along? Have you got any new pics for us?

[jwasbury]

Unfortunately Steve, not much to report. This day job crap really gets in the way of my hobbies (necessary evil though in order to finance the project). Add the holiday schit and its a recipe for slow progress on the assembly.

Since my last report, I've invested at least 8 - 10 hours cleaning the case. This is not making it pretty, mostly just getting the old sealant off of the mating flange, and testing the flow on the piston squirters. Getting the piston squirters to flow was a bit tricky. Waynes rebuild book makes it sound as if you can get them to open simply by spraying aerosol in there. Reality is that they need 30-40psi at least to open. I found that the through bolt holes needed to be plugged quite well before I could get the squirters to flow. The squirters have all passed inspection now, so I am nearly ready to seal'er up, probably after a few more hours of cleaning parts. Not likely to happen before the new year.

Just for fun, here are some gratuitous pics of the machine shop:

[Vin-barrett]

Hey Jacob, is this the place in Dover?

[jwasbury]

Yep...Verden Tool and Mfg in Dover, NJ. That's me and Bob by the Bridgeport.

[TibetanT]

Pardon my ignorance, but could you elaborate on the "floated" valve stem. Was this happening on all valves, or just on one valve or one side of the engine.

Just wondering about this comment.

Thanks.

[TibetanT]

Pardon my ignorance, but could you elaborate on the "floated" valve stem. Was this happening on all valves, or just on one valve or one side of the engine.

Just wondering about this comment.


Thanks.

p.s. Wish my engine building room looked that good.

[Turboo934]

Nothing " bling" just clean and hidden.

[gsxrken]

Originally Posted by jwasbury

That's a great shot. I love shops like that and it's great to establish a relationship with them when and while you still can. That looks like every machine shop from my early days in the 80s hot-rodding, but now they are dying off one by one with the economics of the Summit/Jegs don't-bother-fixing-it mentality. The proprietors are all around Bob's age, and when they mail it in, there is no son or apprentice that wants to run the place to scratch out a living. My last two builders went that way. When they go, they're gone.

[jwasbury]

Originally Posted by TibetanT

Pardon my ignorance, but could you elaborate on the "floated" valve stem. Was this happening on all valves, or just on one valve or one side of the engine.

Just wondering about this comment.

Thanks.

I think most of (if not all) of the exhaust valves exhibited this condition. As my machinist explained it when a valve floats (such as in an over rev), the elephant's foot on the end of the adjuster screw gets cocked in relationship to the head of the valve stem...then when the two collide at high velocity you get this telltale wear on the head of the valve stem.

As to why this was only on the exhaust valves, I'm not sure. Perhaps because the exhaust valves are subjected to more intense heat, the springs and guides take more of a beating and make them more susceptible to float?

I didn't notice any sign of piston to valve contact, but if I clean away all the carbon build up on my old pistons, maybe they will show signs of valve float too.

Originally Posted by Turboo934

Nothing " bling" just clean and hidden.

Nice work Robert...I'm right behind you brother

Originally Posted by gsxrken

That's a great shot. I love shops like that and it's great to establish a relationship with them when and while you still can. That looks like every machine shop from my early days in the 80s hot-rodding, but now they are dying off one by one with the economics of the Summit/Jegs don't-bother-fixing-it mentality. The proprietors are all around Bob's age, and when they mail it in, there is no son or apprentice that wants to run the place to scratch out a living. My last two builders went that way. When they go, they're gone.

Thanks. I asked Bob how he got into the business and he said he was "Shanghai'd" by his father. You're right though...no one is going to pick it up when these guys stop. I find what they do completely fascinating. Someday I want to pick up a small hobby-mill and start to learn the art of machining. Bob showed us a lot of very trick stuff, like some custom billet cylinder heads, and valve guides he'd pulled out of a 962 (had some special cooling mods).

[e170drvr]

Jacob,
Looking good! Did Verden do all of the machine work? Those heads look fantastic! How was your experience with CCR? Bet you can't wait to button her up!
Eric

[William930t]

Caught this thread late...

Your heads look like art pieces worthy of display.

The photos of the broken ring pieces are not surprising, bet there are many 930 owners now wondering about the condition of our 20+ year old rings! Did you ever find ring bits when draining the oil or in any other passages?

Also, #6 piston is most likely junk, but how is the P & C wear for those looking for replacements? Some of the ring gaps look excessive.

What replacement rings are you considering?

[onboost]

Originally Posted by gsxrken

That's a great shot. I love shops like that and it's great to establish a relationship with them when and while you still can. That looks like every machine shop from my early days in the 80s hot-rodding, but now they are dying off one by one with the economics of the Summit/Jegs don't-bother-fixing-it mentality. The proprietors are all around Bob's age, and when they mail it in, there is no son or apprentice that wants to run the place to scratch out a living. My last two builders went that way. When they go, they're gone.

Hate to re-pop what's been said but I couldn't resist. Having known at least 2 or 3 really great machinist over the years, the comments are heart felt. There was always something cool to look at while visiting the shop.. It's alos pretty intersting to see them do thier thing as well.

My current machinist/buddy looks like Jerry Garcia and has been in the business for years.. he does machine work on everything from vintage American iron, to British, Jap and German to Harley heads and cases and he's a gun-smith to boot.
The sad part as stated is that there are very few young individuals picking up the torch in such for a specialized industry.

[jwasbury]

Originally Posted by e170drvr

Jacob,
Looking good! Did Verden do all of the machine work? Those heads look fantastic! How was your experience with CCR? Bet you can't wait to button her up!
Eric

Eric,

Yes Verden did all the machine work. Obviously the heads, but also the port matching on the manifolds, re-bushing the rods, boring out the case spigots, decking the case, and probably a bunch of other stuff I am forgetting.

Experience with CCR was first rate. I think the turnaround was about 1 month including shipping from east to west coast and back.

Originally Posted by William930t

Caught this thread late...

Your heads look like art pieces worthy of display.

The photos of the broken ring pieces are not surprising, bet there are many 930 owners now wondering about the condition of our 20+ year old rings! Did you ever find ring bits when draining the oil or in any other passages?

Also, #6 piston is most likely junk, but how is the P & C wear for those looking for replacements? Some of the ring gaps look excessive.

What replacement rings are you considering?

William,

I never found any ring bits in the case. It appears that the bits were all “captive” in their respective ring lands. #6 piston is absolutely junk and I have a space reserved for it on my bookshelf at the office. The jugs themselves don’t look too bad, but I have not measured them. You might have missed my post with pictures of the new Nickies cylinders and JE pistons that I will be running. They are 100mm (for a true 3.5 liter displacement). The ring pack was spec’d by Turbokraft. The oil ring is a factory 3.6 turbo part, and the two compression rings are non-factory bits. I am not sure of the details, but its the set up that turbokraft uses on their own builds.

[pkracer21j]

Great Progress Jacob! keep the pics coming, I can't wait to see her again this summer, the pictures just don't do Minerva Blue justice!

[krasuskyp]

dewd

I *totally* call DIBS on first Pelican drive of der neu beasht!

FECK YEAH!

8-)

Happy frickin Neu Year - biatch!

[jwasbury]

Originally Posted by krasuskyp

I *totally* call DIBS on first Pelican drive of der neu beasht!

Hey there Paul!

Well...fellow pelican Vinny helped drop the engine (and hopefully will help putting it back in), so he might end up getting the 1st drive. However, I guarantee you will be the first turbopaloozer to sample her. I'll be looking to put on break in miles once she's back on the road, so maybe we can meet somewhere in CT.

Happy 2010

[jwasbury]

With this being a long weekend, I really hope to seal up the case.

I've got all the parts I need, but there are lots of details to sort out before I close up the short block. Today I got my ducks in a row, so barring any unforeseen snafus I should have her sealed up by Sunday.

The task of putting new cam chain sprockets on the intermediate shaft was challenging and fun:

I bought this Crafstman gear puller a few year back to pull the steering wheel off of my sailboat. I thought I would never use it again. Turns out its one of the handiest tools ever for the Porsche. I use it to pull the fan off the alternator, I used it to split the case, and today I pulled the old sprockets off the intermediate shaft. Would have been impossible without the puller:


Sprocketless IMS. New sprockets are to the right.


IMS goes into the freezer.


Mmmmn...what's cooking? New sprockets are heated in oil.


All done! Installation was easy thanks to my friends heat and cold.