Reunion of sorts

[Neil Harvey]

Back in the early 90's I had the "pleasure" (term used loosely) of working at Andial in the race engine dept. My main responsibility was to dyno test each engine built, riding shotgun with "Herr Springer". This was during the 962C IMSA days.

I had the good fortune to meet and work with some amazing people. Dieter "I", one of the 3 owners who I have great respect for, Rich Creedon, Steve Becker, Eric "B" to name a few.

Today, I remain good friends with Rich and Steve and the three of us have taken on a "home built" project to rebuild a street 930 engine. This is a project we are doing together not as business project, but as a opportunity to catch back up and relive some of the times spent building engines at Andial. Rich and Steve along with Eric were the main engine builders at the time. Hopefully between the three of us, we can remember how to do this and not screw it up!!!

This has allowed me to escape the rigors of the daily grind here at PD, and have some fun on the weekends. I am able to become that DIY engine guy I envy many here.

The engine currently has the bottom end assembled and we have taken many photographs along the way. I will post some of these in the upcoming days. We will document all of the work done and the work still to be done. It will show how we do things, how easy this work is when you understand what and how to do it.

It is hoped that we can entice Dieter and Eric to join us on a Saturday when its time to complete the assembly. Maybe with free beer and food they will come.

I will post some of the pics and work done to date and keep the pics and info flowing as we progress.

The engine will be sold at its completion with full documentation.

Neil
Performance Developments

[Spenny_b]

Can't wait to see more, Neil!!

[grabs popcorn]

[kevinbodman930]

Sounds like a great time.I would love to see the masters at work.

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[Emo993]

Neil, you should have some one video your progress. Mark

[kevinbodman930]

Just keep your clothes on.Haha

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[Geneulm]

This def needs to be video documented. Properly lubricated, I’m sure some great stories will fly!

[Neil Harvey]

We have the bottom end together and have many photos of the work done up to this point. As soon as I figure out how to post them I will.

So far all of the cleaning is complete, fasteners plated, the measuring and crack checking all done, case measured, main bearings modified, coated, fitted and measured, Rods rebuilt, balanced, rod bearings fitted and measured, crank checked for straight, straightened, mag,ed, polished and balanced, Oil pump gears mag'ed, end clearances checked, assembled, lower case assembly assembled and crank end play checked.

Something we found and did this deliberately as we had read a lot about the bearings made in Sth Africa being of low quality. We found the mains ok and they measured within tolerance, our tolerance.

But the rod bearings had issues. The tang broached into the bearing created a high spot adjacent to the tang and on assembly tightened up the bearing clearance. A simple check on each shell and some careful hand fettling fixed this issue. If you use these bearings watch out for this.

One of the by products of having the three of us here at the same time building this engine is, we stand around and remember stories and giggle like kids. "Do you remember when …….". One story reminds you of another. I have not laughed so much in years. Some would never be believed. Most are about or include our "leader" at the time. Many of the stories include how the rebuild work was performed and controlled. I still have a lot of the written memo's and directives, which we had a great laugh over. Some I shake my head at now and cannot believe we did, other than wanting to go home each night without being "shot at dawn by firing squad".

[Flat6pac]

Click the “POST REPLY” and all the info for loading the pictures is there.
Bruce

[Neil Harvey]

Its been a very busy time lately with customer engines, so our in house project has being put on hold. We have the short block together and are working on the heads and other sub assemblies. I have attached some photos of what we started with and where it is now. Some are out of order and hopefully I will post more photos showing the progress.

We don't ever achieve each weekend day what we set out to do, as the stories keep coming. ""Do you remember...…"" and off we go, remembering an instance or someone.

Once we get past the next few days I can post more and write up more about what we have found.


I will post photos of the tear down along with rebuilding the internals. The final assembly photo of the short block (case) will also be included. This will bring us up to date. We have made some deliberate choices in rebuilding this engine. Plating all of the hardware so the final owner gets something that is not only rebuilt correctly but has an appearance to match.

I have read and heard about Rod bearings made in Sth Africa being suspect, so we purchased some to see for ourselves. We do not use these or the Porsche version in any of our engines, rather choosing to use a 3 layer type by Clevite. We found an issue with the way the shell was formed in the forming tooling. The locating tang was pressed into the shell but on the inside of the bearing this tang protruded past the inside diameter causing the bearing to loose it clearance. Simple check showed the rod did not turn freely on the crank pin. It took a few minutes to hand fettle this part off the bearing and the bearing fitted perfectly. They measured correctly and the clamp was correct. We prep all the bearings to fit typically including opening up the oil supply holes.







More to come

[Neil Harvey]

Its been a long time with many other projects getting in the way and lots of travel. But today, the three of us, Rich, Steve and myself, are getting together to continue this build. A labor of love of sorts. It is more about talking and laughing about the old times than doing.

The bottom end is together and today the heads will be recond' and assembled, the cam decks gone through and if we have time, the pistons, cylinders fitted and the heads on. With three of us each doing something we should get the long block together.

[icarp]

Neil, thanks for the fun stories
Ian

[Neil Harvey]

Well, we finally had some time to devote to this engine. Weekends and some nights.

Update on where the build is at present, the pistons and cylinders are fitted and the heads and cam housings are joined and should be assembled to the engine sometime this week. It all depends on the spare time Rich and Steve have. I have none.

Each part of the build has been photographed and I will do my best to post some of these very soon. The engine is getting the very best attention and will be sold at the completion with full build documentation. I'll post what repair work has been done and what parts are new or reconditioned.

We are still figuring out if we will buy and fit a full intake system or sell it as a long block with Alternator, Fan and Shroud only.

We have a really good low mileage set of 98.00mm Pistons and cylinders as well, so if anyone wants a 930 engine built by 3 ex Andial Porsche race engine "nuts" and would like it to be a 3.4L, let me know. Now would be the time to change over the pistons and cylinders.

[Neil Harvey]

An update on this 930 project. The engine is closed and will fit the Alternator, Fan assy and shroud next week. This is a project we do when we get together on weekends and some nights whenever we can. For me its about spending time together not about rebuilding an engine The engine part is just an excuse for me to stay at the shop.

However, the engine has been built to the highest level of quality and attention. Its completely stock and everything internally has been rebuilt or replaced with new. I think it will be sold as along block with fan assy fitted, shroud fitted, (repainted) Distributor and wires, and some other parts we have here. It will need an Intake and Exhaust system.

If anyone needs a completely restored stock 930 engine, (long block) rebuilt by 3 ex (old) Andial race engine builders, this engine is for sale. If interested we can supply a full detailed rebuild and parts list along with photos.

[Bigtoe32067]

Neil is another one of those people I'd like to get a few beers into and listen to all the amazing stories.
Thanks for sharing
Tony

[Neil Harvey]

Bring the beer and I'll bring the stories!!!!

We are "thinking" about creating an engine building class that will include the machine work required. The attendee would ship their parts for machining and their parts would be machined while they attended the "school". They would be involved in the repair work of their parts to understand the work involved in reconditioning parts. Then we would show the work involved after receiving your parts from the machine shop and the assembly of the engine.

This is in the "idea stage" at the moment as I am still trying to figure out the best and most efficient way to go through what is required. The cost would include the machine repair work and the 'school" instruction time.

Stories are free.

[targa72e]

Sounds like a great Idea.

john

[Frog76S]

Originally Posted by Neil Harvey

Bring the beer and I'll bring the stories!!!!

We are "thinking" about creating an engine building class that will include the machine work required. The attendee would ship their parts for machining and their parts would be machined while they attended the "school". They would be involved in the repair work of their parts to understand the work involved in reconditioning parts. Then we would show the work involved after receiving your parts from the machine shop and the assembly of the engine.

This is in the "idea stage" at the moment as I am still trying to figure out the best and most efficient way to go through what is required. The cost would include the machine repair work and the 'school" instruction time.

Stories are free.

This was posted over in the Technical Forum and has received lots of interest.
Introduction to engine rebuilding class.......unable to paste link.

I sure would be interested in your class and stories too. I think you could sell out 2-3 classes per year.

[Neil Harvey]

What has come out of this fun time is, Steve Becker has joined Performance Developments and will run our new Oregon shop.

Steve's primary role is to build and machine repair those engines where the budget is not so high. We will offer the same quality and attention to detail as we do for all of our engines, just the overall costs will be in line with common typical rebuilding costs. PD is opening two new shops to give a greater coverage for the US. The 2nd west coast shop is now based in Oregon and another new shop is been set up in Florida for the east coast.

Steve was one of the main race engine builders at Andial during all of the successful Porsche days here in the US. His engines have won many IMSA races and championships including 24 hrs, and have successfully finished races at Le Mans.

If you would like your engine rebuilt, we are now offering this service for the more budget minded customer. PD will continue to develop parts for these engines and continue to build the higher end engines.

[dannobee]

Neil, which cylinders did you guys use in the build? Look like 965 style?

[Neil Harvey]

Originally Posted by dannobee

Neil, which cylinders did you guys use in the build? Look like 965 style?

In this 930 rebuild we used original 930 cylinders re plated.