advice please

[jimmyjimmy]

Hi,

I am the proud owner of a 76 s middy since a few weeks.
It's a project car ,the PO informed me . He quit having troubles with the engine wiring .
So far I think I managed to replace some wires and connectors and I think it should be fine now.
The Cis is off so I think I will adress the triangel of death ,perhaps there are other things? Putting the CIS back on are there things I should take special attention for?
I put this thread in the engine forum because I don't know quite what to do with the engine.The PO has been very honest to me,I bought the car long distance but everything he informed me about was thrue.I'm happy with the car.This is what he wrote me about the engine.

I rebuilt the engine myself. I followed Wayne’s book pretty closely, but I’m still only an amateur. I had a machine shop install Case Savers (recommended by Wayne) for the cylinder studs. According to Wayne, they solve the stud pulling problem with the 2.7 magnesium case. The heads were professionally rebuilt. The cylinders and pistons are new. I installed new Carrera tensioners as an upgrade. But there are any number of things that I could have done wrong—I don’t know of any, but that is the nature of a complicated machine and an inexperienced mechanic. I wish I could guarantee that you need only fix the things I’ve identified, and it will work. It’s a project car, one that is pretty far along, but a project all the same, especially being a 45 year old car. I’ve priced it as such.

After installing the cis should i simply try to start the car or could this damage the engine? I work whole my life on cars but never had a Porsche ,so I'm pretty interested what he connesseurs may say here.

Thanks in advance.

[75 911s]

Congrats on your purchase. My thinking is if they were able to complete the rebuild with Wayne's book then they probably were competent enough to finish the job. Sounds like he was just being overly forthcoming and covering his bases for the sale. There's a startup procedure outlined in the book. I would start there. No need to address the triangle of death if this is a total rebuild? All those issues should have been addressed during the rebuild.

The wiring on the 77 is really simple. That should be easy to rectify, just ensure you have the ground cables hooked up, that's usually what makes crazy gremlins. People forget the ground at the fan shroud or the one by the starter or trans.

So does it have break in oil already in it? how long since the rebuild? never been started after the refresh?

[jimmyjimmy]

Thank you, I have wayne's book ,so I'll take a look at the starting tips.I'll watch closely to the ground wires,I have the wiring diagram.
Then I will put the cis in,I'll think vaccuum leaks might be an issue here.
Car is standing about 5 years garaged,no oil in it.There's also a small leak around the fuel pump I'll have to adress.
Otherwise car seams reasonable in good shape.I really don't know why the PO was so negative about it,but perhaps I might still find out....
The wiring of the cdi together with the crane xr 700 is also somethint I'llmhave to dig in,now only loose wires.

[ahh911]

"He quit having troubles with the engine wiring ."


I would think the wiring should not be an issue for someone who is competent, so that's a problem, especially once the engine is out, unless of course before he removed the engine the electricals were okay, but still, there aren't a whole lot of wires, there are always other reasons to stop a project I imagine, cost, time, work area, health... so not necessarily an indicator of competency, but of commitment or other.

"The Cis is off so I think I will adress the triangel of death"
This is a weird statement from a engine that was just rebuilt or even removed, that stuff is so easy to do and so cheap that it confuses me. Are you sure it's leaking? If so, then check for new parts and correct installation.

How many miles has he driven with the rebuilt? At least pull the valve covers off and check the rockers are aligned as they should be, that head studs are in place, and whatever else you can, but don't be too freaked out if you see camshaft pitting, you can worry about that another day. Also at that point if the oil's out, grab a boroscope and look through the oil lines to the oil cooler and the case looking for blue shop vac rags etc.. I think you should look around to get an impression, how are the clamps put down, so tight as to pinch the rubber? Are they the correct clamps or the pool type clamps at any hardware store, are things clean from a functional perspective or bling clean in some areas and dirty in others... you start to form an idea.

good luck,
Phil

[jimmyjimmy]

Hi Phil, no ,not sure it's leaking but now easy to replace and I don't know if it has been adressed

car hasn't driven since rebuilt .Still have to put CIS on and some other things ( check fuel lines perhaps) to do.

will pull the valve covers.
Can you explain me the reason for the boroscope? You mean the oil lines to the front cooler( it's not a trombone but a real one)?

I have no expierience at all with Porsches...

[pkabush]

As others have stated the triangle of death would have been addressed during the rebuild.
The reason Ahh 911 suggests using a borescope is that when these motors get rebuilt, it’s common practice to block off oil passages with clean rags to prevent dirt and debris from entering.
It can be catastrophic if all the rags don’t get removed.
Good luck

[jimmyjimmy]

ok ,I get it ,thank you.

[ahh911]

Hi Jimmy,

I looked at your post history and see the engine when you bought it was installed but without the cis and without oil. If this is the case, then it is a very good opportunity to remove the rags, open the valves and have a peek around with a 90 degree boroscope, though it probably won't reveal much, but it's not a big deal, also look into the spark plug hole with this, but the quality of the boroscopes are pretty lousy for that, and can sometimes make small imperfections look worrysome, but I found that having looked at the cylinders with the boroscope before and then having the engine apart, the cylinder wall marks were all identified correctly with the boroscope and real life was better than the scope showed, so again don't get too worried by little marks.
Also, I was thinking, that on my 81 sc, if I remove the oil strainer from the bottom of the case, I hope someone can correct me, but at least I could stick this same boroscope up into the case and see at least the rod nuts on one or two rods and check for cleanliness, again, nothing should appear, but if you see debris or something else, who knows. Normally I wouldn't be so paranoid, but since you have no oil in it and it is 1 hour of actually interesting work poking up through the sump and then again at least through one intake, why not. If you had the cis already on then I wouldn't bother. It's not bad to poke around without getting overly worried, I think would be the right attitude, you know a best effort double check. I would also check the timing of the cams, to be sure they are roughly aligned correctly once the cover are off, though that can be a little trickier I guess looking for piston to valve margin, use Wayne's method at least on cylinder 1 and 4... Also check valve clearances, etc... Also, if someone says he's not sure everything is done right like the person who sold it to you, sometimes they are being modest, and sometimes not, hopefully you can figure that out.

Phil

[ahh911]

Jimmy,
It occurred to me that without the pressure fed tensioners I see in the pictures being primed up, or a mechanical hold in place to tighten the timing chain, trying to find the piston/valve clearance is a waste of time. Sorry, don't think I know enough to add anything else, short of removing and taking the engine apart, which seems extreme.
Phil

[jimmyjimmy]

Thanks again Phil,

I first go on holiday for some weeks than I hope to get started with the 911 .
When I read this all I think I still have a long way to go.
A Porsche isn't a karmann ghia...

[Walt Fricke]

Debris is far more apt to lay on the bottom (inside) of the sump than to be hanging around on the rods or crank. As I recall, the 2.7 has a removable sump pump screen, so with that off you can get the borescope into some of the nooks and crannies of the sump.