1977 2.7 Refresh

[Milhouse]

Hi All,

I'm new to Porsche and I'm working on a light restoration for my 1974 911 Targa that I bought in May 2023. As this thread is named the engine is a 1977, it does not have the thermal reactors so I assume it was gone thru before being installed on the 1974. I'm not sure when it was put in but there is a LOT of grime so I'm sure it was awhile ago.

I pulled the motor and trans out while its at the Body Shop so they can paint the engine bay and allow me to clean it up nicely. Since I'm new to Porsche I'm not sure what the cardinal sins are here, its not a numbers matching car and I am chaining the color of the car (stripping it bare as there were 5 coats of paint on it) but I don't want to be blasphemous to the car/community.

The motor ran really well (from what I could tell) and just leaked a tad. After reading some of the BOOK I decided that I don't really need to rebuild this entire engine as some leaking is normal for these but I would like to clean it up nicely so it does not look like its been neglected with 20 years of grime on it.

I got it on the engine stand today, it was a much different experience than with a V8 but maybe there is a better place to sling it than the approach I tried with the Hydraulic cart :shrug its done and it didn't fall

Any suggestions on how far to take itand what I should 100% replace during this light refresh/cleaning?

Some ideas I have so far:

• What gaskets to do?
• I assume chaining the clutch is probably a good idea to change now, any recommendations on what to install?
• All new hoses, is there a list or kit of all the ones needed?
• Was thinking of powder coating the sheet metal Satin Black, I see this thread here: https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/799017-painting-metal-engine-shroud-parts-what-paint-use-2.html
• Any mild performance upgrades, cam?
• Leave the exhaust as is or change it?
• I think the car had AC (I found the condenser was there but no compressor), is it worth trying to install a compressor and get that back working?
• Change the oil drain pan to add a drain plug?
• Maybe Paint the fiberglass fan shroud it looks pretty good as is though so maybe after cleaning it will be good enough as is? I see this post: https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/1086046-fiberglass-fan-shroud-painting.html
• Powdercoat /plate the fan parts??: https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/389108-anodizing-fan-fan-housing.html

[Billthebuilder]

Run a leak down then buy some spray paint

[rwest]

Remove all of the CIS injection stuff and replace all the hoses, gaskets and seals, including the injector sleeves. Likely it will have been adjusted to run with air leaks, so you’ll need to set the fuel distributor to baseline.

Measure the clutch and flywheel and if okay, save your money. Removing the engine isn’t a huge deal, so if you have to take out in a few years, no big deal.

Adjust the valves.

Check that the rocker arms are not leaking or have loosened.

Look up triangle of death for tips on sealing that area for oil leaks.

[Milhouse]

Thank you for the suggestions Billthebuilder and rwest!

I ran the leakdown test and got these passing results. The air rotated the engine backwards a tad so I had to pinch the fanbelt with a clamp to be able to hold it in place by the fan nut with a wrench.

The plugs looked pretty good.



I got the clutch off and measured it at 0.65mm from the rivets I have read that is acceptable (> 0.3mm) and 7.55mm total thickness. I see this thread: https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/84979-min-clutch-thickness.html and I see in the book the wear limit is at 6.3mm and its 8.1mm new so it seems plenty good to leave it as that is only ~30% consumed. Do the pics scream to anyone "Change it now"?




The throw out bearing has some wobble in it (~1.5mm), should that be replaced?
This thread indicates some play is OK: https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/723144-throw-out-bearing-play-feels-loose-normal.html
It spins like a skateboard wheel and it sounds a little rough (loose-ish balls) to me.



I also read that the fork should be replaced, thoughts on this one?
https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/857449-clutch-replacement-air-cooled-911-a.html



I watched a vids on RSR Rocker Seals that was helpful: https://youtu.be/G4naYgSxDko?si=Q_lfDjV4Oob5tcpt

Learned that it has Turbo Valve Covers on it, that's nice.

Learned that new Stainless Steel exhaust is out of the budget.

[Billthebuilder]

I think your on the right track the clutch does look worn also the flywheel looks like it needs a re surface.

[Milhouse]

Well after a few sessions of scrubbing and pressure washing I got most of the gunk off. It was a LOT of gunk....

So concern of the day is that I read up on the hydraulic 3.2L Carrera Chain Tensioners update (Project 16). I see lots of debate on them:
https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/1101489-chain-tensioner-questions.html.

I see that Wayne recommends the Carrera Tensioners in the book an on the forum: https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/72017-tensioners-911-sc-when-replace-2.html

In my opinion, the Carrera chain tensioner upgrade, combined with the proper pre-bleed installation, and the updated idler arms, should offer the best odds on protecting your engine...

-Wayne

https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/101_Projects_Porsche_911/16-Carrera_Chain_Tensioner_Install/16-Carrera_Chain_Tensioner_Install.htm
its cute that the website still shows this as a $450 Mod.

I'm leaning towards the 3.2L Carrera ones: https://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/supertech/catalog.cgi?action=frameset&return-url=/cgi-bin/supertech/catalog.cgi%3Faction%3Dframeback%26page%3D18&catalog-url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pelicanparts.com%2Fcatalog%2 FSuperCat%2F0564%2FPOR_0564_ENGREB_pg2_chain-tensioner-super-kit.htm.

This got me thinking if I need to replace the chains too and I just got the timing chain covers off and found that the drivers side tensioner is at 15.8mm and the passenger is 6.8mm. The drivers side looks newish but I can push on the chain and move it down ~1mm. After looking into this a bit more the extended plunger appears to be from a stretched Timing Chain: https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/862407-timing-chain-stretched-out.html

Should I be replacing at least the drivers side chain so the tensioner is not so close to the case?? Or is there still time and I should just leave it alone with the current tensioners? Looks like some people recommend the master link chain so the case does not need to be split (I'm not too keen on splitting the case yet) and it seems hard to cut a timing chain and not get metal everywhere: https://www.pelicanparts.com/More_Info/91110552951.htm?pn=911-105-529-51-OEM&SVSVSI=564&DID=19893

[STYZ993911]

Thanks for the info.