A shot of Jamesons, perhaps. I'll buy... :(

:D

Ouch ouch ouch, ok ok, stop twisting my arm.

Condolences!

While the 3k for the basic top end sound good, as I had mentioned before, I wonder, where is the extra 2200 coming from? That's for rod bolts, lower studs, shaving heads and stiffer springs? How much is that in parts? $800? $1k tops? Maybe you can supply the parts to the wrench and avoid his markup?

In my eyes, a few tenths in compression ratio won't make any noticeable difference in performance. The money will be better spent on upping cam grinds. And aren't the heads cleaned up anyway, so why pay extra for taking a bit material off, instead of just cleaning up the surface?

I have not much else to say. Just bite the bullet and get it over with. Short of selling your car in pieces and buying a nice SC instead ;), there isn't anything you can do.

It's too late now, but next time, leave your wrench out of it. Our gen. Porsches are just fine with a hobbyist and it will save you about 50%-80% on any job!

Take care,

George

Are you serious George? Is it realy that easy to rebuild a 3.2 motor? I keep thinking I could do it, but then what if?

I don't understand the situation with your 5th gear. The tallest 5th Porsche ever made was the 29/21 5th gear in the 1974 911 and 1976 912E transmissions.

What 5th gear is in your car? And what's your shop doing with it once they remove it? -- it's a valuable gear. Don't let them keep it!

bigrubber,
Obviously the $8K is too much scratch to stomach right now, right? You ask "...what if?". In my mind, the "what if" is your only option if you want to save a ton of cash. My old H-D mechanic used to have a sign on the wall that read "motorcycle service: fast, right, cheap...pick any two" Cheap and right usually means doing it yourself, and taking your time. Don't create a situation for yourself that cannot be overcome...it's a car, either way it'll sit until a descision is made, cash is rounded up, or you waiting for parts to come in from the machine shop. At any rate its better than "I can't do it and I can't afford to have it done..."

It's not like you live in the middle of nowhere...hell, most of the great Porsche places are in your back yard! You can do this...

R/
Dustin

If it wasn't painful we would'nt appreciate our toys so much!!

I don't know, for this time it may be too late, but seriously, what would you have to loose? Worst case scenario? If you really mess up and it blows up in a plume of smoke, you can still sell the core and then just go get another 3.2. Cost would be similar to what you pay now. ;)

I would not recommend that you start out with top end work as your first project, if you never worked on your car. However, if you work your way up the wrenching ladder slowly, it should be no problem at all. I have convinced more than one of my buddies to do more on their 911 themselves. So far none of them was too "stupid" to do a good job. With Waynes book and this board and enough patience, you can do anything. I was under the impression from earlier threads, that you work on the 911 and more so on other vehicles? If you have touched any engine, converting to the 3.2 would only be a matter of carefully reading the manual.

George

Bigrubber, maybe you could make a long term project out of the deal so there is no pressure to get it done quickly. I'm sure that there are local pelicans that can help you out along the way.

You might be able to find a cheap semi worn out 3.2 to put in your car while you slowly rebuild your own motor. The reason I say this is that the price on your rebuild is going up by the minute. Mine was the same and it got more expensive once the motor was completely dissasembled. Anyway, good luck with whatever you decide. Chuck

EXACLY!!!! My 5tyh gear is off the chart. Anyhow I am keeping it.

To the rest of you, I am comitted to having my wrench do my tranny, however he wont start on the motor till about wednesday of next week.

So I got a few days to decide.......I would need a stand for the motor, I got a large set of metric and standard tools, wrenches and sockets among other tools.

Do any of you have a list of "special tools" needed? Maybe a rough price range for these tools.

GHL makes the only C.A.R.B. [California Air Resources Board] legal
header system and it looks quite nice. The 'kit' comes with headers,
2 cats, cat pipes and muffler. It is all stainless, too.
drums
'89 3.2 [soon to be 3.4]

Get Wayne's book. It has all the tools in there and an example what machinework and parts will run. Wayne also tells you what tools you can improvise or make your own. The engine yoke and the cam holder tool are about the only things that cost a chunk of change. All the other tools are cheap or easily improviesed for.

George

edit:

Ok, from the top of my head, may not be complete or correct on price, but that's all I could think of. Roughly $500. You may have some of these (torque wrench? engine stand?) already. Also, try to borrow the more expensive tools!

Engine yoke: $200
Engine stand (cheap generic): $50
Cam holding tool: $75
P204 tensioner holding tool: $25
Z bar for dial indicator: $30
Metric dial indicator (ebay): $30
Valve adjust feeler gauge tool w/ stock: $20
Straight edge (align cam sprockets with intermediate shaft sprockets) : $30 at your local tool store.
Long 8mm allen head tool: $20
Torque wrench: $80
caliper: $20 on ebay. Mitutoyo is nice.

Hum......I'm on the fence!

It boils down to the question if you rather spend money or time.

George

LOL - I'm limited on both, but I am thinking of the pride and braging rights when I can say I built my "PORSCHE" motor

I think you're mechanic is very expensive, and is probably charging you too much, based upon what you said here.

$2500 is a pretty good estimate of the charge to rebuild an engine. Add about $250 more to R&R the engine/trans, and add a few more dollars if they are doing anything else while in there (like replacing the sound pad).

-Wayne

BRJ, if you decide to do it yourself I can help. I've BTDT and have some of the custom tools necessary (but my cam tools are the earlier style).
Onliest problem is, I'm very limited on time so I couldn't get over there very often or burn too many hours. My wife and family don't like the concept of "spare time" ;)

Wayne:

What's that in hours? 25?

Shops around here seem to charge a weeks labor. 40h for a full rebuild. That's what Anderson quotes too, IIRC. So, in the Bay Area, you are looking at 4k labor!

George

Two shops [Stockton, Modesto, Ca.] gave me a price of $8,000 and
$6,000 respectively, for a top end rebuild. Don't forget boys, California
loves to wring the max tax out of each of us with business paying the
lions' share. Of course, we pay the tax for the businesses by paying
higher prices for goods and services.
drums

BRJ: Since prices in CA are expensive, how about pulling the engine yourself, crating it and shipping it out of state? That's about $250.

Two places I can think of to send the engine, but still leave it on the West Coast are John Walker's Workshop (WA.) and Uncle Zak (ORE). Either one should do a very nice job and add power to boot.