Solo first engine drop
 

I am proud to announce that I have just done my first engine drop, and it was done solo. Thanks to the great tech articles and discussions on this site.

I am dropping the engine to fix an oil leak
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/193753-help-me-find-source-leak.html

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1108818033.jpg

(thats my cheer squad saluting the fine job)

I will post lots more pictures as I tear down the engine for the rebuild..

Steve

Great time to get rid of those thermal injectors!

Looks like some real professional techs there!

What did you use to lower it. I see a jack but that would be risky solo.

I dropped the engine and transmission together, that way I could use two jacks and alternately lower them. One under the engine and one under the transmission. Doing this I could easily keep the trasmission input shaft in the hole in the body until I was ready to pull the unit forward.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1108853475.jpg

If you look closely you can see the smaller trolley jack forward of the large one at the rear.

(In addition to the two large axel stands under the jack points. I had 4 backup stands positioned under the rear of the floorplan in case the car fell off a jack stand. (Can never be too safe).

It was very stable the whole way. I certainly would have had concerns using a single jack , I am confident that the same method will be able to reinstall the engine and transmission.

I bought an air compressor and impact wrench just for the CV bolts. Boy I am glad I did, it was a breeze getting them out with this.

Sorry to show my ignorance but what is a thermal injector?

Unless I am mistaken - it's the spaghetti web of hoses in this pic:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads4/leak11101281478.jpg

They shoot hot air into the heads as an emissions reduction measure- no idea how well they work in that regard. But they do indeed EXCEL at killing engines. Most people rip all that equipment out and stick plugs in the heads. Definitely something to consider when you rebuild.

Great Job, I love the photo of the relieved mechanics! Good luck rebuilding..., taking the engine in and out is the hardest part!

Great job. If it's your first engine drop it's just awesome seeing all that hardware just descending out of the car. I reckon the 911 is the easiest car to take an engine out of (other than an old VW). Yes you can get get rid of some useless weight be removing the air injection pump and all that pipe work from a 930. You can get some allen head bolts to seal up the ports in the heads where the air injection pipes attach. I gave my pipe work to a mate who's going to use it for an antilag setup he's building.

Cheers

Unfortunately I have an emissions test to pass after I put the vehicle back together. I passed a test one week before I dropped the engine but failed on the count of the oil leak. So I will have to leave the secondary air injection plumbing intact for now.

On that note my CO was 1.5% before (within limits) if I re-ring while I have the cylinders off how much will that affect the emissions while the new rings are breaking in?

How long did the drop take you? I'm doing mine in a few weeks and I'm trying to get a feel for the length of time involved.

I think you are confusing thermal reactors with air injectors.

These injectors are where the air from the air pump is added to the exhaust to reduce the unburned hydrocarbons in the exhaust.

There is no detriment to the engine besides the weight of the equipment and the power used by the pump. The problem with thermal reactors was due to having a red hot reactor manifold bolted directly to the heads of an air cooled motor. Air injection and a catalytic converter was a much wiser replacement for them.

I guess I should mention that the injectors caused a problem on my motor since the PO's shop only blocked off the system but didn't remove the injectors. My tweaked 930 managed to melt off the tips of a couple of my injectors since they no longer had any cool air flowing through them.

Unfortunately on their way out of the exhaust system they did a bit of damage to my turbine blades. It was nothing catastophic since my car was still making good boost numbers before tear down but my K27 will be getting a new turbine wheel due to the damage done.

I am a bit embarresed to say that the drop took three days, mainly because I was planning to drop the engine alone but couldn't undo the 10mm engine/transmission hex nut hidden behind the starter. I spent a good 3 hours trying to get this nut undone to no avail. So I went out and bought an air compressor and impact wrench and in 5 minutes had the CV joints off and swaybar removed. I probably put 10 hours of work in. Now that I have done it once I could do it again in a quarter of the time.

Thanks for the clarification. I have a Euro 930 without the catalytic converter. Are you saying that I should remove the secondary air injection system and air pump, or that doing so will create a problem. Also

I am not sure I understand this as I can only see the exhaust manifold bolted to the heads.

350HP930 I have been avidly following your engine rebuild thread keep up the good work.SmileWavy

Thermal reactors were restrictive cast iron looking manifolds that were only used in the 70s. If you have a turbo from the late 70s or 80s you just have a nice set of factory headers.

Thanks for the compliment BTW. I should have a chance to get some more work done next weekend so I should have some updates posted soon.

Just curious, what emissions test do you have in NSW?

I have never heard of any, but then I have only just moved back to Australia.

Fred

NSW is our California... No other state in Oz has emission testing.

Steve, betcha wished you'd moved to Qld now? :D

In order to get an engineer's report for the issuing of a blue slip the vehicle has to comply with the ADR's in existance at the time of manufacture. That means my 1988 Turbo has to meet the Design rules in existance in 1988. In NSW that means that it must have a catalytic converter OR meet the emission limits specified. It passed the emission test but failed due to an oil leak. It is scheduled to redo the tests on 8 Mar and there are only 2 testing stations in NSW.

John YES YES I wish I had stayed in QLD, but Maracoonda after 11 months had still not completed the Right Hand Drive conversion! I had to take the vehicle from them and get the work finished in NSW (I had bought a business down here). Needless to say I should not have paid upfront for the job.

I just did an engine drop and struggled with that pesky starter bolt just as you did. I left it to nearly last so I could lower the engine\tranny a bit to make room for a mirror, wrenches and my hands. It was nearly easy at that point...

That starter bolt isn't too bad if you drop the engine and tranny together but what a pain it is to change a bad starter.
Man, that would fail a lot of cars if enforced here. :eek: