MM strikes again.

[DByers]

Mosquito66 - We have monthly meetings in no-name bars across the country where we shed a tear into our drinks and hope that our MM rebuilds will last a little longer. We have found in our recovery methods that you need to drive the piss out of that thing! Dont be afraid to hit the rev limiter, after warm up, when ever you can! I have a little 30min route I take when I go somewhere in my Stay Puff, if I dont blow the engine, then we are good to go. If I do, Im only 3-4 miles from home and an easy tow. Like I said, mine is over 4 years and running fine. I havent won the lotto yet so maybe all my good karma was taken up with my MM rebuild.

[edbaus]

You wanted some good feedback.

I have had work done by them. Never a whole motor (I am too cheep for that).

They did all the machine work on my first race motor (a 2.2) and the machine work on the top end rebuild of my 79 turbo (pulling over 400 Hp).

The turbo spun a rod at Mid-O last year after the rebuild, but that was my fault for not wanting to go that deep into the motor (I did mension I was cheep, right?)

Both went fine. May be different because I can see what is going into my motor before it does.

Ed Baus
GT4s (working on motor 3, a 2.15L turbo)

[Zeke]

Syncriod, have you "driven" that motor? I'm new to this rebuild forum, but I do know that some rings won't break in unless pushed. However, at 5K, it might be too late.

Chris Campbell (campbellcj) had a MM motor and it was OK while he had it including some track days. (He has sold a car and replaced with a 914/6, so I don't know the outcome.)

mosquito, don't fret, enjoy the car. If it happens, it happens. If you let all this get under your skin, you will never be happy.

OK, here's a total noob's take on this: If the problem that made a particular motor go bad is not found and taken care of, that problem will very likely reoccur. It's not absolute in every case that a problem like that ever existed. What made you take your motor to them in the first place? Catasrophic failure or just worn out? Now, the scary part is not getting your own parts back in your motor. If you had a serviceable crank and were given something else with a hidden problem, now you have the problem. This alone would keep me away. But maybe that didn't happen and the motor will run on for a long time.

In my own case, I built 2 really nice Type IV 914 motors and lost them both. Why? First one was a carburetor issue (long story) and the next one was due to too much distributor advance. That 2nd one was clearly my mistake. I know what I did, how I did it and learned a lesson. Fortunately, it was not that expensive as far as just the motor goes. It was put back together for a few hundred and lives today in another car.

I'm not a supporter of MM and won't go there, but they are in a difficult business. Most shops install the motor they rebuilt and see to its proper tuning. Once a MM motor leaves the shop, they have no control over what happens next. I would submit that the majority of their customers are DIYers trying to save a buck. That right there says a lot.

[syncroid]

Zeke, Yes. The car has been driven. (quite a bit) This is not the first MM motor that was put in that particular car either. BTW, The first motor and the current smoker were both built AND installed by MM.
The story I am sticking to is "You get what you are willing to pay for... If you want it cheap... beware"

Oh yeah one more thing. That is not my car. Thank goodness!

[edbaus]

OK,

One more thing.

911's leak oil into the cylinders when they sit.

The more oil in the oil tank, the more pressure on the rings, the more that they leak into the cylinders when they sit.

Now, I am not going to sit here and say, are you sure that you have the right about of oil in the car and that it is not overfilled. Because we all know that you check the oil at normal operating conditions with the motor running.

But, no one says that you need to have the oil right at the top of the dipstick all of the time.

You have 12 - 13 quarts for God's sake. If you keep the oil down towards the bottom end of the level on the dip stick you should smoke less, or not at all.

Also, I have heard that there is a drainback problem with some cars that make it so that the crank case fills up with oil when it is sitting instead of it staying in the oil tank.

Maybe the smoking is not the rebuild. Have you done a leakdown to see how that goes. If you have good leakdown, then the smoke is not the rings.

Ed Baus
GT4s