Another 3.6->3.8 Rebuild Thread...
 

Here we go! Time to update the leaky cylinder to head sealing on my oil sieve of a '90 3.6 in the '87 with some RSR 3.8 P&C, 3.6 RS Cams, bigger intake valves, headwork, casework and new DME tuning on the Euro Varioram. This thread will document the work so others may comment on mistakes I am about to make, and keep the progress up front so I don't get lazy :)

Chris

Today's work was extraction and basic strip. Total time 4 hours.

Its out of the car...
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1140407178.jpg

Get the G-50 off
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1140407201.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1140407218.jpg

Attach to engine stand
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1140407265.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1140407293.jpg

Strip to long block
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1140407314.jpg

I'll be watching Chris. You're a brave man to be starting on such a cold weekend. I didn't see any heat in that garage either. I'd like to stop over sometime & check on your progress.

Ambient temperature 28 degrees F, no heat on yesterday. Those surgical gloves are nice and cozy though :)

Local area Pelicanites new (Like Larry - Welcome!) and old are invited to stop by and see the carnage.

Chris

Chris,

My dog watches me work in the garage just like yours are doing in the photo. You're going to be throwing a pile of $$ at that engine rebuild aren't ya. Good for you. I will be watching. Will you be doing some work on the G50 also?

Have fun!

Michel

forget the 3.8 conversion unless you are going to go mad with the spec.

Buy Ninemeisters new 993 billet heads. They will see you on your way to 360bhp from 3.6L.

Michel - Right now I plan to only freshen the syncro's on lower gears in the G-50, and check the condition of the Limited Slip

red964 - I will take a look at the heads from Ninemeisters, but I suspect they will be out of my budget (yes, there is a budget and it involves how I can make selling spares in ebay and the Pelican For Sale board). I got a set of 3.8 RSR Pistons and Barrels in 964 style at a reasonable price, hence the 3.8 upgrade...

OK, the straigth dope from ninemeister on the heads is

"the 9m Heads on a 964 with Motec will also make gains, as they did on my race engine in taking it from 392 to 415bhp with no other modifications"

And since I am already starting with the 964 heads, the gains from the billet heads do not make up for the very high cost. And this a street engine at the end of the day, so cams cannot be outrageous.

Another afternoon
 

This time with warmer temps. At the end of the 3 hour spread, the long block was down to 2 studs, a cam housing and a stubborn front pulley (need to get or make a tool to remove this, and that is proving somewhat difficult). Most of the studs were not too bad, I used a Facom stud remover right on the threads (I am not saving these of course) although some mild case heating was required and the use of the pipe wrench was common~!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141603375.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141603404.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141603436.jpg

Here is what the heads look like fresh off the engine:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141603539.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141603556.jpg

The factory manual mentions that you should cover the rods where they stick out of the case with a bit of hose.
Otherwise the rods can bang up the spigot sealing surface.
I used some clear hose from Home Despot.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141604594.jpg
-Chris

Thanks Chris, I have some of those and will be using them when I start rotating the engine again, that will be just before I try removing the front pulley :)

Chris

Shameless Financing Plug...

I'm selling quite a few cool Porsche related items on ebay at the moment, to finance this rebuild. You might want to peek
http://motors.search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcbracerx

User cbracerx, what else :)

Chris

First, a big thanks for all the folks who bought items I had on ebay, this is a big help. I promise to spend it on the engine :)

Today I got a few tools from Baum, including the crank pulley removal tool. Got the pulley off (finally!) and pulled the right side cam housing and final two studs. So now I have this:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1142627431.jpg

So I am ready to split the case! Maybe sometime this weekend I will get a few hours...

Chris, I need your phone number. I may be around New Hope this weekend. PM or E-mail me.

Some more progress
 

Yesterday the two year old took a two hour nap. I got the case split and took the rods off, did a rudimentary cleaning of the case. Also removed the heads from the cam towers. No bad surprises so far. I have some main bearing wear, and the nose bearing looks reusable at this point. Once the P&C appear in my mailbox I can get all these items to the machine shop and get the real work done.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1142784216.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1142784291.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1142784318.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1142784344.jpg

Today's Nap :)
 

Pulled all the bearing shells and inspected. Got the case stud holes chased with a bottom tap (amazing amount of junk in there from loctite). Pulled the air deflection studs and chased all external threaded holes in case. Put the machine shop "packages" together (heads, rockers and shafts, rods, case and crank). All I need now are the P&C so I can kick off the next phase. While that is going on I will clean the remaining items and gather parts as needed. Inspection shows that the crank will benefit from being polished, so that is certainly getting done. I'll leave the potential (I think unlikely) for a line bore to the machine shop. Anyone care to decode the bearing part numbers? If I am right, this engine has never been apart before, so they should be std/std...


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1142804571.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1142804592.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1142804618.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1142804642.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1142804679.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1142804701.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1142804714.jpg

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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1142804772.jpg

Very nice! Any time I see Porsche part numbers on the bearings, I typically think the engine has not been apart before, and yours looks like it has a date code. Is your motor a '91 with a VarioRam 993 intake?

Best,
Scott

Scott, my leaky motor is a '90 with a '98 vram intake, euro DME and 993 HE.

After this little "rebuild" is done it will be a street version of the 964 RSR engine, without the fancy individual throttle bodies.

Chris

First Disappointment
 

After a long wait, the 3.8 RSR Pistons, Cylinders and rings arrived. Pistons were all I was expecting (which is easy since they are new)! However, three of the cylinders have signficant scratches :( http://forums.pelicanparts.com/911-engine-rebuilding-forum/273486-used-cylinders-scratches-make-them-junk.html#post2487290 So I have contacted the seller and asked him to make amends. If he unwilling to replace them, then I suggested returning the cylinders and keeping the pistons. Does the use of Nikies instead of the factory part give anyone pause?

Chris

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1143328573.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1143328583.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1143328593.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1143328607.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1143328617.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1143328632.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1143328642.jpg

To answer your question, those particular Nickies are set up at 102.00mm, which if I go by the 101.94 shown in the picture, would give you .0023" total p/c clearance, which is at the upper limit of the .0025" that I like to run; typically I set up a JE (which expands more btw) with .0015" total p/c clearance. Not to say that a set couldn't be plated and match honed.

Thanks Charles, I am also considering sending LN these cylinders and having them redone, what are your thoughts there?
Chris