964 3.6 rebuild

[ischmitz]

Well, you might think of investing into a set of special beefy open end wrenches that are used on brake lines and stubborn things like the O2 sensor. They look like a boxed wrench with a small opening to fit over the nut. They would get it out in no time and as and added bonus you'll have nice tools.

In case of the O2 sensor you might even use a beefy boxed wrench and a good-ole breaker bar by feeding the O2 bung through the wrench.

Cheers,
Ingo

[kirkf]

Ingo,

I have a set of line wrenches, but not one big enough for the O2 sensor. I should probably invest in one of those O2 sensor sockets with provision for the wire. Maybe next weekend.

Cheers,

Kirk

[CBRacerX]

unless you buy a really high quality one - the O2 sensor sockets are a waste of money - beware

[ischmitz]

what about an old-fashioned boxed wrench - the bung should fit through it, right?

[CBRacerX]

Originally posted by ischmitz
what about an old-fashioned boxed wrench - the bung should fit through it, right?

Yes, that works very well as long as you can get the plug end thru the wrench (22mm I recall)

[kirkf]

The oil pipe between the oil reservoir and the oil filter was broken, so I had to remove the oil reservoir and the thermostat housing to replace it. (The oil line runs behind the resrvoir)

These oil lines are a PITA. As I was taking mine off I remembered the other posts I had seen where people were destroying the pipes as they progressed. Even if you get the flare fitting to turn, chances are the pipe is just twisting.

Also the rubber bungs that the oil reservoir and the thermostat housing are attached to are pretty hard to salvage. I ended up having to drill out three bolts, 2 for the oil reservoir and one on the thermostat housing.
Also none of the short rubber tubes for the reservoir were worth keeping.

I painted the reservoir tank with POR 15, and I'm making up a new parts order for the broken oil lines, sealing washers, etc.
I think I may have managed to save the long oil pipes from the oil cooler back. I had to disconnect the one pipe at the front of the car and take it off the thermostat housing by allowing the whole pipe to spin.

Kirk

[kirkf]

I received the rocker arms and new WEVO engine mounts this weekend.


However, when the rocker arms were shipped back, they forgot to ship the rocker arm shaft assemblies, so work on the motor has stopped.


I also received the replacement brake caliper bolts from Fastenal.

Blah.

Kirk

[CBRacerX]

Looks like a messy operation, but the patient will live

[kirkf]

I have been working out of town alot lately, so work has slowed down to a crawl. And the work I have been getting done has been stopped a every turn it seems.

1. I figured I would put together the oil system to get it off my garage floor and out of the way. I replaced the aluminum sealing rings on the fittings in the thermostat housing, and proceeded to try and install the oil lines to the front radiator. Sadly it looks like one of the lines was unuseable after all. So I gave up and ordered two new lines from porsche. Lesson learned: 17 year old oil lines are more fight than their worth. Just give up from the start and replace them.
2. I ordered the wrong sealing rings for the fittings on the oil filter housing, so I had to reorder those from porsche.
3. I did manage to spend a couple of hours figuring out where the rest of the small hoses, etc go on the oil tank.

And thats where I gave up on the oil system.

Kirk

[CBRacerX]

Hang in there, this is the real character building stuff

[kirkf]

And now for the real stuff.
Cam timing.

I started by laying out the rocker arms, shafts, shaft seals, and adjusters. I cleaned them all with brake clean, put assembly lube on the parts, mounted the adjusters on the rockers, and put the RS seals on the rocker shafts. (These are small rubber seals used as as additional insurance against oil leaks.)

I don't know whether these work or not, and there has certainly been some heated debate on Pelican about their use. My theory was that I paid for them and they were going in.

I did notice when installing the rocker arm shafts that some of these seals were 'shaved' by the sharp edges of the bores.

Kirk

[kirkf]

Axl911 (Anthony) did such a great job of documenting the cam timing procedure in his rebuild thread I thought I would borrow it and use it here, and add a series of pictures to go with the steps. The text below is his (and I might add a note here or there))

Cam timing
To set timing for Cylinder 1.
1. Rotate the pulley so Z1 mark is lined up with the case parting line.

2. Install cylinder 1 intake rocker.

3. Install some sort of tensioner device on the chain. I used a generic steering wheel puller. (I bought two small pullers for $8 each, they worked perfectly)

4. Make sure both cams have the dots pointed straight UP. Draw a line from the dot through the center of the cam will make it easier to see the dot is pointed straight up. (the dots on my cam shafts were not as accurate as using the keyed slot on the camshaft)

5. Put the pin into the cam sprocket where the holes line up. Do this for both sides. You can put the cam sprocket bolt in or not. Leaving it out makes it easier to see how the dot moves. (Put the pins in with the hole facing outward, if you put it in backwards you can use a small magnet to remove the pin, i think it is better to have the bolt installed, but not torqued.)

6. Adjust the cylinder #1 intake valve clearance to .1mm like you normally do in valve adjustment. (Be accuracte with this step)

7. Mount your dial gauge on cylinder #1 intake. And set it to zero value.

8. Rotate the crank pulley clockwise almost 360 degrees. As you approach the Z1 again you will notice the dial begin to move. Only rotate CLOCKWISE!!!!

9. Continue to rotate clockwise until the gauge moved 1.26mm or .05 inch. STOP.

10. Is the Z1 mark lined up with the case parting line? If not, use a small screw to remove the pin on the left side cam. Rotate the crank pulley until the Z1 mark is lined up with the case parting line.

11. Now put the pin back into the cam sprocket where the holes line up.

12. Double check by rotating the crank pulley 720 degrees. By the time the Z1 comes around for the second time, when the Z1 is lined up with the crank pulley, your dial gauge should have moved 1.26mm or .05 inch.

13. You are done with cylinder #1. Don’t move anything.

14. If it takes more than 360 degrees to get the dial gauge to move 1.26mm, then you either don’t have the cam dot pointed straight up at the beginning or you did not adjust your cylinder 1 valve clearance properly.

Kirk

[kirkf]

Pictures Continued:

[kirkf]

Continuing with Axls procedure:

Now to set timing for Cylinder 4.
1. After completing the last step in setting timing for cylinder 1, the dot on the right cam should be pointed straight DOWN.

2. Install cylinder 4 intake rocker.

3. Install some sort of tensioner device on the chain. I used a generic steering wheel puller.

4. Adjust the cylinder 4 intake valve clearance to .1mm like you normally do in valve adjustment.

5. Mount your dial gauge on cylinder 4 intake. And set it to zero value.

6. Rotate the crank pulley clockwise almost 360 degrees. As you approach the Z1 again you will notice the dial begin to move.
7. Continue to rotate clockwise until the gauge moved 1.26mm or .05 inch. STOP.

8. Is the Z1 mark lined up with the case parting line? If not, use a small screw to remove the pin on the RIGHT side cam. Rotate the crank pulley until the Z1 mark is lined up with the case parting line.

9. Put the pin back into the cam sprocket where the holes line up.

10. Double check by rotating the crank pulley 720 degrees. By the time the Z1 comes around for the second time, when the Z1 is lined up with the crank pulley, your dial gauge should have moved 1.26mm or .05 inch.

11. You are done!!!

12. If it takes more than 360 degrees to get the dial gauge to move 1.26mm, then you either don’t have the cam dot pointed straight up at the beginning or you did not adjust your cylinder 4 valve properly. (My dots were not in line with my keyed shafts and it caused me some problems on the right side timing.)

Then torque both cam gears to 88 ft/lbs.

*** I remember a thread this year where someone had their cam gear alignment pin fall out and the cam gear spun, causing severe engine damage. At the time it was mentoned that this should be impossible because the cam bolt and its washer hold the pin in place. I noticed on my engine this is not necessarily true. If you use the correct cam holding tool, it will ensure the washer adequately covers the pin, more so if you tighten the bolt with the gear aligned with the pin at the bottom of the gear, however it is certainly possible to put this bolt/washer in, and not cover the pin, allowing it to fall out in the future. If you used some other method than the porsche tool to hold the cam gear while tightening the bolt, it would be easy to have no coverage of the pin. ***

Kirk

[kirkf]

Next I installed the #1 & #4 intake and exhaust rocker arms. I tightened the valve lash until there was no gap, and then turned the intake adjusters in 1.5 turns and the exhaust adjusters in 2 turns.
Then I VERY carefully rotated the engine to make sure there was adequate valve/piston clearance.

I wasnt really worried about this, or I would have used a less hazardous technique.

Kirk

[kirkf]

I installed the cam chain tensioners. I used a little Curil T on the gasket.

A funny story: I was installing the left side tensioner when the phone rang. I had the nuts and the washers just started on both sides. I was on the phone not facing the engine, when I heard a clink and something like the sound of dropping a penny down a pipe. Looking at the motor I realised one of the nuts and washers had popped off from the spring tension... And in my head it just didn't sound like it had hit the floor. I stared for about 10 minutes searching for the nut and washer, and they were nowhere to be found... My eyes kept coming back to the open hole for the distributor. I stuffed magnets etc down there and found nothing, and kept searching the floor and other parts of the motor, finally I decided that it must have somehow flipped through the air and made a perfect landing down that hole. I rotated the motor over, and shook it madly. I could hear the parts moving in the engine, but I couldnt locate the noise. Finally after about 45 minutes of searching, rotating the motor and shaking, the nut and washer dropped out of the distributor hole. Imagine if I hadn't caught that little oopsie! Lesson: Even the most unlikely hole needs to be plugged while assembling an engine.

Tensioner Picture Also 'borrowed' from Axls thread.


Kirk

[kirkf]

...

[kirkf]

I dissassembled the cam housing oil line bridges and replaced the black O-rings. (I lubed these up with dow corning 111 O ring lube before installing them) and I replaced the small red O-rings on the chain case.

[kirkf]

Next I installed the rest of the rocker arms.
And the temperature sensor.

When you install the distributor the rotor should be centered on the notch on the distributor base. (Engine set at Z1 TDC for #1 cylinder)

Kirk

[CBRacerX]

Hot Damm! You are making great progress, and providing more excellent images.