Can it be done?
 

Hello to all,

I have a 1980 911 sc with the 3.2 euro motor. Bought it 1 year ago knowing it needed some work and I am now ready to go. I would like to do the rebuild myself. This is a dream car for me, it is exactly what I have always wanted. I have very limited engine overhaul experience. My main profession is Auto Body Repair. Paintless Dent Repair to be exact. I have a well lit shop with plenty of space. I have some tools but not all I will need I'm sure. Have alot of desire to do this however and am very eager to get started. Bought a few books and have been reading into the whole procedure. I took the car to a well known Porsche mechanic in the area and he found %100 leakage in cylinder #1. The engine has been rebuilt before but not a good job. The car runs pretty good considering but burns oil like crazy! So I know for sure I am looking to do a valve job-minimal. Maybe more.

Is it possible for me to do this?

Possible, yes.
Easy, not so easy, challenging.
Buy books first and then decide. Wayne's book, Bruce Anderson's book, factory manuals that cover the engine.

Search this forum over and over. Look at pictures of rebuilds. See what the internals look like, the good and the bad. A good chunk of the work can be sent to the machine shop. Depending on the machinist you can have him order all the pertinent parts that you will need. Sized main and rod bearings, studs, rings, whatever he deems necessary. Find a competent machinist that has done plenty of Porsche motors and run with it.

I say do it yourself. Cheers

Would ditto everybody else. I did a complete rebuild of my '75, including paint and everything. Am now on my '89, will rebuild everything on this one as well.

I found that patience, reading, willing to ask people when you don't know, being prepared to do stuff over when it turns out less than you want is the secret. The hours I spend poring over Pelican or various books and manuals, looking for pictures and descriptions all contribute to the knowlege base in my thick head and make your project more than possible.

Dennis

It can be done. Read as many books as possible- Wayne's engine book, Bentley, etc. Take notes as to where things go, pictures, and be neat and organized. Also put major assemblies together as they are taken apart, and mark things so that you know where they go back several months later. Also take your estimate of cost and most likely double it to account for unknown problems that you find!!
Good luck

Thanks everyone for the confidence. I plan on reading a few books in the upcoming weeks and doing alot of research. I will be on this forum quite a bit I expect, looking for help so please keep an eye out for my postings. Merry Christmas!

I'm in the middle of my first rebuild right now and have found it enjoyable with the help of Wayne's books, a friendly helpful machine shop, and a couple of buddies that know a thing or two about engines.

Without any of the the three above it would be a lot harder.

Be prepared to spend a few bucks on the proper tools if you don't already have them and if you budget $2000 be prepared to spend $3000

Good luck

Brian

I did my rebuild last year and am having withdrawal this year not having anything do do with the car during the winter. I had all my machine work done and everything else I did myself. Biggest tip I can give you is to double check everything you do and everything that you get back from the machinists to make sure everything is right. Also take as many pictures as you can. I ended up with around 400 pictures and used them several times while putting things back together and to confirm I installed my things correctly after everything was together. Have fun:cool:

You can do it! You've got a garage, desire , resources (this forum). Buy Wayne's book, take your time, take alot of pics and take notes.

If you view yourself as even moderately "mechanically inclined," you certainly can do it.

My first 911 engine work came before the days of Wayne's fine books or Anderson or Bentley or Streather, and factory manuals were very expensive and you needed six of them to work on anything later than a '69 or so. I didn't know about the little white factory spec books. So I used the dreaded Haynes.

Started with pulling the heads after a missed shift on the track. Later got to splitting the case.

I did have some background: lawn mower engine when a kid, fussing with flathead fords, and later rebuilding a couple of VW motors. The VW was good background, though the 911 head/cam part is a bit more complicated and very much more time consuming. So I like doing this stuff (though not having to do it too often), and it saves money. My wife says it is because I am cheap, but in fact I could not have afforded to get so bitten by the Porsche bug had I paid to have the mechanic (as opposed to the machine shop) segments of the work done by a shop.

So for sure you can do it - you probably have a digital camera, so you won't fret about the cost of Polaroid film. Quite helpful. You can acquire, at what really is a modest cost, a very useful library dealing with this aimed squarely at you. And on top of it you can get all sorts of help (or just confirmation of what you think you should do) from this and other internet lists/fora.

It won't matter, because you will have at a minimum to pull the heads off to deal with a 100% leakage in just one of them (well, you could just pull the cam stuff off the one side, and only pull the one head under it, I suppose), but did your mechanic tell you where the air was leaking out? That is one of the valuable parts of a leakdown - is it coming out the exhaust (exhaust valves are more prone to get bent or burnt), the intake, or past really bad rings or a hole in a piston into the crank case. You can usually differentiate between the three by listening to where the air is leaking. If he didn't tell you, you might ask him. You'll find what is wrong when you get in there, but normal curiosity suggests anticipating when you can.

The standard issue with the 3.2 engine is valve guide wear. That tends to manifest itself through excessive oil consumption, not massive air leaks. So guys ponder how long to live with it. That might be part of your oil consumption issue independent of whatever is causing the bad leakdown.

So shoot yes - go for it.

Walt Fricke

Yes, you can do it. I'm of below average mechanical aptitude and I've done a bunch. You should edit your profile to show your location. You may live next door to someone who would be willing to help you/loan you tools. (Click on the small "User CP" button just below the "Free Shipping" at the top of this page.)
-Chris

Walt, Porsche Mechanic said it is going to be either a bent or broken valve. Smoke comes out of exhaust. To everyone -Thanks for the confidence. Have 5k set aside for the job and am hoping this will be good enough but you never know. I am trying to expect the worst. I will be removing the engine in early January. Please let me know if anyone knows something more to do than what is in Waynes book for removal. I live in Loveland Colorado so if I can get any local help it would be great. I also need to find a good machine shop. Thanks again.

Bill

Check with local machine shopsto see if they have any Porsche experience, but you may be better off shipping to someone who does nothing else. You'll pay for shipping, but you won't have to pay $75.00 an hour for them to set up their machines because a specialist is already set up, not to mention they already know all of the tricks and problems.
Ollie's in Santa Ana, CA only does Porsche stuff, and I've had great experiences there.
There are pleny of others I'm sure someone can recommend.

The VW experience is worthwhile if you can get it. I found that there is always something not covered by a book. You have to make a judgement call when that happens. Or, you can come here and ask. The disassembly pics are a must. Don't lose any parts. ;)

A case in point: I needed some fan bolts for a Type IV VW engine. Someone said he had them and would send them. They turned out to be the 8mm bolts from the early axles and looked very much the part. Until they screwed ever so gently into my crank seal because they were 4mm too long. When I turned the motor over by hand, I ruined my new seal. You can't buy these off the shelf, they are an odd length between the normal lengths available. With none to compare to, I screwed up.

Don't lose any parts.