3.2L motor rebuild finished

[preston_brown]

I finished the motor tonight. It took me 10 months, but I managed to finish before the end of the year. With luck, it will be in the car tomorrow afternoon, and I'll even be driving the car again before 2008.

I want to give a big thank you to everyone who has helped me, everyone on this board is very free with their time and advice, and I know it really helped cut down on my rebuild time and number of errors or incorrect choices I made.

Now, the before and after pictures that some people asked I post when I started the teardown back in February.

[hcoles]

congrates... it's a great feeling to fire the thing up and have no funny noises...

[Henry Schmidt]

Looks like a job well done.
Cheers

[gigem75]

Happy New Motor Year!

[JeremyD]

Good for you Preston - I have watched your rebuild from a distance and applaud your efforts.

[peppy]

Way to go Preston!! I am saving to start my rebuild now.

[efhughes3]

Congratulations, I know your exact feeling! Good luck on the install and her first drive.

[Rick Chip]

Looks good, have fun with it

[rockinseattle]

WOW!!! that looks awsome.

What books did you use and if you don't mind me asking what was the over all cost of the rebuild?

[preston_brown]

Here's the moment of triumph! Thanks again to all who have helped me out. I only see one very minor oil leak after 30 minutes, and that is at the joint of the hard oil line behind the motor and the large line to the thermostat. That was a bear of a line to remove for me initially and I may have slightly damaged the nut. One drop after my initial break-in.

The white stuff you can see flying around in the video is the packing from the M&K muffler flying out. It sure did eject a lot of the stuff. But it sounds good! You can also see a lot of oil and paint cooking off the motor. Smelled pretty crappy.

To rockinseattle: I used Wayne's engine rebuild book, my well-worn Bentley shop manual, and the vast on-line resources here at Pelican Parts, especially the collective Porsche Knowledge that so many forum visitors have. I couldn't have done it without these things. Cost for the rebuild was on the low end of the spectrum because I did all the disassembly and assembly myself. Rebuild costs vary so much but there is a good breakdown of machining and parts prices in the Engine Rebuild book. Be prepared to open your wallet to the tune of several thousand dollars at least, even if you are able to reuse some thing and do your own work.

I'm off to change the oil and then take my first drive in almost a year. What a great New Year's present!