starting a 917 first time in 30 years...

JFairman · 01-07-2009, 12:46 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU0r99fyD0U&NR=1

old friends at Gunnar Porsche.

304065 · 01-07-2009, 01:04 PM

Kevin's a smart, experienced guy, but I would have more than one fireman with a little Kidde 5# extinguisher standing by for that procedure. That said, there were a ton of guys around, many pairs of eyes to watch for oil leaks, electrical smoke, etc. I think that is Andy with the white hair watching the electrical panel up front.

What are they doing at the end, are certain injectors not putting out?

Great video. For most engines that have sat for 30 years I would tear them down, but for a 917. . . well, there's much to be said for getting it to run if it can, avoid a $100K rebuild. I'm sure they changed the oil .

You can really hear the whine of the double CD boxes.

JFairman · 01-07-2009, 09:02 PM

..they have it running pretty good now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxCbd...?id=1039737930

Yeah, thats Andy Jenson with the white hair. I have many fond memories from the 4 years I worked there in the mid eightee's. Lots of itchy memories of grinding fiberglass on 904's too. . . .

Looks like Kevin is tapping on a mechanical injector, maybe it wasn't opening at first, and another guy is maybe snugging the line on it later.
Keven said those motors were supposed to be rebuilt after somewhere around 100 starts or heat cycles.

The gear driven flat fan makes a whine too.

Henry Schmidt · Henry Schmidt's Garage

Cool video.

It's easy to criticize any procedure from the couch and that is not my intent. I am just adding some thoughts for those of you who might face a similar situation in the future.

The tapping is the result of Kevin seeing air bubbles in the clear fuel line. After sitting for year, the injection pump gums up and the pistons that pump fuel to each cylinder will become stuck. This produces bubbles in the line. My guess is that they ended up pulling the injector and having them flushed. The pump will likely need the same.

If I were there, I would have pulled the pump linkage and manipulated the pump by hand. This would have precluded the need for spaying ether in the injection. This is a fire hazard and can be very dangerous. It also tends to flush any grime that may be in the stack directly into the slides making future sticking a real possibility.
There is also generaly an enrichment lever on the pump that they may not have activated.

1982911SCTarga · 01-08-2009, 06:06 AM

Funny, I was worried when I first fired up my cabriolet's 3.0 after I rebuilt it, even after doing all kinds of system testing beforehand. I also had my son standing by with the fire extinguisher with instructions to shoot first and ask questions later. We ended up having zero drama.

However, I can't imagine firing a 917 engine up for the first time after a long rest.

Brian