Steve's Rebuild

[87 clubsport]

Day 1 - 2

After all life is short. Both my sons will be graduating in the near future so I thought it would be time to have some fun. I started to rebuild my engine due to a 70% leak on my #2 cylinder. Here's a little background on the car: It's a 87 3.2 Carrera with 105K miles.



With the help of my friend, Nelson (top), who was a former Porsche chief mechanic back in Hong Kong, we started taking her apart to start the project. Myself on the bottom, very excited about the project.




While taking apart the engine, we found no broken stud in the exhaust or the head. It was very smooth to take apart, we found the alusil cylinder and everything looks new. Even the #2 cylinderhead valve looked good, but less carbon?? Bottom Picture, middle head. At this point I'm thinking, where's the leak coming from?



I will be taking the piston cylinders for measurement and seeing if it is within specs. Then make the decision as to split the bottom end or not.


Stay tuned for more!

[jpahemi]

Is this a real CS car? The heads should have a "SP" stamp somewhere on the underside, but from your pics I can't find it? Shouldn't these engines have Mahle cyls??

Regards,
jp

[87 clubsport]

No , she is North America spec 9.5 to 1. 3.2 carrera.

[jpahemi]

Ok. I was hoping to see what the famous "SP" heads looked like from the inside..
Good luck with the rebuild!

Regards,
jp

[Tippy]

Nice clean motor to start with. Good luck on build, Cory

[alniki]

Steve, that's what I'd like to do some day...
Subscribed.

[mnmasotto]

What is your planned build sheet? Increased displacement?

[87 clubsport]

Update

The cylinder piston has come back from the machine shop and are all within specs - piston to cylinder clearance = 0.0035". The cylinder has also been treated with sunnen, been deglazed and silicone lap + final wash


The leaks have also been found FINALLY, and it is in the exhaust valve from number 2 cylinder. I am still waiting for the parts for the head job
The car for the past 4 years have been mainly used for track events at the local Mission track and the Seattle Raceway. I would also like to use this opportunity to update the built sheet of the chassis, suspension and brakes.






Front Suspension
New wheel bearing, elephant racing (22 mm hollow torsion), ploybronze bushing, new sway bar bushing, turbo tie rod, steering rack bump steer kit, revalve bilstein H.D. insert, shock tower monoball, front strut brace bar

Rear Suspension
Elephant racing 29 mm hollow torsion bars, trailing arm monoball, cambermax kit, polybronze bushing, tarett adjustable droplink, new sway bar bushing, revalve bilstein sport shocks, corner weight and alignment

Front Brakes
TRE Brembo monoblock 4 piston caliper, steel braid brake line, smart racing front bake cooling duct and backing plate

Rear Brakes
TRE Brembo monoblock 4 piston caliper, steel braid brake line, 23 mm new turbo master cylinder, motul racing brake fluid

Clutch
Sach kit with all new hydraulic cylinder

CV Joint
Re-pack and inspection

Tires
2 sets
Street FUCH 16x6 & 16x7 bridgestone SO2 205/55 & 225/50
Track: FUCH 15x7 & 15x8 yokohama 032R 205/50 & 225/50

Interior
930S steering wheel, rennline adjusting throttle pedal sets and floor board. Recaro SPG driver and passeger side. Override switch for oil cooler fan, harness bar and camera mount

Others
Deleted A/C system, backdate heat, no rear seats, odyssey racing battery, removed carpet

Engine
Since it is in good condition, I will only do the top end rebuild. the only modification will be:
- to port and polish cylinder head
- SSI and M&K 2 in and 2 out muffler
- magnacore spark plug wire
- Steve Wong chips

[Jeff Alton]

looking good Steve!

Get it done, I have booked two track days, June 25th and Aug 20th, want to see you at both!!

i do have the case of oil you need here too....

Cheers

[87 clubsport]

thanks Jeff, do you also have break in oil in stock?also need to fix front suspension some clicking noise while reverse and turning steeringwheel may be monoball or steering rack? if I get it done, i will definately go thanks.

[otto in norway]

WOW!
That car should be great for the track with that setup! (I'm planning someting similar in the future)

But maybe you would consider a different cam setup..? (while you're in there)

Keep up the good work. -And keep the updates coming!

[87 clubsport]

Thanks Otto, this time I will try to keep the engine original, cause the whole set up need to be balance, If i go 3.4 , cam , exhaust header, chips, rodbolts valve spring and retainer etc etc has to be change to match, once you go there suspension and brake also needed to upgrade again the whole set up at this time with this engine drive very nice and balance.

[otto in norway]

Hey..
I'm just saying a different cam profile might work better for the track.
-But this is just my humble opinion...

If you choose to go with even more power, I think your setup on the suspension will work just fine. The thing is, you set up your car for handling in the corners, with the weight balance you got. And if you got more power, you need to make adjustments for that in your setup. (-as I'm sure you know)

Anyhow, it looks like you know exactly what you're doing, so I can only say: Good luck!

[87 clubsport]

Thanks again Otto, I will reconsider to change cam profile such as DC20/21,any one know oem set up with this cam?

[Steve W]

very nice and looking good!

[87 clubsport]

Thanks Steve see your nice GT3 in white colour, very nice, mouthwatering..........hehe

[Steve W]

lols - thanks for the mad props bud!!

[87 clubsport]

After a longgggg cleaning session, it was finally time to assemble the engine.


Port and polish head.




Cam tower mounted to cylinder head.


Alusil piston and cylinder with new rings. (Hope it will sit properly!)


Cam timing check.


Short block complete.


All harness and wires braided.


New voltage regulator.

While connecting the alternator wire, I almost got a heart attack from misplacing a nut and forgetting to plug the distributor hole. I wasn't able to find the nut (perhaps I was too tired) so it may have dropped into the crank case, which meant I had to split the engine case AGAIN to find the nut! Luckily, after removing the engine cooling tin, the nut fell onto the ground. Hearing it drop, my heart relaxed with a sigh of relief. After that I removed the whole engine shroud from the engine to the table and connected the wire.

Stay tuned!

[CBRacerX]

Looks great - good luck!

[87 clubsport]

UPDATE!



Ready to joint the transmission together.


Another angle of this beauty.


Preview before the engine installation.


My good friend and I putting on the final touches and double checking before final assembly.


The actual installation after months of hard work.


The master piece.


New brake duct cooling.


New RE010R tires.

The actual installation occurred in May and the car has been driven in the past 2 months logging just over 1000 miles. I've also done 3 oil changes as well as a valve adjustment. The car runs very smoothly and no oil consumption is seen. There's some slight oil sipping from the cam tower. In addition, I've gotten a rebuilt DME from Steve Wong because the engine sometimes misfires over rough unsmooth cement roads.

Total project took me over 4 months of hard work, I feel that FINALLY everything is the way I want it to be and all the work was well worth it!! I've recently readjusted the corner weights and alignment of the car as well to maxmize performance. The 911 weights 2650 lbs with a full tank of gas.

I will keep you guys updated, until then, enjoy the sunshine!