Well that's it for today, great day overall, tangible progress.

Lots of fiddly finishing jobs done this evening, e.g., trimming the exhaust temp thermocouple wires to length, then sleeving them in Raychem.

The sound pad is now fixed in place, and looks 10x smarter than the previous one. Glad I decided to go that extra mile. I'm a few of the plastic buttons short; strangely, when I removed the original pad this morning I found that a number of the studs that are welded onto the bulkhead were not pushed through the material, the pad was floating on top of them - very weird, but is another opportunity to reclaim some clearance space.

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I need to order 5 or 6 more buttons to finish this off, but you can see from the pics above that it now doesn't sag on the front edge, and the pad now follows the contours of the parcel shelf and bulkhead (that isn't a sagging area on the LH side, if you're not familiar with it, it's the profile of the parcel shelf).

Tomorrows first job will be to finish that last fuel line retaining clamp; need to get some breather hosing to finish the plumbing for the charcoal canister/dry sump tank back to the intake manifold. Want to buy a new battery as well, then fingers crossed Dad and I can get the motor installed back into the car!

Not quite as many jobs completed today, but what has been done I'm pleased with, all whilst listening to the live stream of the testing day from Le Mans.

Todays job was cleaning the driveshafts - needs to be done before the engine/'box is reinstalled, as I don't want to be spraying the chemicals required anywhere near the new engine.

So, a before and after shot...well, almost...the left and right hand CV joints. Some use of Gunk and AluBright saw them come up nicely, then a good rinse and dry before a liberal coat of Dinitrol to protect them.

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I was going to do a complete strip down and clean-out, but in retrospect, I think this is best done as part of the suspension overhaul, when they'll be removed from the uprights as part of that operation. They worked perfectly well before this project, so shouldn't present any problems.

The final fuel line fixing is now in the chassis; a rivnut and a stainless M5 stainless stud Loctite'd into place. Once set, I can then use another stock/modified fuel line clip to retain the 2 fuel lines and the vapour breather return line.

With muscle help from my Brother, Dad and neighbour Ian, the car is now back in the garage in the correct orientation for the install....very tempted to start installing everything on my own this evening, but there are a few jobs I want to do first (like reinstall the harness into the cabin and through into the engine bay).

Finally, I got around to doing a job that's been bugging the hell out of me for 4yrs...re-aligning the fuel filler door; it's been mis-gapped ever since I bought the car, but 5 minutes with an 8mm socket and it's sitting centrally in the aperture again.

Engine install now going to happen one evening this week, after work.

A quick lunchtime drive out today....

New battery now bought - no messing about, Bosch S5 "096" with 780CCA and 77AH capacity...and a 5yr guarantee. The Exide I have (that came with the car) has been on trickle charge for the last day, and it's not really recovering. It's slowly creeping up to 12v but by now I'd expect this to be in excess of 13v. Also, it was only a 640CCA unit, and if memory serves, didn't feel particularly strong beforehand.

The rear bumper structural beam was also finished on Friday; another nice job, 10x more presentable than the naked aluminium one I gave them a week ago....

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So its time to now wash the black bumper buffer things, repair some where necessary and then use the new splined nutsert kit I've got, to re-fasten them with stainless fittings. Also hoping that the new mounting brackets aren't far from being completed. Stainless fasteners (and new CV joint bolts) are ordered, they should arrive tomorrow.

Yet more items for re-plating were dropped off today, just some bridging plates for the inboard CV joints, but they came up very nicely after a dip in the AluBright.

A new clutch hose is now being made as I type - the guys at HEL Performance are extremely helpful; the hose will have 2x 90º female swivel joints, so I can then remove the female-female hex union inside the transmission tunnel (we'll fix straight onto the male union), using a 90º fitting there will allow the line to run nicely along to the transmission, up and over the top of the 'box, then another 90º fitting presents the hose via a male/male adapter to the slave cylinder in a far neater fashion. Hoping this will arrive tomorrow as well.

Finally, another order to Opie Oils was made; a litre of Pentosin for the power steering, and 3litres of brake and clutch (Castrol React Performance DOT4). The Lotus could do with a flushing of its brake fluid as well, hence 3litres.

**** Landmark Evening! ****
 

Well, tonight has been a little bit of a momentous occasion for me...the engine and gearbox are now back in the chassis! This time as a working unit, of course, not just a lump of expensive metal.

I'm not sure I'll ever get quick at doing this job - each time seems to consist of a new routine, and always a complete wrestle to get things like the ATV lift to roll in the right direction, for the engine to stay level, for the gearbox to align correctly, etc...but anyway, it's now done, and no mishaps. Big thanks to Dad and my Brother for giving up their evenings to lend a hand.

The gearbox mating to the engine went very smoothly, using the masking-tape-holding-the-clutch-release-arm-in-place-trick....worked beautifully. Everything in that area is new; replaced the needle rollers, the shaft, release arm (with new plastic bushes), even the retaining bracket and plastic bung piece were swapped out for brand new items.

No real need to take any photos, the same deal as a few months ago when Dad and I installed the engine for the dummy run, and to do a clearance check.

So, the next jobs are to:

• Install the new clutch line and slave cylinder once the hose in in my possession
• Wire up the starter motor and ground cable
• Refit the AC pump and take measurements for the AC lines to be made
• Hook up the oil circuit....and fill with oil!
• ...and generally plug and plumb everything back in

I can't honestly see this taking too long...maybe the clutch will give me aggro, it all now looks flipping tight in that area.

The new driveshaft bolts arrived this morning, along with the new stainless bumper structure fixings.

Am now expecting a load of items to arrive in short order. I happened to check the voltage of the new battery I bought yesterday - good job I did, t'was flat as a pancake, 2.1v. Two hours later and one of their delivery van drivers delivered a replacement; no harm, no foul.

I really do need to start thinking about ordering the fire extinguisher so that the lines can be run alongside the new harness to the engine bay.....more pennies....lots of.

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Right, time for a curry and a celebratory beer....no food in the freezer apart from my daughters Korma...not my normal dish, but needs must....sorry Lucy! ;)

Congrats! I still have a bottle of champagne (sparkling wine) in my fridge my parent bought me for when my car actually starts. You must be so stoked...beautiful!

Thanks SB, yes I am....I cannot wait to finally clear the myriad of boxes and packets of parts that are littering the whole house...and office....and the space in the barn that I have use of!

Todays jobs....

A/C Pump now bolted back in place, belt tensioned, electrical connection done.

This needs to be done sooner rather than later to be able to eyeball the AC lines, how they'll route and whether they'll clear, etc. Interestingly, versus the photo in the previous page on a Carrera, the AC connections look to be well clear of the oil filler neck, however, the height looks to be the limiting factor. The plan may have to be revised, where I was going to use a pair of adapters to present AN fittings, then a pair of 90º couplings onto the hoses. I think they'll mount too high and hit the engine lid. I know that Griffiths (Keuhl) do a revised manifold that presents the connections to the back of the pump - this may have to be the method we use. Anyway, I can now resume the conversation with Burgaflex armed with measurements rather than guesstimates.

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• The power steering pump is now hooked up, new copper crush washers on the pressure side, new hose from reservoir to pump inlet.
  
• The 4x Ignition amplifiers are now connected - just need to find a suitable grounding point for this half of the loom.
  
• The oil breathers are connected.
  
• Cold-side pipework to throttle body is also now bolted back in place.

The rest of the evening I spent building the rear bumper structure. Very pleased with how this is looking, real shame none of it will be seen!

First job was to repair the black buffer mouldings; they each had at least one crack, but careful application of Superglue and some deft cramping using a) the jaws of the lathe + the tailstock nudged up against it, and then similarly, b) the vice on the pillar drill with the quill lowered and nipped up to apply a little pressure. A couple of hours later, and for once, the glue seems to have bonded really well.

Time to then drill out the mounting holes and insert the nutserts. I also used Loctite Retainer (the green stuff, 642?) in there to stop any chance of them spinning around. Despite me buying a splined set of nutserts, the M6 ones (for some reason) aren't. Retainer will do a sterling job, I'm sure.

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The towing eye bracket was an easy item to bolt back. All properly cleaned beforehand, of course.

The stainless shallow-head allen screws, plus spring washers and plain washers to protect the plastic were used to mount the 3x buffers and 2x end caps.

Next up was the U-shaped channel that's riveted along the top edge. Used some more AluBright to bring it back, but it seems to have got quite badly scratched, so used wet-n-dry to apply a satin finish....et voila....

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The next job is to drill out the holes for the M8 nutserts, however, it was when I went to insert the first one that I realised that the one nutsert mandrel that I snapped a few years ago was....the M8 one. Dammit. I know Pete the welder has a pneumatic gun, so I'll see if we can insert all 8 once I go over to collect the fabricated mounting brackets.

And that's it for another evening.....

Nothing to report so far this weekend; I may get out later on and tinker, but it occurred to me the other day that there's still an "intermediate"/"not so quick" job left to do which I'd completely overlooked...the dry sump tank breather, which normally is fed into the pre-filter side of the air cleaner box.

Of course, running a foam filter I can't now run it in the same way; with some searching on the 911 Technical forum, there's a variety of answers, anything from "run the pipe down under the engine and vent to the ground" (!!!), to folk using a mini air filter and venting it inside the engine bay, to some running an oil separator tank.

This is my preferred option, however, because this isn't a traditional PCV affair, the diameter of the pipe needing venting is 25mm, not an 8 or 10mm hose. So, most of the eBay or more professional Mocal style tanks don't cater for this.

Somebody did post a link to a Moroso 85475, which looks the best bet so far in terms of off-the-shelf solutions (albeit, it has a -16AN inlet, not a straight much on hose connection)

You then look into some of the cheaper imitation tanks - of which there are many on eBay - and it's obvious that they won't be constructed in a way that best separate oil and air, nor prevents the exiting gases from still being contaminated....ie., no filtration inside the tank. Classic case of "you get what you pay for".

So, I've contacted Moroso to see if there are options with connections. The other thought I have, is whether I can then feed the outlet of a tank directly back to the turbo oil drain tank. The stock tank comes with a pet-cock style tap for manually draining oil. I can't remember there being much (or any) evidence of oil in the air cleaner box when I removed the engine, so I struggle to image that there's much fluid to even catch or drain. However, I can make it completely maintenance-free if this were to trickle back via a -4AN line to the turbo catch tank, and then it would all get scavenged back via the auxiliary pump.

The other option is to make my own, being Mr DIY.....I have an almost full length of brand new 3" diameter ally pipe that I used for the air inlet tract, I could then make a small tank to custom fit the space I have available in the back right corner of the engine bay. It could be a screw together unit (like a decent dry sump tank would be), making maintenance easier, incorporating both a 90º inlet pipe to feed "dirty" air to the bottom, through a filtration layer which the clean air would have to pass before exiting the tank. This could then be fed into a 76mm silicone "T" hose that would then join the inlet to the air filter (replacing the existing straight 76mm coupling hose). Something like this (but cunningly committing the tricky bots of how the filter would be retained, how the tank would be assembled, etc etc....

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And just when I thought I was on the homeward stretch! :D

OK, Mk2 of the catch tank design...

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Managed to pop into Think Auto this lunchtime, handily they're only 3miles from my office...conveniently....

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Armed with the above sketch and some ideas as to what-will-fit-where, we came up with a plan to use 2x M30 connections and swivel couplings. Trying to get that diameter hosing to radius that tightly = bugger of a job in the space available. They will reduce the ID slightly from that of the dry sump tank, but I'm struggling to believe that this tank needs to exhaust enough air to require a hose with 20.8mm ID. The M30 fittings are 18.8mm ID; I reckon 10% reduction is still alright.

Some -4AN fittings for the tank drain line; hedge-bet with a straight vs 45º fitting, just in case. (The rubber hose is to hook up the carbon canister and 1-way valve from the oil tank back to the intake manifold).

I've just dropped ITG a quick note to see what they can do with the filtration layer - hopefully some offcuts of filter material and the wire mesh to sandwich it with can be bought.

The billets of aluminium have also just been bought - basically the same job as making the top-hats for the front wheelspeed sensor housing back in January.

So, my DIY catch tank is not going to be a cost saving exercise; that collection of parts above is £80/$125, plus the ally billets, plus the welding, plus some hosing/swaged couplings to hook it all up, plus a new "T" section to connect the air filter to the inlet tract...plus the anodising once finished....but hey, what price custom-fit, eh?

My new ECU is also now with me; collected this today on the way home from work, all loaded with the latest/greatest cut of the map we created a few weeks ago. Steve has made some fine-tune adjustments recently, with a few more to come once the car's up and running. We were also discussing how we can create a secure "valet mode" setting, for if/when the car has to be left somewhere. Essentially, we'll use one of the available positions that the ECU can see for boost control (we're just using 3 of the 8), but we'll program it such that the eGas throttle will not open a certain %-age - so although we can't control/bleed off boost less than the 0.6bar springs fitted to the wastegates, we'll just hamstring the engine with throttle availability! :D

Bumper Update....
 

I collected the fabricated bumper mounts from Pete yesterday lunchtime, very nice job!....."strangely" it's not a job he wants to repeat, haha! :D

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I need to drill the mounting holes that fix it onto the structural beam, as well as the M12 clearance slots that in tandem with the captive nuts, mount the whole thing onto the chassis. Thinking I'm best milling them, so will order a 13mm slot cutter in anticipation, rather than using an 8mm cutter and making-do.

Once the holes are cut, I'll radius some of the corners, remove the worst of any markings and then get them powder-coated....shame not to, seeing as everything else is (there's enough clearance in the tolerances to allow for the thickness of coating).

The mounting holes on the beam itself were drilled out, then using a wipe of Loctite 648 Retainer, the M8 splined nutserts were fixed into place. They shouldn't be moving any time soon.

Latest batch of plated fixings also now collected, just spare M8 washers and nuts, but also the 6x driveshaft plates for the M10 bolts -> gearbox output flanges.

And finally...the oil catch tank...

Chris very kindly contacted me about the oil-to-air separator that I'm about to fabricate, with the great idea of using a 3" v-band setup to enable the tank to be opened and cleaned. A little searching for a UK supplier of a kit with aluminium flanges (there are loads of suppliers with stainless steel flanges for exhausts....); that's now on order as well. This kit also has a silicone gasket to seal the two halves of the tank. Using a v-band just removes the opportunity of getting the tapped holes misaligned, and means I no longer need to worry about turning top and base caps with o-rings sealing everything. Welded-on top and base caps will keep everything far simpler. Another job for Pierre..... ;)

I can't believe you're going to install that AC pump in its present state. Surely it needs a bead blast or acid clean. :)

Haha, funnily enough I thought the same thing the other evening when I looked at the photo. It's not actually as bad as that, I blame poor photographic lighting. It has been cleaned once, I did look into vapour blasting it but the guy who does this was really antsy about ingress. I have a feeling I need to remove it, yet again, to fit a ducting hose from shroud to inner wing, if so then yes, *just for you* :D I'll apply that AluBright solution. Carefully.

Hi Spenny

Will I see you at Le Mans?

With Tom K not racing and Jan Magnusson out in his Corvette. Cheering will be on Porsche.

Yes mate, we're here, staying in Ecommoy just south of Mulsanne town. Shoot me a PM with your phone number if you like? Would be great to have a beer!

S

New Toy....
 

Update time folks.

No progress in terms of building since the last instalment due to the annual pilgrimage to La Sarthe to watch the 24 Heures du Mans...FINALLY I get to see a Porsche victory! (one of the very few years I've missed is 1998, their last overall win)

Whilst away I received the 3" V-Bland clamp assembly. Actually rather large, bigger than I expected, but looks nicely made and has the silicon seal to sit between the two ally halves.

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And this evening I collected my new fire extinguisher setup whilst up in Herts. Big thanks to best-mate Matt and the guys at CAM Auto Developments for sorting me out with a cracking little unit.

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I went for the Lifeline 2.25kg Zero 360 Novec 1230 unit, electrically activated.

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Lifeline have reduced the overall size of the bottle over their previous generation unit, a little shorter; as you can see, it really is tiny "in the flesh", fractionally longer than a Sky+ remote....

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Great kit, nicely presented, excellent engineering on the pushbuttons, nozzles and electronics. It even ships with nylon braided sleeve for the extinguisher pipework.

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This now allows me to re-install the cabin wiring loom with this pipework in tandem, then refit the interior again.

I'm also going to measure up for a small 1kg Zero360 handheld extinguisher, possibly mounted using one of the really nice Rennline quick release mounts and seat mounting bracket....needs some research with dimension first, though.

Hopefully tomorrow evening I'll be able to get back into the garage and recommence work "proper".

Update time - nothing was done last night, think the craziness of Le Mans caught up with me!

So, the cabin side of the wiring harness is now reinstalled, with my new ECU also in place and hooked up. Kicking myself slightly, as the reason I held off putting this back sooner, and for buying the extinguisher system now, was that I intended running the 8mm ally lines along with the wiring loom through to the engine bay. But now I look at everything, I'm considering actually running the extinguisher lines through the centre console on top of the transmission tunnel.

a) They're more protected from any squashing or inadvertent damage (otherwise they'd be buried under the thick sound insulation, and any sort of oversight may result in damage)

b) The main line can run through the access hole aft of the handbrake assembly, into the underside of the engine bay. It can then "T" off to the top half. Somehow. Not figured that out yet.

Was playing about with mounting locations earlier, and being so small, it does tuck up really nicely under the lower dash shelf - not completely hidden, but discrete enough. I just want to eyeball what's on the other side of the footwell before drilling and nutserting, so time to get the car hoisted on the lift; so many other jobs need the car airborne, so seems like a good time to lift it and go exploring.

I'd forgotten just how tightly packed the transmission tunnel now is with the gearbox back in-situ....hmmm....I wonder how many jobs I'll regret not doing before reinstalling everything?!?

I got one of the driveshafts fully bolted up (the LHS), with the new and replated fixings, it all looks quite nice and fresh. You can now see the traction control timing wheel - fits like a charm, just need to bolt the HE sensor back onto the gearbox.

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I'm deliberately leaving the RHS driveshaft off at the moment; it drops a lot lower out-of-the-way than the LHS, and this is the tighter side of the car to work on, so any and all available space is welcome.

I also messed about with removing the stock dashboard clock. I;ve been itching to see what the new Stack-VDO-alike boost gauge looks like.....and I have to say, I reckon it looks bloody superb. Please excuse the self-congratulatory pat on the back. It's only plonked in there temporarily, no rubber ring, nor has the wiring loom been hooked up, although I have remembered to swap the bulbs across.....

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Another loooong list has now been drawn up on the whiteboard, capturing every small job I can think of relating to the hooking up of the engine. Lots of small jobs but still daunting! Hoping that this weekend I'll make some really good progress.

Well, upon crawling under the car and having a good look at the underside of the engine, it looks like I've got to now remove the ****** exhaust headers; evidence of sooting on the fins of the barrels from the dyno session. Despite me measuring that the sealing ring heights were sufficient to seal against the protruding primary that sits inside the exhaust port, something clearly is causing them to leak. Maybe just expansion under extreme load/heat? Of course, I will just check that all nuts are tight first.

Interestingly, when I first bought the car, it came with a snapped header stud on #3 (iirc), so I got a local Porsche specialist to do-the-necessary on his 4-post lift. We noticed that the headers were installed with 2x rings per port, double stacked; seemed odd at the time, but I was told that this is quite usual.

Guess I need to go and get another set and install with the existing ones.....is this "usual"? Seems odd to me.

One step forward, two steps back.

Progress report for this evenings work...

1) Starter motor now connected, with new +Ve feed for the MBE ECU tethered safely in position on another perimeter stud on the gearbox.

2) New "Golden Rod" gear linkage now bolted up, although not convinced all is correct, as it feels like stirring a pudding (but car is too high up in the air to get inside and test properly)

3) Both traction control sensor brackets are mounted; the RHS has the sensor installed and gapped correctly to the timing wheel. The LHS sensor needs a spacer collar making to space it correctly.

4) The throttle cable outer sleeve, I've noticed, has a cracked adjuster ferrule; where the outer sleeve enters the hex adjuster, midway along the transmission tunnel, the small diameter is no longer attached. Annoying, but I'll continue to hook it up to the throttle assembly and see if it functions correctly. If it feels odd on the pedal, then I guess I'll have to replace it somehow (it's routed along and clipped to the top of the gearbox)

5) After another chase, and rather terse phonecall, I've now been promised by the MD that my clutch hose was being made this afternoon and will be in tomorrows postal delivery.

Back tomorrow with more updates.....

Saturday update.....

Hands up, confession time.....first job of the day was to have a look at the exhaust headers and see if the nuts were perhaps loose. I admit that the prospect of removing the whole exhaust assembly; turbo, 2x wastegates, associated hosing, silencer, lambda, heat shields...had me dreading the next few days, but was preparing myself just to bloody well get on with it and have a beer afterwards.

However....for once....I got one helluva break. With some decent torch light (and I'm chuckling writing this), the only two cylinders that showed evidence of leaking with sooty evidence, but had one nut missing on each!

Yes, I'm embarrassed! There's no way that nuts were never fitted, so my best guess is that when installing the headers, I quickly spun a couple of plain nuts on to hold it in place, but must've missed swapping them for the M8 copper crush-nuts. My second guess is that they vibrated loose on the dyno a few weeks ago. Whoops! Never mind, Spencer has a get-out-of-jail-free card, and 10mins later, new nuts fitted and the soot cleaned off.

The RHS driveshaft is now installed - bit of a wrestle to get everything lined up with the timing wheel, but all in place now.

The harness for the rear wheel speed sensors is also now routed correctly over the gearbox and tethered. I'm now midway through making the spacers to position the sensor for the LHS.

The front wheel speed sensor harness is also now routed and clipped in place along the transmission tunnel and over the steering rack. The RHS and LHS Sureseal connectors are absolutely spot-on length-wise, and also now routed to each of the front wheels.

The oil feed line from the tank to the crankcase is all back in place and tightened. Unfortunately, I need a 38mm spanner to tighten the AN fittings on the oil return line....biggest I have is 36mm, so a new combi spanner is now on order.

Somehow I've lost the spacer/washer for the "fit bolt" on the gear linkage, so I quickly turned one up and installed it.

Memory is letting me down here, but just leaning into the cockpit and trying the gear lever, the return springing from the 1-2 plane to the 3-4 plane is nice and strong (as is the reverse notching), however, the resistance and centering return from the 5th gear plane to 3-4 is really weak.....anyone know of an adjustment? Or are they all like this? (I only drove the car for a few months before the project, and that was 4yrs ago).

Just for you Boosted, an acid-cleaned AC pump! It had to be removed along with the pump cradle, to make fitting the ducting hose a little easier (yes, I should've fitted this before installing the engine...)

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Another really productive day.

Job #1 was to finish the spacers for the LHS wheel speed sensor on the transmission. Now fits a treat with the correct gap between the HE sensor and the timing wheel...

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Job #2 was one I've been looking forward to doing for a week or so, and honestly, I was starting to have a sense of humour failure each time I whacked my head, crawling under the chassis! So, time to switch my attention to the bumper mounting brackets that Pete fabricated for me the other week.

First job, mark up the 4x mounting holes on each one. Each now uses M8 shallow head stainless cap-heads, but of course, drilling out the original rivet holes, plus the alignment of the nutserts in each hole, means that you can;t simply use the old brackets as a template, stuff moves.

Use of masking tape and then extrapolating the hole centres worked well...in fact, I'm chuffed to bits with this, all holes are exactly 8mm diameter, no need for any clearance "cheat" holes of 8.5mm.....

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Once satisfied that all alignments were correct, time to drill out the 13mm holes for the long 12mm mounting bolts to pass through. The original brackets have elongated/ovalised holes, but for the time being, I've drilled them dead-centre as round holes; when I get the bodywork back from Shaun one evening this week, I'll rebuild the whole assembly and see whether any adjustment is required. If so, then time to get the files out and adjust, then send them for powder coating.

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As you can see, it all fits like a glove onto the chassis. Another fairly major job off of the To-Do list.

That's the progress so far; this evenings job is to replace all the heating/cooling hoses and fittings onto the exhaust system and rear blowers. Should be easy enough.