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No, got to look at each step as an opportunity to upgrade, rather than “scheisse” ;) Hopefully some updates coming soon once the trans is stripped down. |
I'm from Westbury-on-Trym, a sweet liitle village northwest (no, actually Northeast) of Bristol that postwar became a suburb. It was like growing up in Camberwick Green or Penny Lane.... There was a greengrocer, butcher, fish-monger, etc. Lovely place to be a kid and likely still is. We moved from there to Munich in the mid 70's, then back to Bristol for a year before coming to the US. That one year we lived in Clifton**, which is now VERY shi-shi, has always been beautiful with much sandstone Georgian architecture and, of course, Brunel's fanstastic bridge, the Zoo, the posh school.
** We were on the Cotham side of Clifton, more moderate, less toffy. Lots of lovely girls there, some with "that" accent. ("Oi dun knah, Mister 'olmes" said the scullery maid to the great detective. OR, Vicky Pollard! Likely that's the image your GF wants to escape.) So only 11 of my years were spent there; the Greater Bristol area must contain some grittier parts but I'm pretty clueless as to where. I am STAGGERED at the prices of homes there, but that seems to be true of England in general. Must be so daunting to young people. John |
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Not much to update one since last week, I'm afraid.
The transmission is now with the outfit on the Silverstone business park, awaiting a teardown to uncover what's wrong. I have to admit, I thought we'd be further along by now; in my mind this was last Tuesday/Wednesdays job, then to assess and get parts on order. Hoping to hear by the end of play today what the prognosis is. In parallel with this, however, I decided to go all-out and invest in a Guard Transmission "Club" level LSD, along with a billet differential cover. Which I do appreciate, is OTT for a road-only car, but to me it's a nice thing to have for any future owner in case they decide to do standing starts, or put slicks on there. Or both. And it'll serve as a great reminder of what's contained within, every time I jack the car up! I'm hoping that Mr Monson will be able to get that shipped today, so that we can build it into the transmission in a few days time. Can't wait to see it; when checking back through my emails to Matt (Monson), it was back in 2010 that I first reached out to him. This pre-dated me actually buying this car, and reading back through my diatribe, I think it must've coincided with another white 964T I had gone to look at (which the owner dicked me about on)...so...yes, nice to actually get around to buying a toy that I've had my eye on for almost a decade. I've cancelled the dyno day on the 25th - there's no way we can make that. Hoping we can still get to Northampton Motorsport on Friday 1st March though, for an afternoon (and evening?!) session. Will update when I know more...... |
So a few pieces of progress news today.
Firstly, an outstanding effort by Matt Monson in getting the LSD and billet cover plate shipped, it must've been the very second that the wired funds cleared into his bank, and was sent at the end of your public holiday on Monday. It arrived here in Blighty before 10am this morning. Not seen any photos of it yet, it went straight to Fearnsport. Thanks Matt. The transmission specialists have now stripped the gearbox. First findings show that there's axial and radial play on the lay shaft and the pinion shaft, requiring both of the bearings to be replaced that sit in the "tensioning plate". This plate also apparently needs to be replaced to remove the thrust play.....I'm certainly no transmission expert but having watched a few videos of 915 rebuilds, isn't the shim (Item 26 below) that sits behind the tensioning plate used to dial out any end-float? http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...2021.38.01.png If anyone here has experience of this, please let me know asap...a new plate (Item 1) (>$700, likely the same in GBP) is about to be ordered from Germany. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...2021.42.01.png Both the 4-point bearings I think are in UK stock; hoping these are Items 15 and 24...in which case they're the slightly cheaper ones, £307 + VAT & £142 + VAT respectively. Not going to skimp on trying to source pattern parts, genuine all the way for this exercise. Just hoping that the other pair of bearings aren't also needed (#16, #23), they're £427 & £410 respectively! Also, no word yet on condition of the synchros, but I can feel slight notchiness on 2nd-3rd shifts, so am anticipating this will need attention as well. In re-reading back through this thread (I knew it'd come in handy one day), I've also noticed a faux-pas on my behalf. During Build #1, I timed the cams up to 1.36mm at 0.1mm lash, ie., the factory timing of 1.26mm + 0.1mm tolerance they allow. For some reason, on Build #2, I timed to 1.26mm. No idea why, and upon speaking with Chris earlier, this is likely to give a few more top end bhp, but at the sacrifice of low end torque. Moving to 1.36mm will lose me a few hp but for a road build, the additional low down torque will be more appropriate. Fearnsport are re-timing it, while the engine is out. I'm hoping to get up to Silverstone on Monday to watch the transmission being rebuilt - I want to actually eyeball what I've just spent £3k on with the new Guard diff and cover! Besides, I find transmission rebuilds fascinating to watch, having never attempted one myself. |
fresh trans
Seeing what you have been through you will enjoy this part.Get it back on the road.Guards parts are great.Ciao fred
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Small daily update...
The tensioning plate is on order with Porsche Germany, the bearings are on their way already I believe. Thankfully it was just the 2x bearings I hoped for yesterday. Upon speaking with Matt about whether the end-float could be removed by using a different thickness shim, apparently no, it's not just the end float we're fixing here, the plate itself is damaged! How on earth that's happened, I have no idea - some ham-fisted previous owner perhaps? Thankfully it's come in quite a lot cheaper than the $700'ish I investigated the other evening (which by the time you fly parts over here, exchange rate and import fees, usually works out the same number, just in £'s, i.e., £700); it looks to be coming in at just over £400. Two new synchro rings also required, 2nd and 3rd gears...this backs-up my thoughts on it feeling notchy when going between the two. All-in-all, it should feel SIGNIFICANTLY different as a transmission to drive. Cam timing is now reset back to 1.36mm. The ID injectors are removed ready for cleaning next week. Matt is having another go at fixing the persistent exhaust blowing at the header flanges. This is a perennial issue every few weeks, where one of the fixings works its way loose. Time to bin off the copper nuts and go for proper K-nuts. New 044 pump is with Fearnsport, and being fitted as we speak. If the old one does turn out to be ok with a thorough clean, then I'll keep it as a spare. So long as the parts from Germany arrive swiftly, then we should still be ok for the dyno on March 1st. I'm also still planning on going up there on Monday morning to have a look/see. Progress... |
Happy for you Spencer, it’s going well! :)
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Hi Spencer... any new news...??
I hope all is well.... Bob |
Hi Bob....hmm, yes there’s plenty to write up, unfortunately none of it good news, other than the transmission is now rebuilt and ready for installation.
The rest? Well, yet again, wishing I’d never started this stupid project. S |
Fook! I too was hoping that any day it would be "transaxle repaired by top blokes at Silverstone and all now kosher." Please don't do anything rash(!). John
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Augh fug nuts...!!!
Hang in there Spenc...!!! You are soo close to competition AND your build spec is incredible...!! What ever it is you will get thru this too... This is just another bump in the road.... Let me know if I can do anything to help...!! Bob |
Not the morale either for me Spencer, the electrician who looks after my car has gone into depression, I really have no luck, because of it my car gets stuck. Spencer, you have to ignore the bad things and take the positive, that’s what I’m trying to do for me, you have to support yourself, don’t let go! ;)
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Spenny, your saga must have become thick with complexity but hopefully not too dark in spirit? Please let us know when you can break the silence...unless you've gone and joined a monastery? I hope all is well. John
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Hey gang...did you miss me? Lol.
Blimey, there's a fair bit to write up, so will probably do it over the next few evenings. So, the last update I typed was around the transmission, then a hint that "other stuff" wasn't going so well. Let's resume with the transmission..... At the point of getting the news and costs for the transmission rebuild, I thought I had been dealt a "get-out-of-jail" card, so thought it was time for an upgrade. Something that I started researching many years ago (before I even bought this car, and was just hunting for one) was the upgrade to a Guard differential. I dug out an email from 10yrs previous (yes really) that I wrote to Matt Monson, seeking guidance. I bet he had a "WTH??!" moment when he received a reply with a continuing conversation! Chatting through the options with him on the phone, we decided that a Clubsport spec LSD would be perfect for my use case, but me being me, I also decided to order the billet diff cover, as it's not unknown for the stock cast item to shatter, albeit usually under extreme conditions with slick tyres, but anyway, never let these details get in the way of an upgrade purchase. As things were progressing quickly, the transmission was over with the rebuilders, and it absolutely made sense to get the diff installed at the same time rather than doing it later. So we got it expedited from Guard to Fearnsport within a couple of days. Thanks to Matt for sorting that out. I went up to Silverstone a few days later for other reasons (more on that shortly), but snapped a couple of photos of the new toys.... https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...d/IMG_6041.jpg https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...d/IMG_6045.jpg https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...d/IMG_6046.jpg https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...d/IMG_6042.jpg https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...d/IMG_6043.jpg I think you'll agree, it does look very nice and "trick". Looking forward to many years of a far more focussed differential, rather than the [as Matt called it] "litigation special" ZF diff that the factory installed. From what I understand, it was nether Porsches nor ZF's finest piece of work, being a very fragile effort and reverting to an open diff if you dared speak to it in a harsh tone. Not cheap to rebuild either. https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...d/IMG_6256.jpg https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...d/IMG_6255.jpg "G50/52 ZF differential for sale - one careful owner - PM me for details, can ship worldwide" :D Now, the reason I went up to Fearnsport was that Matt had noticed some news-worthy oil traces coming from the underside of the engine, and wanted me there to jointly decide what I wanted him to do. At this point in time, analysis work is going to get underway to fully understand what happened, so I'm not going to elaborate any further. However, what I will say is that rebuild #3 has now been completed. Clearly not a good day but it proved to be the perfect opportunity to do more upgrades! Always make it better than before..... |
If you stretch your collective memory back to a few years ago when rebuild #2 was being done, I didn't actually strip the crankcase again, only the mid and top sections. I kind of always regretted not doing so, it went against my mantra of doing things properly, so I did take this opportunity to ask Matt to completely strip it, re-check crank journals and bearings, as well as being really really sure that my work to clearance the oil pump for the Carillo rods was sufficient.
And then he had a cunning idea. It just so happened that Matt had available to him a factory RSR oil pump, virtually new. https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...d/IMG_6092.jpg https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...d/IMG_6213.jpg https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...d/IMG_6237.jpg https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...d/IMG_6238.jpg He also had what he assumed was a GT3 intermediate shaft. The difference with this particular unit is that it’s a single piece, in steel of course; the one I’ve been using is a steel arbour with an aluminium driven gear bolted onto it. Apparently Porsche moved away from this design on the later GT3’s as it had been known that the ally gear had vibrated loose. https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...d/IMG_6217.jpg https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...d/IMG_6224.jpg Now, the slight unknown, because Matt hadn’t built these items into a 930 derived crankcase before, was whether the pump and I.S. would line up correctly with the I.S. drive gear on the stock 964 Turbo crank. A few minutes spent mocking it up, and it worked just fine! The only mods needed were to clearance a couple of the ribs on the inside of the crankcase for the pump to sit in there. At this point, Matt went a-delving through the PET to find exactly which model GT3 used the part we had in our hands….hah…it turns out it’s no common-or-garden GT3 or even GT3RS…or even GT3RS 4.0….it’s a GT3 Cup car item, only listed in their Motorsport catalogue! Of course, you fit the shaft and its drive gear as a gear pair, so the old distributor worm drive gear was removed, new I.S drive gear fitted, and the corresponding ally spacer slipped on. The crank journals were measured by one of the nearby F1/WEC supplying manufacturers, and were all in tolerance, so a new set of genuine Porsche shells ordered and fitted. Read:"reassuringly expensive". In fact, Matt will only use genuine Porsche part numbered parts, be that bearings, gaskets sets, fasteners. So, I now have something akin to a “Works” bottom end…apart from the crank of course…. |
We did discuss boat-tailing the crankcase webs, but like me, he’s not a fan and would rather leave the material in the castings. Besides, with an oil pump with dual suction pickups, it should scavenge far harder than a stock pump, therefore oil windage becomes less of an issue.
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...2-13-52-46.jpg https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...2-13-52-45.jpg https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...-52-45%204.jpg https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...-52-45%203.jpg https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...-52-45%202.jpg https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...2-13-52-41.jpg And then being built up.... https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...65851dba5b.jpg https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...d35cbdcaa5.jpg https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...5af608b948.jpg https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...98614d0ab8.jpg That’s about as much as I want to go into. A little bit of a hiatus while the guys needed to focus on another long-standing F40 project, then back onto mine through to the end. Apart from a starter motor hiccup (a loose screw meant that it wasn’t throwing out correctly), the engine and transmission went back in without a hitch a fortnight ago today. For the time being – and perhaps for good – we’ve removed the water cooling circuit. Priority has to be with getting it running in the most straightforward fashion, minimising the variables. A shame – it cost a decent chunk of money to build that, and I invested a lot of time, but right now, I just want a working car to enjoy. Maybe a project to revisit another time. Maybe. |
Next instalment….
A plan was hatched to go and collect the car on Friday 14th, but I was very keen to get the guys from Northampton Motorsport along at the same time, to ensure that the calibration we have in the Syvecs was set up correctly for this rebuild. There were a few differences this time around, so we needed to make sure we had a map that was suitably accommodating. The grand plan was for me to travel up to Northampton by train after working in London on Thursday, stay overnight up there, meet up with Chris (Northampton Motorsport) on Friday morning to drive down to Fearnsport. Along with my suitcase full of tools (not kidding). Matt had let us know that it turns over nicely, great oil pressure but not firing into life. If all went well, then my plan was to drive the car home that day. I think Matt was a little shocked, and reluctant, about letting me do this, haha. As mentioned, initially there was no firing up of the engine, but after a few mins of head-scratching, a SW edit to change the phase of the cam position sensor was all that was needed. Boom! Into life for a few seconds before killing it and checking for leaks. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hxpEdKum-PA" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> A few more of these cycles built our confidence. Next job was for me and Chris to go for a drive in the surrounding area (not the race track...), and refine the calibration to enhance driveability. Another check, a small oil leak identified but quickly fixed by Matt and Matt….. https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...7E54C70480.jpg ….before another drive out. Chris has essentially wound back the ignition advance, limited the boost to 0.2bar and ensured fuelling was safe. Apart from that, not a lot else was required. After a third jaunt out for me, solo to check that the leak had been rectified, Matt was suitably assured with the numerous visual and spanner checks he did throughout the morning, to send me on my way. My journey was down the M1, the M25 and the M2; for those not familiar with the UK, they’re three of the UK’s busiest roads, especially on a Friday afternoon! Bahh, no problems! I had Yoda as my co-pilot, what could possibly go wrong? (not a trick question) https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...787884C56C.jpg A quick diversion cross-country to drive through my Grandparents village in Hertfordshire…. https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...d/IMG_6679.jpg …..and usefully cutting off a snarled corner of motorways intersecting, and I was well on my way. In total, 195 miles and 4.5 hours of running. And it didn’t miss a beat. A few more updates in a couple of days, bit busy until then. |
TYVM Spence for the very positive update of progress so far...
Fingers crossed for the next installment(s) to also be without any issues... Baby steps now... Run w/o water inj and shake her down to get and make all sub systems “ a o k “. Enjoy her back on the road...!! You deserve an amazing and awesome summer of trouble free use... Lets all hope for such... Take care... Bob |
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