You might check with this shop as well:

Oklahoma Foreign- Used Porsche Parts. From early to late models, 356, 914, 911, 930, 944, 928, 968, 993 & boxsters.

Also it wouldn't hurt to call Zims - they might be able to suggest where to look if they don't have the piston:

Zim's Autotechnik Porsche Parts

Thanks
 

Good suggestions...will try them all

I have a "0" with rings you can have for the cost of shipping.
Or you can have the whole set for $250.00 (pending inspection of course)
Let me know........

That's a very kind offer, Henry. Is the "0" a delta 5 and a match for my "-" weight class?

Thanks to the very knowledgeable and helpful Henry Schmidt at
SUPERTEC PERFORMANCE, I now have a very serviceable replacement piston for my SC. The three week search allowed me to tackle many of the "while you're in there" things that I never intended to do (i.e. the #8 bearing seal, Supertec headstuds instead of the stainless I'd originally purchased, and various cleanup, hardware replacement and general restoration).

Now, I've no excuses between me and the completion of this job.

ducatist, how are things going? Also would you mind sharing your costs? I'm looking at purchasing a '78 911SC with at least one broken stud (but I don't know if it's intake or exhaust).

You also have good taste in other areas.. I had a '95 900SS and a '97 748SP (955cc). Now I've got a '00 VFR800. :)

Sorry for the extended delay in responding...

The cost isn't too bad for headstud replacement. Henry Schmidt's studs are the most expensive part of the process, but from all I've heard they're worth their price. I broke a piston skirt and had to replace a piston, but if you're careful that expense and time consuming search won't be a part of your repair. With all the new gaskets , O rings and nuts and washers, the cost of a specialized tool or two and the headstuds, my cost was slightly under $1,000.

I was fortunate to have broken my three studs off with enough remaining to be able to use a pipe wrench to remove them. Others have broken them off flush with the case and had to have them machined out with considerable time and expense. Cross your fingers - it's really a lottery.

My project is not yet complete...I have the motor reinstalled in the car, but have encountered an electrical short somewhere that I'm attempting to track down. Hopefully, it'll be a simple problem, but so far no joy.


Ducati's are amazing machines...I have a 996. Your broken headstud will be on the exhaust - never heard of a stainless intake stud breaking - always the dilavar exhaust studs that seem to go ping.
Good luck with your SC

The Good, the Bad...and hopefully not the Ugly
 

Here are a few pics of my engine finding its way home...a welcome sight to me after some fairly long delays in the process (most notably sourcing an in-spec piston to replace the one I broke during disassembly - Thanks again Henry Schmidt). Anyone who's done this project knows how I feel seeing the engine back in the car, but I have to admit to the reassembly and reinstallation being much smoother and easier than I'd imagined possible...everything was quiet...too quite, it seems. Now, I have encountered a problem...any ideas or advice would be most welcome.

After reinstalling the engine, I got a big spark when reattaching the negative wire to the negative battery post - quickly removed it and broke out my multimeter. It turns out that the body of the car behaves just like the positive post on the battery. I get 12.4 volts on the meter by touching the black probe to the negative terminal and the red probe to the body of the car. If I touch the red probe to the positive battery post and the black probe to the car's body, I get 0 volts - exactly opposite of what should be the case. I reviewed all my connections and even disconnected them all (the quick release wiring harness connections in the engine compartment as well as the wires on the starter and alternator), but the condition persists. I then reconnected everything and went through my fuses one by one - removing them did not remedy the short. The condition exists without the key being in the ignition so I really didn't expect the fuse exercise to yield any positive results. Somewhere, I seem to have an always hot wire in direct contact with the car's body - have to assume it's related to the engine removal and re-installation as the car was fine prior to that and has been sitting untouched on jack stands for two and a half months.

Hopefully I'm missing something simple or even stupid simple...don't worry about insulting me if I am. At this point I'd be willing to sacrifice a little ego for an answer ;)

Does anyone know of a "usual suspect" for this sort of short?



http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1346893581.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1346893871.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1346894422.jpg

Do you have the 12V terminal on the starter under control? Meaning, both plus cables connected, and the rubber glove secured over it to avoid a short? Is the 12v cable from the battery squeezed between something on its way out of the tunnel, maybe the trans mount?

Make sure you unplug the control box while you are working on this problem, you dont want to fry that one....


Regards,

Jhan

I pulled both the positive and negative wires off the battery while I try to sort out this problem...certainly don't want to burn anything. Both starter wires are mounted tightly on their post and the rubber boot os covering them - neither appear to be in contact with anything except one another. I'll check the battery cable, but I didn't remove the transmission - only the engine.

Thanks for the ideas.

On mine the Positive to the starter is a Black wire... Can lead to confusion.

thank you. I too have the heavy gauge black wire running from the battery which shares the single mounting point with the slightly less heavy gauge red wire that comes from the wiring harness on the engine (along with the two relatively small gauge wires that attach to the starter with blade connectors). I'll post a pic as a sanity check.

pics of the wiring of my starter and alternator
 

I pulled back the rubber boots to better display the actual connections. Looks right to me, you?http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1346940112.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1346940172.jpg

An excellent, inspiring thread - very well done indeed :)

The starter wiring looks right, but not sure about the alternator wiring - perhaps the problem is there - something connected incorrectly?

This might help (I hope): http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/481881-alternator-wiring-issue.html

Starter wiring look good but all the threads replies seem to lead toward something wrong with the alternator wiring, so we'll expect some good news soon...

Thanks all. The alternator wiring looks as it did in the pics I took prior to removal and it is consistent with the description provided in the link. The size of the connectors won't allow either of the two positive wires to fit on the other two posts. Here are 2 more sanity
check pics with different angles.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1346975929.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1346976004.jpg

Great, kind of...

I remember when it came time to put mine back, I could not find the pics of where the wires went. After a while I notice that all 4 grommets had different size. So it was Sailor proof as we said when I was in the Navy.

This start to Pipi me off... but probably not as much as you :D

P.S. IIRR there was 4, your pics seem to show all the wire on 3 post! But my memory is not what it used to be...

Mystery short to ground solved!
 

Thanks to all of you who provided me with the benefit of your better (or at least fresher and more objective) minds…especially those of you who kept telling me (in effect) when in doubt; blame the alternator. You guys were right…sort of. Truth be told, I’m more to blame than the alternator since I used a spacer on the plastic alternator cover that had just enough excess diameter to make contact with the metal plate on the back of the alternator where the connectors are mounted. Instant arc…just add 12 volts. I discovered it after determining the grounding problem went away after I removed the plastic cover, but returned once I reinstalled it – another clue was the arc popping (and heart stopping) sound that emanated from the engine compartment the instant I connected the negative wire to the battery. The oversized spacer was blackened where the arc hit it – a dead giveaway of a dead short to ground.

So, a properly sized spacer was substituted and the problem was solved.
Not one to dwell on unpleasantness, I moved on to the test cranking of the engine. After a minute or so of turning it over, it cranked up, seemed to need and not get enough fuel and it died. I repeated the process a few times and it cranked and idled on its own, but there are some rattling sounds that seem to be coming from the driver’s side intake rocker bank – maybe the oil hasn’t gotten to that side in sufficient quantities. There were also a few minor back fires through the pop off valve, but nothing worse than you might expect of a cold SC. I can’t accurately check the oil level without the car running at idle for a while, but the dipstick looks a little low. I’ll pick up a few quarts of oil tomorrow and see if that quiets the rattle. Very little smoke on first startup, but there is a rich smell of unburned fuel.

I guess I wasn’t expecting it to crank up and purr like a kitten, but hopefully, with the addition of a little more oil, it’ll at least sound like an SC again.

Thanks again.