Thanks to the Forum for a 100% successful engine rebuild

brighton911 · 04-25-2014, 04:03 AM

Well I now have 500 miles on my 3.2 rebuild so I am confident all is well. Which means it's time to thank the Pelican forum at least a hundred times for all the collective wisdom I received. The car runs so strong and not a single oil leak anywhere. Reason for rebuild was a noisy top end when hot. Car ran really well other than that. Turns out someone else had been in (just prior to me buying the car) and did a so-so top end rebuild including new guides but left worn valves in place. Craig Garrett did a super job on the heads, thanks Craig. He also rebuilt my rockers and again, a beautiful job. DRC reground my cams to a 964 profile, thanks John. I was worried about oil leaks in general but especially from the case. The case sealing thread was invaluable in making sure an oil tight case was the end result, thanks to all that contributed so much advice on that thread. New parts included: ARP rod bolts, rod bearings, piston rings, valves, timing chains, ramps, chain idlers, chain sprocket -thanks Holyoak, one piston - thanks Tom Butler.
Worst part, the cleaning. Man did I have hours in that. End results is nice though. So now time to enjoy and contribute back to the Forum when I can. Hate to think of doing that job without the benefit of the Forum.

Henry Schmidt · Henry Schmidt's Garage

Congratulations on a job well done. With all the possible outcomes available, success speaks to your personal work ethic. Good job.

Len 911 · Len 911's Garage

Glad to see it went well, Did you do the rebuild yourself ? What was the total build cost for this.. I will be doing the same real soon.
Great looking car
congrats

brighton911 · 04-25-2014, 09:53 AM

Yes, I did it all. If you are mechanically inclined and follow the many excellent threads, it can be done. Costs, well for me, no less than 2500.00 and I was very lucky to finish in that low. Depending on what you find and whether you have alucil (throw away) or nikacil (rebuild able) cylinders, you could double that number that with ease. Do the research first, you will be able to go in informed and ready.

TheSt|G · 04-25-2014, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brighton911

Yes, I did it all. If you are mechanically inclined and follow the many excellent threads, it can be done. Costs, well for me, no less than 2500.00 and I was very lucky to finish in that low. Depending on what you find and whether you have alucil (throw away) or nikacil (rebuild able) cylinders, you could double that number that with ease. Do the research first, you will be able to go in informed and ready.

Was it luck of the draw for the alucil/nikacil? Or is it a year cutoff?

brighton911 · 04-25-2014, 11:16 AM

Luck of the draw. And for once, I got lucky!

TheSt|G · 04-25-2014, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brighton911

Luck of the draw. And for once, I got lucky!

Good to know, thanks.

Lapkritis · Lapkritis's Garage

Glad to hear it worked out.

peppy · 04-25-2014, 01:47 PM

That is one heck of a rebuild for less than $2500.

Even with being able to reuse the piston and cylinders you came out like a bandit.

Well done.

Mitch1 · 04-25-2014, 02:28 PM

Wow. My machine shop bill was 2500.00

Gordo2 · Gordo2's Garage

Great to hear it all came together.

I've fallen behind in my rebuild with too many "while I'm at it" side jobs and stuff like work getting in the way.

Always great to hear another DIY success story - and just in time for the driving season.

Gordo

mreid · 04-25-2014, 07:21 PM

Great job!

How about a picture of the patient?

Shuie · 04-26-2014, 05:30 AM

Awesome. Congrats.

Any lessons learned, links to threads that were particularly helpful, etc.?

brighton911 · 11:57 AM

Hmm, lesson learned. It will take longer and cost more than expected! But seriously, I read the Tech forum pretty much daily and learn from almost each person that posts. I put it all together in part, by using my experience as a guide to what is valuable to me and by weighting the posts of those whose opinions I have a high regard for.
I started planning this rebuild two years ago. I started buying parts I knew I would need so the cash flow was spread out over time. By reading the Engine forum regularly, by the time I got to it, I had a very good idea of what to expect and what I going to do. I was really lucky, no big surprises. As so typical, undoing poor quality work goes with any job, sadly, there are people out there who just don't care about quality.
Threads, wish I had kept a list. I follow all those who post their rebuilds, Gordo's was really helpful and there are many more. The case sealing thread, the many threads on alucil and nikacil re-ringing taught what I needed to know about that topic. Final advice, clean everything before disassembly, take a ton of pictures as you go, bag it all with clear permanent labeling and don't be in a hurry. That's the good part about winter here, plenty of down time. And what could be finer than being in your heated garage doing what we like best, working on the Porsche.

Gordo2 · Gordo2's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by brighton911

... Costs, well for me, no less than 2500.00 and I was very lucky to finish in that low...

Occurred to me today - I think I've spent that on nitrile gloves alone...