Time to rebuild -- rod bearing went south

[Vintage914Racer]

I started the weekend excited to run my 914-6 at the Elkhart Lake Vintage Festival at Road America, but my excitement quickly waned. Long story short, I think I have a rod bearing going bad.

I took it easy in my first track session yesterday because it was all of 45 degrees during my session and drizzling. A host of electrical issues had some of my gauges acting crazy and I came in early. When I oil pressure gauge started fluctuating as I pulled into my pit spot I figured it was related to my other gauge woes. Well, the next time I started it up there was a subtle ticking noise. I troubleshooted for awhile and got an expert ear to help me out. Upon pulling the passenger side valve cover I found this:





As you can see there are copper fragments in the oil in the valve cover. I'll drain tomorrow night when I get home and suspect to see more.

I assume that a full tear down is in order?

An engine tear down wasn't in the cars, since this engine only has about 15 hours on it. So, I'll probably take my time tearing it down over the winter and possible sit next season out. I assume there isn't much risk tearing it down myself? I'm not sure I have the patience to attempt a rebuilt myself. I'll likely solicit input on a rebuilder once everything is apart and cleaned. My Porsche wrench retired...

For now, the car sits...

[JFairman]

Bummer... and cleaning everything including all oil lines and thermostats, measuring worn parts and rebuilding it correctly is very expensive. Oil coolers are usually replaced since you never know how well they can be cleaned out.

You could buy the freshly rebuilt 930 motor with Carrera manifold and EFI on the classifieds and put that in your car.
That would be insanely fun to drive!

[Vintage914Racer]

You could buy the freshly rebuilt 930 motor with Carrera manifold and EFI on the classifieds and put that in your car.

That would be insanely fun to drive!

Would be fun, but not legal for the vintage clubs I run with.

[tom1394racing]

There has been a series of defective rod bearings for the 2.4/2.7 and 3.2/3.3/3.6 crankshafts.

What crank are you using?

[Vintage914Racer]

What crank are you using?

66mm. I don't recall what it's out of. Early 2.0 liter s. I think.

[Vintage914Racer]

Got home this afternoon, got things unloaded and drained the oil.

The results would be great if I was panning for gold, however that's not the case here.

Based on what I see I'm guessing not much will be reusable. I assume the case can be reused? What else can I plan on repurposing and what becomes a paperweight?

[Steve@Rennsport]

Originally Posted by Vintage914Racer

Based on what I see I'm guessing not much will be reusable. I assume the case can be reused? What else can I plan on repurposing and what becomes a paperweight?

You will not have any answers until everything is completely disassembled, cleaned up and inspected.

[DSPTurtle]

Aww... Lets think positively! Best case you smoked a rod. Regardless, with that much metal, prepare yourself for hours of tedious cleaning in every nook and cranny. Freeze plugs out and total flush. Then you can source a new rod and bearings and put her back together. If its a main, be prepared for a rather hefty machine shop bill and a long lead time. Fingers crossed that no big pieces made it to the cam feed lines so you don't have to mail a package to Webcam. Take'r apart and show us some pics. Shouldn't take you more than a weekend

[JFairman]

Looks like spun rod bearing with all that debris. The crank will likely be scored too.
Always sorry to see that.

[Vintage914Racer]

We'll get it torn apart in the next few weeks. At this point I'm planning on a new crank, pistons and cylinders and rods for sure. We'll see what the tear down reveals.

[turbobrat930]

Why not send the crank to Armundo at CCR ( I believe he is now located in TX), get the crank fixed, and save some of your money.

You can also offset grind the crank (stroking it), which would require new rods.... but if you are thinking about buy new rods anyway, you could have a stroker engine for the same price!!!

[lindy 911]

Why new Ps & Cs? I doubt they are hurt form a spun conrod bearing. What's more concerning is why this happened. The top end should be okay as it's fed by oil that's been filtered. Case should be fine too along with heads and the other five rods. Optimistically, I'd say you have a crank to repair or replace, a connecting rod and rod bearings. A good opportunity to practice your cam timing skills.

[Vintage914Racer]

Why new Ps & Cs? I doubt they are hurt form a spun conrod bearing. What's more concerning is why this happened. The top end should be okay as it's fed by oil that's been filtered. Case should be fine too along with heads and the other five rods. Optimistically, I'd say you have a crank to repair or replace, a connecting rod and rod bearings. A good opportunity to practice your cam timing skills.

You're probably right, but I'm an eternal pessimist when it comes to Porsche repairs. It makes bad news more acceptable and good news even better. We'll see when it gets torn apart.

[KTL]

Sorry to see that. Yep you have to disassemble everything to avoid future damage. Thermostats, oil coolers ultrasonically cleaned (I don't like the idea myself since who knows if all the debris can be coaxed out of them), crank plugs, case plugs, oil pump........... disassemble anything oil comes in contact with.