Engine removal TIME?

ozzygus · 02-12-2015, 02:00 AM

Hi Guys, can somebody tell me how long does it take to remove & refit A engine in my 964 C4? It has the orig 3.6, it's leaking A bit of oil, was thinking of getting this sorted, I'm A little short on $.

bobolsn · bobolsn's Garage

Ozzy,

Go to the technical forum and do a search. There are several recent threads about time requirements. My recollection is from 30 minutes to multiple hours. Depends on past experience, tools/equipment in your garage and your ability.

Good luck

Mitch1 · 02-13-2015, 06:02 AM

Don't know about C4 3.6, but most shops charge 4 hrs for removal. Probably takes them 2. But they never know what seized hardware or such they might run into.

Norm K · 02-13-2015, 06:16 AM

^^^^ Sounds about right. Never having done one, it took me right at four hours to pull my 3.3 turbo engine. If I'd done another one a week later it would've taken less than three - probably a bit less.

Now we'll see how long it takes for me to put it back in - hopefully before month's end...

brp914 · 02-13-2015, 08:42 AM

R&R time is likely immaterial relative to fixing current and future leaks. Beware the slippery-slope. Mine turned into an overhaul. I can't remember when I took mine out, let alone how long it took, or how long it will take to put it back together

A couple surprises along the way - PO wore out the emergency brake shoes

Mitch1 · 02-13-2015, 09:04 AM

That's how mine started. "Yeah I'll drop the engine. Fix as many leaks as I can. Clean and paint engine bay. Replace engine sound pad, a couple of lines", yada, yada, yada...I'm splitting the case.

Mitch1 · 02-13-2015, 09:08 AM

What I did, was split it up. Disconnect fuel and electrical, drain oil and raise car one day. Disconnect oil lines, shift coupler and drop engine the next.

Norm K · 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brp914

R&R time is likely immaterial relative to fixing current and future leaks. Beware the slippery-slope. Mine turned into an overhaul.

Sounds familiar. Mine came out last March. Wanted to have a good look and identify where the worst of the leaks were. Figured I should at least do the top end while it was out, so I pulled everything as far down as the case. Dropped the heads off at the machine shop for a complete grind and rebuild. Since I was there anyway, I dropped off the P&Cs and had them check the tolerances (fortunately they were within spec). While waiting for the machine work to finish up, the case kept calling to me from the engine stand' "It's only about forty bolts or so to split me ..."

Ultimately, I relented and split the case. All I had to do here was have the crank tested and polished, install main and rod bearings and new rod bolts. No sense in doing all this without having the rods re-sized and the rocker arms rebuilt. Then came the SC cams. Only a few hundred more dollars bought a lovely set of ARP head bolts. Of course, new chains and ramps were in order. And if ever I was going to do it, this was the time to go twin-plug. Seemed like the ignition system could use some modernization to go along with the six new plugs, so an Electromotive XDi-2 was purchased. Stock plug wires no longer fit, so off to Clewett for upper and lower wires for the Xdi-2. And his crank sensor and mount. And his pulley/60-2 gear-tooth. And some RSR-type lower wire retainers. The stock intercooler won't do with a one bar spring, so enter one from Andial Racing. A Borla muffler, upgraded turbo and a set of RarlyL8 headers. And, and and ...

I finally have the engine ready, the XDi-2 mounted and it's wiring installed and tested. Now if I had more gumption (or less wife) I could probably make time to install the thing this weekend.

iamtheari · 02-13-2015, 03:50 PM

I have my 964 Carrera 4 almost out. Waiting for the big crows-foot wrench - I borrowed a large crescent wrench to do the oil line in the past but this time I'll use the proper tool, since it's worth having and will take the same time to arrive from Amazon as the borrowed crescent wrench would. I have kept track of my time. This is my first engine removal from any full-size vehicle. Small motorcycles and lawn tractors were it before. I am working on my back without a creeper (mine broke), with the car on jack stands.

I worked on this task on 6 different days for a total of 7-1/2 hours. Of that time, probably half of it was due to the clutch slave cylinder (you cannot quite reach the nuts with any tool at all and, even if you could, you wouldn't be able to see that the tool is engaging them), the starter (trying to understand exactly which wires must be disconnected, as the workshop manual and other sources are not at all clear), and the longitudinal slave cylinder (which of course doesn't exist on a "real" 911 and was just stubborn because the allen-head screw rounded out and the flat metal locking key required first a torch and then a cold chisel to break free).

If I did it again and all of the fasteners had 16,000 miles on them instead of 160,000, and if I had longer arms and smaller hands to get the clutch slave cylinder out, I believe that removal could be completed in less than 4 hours despite the complications of it being a Carrera 4.

There are people who can take the engine out and put it back in faster than I can change the oil. But whether it takes you 10 minutes or 10 hours, having the engine out of the car is the point of the exercise and you will certainly spend more than that time working on it as others have pointed out. I think the hard part is being patient enough to get it back into the car so you can drive the thing again.