2.7 Rebuild Questions

[Matt in Japan]

I have a few questions about the 2.7 engine and am interested in some basics - the biggest being knowing when to rebuild. I'm new to Porsche, so I hear a lot of different things from different people. I'm not trying to build a racing engine or go nuts with mods and bolt-on horsepower options - I'm looking for daily driver reliability.

Bottom line:

1. How do I check the engine out to determine if and when I need a rebuild?

2. Do I need Carerra -style chain tensioners?

3. Do I need Raceware hardware?

4. Do I need an external oil cooler?

5. Do I just need a different engine?

6. Who rebuilds for a reasonable price?

Thanks to anyone who can give me good advice.

Matt
Iwakuni, Japan
1977 911S

[Wayne 962]

Hi there. I'll answer your questions.

1- See here:
http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/mult_Engine_Rebuild/mult_engine_rebuild-1.htm

2- I personally recommend them. See the new book in Chapter Four for details...

3- RaceWare is good, but you probably don't need it, unless you are building a performance engine. I recommend the early-style studs (Also discussed in Ch 4).

4- All 911s should have an external cooler - it's a good thing for motor longevity. Especially for the 2.7s...

5- Some people do that, but there are a host of other problems sometimes with other engines. 3.0L/3.2 have head stud problems, and the 3.2 engines have valve guide wear problems.

6- No one. You get what you pay for. Count on about $8K for a rebuild no matter which engine you are rebuilding (1965-89). Subtract about $2K if you do it yourself. Anything less than that, and it's not worth doing...

-Wayne

[Zeke]

Wayne, I respect your position on the rebuild issue and the cost. It would seem possible, though, to do a maintanence rebuild, replaceing only the parts out of spec. Assuming that new P/Cs are going to be used at each rebuild certainly raises the cost. I have a 2.7 with 101,000 miles on it and it looks unmolested. I hope to prove my point sometime this year by sevicing the case with the stud kit and installing the Carrea tensioners. Headwork will also be done. I won't know if I want to try to re-ring it and I haven't performed a leak down to identify problems. As you know, we had this discussion months ago where I maintained that I could put a decent motor on the street for $2500 in parts and I am committed to attempting this. I also said, at the time that I could add in some HP while re-building. I'm not so sure now that this is feasable to the extent that I claimed before. While I am not advocating throwing a bunch of used parts in an engine to get by, I am hoping that there is some possibility for the *maintanence* rebuild. I am waiting for the color version of the book, "How to rebuild 911 engines" before starting.

[Wayne 962]

There's the right way to do things, and then there's the slap-together junk way. Sometimes the junk way works fine for quite a while. Sometimes not. It's a virtual guarantee that your P&Cs will be out of spec - the Porsche factory specs are very tight on these.

As for your 2.7 case, it warps and deforms with normal use. Plain and simple fact. You must have the case replaned, and the spigots aligned, otherwise you will have problems with leaks.

If you want to toss together $2500 worth of parts, I'm sure you can make it work. The mag case will most likely leak like a sive and it won't last as long, or run as well.

Most people rebuilding their engine want to do the job right. In the book, I tell you how to do it right. If you want to cut corners, then that's your responsibility. I'm sure it can be done, but then it will always be a big question mark motor. Most people want to rebuild their engines and do it right - that is what I tell people to do in the book, and that's what all the expert engine rebuilders around the country do as well...

-Wayne