What to do with an engine...

[notfarnow]

Hey folks,

I recently bunmped into a guy from my neighborhood with a nice scruffy '70 911T. I had seen the car parked at a local garage for the better part of the summer... turns out the engine was being replaced with a good used longblock. We chatted for a while, and he mentioned that he had the old engine in his garage. He ended up offering me the engine for a price so low that I couldn't refuse. So... he's dropping it off this weekend and I have yet to decide what to do with it.

Here are the details, as explained to me:
-2.0 engine from a 70T. As far as he knows, it's the original engine. He bought the car on ebay a few years ago. At the time, he was told it had the original engine but has never double checked.
-He recently removed this engine because he was told by his mechanic that the wrist pins were bad. He did not make the diagnosis himself so he wasn't able to explain much more than that.

Anyway, the engine is not really useful to me because:
a) I don't have a Porsche yet
b) when I do get a Porsche (next fall?) it will be an SC.
It was so cheap I bought it anyway. I figure at the very least, I can familiarize myself with Porsche engines by doing a teardown. I'm going to get Wayne's engine rebuilding book and then dissassemble and inspect the engine.

My question is this: Once the engine is torn down, what should I do with it?

1)I was thinking I could sell it off in pieces... cams, heads, case crank etc... The only problem there is I really can't assess whether parts are in spec without sending them to a machine shop. Is it worth trying to sell them as-is, with just a visual inspection and good pictures?

2) I could bolt the thing back together, using Permatex Blue in place of gaskets, and sell it on ebay as "WOW!! FRESH REBUILT PORSHE ENGINE!!NR!!"

3) I could make a really, really cool lamp.

Thoughts?

[project935]

It's a V8, but ya never know what you might rig up ...

[Tim Walsh]

First of all it's not worth rebuilding we're talking 3-5K for a stock rebuild done by you.

Second, a 70T has some things one it that are decent but not a whole lot.
1. case is weak without any piston squirters
2. crank is noncounterweighted
3. small, nonupdated oil pump

On the good side,
1. pistons are a small upgrade to most 2.4L motors
2. Heads are decent and will work on any 2.2-2.7L

[notfarnow]

Originally posted by Tim Walsh
First of all it's not worth rebuilding we're talking 3-5K for a stock rebuild done by you.

Just to clarify, I have NO intention of rebuilding this engine. At the very most, I may do a ""dry run" reassembling the engine just to familiarize myself with the procedure. No gaskets, no new parts. I have NO use for a rebuilt 2.0 longblock.

Originally posted by Tim Walsh
Heads are decent and will work on any 2.2-2.7L .

Maybe the heads would be worth selling then... are they really worth anything as a core?

[djmcmath]

You could make a mean espresso machine out of a 2.0L horizontally opposed engine. I mean, seriously.

1 - Mount a torque wrench on the crank. Calculate how much hand-pulled torque is required to generate 9bar pressure for a good pull.
2 - Get an E-61 grouphead. Ebay, EspressoParts.com, etc. -- mount said grouphead on the exhaust valve, such that when you pull on the torque wrench, water from inside the cylinder is pushed into the grouphead.
3 - Plumb a reservoir into the intake valve, such that when you pull the torque wrench back the other direction, you suck water into the cylinder.
4 - Temperature control. Fill the oil sump with water. Rig a pump to circulate hot water through the oil system. Use a cheaply available digital propcon to maintain the water temperature stable at 95C. The engine should have enough mass to maintain temperature quite well through the process of pulling a 25sec 56ml doppio.
5 - If particularly motivated, mount a second E-61 grouphead on the opposite side. That way, while you're pulling shots out of the left side, the right side is intaking cold fresh water, heating it to 95C, and prepping for the brew process. Too easy.
6 - Mount on a nice oak stand, keep in garage. The wife would never let you keep a flat-6 Porsche espresso machine on the kitchen counter.

[notfarnow]

Now we're talkin!

[id10t]

Build it into a generator. Next hurricane season, you should be able to make a nice profit if you send it to Florida...

[notfarnow]

djmcmath,

I checked ebay and EspressoParts.com...couldn't find any info on the "E-61 grouphead". How much do they sell for? I think this is a GREAT idea... I could even set up different cylinders to make Hot chocolat, tea & coffee!

[djmcmath]

If you're in a hurry, you can get groupheads from espressoparts (you may have to call them, or dig through their poorly organized parts collection) in order to get the thing you're looking for. It'll be in great condition, shiny and new, but it'll be pricey -- like $400-800, give or take. You might do as well to find a "cheap" knock off from a similar high-end espresso machine. Watch e-bay for commercial espresso machines that are broken and being sold "as is" for a much better price. If you're seriously interested, it would also be of use to start hanging out at coffeegeek.com, reading the alt.coffee forum (google groups has alt.coffee available) and reading Schomer's work at lucidcafe.com. Schomer knows how to make coffee.

But then, I was mostly joking. The engine block espresso machine has some excellent selling points, but also some huge weaknesses, in all seriousness. Ensuring uniform block heat is liable to be a real hassle. If you can manage to heat it uniformly, you'll be likely to burn yourself on 95C metal at every turn. There will definitely have to be some custom work done to make it work like an espresso machine (think La Pavoni lever-operated machine) rather than a sports car engine: you'll need something different for rings to seal the pistons into the head, and the valves probably won't hold that much pressure for that long without some kind of modification. It'd be outstanding to have a beautifully chromed and polished engine block putting out coffee, and the thermal consistency would likely be fantastic, but getting there from here is something of a challenge.

If you could manage this, you'd be my complete hero. If you're not a fairly serious espresso and engine geek, however, it's probably over your head.

Dan

[john70t]

FYI, the 911 2.0L stopped in 1969. 2.2L started in 1970.

Plumb the ports for standard hose connectors, cut and weld the cams, rig the starter with a transducer(?)/transformer(?) for house 115V, and use it to water the lawn.

[notfarnow]

Originally posted by john70t
FYI, the 911 2.0L stopped in 1969. 2.2L started in 1970.

True enough, I just spoke to the guy and he confirmed it's a 2.2.

Originally posted by djmcmath
If you're not a fairly serious espresso and engine geek, however, it's probably over your head.

Yeah, I think you're probably right... BUT it's still pretty tempting.

An other idea I had tonight is to COOl the case, and use it to keep beer (in the cylinders) cold... very garage appropriate. I noticed that project935 has wine bottles in his bores.

[djmcmath]

Kicka$$. Either way, it'd make excellent garage ornamentation. Heck, if you just stripped it down, cleaned it real good, powdercoated/enameled the various bits in pretty colors, then hung it on the wall, it'd be a pretty neat thing. Adding some functionality back into it would be a challenge worthy of a true engineer.

Dan

[Karl2bdc]

It is best to just do this, though this is a 3.2 motor:

[notfarnow]

Hahaha yeah I saw that in another thread. You're not foolin' me though, you're not allowed to leave that there, are you?

I really like the idea of making something somewhat functional out of it.

[Karl2bdc]

He I do what I want when I want.....until the woman comes home, lol. Actually we took it and put it in Ben Wornall's office at Imagine Auto. I just needed to make sure it looked good enough for a living room, lol.

[vash]

i once dated a hot woman in texas. she took a TH350 tranny from some chevy, and made it into a flower pot for dried flowers. she did some kind of rusty patina on it. it was damn cool! she even know what tranny it was. her house was decorated really nice and the tranny fitted in surprisingly nice. to bad she was sorta insane. a flat six seems to be mis-proportioned to do any cool artsy home decoration with it.

[RickM]

See that lawnmower in the shed?

It would be really cool if you made a cutaway engine from what you have. You know, where it's sectioned so you can see how all the parts are situated and work.

[A Quiet Boom]

Buy a welder, build a frame, add large rear tires and skinny fronts, SANDRAIL (at least until said engine explodes).

djmcmath, I love cappucinos and have often thought it would be neat to make use of my metalworking and machining skills to make a high quality expresso/cap machine. Is there a website with basic plans?

[djmcmath]

Christian -- you have a PM.