Designing and building my dream car

[jons911]

I recently acquired a 1988 911 Carrera, and I am happy to say that it is finally time for me to embark on my own build after reading so many on this forum.

What I started with:
I received the car in grand prix white with a 964 body kit and an aftermarket spoiler. The wheels are turbo twists with an estimated size of 17x8&9. The tires are pretty much brand new, so that's nice. Here it is in the garage, with a look at my daily in the driveway.


Short term:
This car is meant to be the fun weekend car to rip around in and take to the occasional DE. For now, I just want the car to be running well enough. The wheels will get swapped out for fuchs replicas in the near future. I'm not sure yet if I'll sell them now with good tires or wait a little while. If you like them, they are for sale, just not listed. I could have them ready to go in however much time it takes to have the Euromeisters shipped.

Long term:
I'm planning either an RSR or an IROC car. The engine is being debated at the moment, but I'm thinking of boring it out to 97mm for a 3.3l and then adding twin turbos. The engine will be the first and then followed by the body work. The exhaust would be a partial custom design.

The first project completed:
This past weekend, I ran through some of the necessary work. The car was missing a driver's floorboard, so I put in the Rennline one from our host. The throttle peddle is extremely light, and I suspect it is missing one of the return springs in the peddle cluster. It also had the wrong spring on the throttle assembly on the engine. The latter has been replaced with the correct spring plus an extra one, so now the peddle feels a little better, but still a little light. The fan had a huge split in it, and pieces were starting to come loose. That was easily replaced. It probably took longer to find a 24mm tool that would fit.

Finally, I did an oil change and valve adjustment. This was my first valve adjustment, and it took me forever. The exhaust side wasn't too bad, but the intake was no fun. I had a hard time getting the feeler gauge in from the engine bay, so I just went from underneath. But that meant I had to get back up to actually adjust the valve. Then finally there was the challenge of tightening the nut on the valve without losing the setting. By the end, I think I had to adjust about half of the valves. It was all worth it though, well, on the second attempt to start it up. I forgot to replace the oil cap on the first start up and the car was definitely not happy. I shut it back down, realized I'm an idiot and screwed it back on. The second attempt was much better and the car sounds and drives better than it did before.

Still to come:
I need to check the tie rods and replace one of the CV boots. Also, annoyingly, I need to now be on the lookout for head studs and the related symptoms of further failure. I found a broken one sitting there at the valve cover when I pulled them off. With just the one though, as long as there aren't further signs of a problem with that cylinder, I'm not too worried about it handling weekend driving on a stock engine.

[sugarwood]

Where did you get the new fan from?

[jons911]

I just bought the one from our host. As bad as the original one was, I didn't want to wait around to find a cheaper one as it seemed unsafe to continue driving on it.

[Knockdown]

Sounds like a fun project! Subscribed.

[Luccia at Pelican Parts]

Whoo-hoo! Congrats! Looks like a super fun project. Thanks for the purchase, as well and I'm sure you're already familiar with our tech articles, but posted them below just in case. Have you seen our RSR Tribute thread? Might give you some ideas for the feature work you do on yours. Posted that below as well. I look forward to watching the progress you make!

Porsche 911 (1965-1989) Technical Articles - Pelican Parts
Finishing the Pelican Parts 911 RSR Tribute Project

[jons911]

Thanks Luccia. I've definitely made good use of the technical articles. I recently used the backside method found here for adjusting my valves.

[jons911]

Sorry, but this is not a big update. The car is finally back from the shop and is fully registered. I bought the car in Florida, where the previous owner didn't have a catalytic converter on it, so when I sent it to my dad, the car failed emissions. He hasn't quite jumped on the DIY train yet, so we let our mechanic take it and while he had it, he brought in a friend that works on wiring. The car has had a huge wiring overhaul and everything works. A new cat was installed and it passed emissions easily. Hopefully this christmas we will start work on getting the car back to the G series styling instead of the 964. My dad really likes the stock look, but I'm going to see if I can't find some bumpers without the rubber that he likes. Best case would be IROC, but we'll see.

[3rd_gear_Ted]

For the eventual engine you desire, it will need a good sized front oil cooler in Florida for track use.
The 964 nose fitment for a large oil cooler is better than the fitment with an IROC nose. You end up with not enough airflow on the backside of the oil cooler with the IROC. There are mods that can be done to make an IROC work, but just wanted to bring up a consideration for the future.

[jons911]

The car is actually in Arizona. Which means in the summer, it probably will just melt. I'm not so sure the 964 would be better though since it doesn't have any direct airflow. It would definitely need fans, whereas the IROC or similar gets direct airflow. Like you said, space can be tight behind, but it seems a better trade off. It's rather a moot point though since neither my dad or I want to keep the 964 styling, so I'll just find a way to make the IROC work.

[jons911]

Thread revival because it's actually happening.

Now that the engine rebuild is underway, I'd like to give my experience and issues I ran into to hopefully help out any other first timers. This post will be about dropping the 3.2 with a G50 out of the car together. References to the engine bay are as you look in to the engine bay.

Electrical:
-Battery
-Alternator harness plug on near left side
-Ground straps wired to #1 intake runner
-3 sensor plugs on a bracket on #3 intake runner
-Heater blower motor power supply plug
-Fuel injector harness plug centered on far side of engine
-4 plugs for throttle/air flow/idle control on center of intake
-Speedo cable accessed from shift coupler tunnel
-Trans ground strap

Fuel:
-Incoming line from fuel filter
-Return line at the bracket on #3 intake runner (I couldn't undo this fitting and ended up just cutting it and left enough to use a coupler if necessary)

Oil:
-Oil 'S' line
-Oil cross over hard line ( I couldn't get this either, but the fitting at the thermostat came off easily, so I used that and pulled the cross over and hard line to the thermostat off together once the engine was off)

Mechanical:
-AC compressor, don't forget to check the bolt to the side that is used to tension the belt, mine caught on the engine mount support
-CV joints (put in neutral and use hand brake, rotate wheel to have CV bolts constantly at the bottom, space gets tight and chances of stripping the bolt increase if you try to do the bolts while they are on top)
-Shift Coupler (there's a bolt hidden by the plastic shroud on the drivers side that needs to pulled out, it's right before the shift rod goes in to the tunnel, then the shift rod can be pulled out of the coupler)
-Clutch slave (two bolts hold it on to the top of the transmission and is easiest to get to from the drivers side)
-Throttle linkage on the driver's side of the trans
-2 engine mount bolts
-2 trans mount bolts

I originally was following the instructions in 101 projects, but getting the starter off was pretty much impossible. I could not get any combination of sockets or allen keys in to the barrel nut and provide torque. Stumped by that, I came to the forum to find an answer and came across this link which was an excellent source: 87 Carrera engine drop

After switching to dropping the engine and trans together, I faced only two serious challenges. The fuel return line just would not give (not helped by it being in the far corner where you can't get good leverage and the bracket is too weak and bends if you don't support it), and I ended up cutting it. I left enough hose that if necessary, I can use a coupler to reconnect it. The other was the oil crossover line. I could not get the fitting to budge at all. Fortunately the fitting at the thermostat gave way without too much difficulty. It was a little awkward having that large line on the side of the engine, but not too bad. The only other challenge was actually pulling the engine out from under the car while getting the axles out of the way. It just took a little repositioning here and there, and it came free. As for the drop itself, I highly recommend using a pneumatic impact gun. Mine is about 250 ft-lbs, and that was plenty. I would caution to only use the impact to break the bolt free until you are sure the engine and trans are firmly on whatever support you are using. Touching the supports isn't good enough. I thought the engine was sitting well on the cart, but it dropped just a bit once the bolt came out. And the impacts on reverse don't have a lower setting, so it'll undo the bolt in a split second, leaving no time to only partially unthread the bolt.

Overall, even for someone who has never dropped a 911 engine before, I think this method can have it out at a relaxed pace in a weekend easily.

[jons911]

On to the disassembly.

The first step was to split the transmission off. The four studs came undone without too much fuss. After that, there was the shift fork shaft. There are two hex bolts on the driver side of the bell housing. One bolts a tab to the shaft and the other bolts the tab to the bell housing. With those undone, I threaded a bolt back in to the shaft and it pulled right out. Lastly, make sure the starter and whatever the two wire plug is on the passenger side, low and forward are disconnected. After that, a floor jack under the transmission will allow you to just slide it off.

As for the engine itself, I started with the biggest and most obvious piece: the intake. I took the whole thing off as one unit. Other than the two nuts per intake runner, there was also the bracket for the three sensor plugs on runner #3 as well as a bracket for the fuel injection harness. My breather hoses all shared a common bracket as well, so the hose to the engine breather was also disconnected. After that, I was able to pull the whole thing off and set it aside.

Next, I proceeded to the engine tin. The fan shroud was annoying as I needed to disconnect the alternator, which is then covered by its own shroud. The tiny hex bolts holding it on were countersunk and very close to the alternator housing, and it was difficult to get any grip with the socket as it didn't really fit. But, eventually they yielded, and I was able to get the alternator disconnected. In addition, I pulled the throttle linkage off. After that, the vast majority of engine tin was a matter of making sure I got all of the bolts out, as there are way more than I expected. The driver side forward has the head temp sensor, so the rubber cover needed to be pulled out and then the sensor just unscrewed. The only real troublesome piece was the tin around the chain housing and fan belt. The heat exchanger feed goes through this piece and my muffler was in the way of pulling that off. So, I unbolted the muffler and pulled that off first. This allowed me to pull the heat exchanger feed and engine tin off together.

This next step was easily the most frustrating: the exhaust. I started off really well. The catalytic converter was practically new, so that came off easily. The crossover pipe was a bit rusty, but nothing my 1/2" socket couldn't handle. I was definitely feeling pretty good about myself at this point. I moved the engine from the hydraulic cart to the engine stand so I could get crack at the exhaust studs. I started with the barrel nuts. 2 of 3 actually pulled the stud with them, and the third snapped. Then the next two snapped as well, but 5 of 6 were off in some fashion, so good enough. The final though stripped out. I put a pause on that and switched to the hex nuts. Three I was able to cut enough to break free and unthread, one pulled the stud with it, and the other two snapped. So that left 11 of 12 out. I tried drilling out the final barrel nut. I tried hammering it with a chisel and punch, but nothing would work. I briefly tried to cut through the header, but that was a terrible idea. I ended up leaving it to remove once the heads and cam tower were off. With that whole unit on the ground, I had easy access to make a vertical cut in the nut and then use the chisel to split it open.

*I'll finish updating the tear down after a lunch break

[gomezoneill]

Photo's please????

[jons911]

Continuing the tear down

With the exhaust off, sort of, I moved on to the chain housing. The cam oil feed lines need to be removed first. The distributor partially blocks the driver side cam line, but I was able to undo the fitting without pulling the distributor. In hindsight though, the distributor comes out easily, so there's really no point to make things more difficult. With the cam lines off, I undid all the nuts holding the cover plate on. The gasket held pretty tight to the passenger side cover, so I used two flat head screw drivers to pry it off and work my way around until it was free. With the chain housing open, I moved to the cam bolt. I used my 250 ft-lbs impact and was able to get the bolt out without too much trouble. They were a bit stuck, so went through quite a bit of air, but came loose in the end. Then I moved to the tensioners. I used a screw driver to leverage the idler arm and push down on the tensioner. There's a little hole next to the piston of the tensioner where you can see the oil begin to seep out as the piston lowers. Just be warned, this takes a bit as the piston goes down pretty slow. The piston narrows a fair bit near the top where it contacts the idler arm. Once this shoulder gets below that hole the oil was seeping out of, you can stick a pin in and it will hold the tensioner down. I used a 2.5mm allen and a 1/8" drill bit. You want to use the largest pin that will fit, because if you go too small, the pin won't hold the tensioner piston down. With the tensioners unloaded, I was easily able to pull them and the idler arm/sprockets out. The cam sprocket has a small pin that locks its angular position to that of the cam. It's internally threaded and can be pulled out easy enough. However, with no tension on the chain, it sits a little loose, so wouldn't stop you from just pulling the sprocket off. If you want to pull the pin, you can do it with a spark plug. The end that the wire connects to has a small metal cap. Use a pair of pliers and unscrew that cap and the threaded rod it exposes fits that pin in the sprocket. With the sprocket, idler sprocket, and tensioner out, the last step is to pull the second sprocket off the cam and the shims behind it. The key way pin in the cam is crescent shaped on the bottom, so a small screw driver (I used the kind for glasses) can be lightly tapped under it and it will pop out. The final step in Wayne's book is to undo the three bolts around the cam holding that cover plate in place and then pry it out of the chain housing. It seemed to me I would damage the chain housing and the plate well before I got anywhere close to removing it. So, I skipped that and came back to it after the next step.

With the chain housings taken care of, I moved on to the cam towers and heads. I removed the valve covers and then began removing the head stud barrel nuts. I ended up with two broken studs on each side, and one stud came out with the nut. Overall though, my 1/2" socket allowed me to comfortably put enough torque through, and it wasn't a big deal. With the heads unbolted, I used a rubber mallet to tap around them to loosen them up. I pulled them a bit to start getting them moving and then went back to the chain housing. I removed the five nuts holding the chain housing to the case. Then, I used a mini crowbar to gently pry the chain housing away from the cam tower. Don't force it. If necessary, pull the heads and chain housing a little further out from the case and try again. The cam popped loose and then all that was left was to pull the chain out of the housing. You will probably want to pull the passenger chain ramp off to be able to pull the chain out. With the chain housing off, I slid the heads and cam tower off the head studs without any trouble.

Next up was to disassemble the heads and cam tower. The cam tower is held on by 12 nuts split between the intake and exhaust side, but it is also held on by six nuts underneath the rockers. To pull the rockers, you will need a 5mm allen. Hopefully, someone hasn't covered it with sealant, or you'll need to grab something to scrape that out with first. Most of my rockers came undone without too much trouble. Two started to slip as it was about to strip. I used an extension on the allen socket and used the impact on it. That undid the bolts in a blink. The last one did actually strip, and I had to drill it out. With the allen head bolt out, you can use a 3/8" drive socket extension to tap out the rocker arm. If yours like mine had a ton of sealant, you'll need to use the male end. If it's clean though, the female end is almost the exact size of the rocker arm. With the rockers out, you can undo the final nuts holding the cam tower to the heads. With the rockers out, you can also pull the cam out. It's personal preference if you want the heads still bolted up for a bit stability or extra weight. The cam just needed to be rotated a bit back and forth as I pulled it and it came out. I did need a bit of help from a rubber mallet to get the end out though. On to the heads. The last piece was to pull the studs out and then box them up. The small studs came out easily. The taller studs for the most part came out. A few I had to use an extractor on, and two just wouldn't come out. The exhaust studs just snapped if I tried, so I ended up sending them out with 10 exhaust studs and two cam tower studs still in place. I figured at that point it was money well spent.

After the heads and cam tower, came the pistons and cylinders. The cylinders pulled off easy enough. To remove the pistons, you need to pull the wrist pin retaining clip out. I used the same micro flat head used on glasses from earlier to pry it out and grab it with needle nose pliers. Sometime the clip just popped out without the pliers. Wayne recommends using the plastic grip of the screwdriver and a mallet to tap out the wrist pins. However, my screwdriver was bit too big. I wrapped a bit of cloth around the barrel nut that was still on the head stud I pulled earlier, and used that. This step actually went painlessly and quickly, which was a nice change.

Then came the part that people seem to fear: pulling head studs. Maybe I just had really good luck, but I was able to pull them out very easily. I timed the one side and it took 35 min to get all 12. I started with a bit of pb blaster on the stud and let that soak for maybe 15-20 min. Then, I used my propane torch (cheap one from Home Depot) to heat the cylinder spigot wall right next to the head stud spigot. I heated it for right around 1 min, then took my extractor socket, tapped it on with a hammer, and then used a socket wrench on the extractor to pull the stud. The extractor sockets I used are the reverse flute ones. Someone else recommended the Irwin bolt extractor. I went with a different brand off amazon to get better size options than the Irwin kit. For the threaded head stud, I used the 10mm socket. For the broken studs where it was just smooth rod, I used the 5/16-8mm socket.

Finally, catching up to the present, is prepping to split the case. The breather plate needs to be removed as it straddles the case seam. The same goes for the cover plate below the crank pulley. I also elected to remove the pressure relief, oil pressure warning light switch, the two other pressure reliefs towards the bottom, and the chain ramps. Then cam the studs. There are a ton of studs along the seam of the case. Don't forget the one right under the flywheel where the nut is actually on the passenger side. There are three studs behind the flywheel. Then, there are the through case studs. With the domed head of the nut, you need a slightly deeper socket than normal. There are 10 along the cylinder spigots. One on the driver side in the fan support and one 19mm nut in the chain housing area. On the passenger side, there are two more near the flywheel that you may miss since they are on the bottom with engine rotated for the split. Since I'm still waiting on my flywheel socket to arrive tomorrow, this is as far as I go for now.

[jons911]

As for pics, I've been trying to film the process, but I'm not happy with how it's coming out. So unfortunately, you'll have to wait for me to pull pics out of the videos. But I will be adding them in as I know I would not be where I am without the pictures supplied by others. But don't worry, I have about an hour of footage to pull from, so I should have pictures for just about everything. Hopefully tomorrow I'll start getting some added.

A few questions of my own though:
-What studs can be reused, and how are people cleaning them? It looks like pretty much all of my studs are just a bit dirty with some surface corrosion. It seems like they should clean up fine. Except head studs, those are getting pitched.
-Are the glyco main bearings available here still the South Africa ones? If so, I guess I'm getting the genuine Porsche brand ones. At least that comes with no. 8.
-Are people using a micrometer or caliper for measuring their crankshafts? I'm looking at getting some mitutoyo, but the calipers go to 0.01mm (accurate to 0.001in or about 0.025mm, but repeatable to 0.01mm) while Wayne's books lists specs out to 0.001mm. While a micrometer has that resolution, they are only offered in one inch widths, so just to measure the crank, which goes from 30mm to 90mm, you would need three different micrometers. Or have people found a good block to fill the extra distance and just subtract that width out? I'm a bit worried about how repeatable a spacer may be, or what kind of error there is. At the same time, I really don't want to have to spend $1k on measuring tools.
-I was planning on swapping my rod bolts for ARP, but should I be seriously considering getting Pauter or Carrillo instead? It's a turbo conversion and will have a red line of 6.5k but really shouldn't be going past 6.2k. It seemed the consensus was that high rpm's were causing rod bolts to fail.

[Trackrash]

As far as head studs go, replace the lower divilar with steel. The exhaust studs, are a pain to replace, but if they are rusted badly go for it.

I used Glyco "Porsche" bearings from our host, made in Poland. They were in spec and I did not have a problem on my SC motor a couple of years ago. There have been reports of them being out of spec lately.

Here is a picture of my micrometers. I bought them used MANY years ago. Starretts. The 0-1 was actually my father's. No other way to accurately measure a crank.

ARP rod bolts are a no brainer, IMO. With unlimited funds yea, Carrillos would be nice, but not necessary.
>just my armature opinion<

[jons911]

Yeah, I pulled four snapped dilavar studs out on tear down. I'm replacing both intake and exhaust with ARP or Supertec. I don't want to risk it.

Were those glyco bearings the glyco brand off of here, or the genuine porsche brand off of here? I've heard that buying porsche means you get glyco bearings from them but they are from a different plant and actually come within spec.

As for calipers vs micrometers, the argument is settled. I found the analog micrometers and they are about half the price of the digital. No point skimping on accuracy of such an important component.

[Trackrash]

I bought these from our host. This was a couple of years ago. They measured out fine.

[jons911]

Splitting the case

My flywheel socket arrived today, so I was able to get the case split to complete the tear down. While purchased from amazon, I used the same SK tools 12mm triple square bit offered here. As a heads up, the bit is quite long and my socket would not fit within the holding fixture. I used a short extension and rested the socket on the main support tube for the fixture. This meant I could only undo two bolts at a time before rotating the flywheel, but it actually allowed me to grab the fixture with my other hand to prevent the whole thing from rotating. So, all in all, it worked out pretty well. As for locking the flywheel, I used my small adjustable wrench. I placed one of the bolts through the hole in the handle of the wrench and screwed that into the flywheel. Then, I placed the jaw of the wrench around on of the arms of the fixture.

With the flywheel off, I got the last three studs out. The actual splitting was difficult since you can't pry on the seam for fear of damaging it. Using a mallet and socket extension, I tapped the four corners until a split formed. Then, I used washers in the seam on both sides of the flywheel as shims to prop that side up while I tapped the other side. This method worked the case off pretty fast. With the case split, there was the three tabbed nuts on the oil pump and the intermediate shaft came out. Don't bother with the circlips on it, because the connecting shaft can't move enough to come out anyway. Pull it out as a unit, and then it just easily slides apart. Finally I pulled the crank and rods out. Bonus for me, I forgot to pull the crank pulley off before splitting the case, and now the impact isn't enough to get it off. Using a wrench just twists the crank out of the journals. So, I'm pulling the rods off and then I'll put the crank back in with the flywheel on and put the other case half back on. This way, I can use my flywheel lock and a breaker bar to hopefully get the pulley off. On first inspection, the crank looks really good. Only one bearing has any marks on it, and they are pretty light. The crank itself has two journals where my fingernail is catching, but it isn't a long scratch going around like you would expect if something go into the bearing. It's very isolated at maybe 6-8mm long. I'm hoping it's just something that can be polished out. All the other main journals look untouched.

Pics are on the way.

[jons911]

Finally, the first photo dump. Sorry it's not very exciting yet, but I've been going over footage and pics for almost two hours and need a break.

Engine bay prepped for drop. Wiring labeled just in case.


Axles and throttle linkage disconnected


Shift coupler where bolt has to be removed before shaft can be separated


Engine out and trans split


Side view showing where the two bolts for the shift fork shaft are located


Plug on passenger side of trans

[jons911]

I've got some free time, so here is the next wave of photos.

Here is the transmission split from the engine. Thankfully, the shift fork shaft has already been updated and came out easily.


I took the intake of as a unit, which definitely gave the appearance of significant progress.


Here's the intake set aside to be disassembled later.


These tiny little bolts on the front of the alternator housing hold the shroud on to the back. They were a huge pain to loosen as the bolt head are so close to the housing it was nearly impossible to get a wrench or socket on them.


Fan and alternator disconnected.


A good shot for why the heater down pipe, muffler and front engine tin all had to come off somewhat together.


Backside of the engine showing the exhaust crossover pipe is out and the sensor locations. There is the bracket with the flywheel pickup and reference sensor at about 2 o'clock and another reference sensor on the top. They were already removed for the picture, but the studs are still in.


First shot of the engine up on the stand.


The last holdout from the exhaust nuts. You can see just how mangled it is from all of the various attempts to remove it.


A look in the chain housing after I've unloaded the tensioner.