Maverck - Our ‘81 SC Build

[Winter]

Great build thread Mav!

I hear you about the unique “kerThunk” sound a 911 door makes. Always puts a smile on my face when I hear it!

Now that the winter is fading here in Colorado, I’m going to dive into some engine projects, particularly preventative maintenance on the ‘76 I acquired last October.

I don’t think the PO installed Clewitts, but if not, that’s something I’ll definitely do given your experience with the Berus.

[maverck]

The wire saga continues.

Scooped up a set of Clewett’s from our host and post install it just seemed like it was running on 5 - rough and sluggish. I assumed one wire simply wasn’t seating right but I rechecked every wire numerous times. Uninstalled and reinstalled and no matter what - rough and sluggish.

So tonight threw the Beru’s back on and the car is no longer sluggish. For now I am picking my battles and sticking with the Beru’s and hopefully the heads stop popping off.

Maverck is headed back into a local air cooled specialist on Monday to dig back into the slight popping noise I am hearing. The shop I was previously using was bought out and is now out of the air cooled game - so also re-establishing care at a new one.

Cross you fingers that I get the car back ripping!!

[ramonesfreak]

I bought the Beru wires and had issues with them. Bought them to replace Magnacore wires but went back to Magnacore and have had no issues

https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/1140642-rotor-questions-1983-a.html

[maverck]

Some play by play as I dig into the popping.

Current state of the car. This all started when the popping started late last summer.
-rough at idle
-sluggish under 3k rpm.
-on and off slight popping heard at the tailpipe at idle or when off the gas coasting.

Brought my vehicle into my new mechanic and here is the initial assessment likely pointing to a few things going on.
-He confirmed cylinder 6 is not firing correctly. This is also the cylinder the previous mechanic thought had an intake runner failure. This is likely cause of the popping.
-He measured control pressures and it is at 2.7 BAR vs the 3.4-3.8 range.
-I am assuming some of my issues with the new Clewett wires is actually tied to all of this.

So essentially #6 is running lean and the rest are running rich.

Working to get on his schedule to really dig in at which point, at a minimum we will likely be:
-Dropping the motor
-Install new metal fuel lines to all injectors I bought in the classifieds a few months back. Not specifically tied to the issues but the current fuel lines are a mess and even from a visual standpoint will be good to clean this up.
-Put in new intake sleeves and gaskets, and likely other seals tied to the CIS system
-Compression testing the motor to see if something else may be exposed on cylinder six
-And I assume - this list may grow!

Looking forward to seeing what we find and continuing the journey to get Maverck properly sorted (knowing the journey will never end)!

[PeteKz]

Yes, do the compression test next.

Don’t replace the metal fuel injector lines yet. You will have to do at least one fuel injector delivery test, so you will be pulling injectors and bending the lines around several more times. Only replace the lines after you solve the problem.

[maverck]

Originally Posted by PeteKz

Yes, do the compression test next.

Don’t replace the metal fuel injector lines yet. You will have to do at least one fuel injector delivery test, so you will be pulling injectors and bending the lines around several more times. Only replace the lines after you solve the problem.

Thanks for the tip!!

[maverck]

Killing some time while I wait for the motor to be dropped on a few things.

1) I never loved the fog lights on these cars and removed mine very early on. Was simply driving around with the holes in the bumper. In the long term I need to get a clean/new valence, however, in the meantime tossed in some plugs I painted to make it less obvious.

(Color match is not perfect so if you have a favorite website to find a Zinnmetallic spray can - let me know!)




2) The AC in Maverck has never worked and I have never had the urge to have it working. Beyond that, the giant compressor is always in the way when working under the hood. So - away goes the compressor and the condenser! I am not planning on pulling any of the lines on the off chance I want to put things back in and see if I can get it working. However in the meantime, a cleaner engine bay. And - every time I look at this it makes me want to clean up my fan!!

[ramonesfreak]

whats that black plastic square box looking thing to the left of the distributor?

[maverck]

Originally Posted by ramonesfreak

whats that black plastic square box looking thing to the left of the distributor?

Old Clifford alarm siren I believe.

[maverck]

With a little bit more room under the hood getting tired of how dirty it is. You can see overspray from the PO and a bunch of paint is chipping off different areas from old paint jobs on the motor.



Started taking a red scotchbrite to a few areas and it is cleaning up bit by bit.

[maverck]

Subtle change - and I love it!





Also - due to the low control pressure when the car was in I put the 090 WUR I had in the vehicle (had an 033 when I purchased the car).

It’s running rough - but working through some troubleshooting while I wait to have the motor pulled.

Right now with the 090 in - when I unplug the relay under the drivers seat nothing changes to the idle, which I believe means it is non functioning. To that end I am going to replace that - and crossing my fingers it really helps to straighten some things out.

If my research was correct - while running the 033 WUR, which is designed for older models - it was simply bypassing the 02 sensor, that relay, and any fuel enrichments that were supposed to take place because of those and the frequency valve.

Here’s to hoping Mav is one of those stories that the simple relay replacement really wakes up the car and straightens some things out! I am certain I still have some air leaks to work through - but bit by bit working my way through it.

Stay tuned as the sorting continues!

[2mAn]

Love build threads, thanks for sharing the journey. I’m close to finally pulling the trigger on an SC, but it will be tough to adjust to the “ancient” shifter and CIS injection coming for a 996. Love my 996 but have wanted an aircooled forever and I think it’s time to make the leap… the longer I’ve been waiting the more expensive they’ve gotten so now’s the time.

BTW I’ve taken my kiddo in mine quite a bit and she loves it, we’ll see how it is when her sister is old enough to ride in it and I have 2 girls in the back haha

[maverck]

Originally Posted by 2mAn

Love build threads, thanks for sharing the journey. I’m close to finally pulling the trigger on an SC, but it will be tough to adjust to the “ancient” shifter and CIS injection coming for a 996. Love my 996 but have wanted an aircooled forever and I think it’s time to make the leap… the longer I’ve been waiting the more expensive they’ve gotten so now’s the time.

BTW I’ve taken my kiddo in mine quite a bit and she loves it, we’ll see how it is when her sister is old enough to ride in it and I have 2 girls in the back haha

Little kids in the backseat is the best!!

I must say (and perhaps it will wear off) - there truly is something about these older cars. Even now when I am working through some issues - you are forming a relationship. Turning it into its unique version of when it came off the line 40 years back. And the drive - the sound.

I also have an RS5 which I LOVE. It’s an animal. Crazy fast. But I would always rather grab the keys to the SC

[maverck]

Well - they Oxygen Sensor Relay is moving Mav in the right direction! Below are some cold start / idle videos pre / post the relay and you can already notice a big difference.

I put in a new Bosch relay from our host - part number PCG-951-253-00-M14.

Here is pre - install. You can hear how rough the idle is and before the revs go up I had pressed the throttle to about 1/4 and it stumbled for about 5 -10 seconds or so prior to the rpm’s going up.

https://youtu.be/5q8h2Ddlr90?feature=shared

Post install - revs immediately. And the big rough idle is gone.

https://youtu.be/p6vj9TSwuoE?feature=shared

Took the car for a rip and holy buckets - it’s the best it has ever felt since we got it! Who knew a little $9 relay could make such a difference.

Big thanks to Tony (@boyt911sc) for:
-noticing I had the wrong WUR years back based on some motor photos
-urging me to get the right WUR and sending me one of his rebuilt units
-also urging me to better understand the cis system. Without that understanding I would have given up post the install of the 090 WUR (in fact I did. I have tried installing it about 5 times and always immediately removed it as it ran worse. However now I know it is just because it exposed other issues).

Here is the original vs new.



At idle I still get some popping - despite the car running much stronger. I may still have the motor dropped to replace the intake seals in a few weeks - will drive it a bit more until then to make a final decision.

Side note worth mentioning. Part of my most recent research to troubleshoot the car, and better understand the CIS system was a conversation I had with chatGPT. It was insane how good it was and how it walked me through an understanding of the system - and how to troubleshoot certain things. The level of detail in the responses blew my mind.

[maverck]

Fishing out the spark plug heads I had noticed that the upper valve cover gasket was split in three areas on the passenger side.

Received new ones from our host and now with the AC out of the way this took just a few mins to replace. You can see the three tears on the left hand side.


Also included a new ignition surround because - why not.



And with 40 years of scratches removed.

[maverck]

Current state of the popping - car is going into the shop next Tuesday.

https://youtube.com/shorts/j-48WRmYdPU?feature=share

If you listen carefully you can hear the very slight pop over the wind noise. This is decelerating from 2k down while in gear. Also - randomly will still do it at idle.

Outside of this the car is still running better than it ever has. Every now and again while at speed and not accelerating I can feel what seems like a minor miss / stumble and it also needs just a tiny bit of gas on cold start. Will be interesting to learn if this is still possibly tied to a leak on one of the intake runners - or something else.

Will report back on what the shop finds. Let me know if anything else comes to mind to check from the community.

[maverck]

Engine is officially dropped at my local air cooled specialist in MN.

-Before he dropped the motor he did a compression test simply to gauge the health of the motor. It had not been done under my ownership and I was happy to hear all cylinders came back strong. He stated the motor is very healthy.
-He saw a few gaskets that looked questionable on the back of the motor tied to the CIS system.
-He stated the intake runner to head gaskets looked ok although #6 was loose. Planning to replace all of them
-Intake runner boots appeared to be original and will be replaced.
-Also recommended we send the Fuel Distributor out to be rebuilt.

Will be a few weeks likely before it is all back together - however so excited to see how it is running!!

Stay tuned.

[maverck]

Maverck will tentatively back in my little mitts this week! I am super excited to see how she is running:

-All gaskets/seals replaced on the intake runners. None were so bad they crumbled.
-Fuel distributor had never been rebuilt, which is now complete
-090 WUR I recently put in was reading a bit low on control pressure so it was also rebuilt
-Questionable gaskets on the back of the motor / airbag were not gaskets at all - just a bunch of RTV. This was all cleaned up and appropriate gaskets put in place
-All new metal fuel lines installed which I purchased in the classifieds from another Pelican. As you can see in previous photos mine were all sorts of mangled.

Will report back on the popping/overall running order once I get back behind the wheel.

[maverck]

Maverck is back!

It’s amazing how much new fuel lines clean up the engine bay.



1) Car is running the strongest it ever has since I have owned it
2) There is a cold start issue that has gotten worse that I am working through troubleshooting.

While working through #2 and simply driving and enjoying the car as much as I can I decided to tear into something else on the todo list. Getting the sunroof working and replacing all of the seals. I suspected broken cables as I could hear the motor run, but needed to get in there to see what I was up against.



Pretty dirty



And found at least one of the culprits. Cables I have seen in videos are metal but mine are plastic where they connect to the sunroof and on both side they were broken. Looks like new cables will be shipping from our host today!





Going to work on getting everything cleaned up and get new seals in place while I wait for the cables to show up.



Stay tuned!

[maverck]

Holy crusty!! The cables were seized in place in the rails with some sort of grease from the PO that congealed!





The results.



Test fit some used cables I got off eBay and they slide / fit great. Now to more final cleaning and then reassembly.