Rebuild 3.2 checklist
 

I'm redoing the valve guides on my 3.2 this winter. What other items would be suggested for the rebuild. I'm looking for some more power without going overboard in cost. The car is a track mostly car with much engine time in the higher rpms. I am considering a Euro piston upgrade and 964 cam. Other items considered: Twin plugging (doubtful), extrude honing (maybe), better connecting rods and springs (probably). Larger pistons then the higher compression euro's are almost twice as much. Those that have done this or have information are appreciated in advance. (please no 3.6 transplant advice:p )

Wayne has a performance upgrade chart in his rebuild book. As I am rebuilding my 3.2 right now I took a look at it. The best power upgrade is going to the Euro pistons and cylinders keeping the original cam. For exhaust go with either SSI's or a pre-muffler/sport muffler combination. That should give you around 250-260 hp. Other than that, there is not much else you can do without spending some serious dollars.

Kurt, I already have the SSI's and Sport muffler. Also have a Huntley MAF and bored throttle body with boosted fuel pressure. Seems I have both the intake and exhaust taken care of. I think a Euro car produced 230hp? The hp you speak of, is this with the addition of a better exhaust? I would be thrilled to get this out of it. I did see the cam is the same for all 3.2's, US or ROW. Isn't there much advantage going to a more aggressive, fuel injected friendly grind. Thanks and keep it coming.

My WAG is that adding the Euro Pistons and cylinders, along with what you have already done is going to give you around 14 more horsepower (the difference between U.S. 3.2=217hp and Euro 3.2=231hp.) Possibly even less because part of that 231hp came from the use of the premuffler instead of a catalytic converter.

250-260hp? Really? The 3.2 that I swapped into my '76 was recently rebuilt with 10.3:1 Euro pistons, SSIs and a Dansk muffler along with a custom chip designed to work with the compression/exhaust but I was estimating it's power to be around 245hp or so.

I'd like to dyno this thing and see what it really has...

Mike

I'd recommend replacing the rod bolts, valve springs (AASCO, Jerry Woods) keepers and retainers for reliability. Makes a missed shift at the track an oops instead of valve bending experience. These mods will make a real "quality of life" difference some day.
It's hard to compare summer to summer but I didn't notice much difference between US and Euro pistons. On paper its only something like 15 hp. If your P/C aren't worn out I'd spend the money on track days, suspension or tires.
-Chris

In addition to the exhaust mods (which I'm doing too) I would contact Steve Wong (www.911chips.com) for a chip change to take full advantage of your exhaust mods. One of the best bangs for the buck is his chip from everything I've read...

I was on my SSI pedestal for a while but scaled back due to cost. I'm going to go with a Dansk 1 in 2 out and a Dansk Sport Cat from our host, and a chip next spring from Steve when the car rolls back out.

I would do the things that provide more power yet do not affect driveabilty while still being somewhat cost concious. If I had my case apart, I'd do the Euro upgrade, the exhuast and chip, whatever head work. Certain things like bored out throttle bodies, extrude honing the heads, etc. are icing on the cake IMO but can still be done/removed later with the engine still in the car.

Good luck...!
Good time to inspect all your fuel lines and check your injectors...

Chris, I've already spent enough on all of the above. I do appreciate you opinion and have canned the idea of twin plugging. I already have a SteveW chip with my present setup and will sent it back for remapping when done.

I thought about upgrading to the Euro pistons and cylinders, but the $2100.00 price tag is a bit rich for me. However, if it turns out during inspection that I am going to need new P&C's that is certainly the route I will be going. For now on my rebuild I am doing the usual fixes and upgrades on the rod bolts, valve springs, guides, etc. and installing a Dansk Pre-muffler and 2 in 1 out sport muffler and a Steve W chip.

How is that possible? :D :D :D
-Chris

One thing to keep in mind, or plan ahead for, is the Alusil-Kolbenschmidt (sp?)/Nikasil-Mahle cylinder issue. You'll want to know what kind of P/C's you have on your motor.

The Alusils are apparently fiesty when you re-ring them. Porsche recommends against re-ringing them, but others have done so with success. Nikasils are more agreeable to re-ringing I guess. Also there is a difference in the rings for the different P/C's.

Charlie (kstylianos) and others have posted good answers on this issue:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/107995-what-rings-do-i-need-alusil.html?highlight=alusil

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=113952&highlight=nikasi l+alusil+markings

Do a search with "alusil" like I did to see what you find.

I already know about that issue and won't know what I have for a couple of more days when I get the cylinders off. I am dreading that I will find I have Alusils. If so, maybe I will just get the Euro P&C's. Course I will have to explain why I need to spend another $2200 to the wife. She is still getting over the sticker shock of the rebuild.

They are Alusils on mine. You can check by looking at the cylinders. The goldish tone is a dead giveaway. That is why I'm not even contemplating reringing them and just getting new Mahle's. While I'm on it, who has the best prices on Mahle P & C's? The last time I checked EBS had them for $1900. My mechanic said the most late 80's US 911 have Alusil. The saved the Nikasil cylinders for the ROW.

$1900.00? You are only $300.00 from getting the Euro P&C's from Pelican.

Let me know when and where and I'll lend a hand.

Noel

Aren't the cylinders with the goldish tone Mahles? I thought Alusils were a dull gray on the inside?

I might of got the colors mixed up. I know one is good, the other bad. Mine are bad.

Michael why are rebuilding her? Have the valve guides gone bad? How many miles are one your car?

As a fellow Carrera owner, I'm curious about the strength and durability of the 3.2 living mostly on the track. Half my miles are track miles.

This post could almost have been written by me!! I'm also tearing my engine down due to excessive guide wear (& smoking). I'm in the UK but have a US spec motor in my Swiss(!) car. I've got down to the long block and have spent the last hour trying to compress my hyd. tensioners as per the Bentley manual. Won't budge so I've given up for today. I wasn't aware Alusils were still in 89 Carreras so you guys have worried me now. I was hoping to get away with a re ringing on some Euro pistons too. I'm also considering 964 cams, but have the same problems justifying it to the missus....

I'm not sure what the Bentley says...
To remove them from the motor I push down on the plunger while I slide them out - so they don't "snap" open hard. (I had a hydraulic tensioner fail years ago and a Porsche guru asked me if I let the tensioner "snap" open when I removed them. Now I'm paranoid.)
To compress them, I stick them in a vice and squeeze them a little at a time so the oil has time to weep out. I had trouble finding nails of the right diameter. Maybe if I had metric nails... :) Save those little release pins that come with hydraulic tensioners, you may want them later.
-Chris

Hex keys work good in a pinch. Don't use too small of a key though. Did that on my Mitsu. 2.0L belt tensioner (hyd. not oil-fed) and it bent the key. Was kind of a pain to pull it out.

I think most 3.2's that have been run hard are going to have guide problems. Really, unless you have fouling plugs, the only real issue is oil usage. I've been contemplating upgrades for a few years and this winter seems like a good time to integrate these. My mechanic just located some Mahle 3.4's that will work with my car. The price ($3500...ouch) is a consideration over the euro 3.2's at $1900. Very hard not to fall into the "while your at it" mentality in an engine rebuild and suddenly be the owner of a $10,000 upgraded engine.

Update, I pulled the cylinders off and I have Mahle cylinders and they are in great shape! Whoo hoo, just saved $2000 not having to buy new P&C's!
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1066528605.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1066530196.jpg

Nice, what are the tolerances on them? I'm hoping mine are bad in further reasons to upgrade. :D

Hmm, there's lots of misinformation in this thread. First of all, many of your original questions are answered clearly in the Engine Rebuild Book (http://www.101projects.com). I suggest you get a copy of it before you plunk down $10K on engine parts that your mechanic recommends. From your comments, it doesn't seem like you've read the book yet...

You can't tell which cylinders you have in your car until you open them up and test them with a magnet. The color on the outside typically has nothing to do with the inside coating.

Twin-plugging is useless unless you run with a higher compression ratio. As I mention in the book, that is very risky on the stock injection system, as it has no method to compensate for knocking (can't reduce the timing). The only solution for that would be a custom chip (pain in the butt, difficult, and not cheap).

You mention better connecting rods and springs? In general, these engines have no known failure problems with the springs or the rods. You really want to replace the rod bolts with ARP or RaceWare ones though when doing the rebuild - that is where the weak point is.

A neat engine would be the 3.4 with Weber 46s or large jetted 40s, running a 2.7 distributor, and mod-S cams. The stock heads would be good, as would be the crank and rods. Such an engine upgrade would probably cost you $10K on a rebuild (as opposed to the normal $8K), and increase your HP to about 275 more or less at the crank.

Again, read the book and a lot of your questions will be answered...

-Wayne

The high performance valve springs I mentioned are stiffer thus reducing the chance of bent valves when you miss a shift.
-Chris

Mine pass the magnet test! :D

Thanks for the feedback. A couple of points. I do have a book but unfortunately, it has been on permanent loan for my brothers engine job. Besides, there are always a couple of ways to approach this and what better place then here. I'm trying to sort through the facts and achieve a basic guideline prior to rebuilding. Some of the problems I am getting from the start is different opinions as to what upgrades/replacement parts are needed/recommended from 2 potential engine rebuilders. I do not have the time to do this myself so I have to tell them what I want and justify it. I'm getting there and you opinions have helped. One point is that I don't want to change the intakes. I imagine that is where most of the power can be had if so.