My car is ALIVE! YEEEHAH!

[slater]

Finally! This is my story, sorry for the length!
I bought this 76 2.7 "S" engine the same time I bought my car, which was about a year and a half ago. I did as much as I could on it at the time - changed all the gaskets, o-rings, a massive cleaning to get off the sludge, and painted everything to make it look pretty. At that point in time, I didn't really know anything about Porsche engines, so after doing all I could I moved on to working on the rest of the car.
Last February, I started working on the engine again, doing all I had to do to get the thing ready to go in. The wiring harness that came with the engine was in sorry shape, so I spent most of my time trying to decipher wiring schematics and make my own. This took more time and patience then I ever thought I had. Oh yeah, and a lot of $ for wire and connectors. I got the engine in, hooked it all up, tried starting the engine, and got nothing but cranking and a ton of fuel squirting out into the air box, which then turned into fuel squirting out between the two halves of the fuel distributor. I sent the distributor back to the yard I bought it from (still under warranty for 1 more month!) and they agreed to send me a new one, but it was going to take 1 month to get it in. I didn't want to wait, so I went online and bought a pair of carbs and a rebuild kit, and had them on within a week. Put on the carbs, car fired right up! It ran for a couple minutes and I shut it off to make some adjustments. Here is where it got ugly- I go to start it again (still on my high from the first run) and after 2 revolutions I get a "CLUNK!" I about passed out. Yes, the engine had seized up.
I sent the engine back (still under warranty!) to the yard I bought it from. We agreed to send it to a 3rd party mechanic in the area to have it checked out. There was an 8mm nut in the #2 cylinder that had bent the valve. This must have been my fault, even though I was as careful as I could be. BUT- I got lucky, because the mechanic called the manager of the yard and SCREAMED at him (this is in the managers words to me) for selling me a "piece of sh** engine" in the first place. The case was warped and leaking oil, it had a pulled head stud, and he was "suprised it ran at all." The manager felt so bad that he agreed to fix the problem, splitting the cost with me. I ended up paying for all parts (at cost), he paid for the labor. I ended up getting engine put together for me, with a planed case, rebuilt heads, chain tensioners, case savers, and some other goodies. They sent it back to me last month, but forgot the sheet metal, so I had to wait another 2 weeks to get that. This weekend I finally had time to put it in, hook it up, install the carbs, cross my fingers and "click!" figure out a starter issue, and THEN it started right up! Runs like a dream!
It may have taken a years and a half, but it was worth it to hear my first Porsche roar to life. Just hearing that engine makes me understand why people on this site are so into their cars! Now I just have to finish the brakes and I can take her out for a ride. It isn't pretty, but it runs!
The only thing I would have done differently? I would have done a little more research before buying an engine, and I would have saved up a little more money and bought a rebuilt one to begin with. I could have by the time I add up everything that has gone into this one.
Thanks to everyone on this board that has helped me along the way! I'm sure I will be here asking even more questions now that I can really start using her!

[Paulporsche]

Congrats.