Engine Drop - Stealth Mode -- All done !!
 

Just started to drop my engine in order to install a new clutch on my 73 and some „while-you-are-in“ projects along the way. The tricky part is that in my garage I’m only allowed to perform „minor cleaning and maintenance“. Being a German engineer, my interpretation of this rule is that a quick engine drop can well be considered „minor maintenance“. With the legal details settled, it will still be beneficial to keep the whole operation as stealth as possible. Ideally my neighbor - with whom I share the garage - should not even realize what is going on.

The first afternoon was quite uneventful with all fluids drained, oil lines, fuel lines and cables disconnected and carburetors and fan housing removed. I want to clean the carbs anyway, so I figured its easier to remove them now, which should make it easier to remove the engine later. I will post some pictures showing the progress once in a while.


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Luckily my car cover is quite big and I hope to keep everything „under cover“.

Awesome. I love it. Total control and neatness. By time most of us get the motor out, there are tools and skid marks everywhere. By"skid marks," I mean smudges of oil on the floor etc.

One thing I was impressed with was Mobileworks' cleanliness on a recent thread. I'm not sure who provided the cardboard under the engine bay, but it was a class act.

Your project looks well sorted and very clean to start with. I'm envious.

Reminds me of the dual engine swap I performed in my (then) girlfriends open air parking lot at a townhouse complex. We used a cherry picker to pull an engine from a doner Rabbit, plucked a tired engine out of a Scirocco and replaced with the doner. All in one day :)

Got a lot of wide eyed looks from the residents, but we got away with it! Stealth was not an option, so I hope that works for you.

Speed is your friend, good luck!

Nice work on the covert ops Guenter!! You have a beautiful color, is it continental orange? Good luck with the mission. ;)

Very nice, a time back Brother and I and Pete did a drop on his, the comment that stuck, it looks like a CSI murder scene, parts,fluids and prints everywhere.Learned alot and had a blast. Yours looks like a OR.
Rika

Hi,
Did you drop the engine + trans of just the engine??
Very clean work!

When I was in college, there was a similar rule at the apartments I lived in with a roomate. I took my motorcycle engine into my bedroom for a top end job....After that I painted the gas tank and side covers in the same bedroom....Although I used cardboard, they was a little oversrpay of blue on the green carpet.....When we moved out the next summer, the manager said we did a great job of cleaning...He said: "you didn't have to do all this, we just want to make sure you didn't overhaul an engine in the living room".....I said: Nope, did that in the bedroom...

More power to you Guenter - I agree with Zeke, a very clean operation...

Re: Engine Drop - Stealth Mode
 

Are you doing this during the hours that the neighbor works and cleaning up/covering up before he gets back...or what?

You've got to work with the cover off and it will be obvious that a major piece of work is going on no matter how neat you are (and you are AWFULLY neat by the way!)

Wow, I usually have every tool from my box all over the floor just to replace a headlight or something. I should have considered your method before I decided to take the doors, fenders and lids off of my SC. No neighbors to worry about, but the Wife is not very happy. Man! A torn down 911 sure takes up alot room. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

grease the neighbor with booze. you are so neat, i am sure nobody would complain anyways.

i did the same as bob. a friend and i tore a CB650 apart in the underground parking structure of USF. we did get caught, but they let us slide. we were obviously past the point of no return. there were skid marks everywhere. even some from the motorcycle!

wow, covert ops!
nice 73?
looks like factory paint with all the engine room decals still in place!
are you still using the charcoal canister in the front? if so, where is it tied into a vacuum source?
thanks
Bill K

isn't that back sitting a little high?
 

Any astute apartment manager should notice the ride height is not to specification!

good luck with your project, looks great!

Jeff:D

Thanks for the mental support guys. I try to answer some of your questions from above as follows:

Charcoal canister: Charcoal canister and forward plumbing is already removed. This time I will take the chance to remove all the connection hoses from the engine to the trunk area. (Not that there is something wrong with emission control equipment ...)

Neighbor: Luckily he is a very consistent 9 to 5 guy - fits my schedule well, as I don't intend to do everything at once and take small steps at a time (2-3 hours a day max.).

Color: Continental orange with the original Tangerine inside the engine bay.

Drop: I will drop both engine and gearbox. The gearbox mainly because the previous owner installed the bolts for the banana arms the wrong way, and I can't get them out with the gearbox in place. Will also make it easier to replace all the rubber gas lines, and then of course I have some new mounts, a new shift linkage seal, etc...

Hilarious.

I agree that on an air-cooled engine, it is minor. If he gives you any guff remind him that Charles Manson used to swap VW air cooled engines in the middle of the desert. They carried in the engines by hand I think. Then tell you him you are very very interested in Manson and have a complete museum on his exploits... but your eyes out at him and act very hyper and excited as you keep telling him more an more about your hero... He'll leave you alone

Great job... After it is completed, I would move!!!!

I love California,

Weather was so nice today, that garage work was off. Opted instead to clean my carbs in bright sunshine on the balcony (cosy 70 F – that’s 20 C for my dear friends in Germany, who have to preheat their tools by know to avoid frost bite). Found the main jets pretty clogged up as usual and two blocked accelerator pump jets, which hopefully explains the hesitation I had noticed lately. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1134785891.jpg

After I rebuilt my VW bus engine on the living room carpet, I moved... but I was young and stoopid.

I was already getting worried. Everything went just too easy and even the drive shaft bolts came off without drama. But finally the car starts to show some resistance. The speedometer cable nut won't move and it looks like it is very easy to round off. So I soaked it in penetrating oil for the weekend and hope it will fall off by Monday. If not I might have to try a small needle flame, but this is quite tricky because of the location and the decades of oil and fuel deposits in this area (any advice how else to loosen this nut would be appreciated). Otherwise good progress - driveshafts, starter cables, heater hoses, clutch cable, shift coupler and backup switch disconnected. We are getting closer to drop date. The car is jacked up to stage one (small jack). For stage two (engine drop height) I will borrow a larger jack for next week. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1134867767.jpg
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Car cover is doing a good job. Even jacked up the car is still lower than my neighbor's Passat. Someone walking into the garage will hardly notice anything from the normal viewing angle. I might just have to camouflage the red jacks.

be very careful with the speedo nut. it is possible to have the nut full in the wrench then start to loosen it, then hit the frame an snap the whole assy away from the case. broken snub is possible to re-attach and seal with an o ring inside the speedo housing, but not recommended.
ask me how I know...
take baby steps and keep turning the wrench over each 1/8 turn.
good luck
Bill K

The engine has landed !!!. The penetrating oil Spa-package for the speedometer nut worked wonder during the weekend and today it came loose without a hitch. Wasted no time and dropped engine and gearbox. The furniture dolley ($ 19.95) works great and allows to move the engine while working inside the engine bay. Good I already ordered new crankshaft seals as the rear seal is leaking heavily. Next steps will be a big clean up for engine, gearbox and engine bay.
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Congrats - now, how do you clean the engine w/o alerting the other guy in the garage?

Keep us informed...please post pics when you change out your seals.

I love the picture at the end of each session showing the cover back on the car.
You are doing a great job so far. Most of the time there would be a trail of oil and grease footprints all around the car, not to mention discarded beer and soda cans, pizza boxes...no, wait... that is the NoVA engine drop.
Keep the pictures coming.

Keep up the good work-- I mean minor cleaning. We gotta love ya for this project!

Diverdan

Engine is no problem. Once the tins are removed (for powder coating) there is not much left and I can give it a "dry cleaning" with some degreaser and many rags. Engine bay is also not too dirty. Biggest challenge will be underbody area above the tranny/starter where I found tons of accumulated dirt and grease. I guess I better stop by at Costco to get a family package of degreaser and shop towels. I have a big cardboard to position under the car while I do the cleaning. Hope that will prevent the big mess. Tranny and small stuff are heading to a local steam cleaner station. Will post some pictures a.s.a.p.

this is great fun, as compared to the other posters and my garrage in the middle of a project ! lots o fun watching your project....

I'm impressed by what you have done, while being undetected by your neighbor. If he notices the jack, just tell him you had a flat tire.

If my neighbor was as neat and meticulous as you have been, I won't care if you did a complete engine rebuild.

This thread is great fun to follow, keep us up to date.

Today I removed the rear fuel lines together with the old CIS fuel pump. I will replace all the rubber lines with new hoses, recycling the metal part of the lines (still wondering if I should use steel braided hose or standard black hose ??). I also removed the two large vent hoses for the evaporation system. One of them was filled with a nasty oil sludge, no wonder the system was not working anymore. Also unbolted the clutch and of course the flywheel needs to be resurfaced. Pretty deep scratches and I hope it can be done within the thickness tolerance. The good point is that the car looks stunning underneath, under all the layers of dirt and deposits. The original PVC undercoating is flawless and shows no sign of cracking or delamination. I guess the constant oil spray from gearbox and engine helped to keep it soft. Always knew there was a reason why these old engines leak some oil.
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I like the black hose. It worked for Porsche -- for 30 years or more...

BTW, both Grady & Steve W. reccomend moving the fuel pump up front - there's a thread on it.

Great - first phase of the tear down is completed. Engine tins, front pulley and flywheel are removed. Will now give it a break for the holidays and then I will have to wait for the powder coating and the resurfaced flywheel. Next year we will just have to put everything back together again. As the car will sit for a while, I have stepped up the camouflage. Jacks are almost invisible and even the rear wheels are back on the ground (at least thats how it looks like). Happy holidays to everyone !!

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Thanks - thought about it, but think I will keep the original pump in the back. Had never any trouble with it there and with the carburetors it lives an easy life anyway back there (compared to the original CIS). However I will prepare all the lines so I can swap in a new Facet pump, in case the old pump runs out of steam one day.

Nice work. However I think it's time to move. I would not buy or rent something where I am told what to do in the garage. That's going to feel too much like Germany! :D

George

Aigel: That is the point bro.

I agree with aigel. I'm not sure worrying about camoflaging your property is worth it. If this were your spouse, it'd be understandable. If possible, I suggest finding a new neighbor or garage (or spouse).

MHO,
Sherwood

The worst thing that can happen is they kick him out for a lease violation. I hear it is really hard to get rid of renters in Calif. so that might take a while. Also, he doesn't appear to be violating the intent of the lease, since he says it reads "minor maintenance" -- i.e. don't make a mess (he isn't).

Nice job! Good camoflauge job, too. You might have better luck using a larger generic car cover temporarily, which would hang down to the ground and cover up any jacks or stands in use (or even let you leave the wheels off the ground.)

Don't worry guys, so far no danger of eviction. And I will move anyway next year, so even the worst case scenario would not be a big problem. While waiting for my powder coater, I went ahead and started cleaning the engine bay. Luckily the 3M adhesive remover works fine for removing the multiple layers of old adhesive from the firewall. After degreasing the whole engine bay will now get a fresh coat of paint. I also had my flywheel resurfaced. Good deal for $30 at a local shop with a diamond wheel. Seems they had never seen a Porsche flywheel before, so I stayed next to the machine to make sure they don't mess it up and grind it all the way to the outer rim. Result looks great and the flywheel is still within tolerance. Should be good for another 300,000 miles.
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Damn you work fast Guenter! :)

So cool... keep it coming...

I have a newb question for you...what size torx bit are the flywheel bolts? I assume that is what they are...