Rebuild Questions

As time has permitted I have slowly been working towards disassembly of my 3.0 78-911 Targa. I've almost got the crankcase ready to split, except: The piston wrist pins need to come out so I can get to the next step. I have all the rings off and the clips off of the pins, but I am wondering how the pins should be removed. I don't want to apply to heavy a hand. I read in Bruce Andersons book that the pistons should be heated in boiling water on some models, is this necessary for my 78 3.0?? I see there is a special tool available, Is this required or will a wooden dowell do the job?

I noticed another odd circumstance when disassembling that I could also use some help with. The air injectors were capped off on this car and the air pump removed for obvious reasons I'm sure. But I found a couple of injectors burnt up. Was the mixture possible off badly? Is this normal to see. Should I replace them or is it better to find a plug to cap the injector ports?
As always any help, is greatly appreciated.

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78 911SC

Sorry I can't help you out with the injector thing but I can say that I removed the wrist pins on my '79 SC with nothing more than a socket on an extension that was slightly smaller than the pin itself. After the clips are removed then they should come off fairly easily.

Good luck!

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Leland Pate

___79 SC Targa

Hello David.

I believe your wrist pins are a simple interferance fit; try putting something like a socket in them, or a screwdriver handle, or even a dowel rod. You basically want something smaller than the hole in the piston but wider than the wrist pin.

Gently tap with a hammer - the pins (they are beautifully made - chrome plated?) will slide out.

If you don't have any luck you'll have to sweat them out. You can try soaking some rags in boiling water and wrap those around the piston, or even just pour some boiling water over the piston.

If you don't have electricity in your garage, here's the method I used on my '73 (which does need the wrist pins to be sweated out). I simply got a cheap candle, placed it on a spare axle stand, lit the candle, and placed it underneath the piston. For a touch of sophistication, I also attached a temp probe to the top side of the piston. Candles have a pretty low quality heat output, and it took about 10 mins + to heat each piston to the required temp - I can't remember what this was - just too hot to be comfortable holding the piston in your fingers. But once there, it was a simple matter to tap the pins out.

Don't worry about damaging your pistons or wrist pins in this way. Remember they are designed to withstand severe heat and pressure and light taps are unlikely to damage them in any way.

When it comes to putting the pistons back, you might want to do what I did, which is heat them in the kitchen oven, while putting the wrist pins in the freezer. The combination of a cold wrist pin and a hot piston meant it was pretty easy to get the wrist pins back in, especially as I'd already put the circlip in on one side of the piston so I couldn't slide them in too far to one side.

Good luck

- roGER

Leyland & Roger,
Thanks for the advice on the pistons & pins, I'm going to try again this evening.

As for the injectors, I've got some time before I rebuild but I think I'm going to find a way to plug the port rather than put another injector in the exhaust path to get eroded away.

Thanks Again..

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78 911SC

A hair dryer is also a good source of heat
to get the pins out.

Joe A

[Wayne 962]

Hand-held propane torch (open your garage) is my favorite source of heat. These are available at most harware stores for a couple of bucks, and they screw onto the top of the can of propane.

Tapping the wrist pins is the best way (use a socket like the previous posts mentioned)

-Wayne