SWB 911R...the beginning

[Larrybrook]

The suspense is killing me!! I'm constantly watching this thread and the progress ahs been OUTSTANDING...and now nothing?? I'm like an addict without a fix!!

SPEEDO, I’m dying here!?!?!?!?

BTW, I've always been partial to orange...

[911 tweaks]

probably waiting for the return from paint... however, he could show us engine or trans setting up pics if he has a moment... how about it Lars... have a few pics for the gawkers ?
Bob

[speedo]

And getting the paint code from PNA was ridiculous....AKA it didn't happen, I had to go to the suppier. If anyone needs the code, PM me and I will provide it. But it is a water based system and I am waiting to see if it can be converted to an oil based system .

I am dropping the American Racing torque thrust D 15x7s off to get refinished. I just received the 1970 deep sixes I bought a while back. They arrived as 7/1970s deep sixes with hearts with polished petals....beautiful. When the torque thrust Ds are back from the refinisher, I will decide which set I will keep.

I bought a pressure washer to clean up the case. I am pulling the intake and exhaust to block them off to clean up. I will start to build up the engine tomorrow.
Trannie still needs to be rebuilt.

I am cleaning parts in anticipation of the return of the car....sandblasting and painting, or powdercoating. The oil and gas tank caps are off to the chromer.

Speedo

[rvanderpyl]

Ok...the paint of choice is azurro california metallic

Whew, I was afraid you would pick Blut Orange, and then it would look like I copied your paint colour as well as all of your ideas on my build....

[speedo]

As the preliminary engine for the car will be the 1977 2.7 until I get the 2.2S rebuilt...I need to clean the case. I am among a very small group of people that actually really like the torque of the 2.7...so with a set of SSIs and webers, I'm hoping to get somewhere around 175hp from this dirty beast. I gave the engine every chance to "not" get used...meaning that if the leakdown, headstuds etc were problems...he would get rebuilt. However, everything so far looks great. I did a valve adjustment and decided that before I do anything else to the engine, it needs to get cleaned

This engine had leaky oil return tubes, and the oil had managed to solidify and turn to asphalt on the bottom of the case. I didn't want to use 10 cans of degreaser, and a wire brush and chisel...so I used 3000 psi and water. After removing the intake and exhaust, I made blockoffs. Using corks for the remaining orifices, I went to work. While not as pretty as a case that sat in a heated parts washer for a few hours...this guy is clean

There is a lot of well cooked oil that was removed
Next up...new oil return tube rubber seals, carrera chain tensioners and timing the cams, new gaskets for the chain housing covers, new valve cover gaskets, oil breather gasket etc. I'll tighten up the outside of the engine, before I start to bolt things back up.

[Larrybrook]

I'm curious why your rebuilding the 2.2 litre and not the 2.7 litre? Wouldn't the larger displacement give you more Horses in the end?

[speedo]

I was in the process of cleaning up the exterior of the engine. After pressure washing, I removed the oil return tubes to reseal them. I next removed the sump cover and while removing the screen, noticed some metal flakes settle back into the case. On further examination...determined that they were in fact steel
Not a good sign. I considered trying to flush the case...thinking that they could have been left from a previous circumstance (remember the good leakdown numbers). I was disappointed last night, as I was just starting to build up the top side of the engine having torqued the head studs, rocker bolts and adjusted the valves. I couldn't determine where the metal could have come from as it didn't look like broken rings, bearing material or teeth from the cam sprocket or idler sprocket. Choice...bolt it together and assume the debris was already in the motor from a previous mishap, or tear it apart. I had just lent my cam holder and 46mm crows foot to a friend and told him I didn't need it for awhile. The timing of this discovery could not have been too much worse.
I called another friend who was not using his cam tools and took what the motor looked like last night
and a couple hours after work
I found that the teeth were sheared off the intermediate shaft

The why and how part have something to do with this
abraisions in the top of the piston, although small...and the coresponding dings in the cylinder head
My guess is that either a plug fell apart into the cylinder, or a valve broke off a small piece and caused the cam chain to shear the teeth off the intermediate shaft chain sprocket. Someone did a top end only...which is why my leakdown numbers were good. The motor as it stood was a time bomb. I will do a quick (hopefully) and turn it into a 2.7 E/solex camed engine. I have an extra 2.7 core if I need parts.

The question was asked...why was I not focused on building the higher displacement engine as it would have more hp. The reality was that I liked the early lower displacement motors as they are "high-strung". I was going to use the 2.7 in its existing state...and to rebuild the 2.2 S engine due to high miles. Now I am faced with rebuilding the engine that I thought didn't need to be rebuilt. As this becomes a reality...I will now focus on using what engine parts I have...cams,rods,cases...to build a better 2.7 and then to rebuild the 2.2S engine.
Anybody have a pair of E or solex cams for sale

[Shoepop]

I've seen a few worn out lay shaft gears in my day, that one ranks right up there

[Matt Monson]

Lars,
I just bought a new set of billet cams from John Dougherty. They were cheaper than our local guy will sell you a set of used Solex ones for. Unless a Pelican steps up with a good deal for you, you might consider a set of those Dougherty cams. The ones I got sure look pretty...

[speedo]

I talked with John today and he feels that a regrind of my 143-144 cams to an SC profile is the way to go. It will save me having to get new pistons...and /or cutting an intake valve relief in the cis pistons. I may go that route as this engine rebuild was not expected and needs to happen cheaply and quickly.

Thanks to all who responded.

Now...if anyone has a set of J Es sitting around in a 90mm size...at a decent price, that changes things...let me know

[Larrybrook]

Given the choice, you still prefer a re-built 2.2 litre over a rebuilt 2.7 litre?

With all that is available these days, what is the most you could resonably get out of each of these engines? (Horse power and torque)
And now the best question of all...with all of the work you put into this car...why not go with a 3 litre or larger?

Remember I'm a Porsche newbie, and I couldn't help but notice how may older P-cars on this site have newer/larger engines than stock.

I recon I need educat'n.

[rvanderpyl]

Because of the goal, a 911R replica which means light weight and a high revving engine to go with it. A 3.0 while more 'drivable' doesn't have the feel of the smaller revvy motors like the R had.

[DaveE]

The perils of buying a used engine. Lucky that you are so thorough and spent so much time cleaning the 2.7. That could have been a huge disappointment when it failed.

[speedo]

First...let me point out that if I had purchased the engine...a proper compression check and/or leakdown probably would have caught this. I did a cold leakdown alone and did not catch it, as the numbers were decent. I even adjusted the valves and noticed no slop in the chain on 456...due to the fact that manually adjustable tensioners were installed which eliminated any slop whatsoever.
Fortunately, I bought a set of webers at fair market value and the engine as well as a lot of other parts were thrown into the deal. Realistically, I have $zero in the engine as most of the extra parts were sold off.
I expected the 2.7 to be used as a "mule" until I could go through and rebuild the 2.2S numbered engine. Life does not always work out the way you planned. Faced with a dead 2.7 as well as a tired 2.2S....the 2.7 will be easier to rebuild ( I already rebuilt the webers and can comfortably work with them...vs having to send out the MFI) and I have 2.7 parts and an extra 7R case floating around. So, the immediate task is to get an engine up and running without stressing about how to configure hard to find parts...or reinventing the wheel. The 2.7 with a slightly hotter cam and webers will be roughly the same hp as a 2.2S MFI engine...but the torque and hp will be in different places on the tachometer. DR maintains that the 2.7 fades at 5000rpm and the SC cam will give up some low end but run well up to 6500rpm...fair compromise, but heavier. And that engine so configured will be somewhat more desirable if I ever need the space and want to sell.
If the machine shop tells me that my case is bad, pistons and cylinders worn, or my heads are toast...I have a third choice...I can exhume the 2.2T engine that was the "mule" for the racecar while I built the 2.2 race engine and put him back into service in th R clone .
And the part about life not working the way I planned...the paint supplier can't mix the azurro California color, as it is a proprietary Porsche color, and the code I finally found for it has never been converted from water based to oil based. So the painter has the car in primer...ready to go. I am waiting for the supplier to tell me if gemini blue metallic is a close match. Otherwise I may fall back on Cobalt blue...time is almost up

[EarlyPorsche]

L699 Green Granite looks AMAZING on these little SWB's!!!

[Flieger]

Maybe get in touch with Mr. Ruf and see if he can do the Azzuro Santa Barbara Metallic paint that is a tweaked version of Azzuro California Metallic.

This is the color on the Ruf 3400K supercharged Cayman as seen in Excellence magazine.

[Flieger]

I may be able to get you in touch with the owner of this car who knows Ruf. If you really want the color, PM me or email me.

[88 Club Sport]

Hey Lars,

I polished off a few cups of coffee this morning catching up.....looking great. Sorry to hear about the motor problems.

I'll be starting my 911R project soon.....slightly smaller scale though

[speedo]

While the car is at the painter (don't ask) I am getting as much organized as possible for the reassembly.I have a few days while the engine components are being machined, the engine oil cooler is being "helicopterized" in California, and the cams are being reprofiled. The trannie still needs to be gone through...that will happen shortly (Grady...come in). I dropped the American Racing torque thrusts off to be refinished. I hope to pick engine parts up before the 4th....so I can get going on the rebuild...chances are that there are a lot of anxious people like me that want things yesterday, so the reality is that stuff will probably be ready the following week.
I had cleaned and temporarily reassembled the axles...but not protected the cv joints and they were in the direct line of fire on my bench of anything that got clamped in my bench vise and got "ground on". I had received the replacement dust boots and circlips...so I disassembled the cvs again and thoroughly cleaned everything

I then reassembled with the boots and packed the joints in fresh grease

I don't know what to call these other than the front "J tube" that connects to the front inner fender wall and doubles as the conduit for the headlight bucket wiring and the support for the front bumper. It slides into a piece of steel round tubing that sticks out of the longitudinal ( I would post a picture, but the car is ...uhmm at the painter) with a 1 inch ID. I sourced the 1 inch OD tubing, but didn't want to ruin it by trying to bend it in my bench vise which would certainly have crushed it. The local muffler shop could only bend as small as 1 1/2 , and a local hardware store conduit bender was only 3/4 inch. I decided to scallop the tubing, bend and weld.



Welded

And cleaned up...worked out nice

[kenikh]

Why Azurro metallic? It seems you have an unrequited love for late metallic blues...see the car you sold Luke Marano. I am still perplexed why not a period color, given the difficulty of matching this one. BTW, you probably know Luke just repainted that car the original gulf blue. I am liking the Gemini blue, idea; although a later color, still close and a damned sharp color.