I forgot to mention that I went and had the battery tested. Wasn't sure if it took a beating yesterday when we were trying to get the car started. It checked out ok.

I just measured the voltage on it and it was at 12.2 which means that it is 50% charged (I think).

Last night I charged the battery but not sure if it made it to 100%. Is it possible that the alternator will eventually charge it up after I drive it some more? I only put about 32 miles on it today.

Or, is this not possible since the voltage on the battery drops when the car is running.

It seems like the alternator is trying to charge the battery since the light goes off at higher RPMs.

I am with you I dont think it is charging until it gets in the higher RPM and not really doing it unless it comes up to 14.

There is a number of threads on separating the alternator and fan, I forget but there is some tricks, its really common.

I guess I would just keep the battery charged and get the motor broken in and deal with the alternator later???

Craig,
While I'd like to make the joke that what sounds like crap are those headers.... ;) I know you're used to their sound.

I just moved my LM-1 up the DC with me a few weeks ago, otherwise I would have said to get it from my storage place with Kevin and check your AFRs. I could always mail it to you to use if there isn't one handy, but a freshly rebuilt CIS motor.... you'd be crazy not to tune the AFRs.

Btw, I worked on a B5 Audi S4 for the first time ever yesterday... I would like to find the man who designed it (clearly was not german), shoot him, kill him, the shoot him a few more times. I generally disagree with shops who force people to drop mtors to do any work on their car... I never charged a customer to drop a 944 motor to do a timing belt, I've never seen why you needed to, but I would never agree to do anything on that Audi again without the first step being to drop the motor so you have room to work on anything in the car.

To celebrat my hatred of the car I'll be working on it again next weekend (hey money's money), at least it's just a track tech, and brakes... easy stuff.

I am going to buy SSIs but they are on global back order. Got the scoop from Pelican today.

In the meantime I am replacing all of the exhaust studs with OEM, using new gaskets, and then wrapping the headers with heat wrap. That should get me through until November when the SSIs are available.

I don't think it sounds like crap in the absence of exhaust leaks. In fact, some of the bursch headers sound really fantastic with various mufflers. The quality blows though and they sit too close to the valve covers.

My BIGGER concern is that the headers are BAD for the new engine. Is it ok to continue to run them in the interim?

I can definitely see the concern since you had valve issues in the old motor. Lol, I had a bursch header and muffler on my 912, btw.

I think you'd be fine until november, especially using good oil and not running lean. They're not my favorite setup, but I'm not sure i'd really argue they're "motor killers"

I do swear though, the best 911 exhaust I've ever heard in my life, for a street car was in Charlies Clark's 30k original mile 71T that he put a 3.2 in and he installed a GHL header/muffler kit. I thought it was the greatest thing I'd ever heard in my life... lol, he got me to sell the muffler on ebay for him because he thought it was too loud.

I yanked those suckers off tonight. If I find some SSIs, the Bursch will be used for target practice.

From the residue on the heads it looks like there were 3 or 4 major leaks.

Check the flanges with a striaght edge for flat and square. File flat and bolt them back on.

I think there is a set of SSIs on Ebay? may have been a few weeks ago...

what muffler are you going to run with the SSIs? You'll probably need to order a set of straps, as well.

Prolly use same muffler ... dynomax turbo. I can swap that out later.

I did find a set of SSIs. Hopefully it will work out. In touch with the guy right now and he is in the Atlanta area.

The unfortunate thing is that one of the time serts came out of the head - still bound to the exhaust stud. 11 of 12 studs came out fine. All had anti-seize on em.

This kinda throws a wrench in things too. EBS is sending me a kit and an oversized time sert in the event that the smaller one won't fit.

hmmmmm.... I'm not 100% sure that muffler is going to work... in fact, I would not recommend using that muffler at all unless you want to throw away a set of SSIs. I can almost gaurantee you that if you bolt that to your SSIs, you're going to crack them. You need a "factory" style muffler, even if it's just like a Dansk (which sounds good, imho), and straps to hold it in place.

Why would it crack them and not the Bursch headers?

just different designs. Granted this is mainly on track cars, but I've seen SSIs crack in two places. Where the individual exhast pipes meet, and at the flanges to the muffler when you have a muffler installed incorrectly (not supported), or that's moving around too much.

I'm not sure if that muffler is supported by anything but if you want to run it, I'd find a way to somehow support it, strap it down or somthing, and make sure that wherever it sits it's not putting pressure on the SSIs in one direction or another.

Basically you're just working with fine metal, and it'll crack if stressed too much. Most people run Monte mufflers with SSIs for the best HP/sound combination, i'd just want to run an OEM style muffler if it was me.

FINE!

I ordered a Dansk muffler ... dual in, 1 out.

lol, for the record, I didn't TELL you to buy it today, but you'll be happy in the end trust me. Dansk makes some Decent sounding stuff too.

Btw, have you gotten a chance to get it tuned any better? I'm still imagining that once you get everythign sorted out you should be very happy with the new motor, especially with the power.

I drove it 30+ miles on Sunday and was LOVING it. Real kick in the pants at 3k RPM and beyond. I only ran it up to 5K RPM at about 3/4 throttle too. Can't wait to open it up!

I hit the Daniel Island bridge (seemed risky considering I built the engine :D) and let it coast down hill from about 80 mph to 30 mph while keeping it in 4th gear. Did that twice.

Also kept moving the RPMs around in all of the gears - mostly 2nd through 4th.

But now that the exhaust is off I can't drive it. Also need to figure out the charging issue. Last night when I got home the battery was at 12.48. Started at 13.7 and has dropped over the course of 2 days - not connected to car.

Again, I really think it is the battery. Last night I started it on a trickle charge. Going to let it get some juice for a couple of days and then start my measurements again. If it drops, there will be no doubt in my mind that the battery is to blam. I can get it replaced for free b/c it is under warranty.

Do you know anyone in Charleston that can bench test an alternator? No one seems to be able to do it b/c of the size and nature of the alternator.

that's probably a good idea... I'm not a huge fan of the break it in like you stole it philosophy. I'm mean don't baby it in, but don't kill it. I have a different break in for NA vs. Turbo too.

:( I wouldn' think the size of the alternator matters to bench test it. Who said they couldn't? Regardless of what anyone says, 911s have ****ty charging systems they always have, you generally see lower voltage on a 911 battery than any other i've ever seen in a car. If your alternator is charging, the alternator is working. Worst case it might need a set of brushes, those tend to go and replacing them usually solves what replacing an alternator solves, of course it's twice as much work. I don't think I've ever seen a faulty alternator actually charge a battery a noticeable amount though.

If I recall, you had a fairly cheap battery in the car, load testing the battery before anything else might be a good idea. Wouldn't hurt at all to throw in an interstate or Optima red-top if the battery isn't perfect.

and check the battery connections, remember when the negative terminal vibrated off on the way to Savannah. Make sure the ground and positive wires are secured to the battery and car, and the wiring in the clamps is good, and the terminals are clean, etc... i like to use terminal protector too.

wastin time.. check your PMs.

Dude ... it is a Red Top Optima ... from May of 07.

The alternator has no way to be tied down in most machines. Plus, in order to get it to spin you need the fan on it so as to create the pulley.

you could always throw it in Kevin's car if he doesn't mind and see what happens, that'd be pretty definitive.