My first engine build complete - the 3.2SS is alive.
 

I know many of you don't read the engine building board. Most of you do a lot of DIY projects but might think that engine internals are some kind of black magic. Let me just say that there is a wealth of information and if you are detail oriented and mechanically inclined you too can build your next 911 engine.


I rebuilt the top-end due to head stud failure. I am not going to recount the whole build here. The following link will show previous posts on the build.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/911-engine-rebuilding-forum/435994-3-2ss-continues-part-iii-assembly.html

If you are just starting the engine specs are as follows.

1978 930/03 base engine
98mm Mahle PC set.
Measured 10:1 compression
DC 40-108 deg cams
steel head studs
Home-made twinplug distributor using Jaguar 12-plug cap and Burn-Bros. rotor. Thanks Aaron!
Twin-plug heads by G2 Racing. Thanks Craig!
Ceramic Thermal barrier coatings on heads and piston crowns
Dry-film lube on cams, rockers, rocker shafts, piston skirts, wrist-pins and every other moving part I could find.
TWM 3003 ITBs
MegaSquirt ECU (MSII-V2.2)


A few weeks ago I was able to get the motor back in the car. Last week I finished wiring up the motor only to find that my Crane optical trigger was not working. Late Thursday night I sorted it out. (Read: A new one was delivered by FedEx Ground).

So I connect the ECU, disable the motor, pull the top plugs and spin the motor with the starter. I was getting about 1.2-1.3bar of pressure off the starter. Enabled the engine by connecting the ECU and installing the plugs.

I was not expecting the motor to start right away. The motor took half-a-turn and fired to life. I was a little freaked out and shut it down quickly. I am not sure why. 10 seconds later I fired it up again. Once it was running I stabilized the map and it was loping along at 2100 rpm to break in the cam. It was running a too rich to explain the loping. After my 25 min cam break-in I made some more changes to the EFI map.

Here is the result:

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now I need to reset the AFR at idle, balance the throttle shafts and lean out the acceleration enrichment.

I am so stoked right now. I don't know if the high is from the unburned fuel vapors or natural euphoria.

Not a drop of oil anywhere that I can find.

Great news Jamie!

I love that moment when you first twist the key and it fires right up!

ianc

Congratulations - great to hear the beast come to life.

Excellent! You are the spirit of the forum with all your projects.

Congrats Jamie, you crazy mad scientist! So, now what are you gonna build in your top secret laboratory?

Jamie, http://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat6.gifhttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/clap.gif

Good job. Great early Christmas present eh? I bet you crack 250bhp when you get around to dynoing:)

Would love to hear your subjective driving impressions of the motor (torque, revability, etc) compared to prior stock motor.

You have a bigger set than I do!!

Someday when I grow up. Congratulations..

Scott

Awesome build Jamie! Looking forward to seeing it up close during the Rally in April.

Nice job! Now get some agressive miles on it quickly to seat the rings!

Cheers

Jack and Jim, I resemble that picture and remark. )

My goal was 260 at the crank. I think I might exceed that a bit. It will depend on how much torque I am still making at higher rpm. I mostly wanted higher rpm power like my targa.

Rich, Are you going to make it up for the rally? I thought you were doing the MS150.

Jeff, Don't worry, there will be some quality time that connects the go-pedal with my right foot. I have to remap the EFI with the new displacement and cam profile. This shouldn't take too long but there will be a lot of pulls down my "secret" tuning streets.

Welcome to the 3.2SS club! Congratulations on the build. I have only one question. Having grown up in Austin, I know what Austin summers are like (all 9 months of it) how are you going to live without A/C?;)

I have not had AC in the 911 since it was built. I just don't drive it much between June and September. The other months are fine.

Hi Jamie.... Great job. Your car sounds fantastic for the fist run. Good luck and I hope to get mine running soon. Thanks again for all your help on the M/S
steve