Draining oil and the valve job

[cmoanz]

I decided to do a valve adjustment as part of the ongoing refreshing of my 70 T which I acquired in December. The PO (since 72) had let the car sit for the last several years. I've been doing mini projects like restoring the fuel tank, tank pickups etc...

So I do my research here and review Waynes 101... Step one drain the oil. Here is where things broke bad for a 911 rookie.

I warm the car up, Waynes says hot oil flows better. While that is happening I change the oil on my wifes Honda Pilot (4.5 Qts). If figure the is will be a good warm up for them main event.

Now the 911 is warm so I proceed to align some cardboard, gather towels, and tools. Starting with the Oil reserve I open the nut, and all hell breaks loose (well, maybe not that bad, but not fun either).

As oil flow out, I drop the nut which splashes warm oil on to my face, some making it around my glasses near my eye. I jump up to grab a clean towel, and notice that the rate of oil flowing is going to eclipse my oil pan within seconds. In hind sight it seems that the smallish middle whole of my pan, partially blocked by the nut, are no match for the oil rate coming from the reserve.

I panic looking for another bucket and in the process manage to spill 3-4 quarts everywhere. So after 30 mins of cleaning the Exxon Valdez of my garage, I drain the rest from the bottom of the engine uneventfully, but of course the filter is on with 200ftlbs of force; I'll need a proper wrench for that.

Here are my lessons learn:

1) There is a lot of fast moving oil in the reserve (more then you think)
2) Cardboard is not a drip pan
3) Don't drop the nut
4) I really need some safety glasses

I'll document the rookie valve job with pictures here for those who like a good laugh at others misfortune.

[RSWiser]

Changed my 911 Oil yesterday. Bought a new 15 quart catch basin. The center section is only about 1 1/2" deep with a small (about the size of a nickle) hole in the middle. It handled the sump ok.

Then I opened the tank and wham I had more oil than that little hole could handle. Probably about 3 quarts on the ground. Yikes, I'm cutting a big hole in the thing for next time.

[kidrock]

FWIW, a lot of guys here use a large pan to catch the oil, then transfer it into those neat little oil catches you can carry to the oil dump. Otherwise, you're gonna have a heck of a time keeping your garage floor clean.

Dontcha just love German technology?

[porschefool]

rite of passage..
Welcome to the club. You'll be ready next time. Get a magnetic pickup wand thingy from your FLAPS so you can just let the nut drop. Keeps the burning oil off your hands!

[cmoanz]

Here is what my "valve job" has turned into... After doing the valve adjustment I just couldn't live to with the dirt, grime etc. So while I was in there (famous last words) I've stripped down all of the intake, carbs, engine sound pad, fan/alternator etc...

Moday I'll send the fan out for powder coat and Kylon Fusion (Spring Grass) the shroud. Tomorrow I begin attacking 39yrs of grime.

[Gogar]

That's great, cmoanz! You need to spend . . . . an extra 15-20 minutes and pull your engine out of there. You'll kick yourself for going as far as you did with it in the car.

[80-911SC]

as far down as he has it stripped it will probably help him assembling if he pulls it out. give you A+ on it though, nice looking car, post the photos of the engine when you are done.

[berettafan]

'blitz' also makes a yellow version of that oil tub that is completely open on the top. many have learned the same lesson.

beautiful car btw.

[burgermeister]

My daughter (4 at the time) watched me do my first 911 oil change. All went well with the tank side - I had a giant oil pan ready. Then, the sump. The bolt is horizontal on my 88 - like most other cars - not vertical. I'm wearing knit cotton gloves. As I take the bolt out, a 1" stream of 200+ deg oil shoots out, way farther than I expect, drenching my gloved hand in hot oil. I yank my hand back, banging it and my arm into whatever on the bottom of the car, yelling "duck duck duck duck" (replace "d" with "f"), trying to get the damn hot-oil-soaked glove off my hand.

My daughter paid attention.

A few days later she's riding in Mom's car, and she repeats the "duck duck duck duck" escapade. Mom sez - what did you just say? "duck duck duck duck duck ... it's what daddy says when he burns himself."

It was funny enough that I did not get in trouble for teaching my 4 year old the F-word.

[Scott Douglas]

Four-year-old's are like really good sponges, they absorb everything!




Thanks for the good laugh this morning.

+1 on dropping the engine and please cover that oil filter boss!

[TT Oversteer]

Hey, as long as you're in there............................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ........................................

[wildcat077]

Did my first oil change on my recently acquired 89 last week and after "much" reading about the oil flow rate i used an empty chlorine bucket from the pool supplies to drain the oil tank
and drained the remaining engine oil into a pan... No mess !!!
I freaked on how fast it empties out !!!

[S2GART]

Of course I have had this happen to me, once. I have a large oil container that was meant to carry oil to one's local recycling center. Well, I put the used oil back into the jugs that the new oil came in. So, I "destroyed" it by drilling a whole series of holes along the edge, to help equalize the rate of oil going in and the air trying to come out.

The original small hole in the in the middle can in no way handle the flow rate of 9 plus qts of oil pouring out of the tank. The next day or when I get to it, after the oil has had a chance to cool, I pour the old oil into the original jugs.

Once I have accumulated several gallons of used oil, I take it to my town's dump where they pour it into a larger container for recycling.

When I say several gallons, I mean it. The 911 takes 2 and half. My '87 Benz take 2 gallons. My daughter's Benz and the wife's Volvo both take a gallon and half each.

[kodioneill]

Originally Posted by Gogar

That's great, cmoanz! You need to spend . . . . an extra 15-20 minutes and pull your engine out of there. You'll kick yourself for going as far as you did with it in the car.

+1 on that! that is one pretty car.

[FPB111]

Years ago I bought a very large drain pan through Imparts. This pan holds all of the oil that drains out of any of our cars as long as you have it under the drain plug.
Except on our Mercedes ML350.
The drain plug is horizontal, similar to newer 911s and points toward the passenger front wheel. The first time I drained it I was thinking how nice it was to have so much clearance under that wet sump oil pan. I could just lay on my side and slide the drain pan under, reach in with the wrench pull the plug and shoot HOT oil about 2 feet, past the pan through the rotor and wheel onto my right leg.
I was yelling "DUCK DUCK DUCK!!" while trying to get my HOT OIL soaked pants off over my shoe, I successfully shed my shoe and pants leg.

Then I carefully stepped in the pool of hot oil with my stocking foot which caused some expansion of the "ducking" verbiage and volume. All of this commotion brought my wife to the garage to see; ...

me standing on one foot in an expanding pool of HOT oil with my pants around one ankle waving an oil soaked stocking foot in the air. She asked what I was doing and I calmly replied "Why just changing the oil in the Mercedes my Love" or something to that effect.
What a mess, that thing holds about 9qts. I think I got about 3 or 4qts into my studly way large enough drain pan.

One good thing from all of that is the right front brake stopped squeaking.

Since then I made a hot oil deflector out of aluminum flashing that I hang on the suspension to channel the oil into the pan.

[cmoanz]

Here is an update:

I finished reassembly of the of intake/shroud/electrical. The shroud was painted with Krylon Fusion. The fan housing, intake manifolds, hot air passages where all powder coated semi-gloss black (fan is powder coat silver). New gaskets, belt, shims, sound pad and hardware from our host. VDO fuel pressure gauge and y-splitter are from Jegs. I spend about 2-weeks cleaning everything mostly with a light wire brush or a drill mounted brush. I have an advantage in that my Karmann built car has a black engine bay and trunk (makes for easy paint touch-up).





Car is not running yet, I have no spark. I've isolated the problem to the CDI. Among other signs my CDI appears dead (no classic whine). It's not shown here, but I am in the process of converting to an 008 Bosch dizzy from a Marelli. I've rebuilt that with all new parts and a Pertronix Ignitor.

With my CDI being dead I decided, to give a MSD a shot. After doing some research it came down to a 6AL($189) or a MSD Street Fire 5520 ($134).



I choose the 5520 because while it has a slightly lower spark energy (95 vs 110) it also draws less current (processor based vs analog tech), lower cost and it has a dial based rev-limiter.

Here's a comparison:
http://www.jegs.com/PDFs/6ALvsStreetFireboxes.pdf

I wonder if I should or can change to a regular rotor, or do I need to keep the rev-limiting rotor?

[GrantG]

Originally Posted by cmoanz

I wonder if I should or can change to a regular rotor, or do I need to keep the rev-limiting rotor?

Yes, you can change to a non rev-limiting rotor if you use the MSD rev limit function. Just be sure that the MSD is setup properly for a 6cyl. I know on the 6AL you need to cut a wire to change it from 8cyl. If you forget this, your rev limit will be 33% higher than you think it is...

[cmoanz]

Is 78-83 930-602-902-00 the correct non-limiting rotor?

[Eagledriver]

I don't think that's the right rotor. The early cars had a smaller cap and shorter rotor.

-Andy