83 SC first engine drop wiring question

[longhsot1911]

Greetings,

I am covered in grime, so I will keep this initial question brief with more to follow intro wise when I have cleaned up a bit.

Long story short. New SC, first Porsche, yeah me.

Deploy to Afghanistan. Read posts on this forum every night for 2 months.

Order $1500 of parts for tuneup when I get home

Arrive home on Sunday. Monday, motor is on the ground next to car. Replaced injector o-rings, injector sleeves, intake boots (yes, chasing vacuum leak), intake gaskets, fix all three oil leak problem areas, new rotors, pads, fuel lines, and shift bushings. Been busy.

Tomorrow, once gaskets arrive, adjust valves and put back in the car

Only issue so far is two wires that broke during remova. These wires (yellow/green, and blue/brown) ran out the front passenger side of the motor where the starter wires pass through a rubber grommet in the tins. The two wires were sheathed in a common cable and went up and over the transmission. When pulling the motor, the cable went tight, then pulled out. I have no idea what these wires are for, and where they terminate. If anyone has a clue, please help me out.

[Flat6pac]

They are the back up lights and plug into the front of the transmission nosecap just to the right of center. If you dont have them plugged in you will have a time with the fuse in the front bscause it will blow the safety lights systems.
Welcome home,
Bruce

[Brown747]

Welcome home. Thanks for your service. TJ

[flatsixjunky]

Welcome home and welcome to Pelican.

[RSWiser]

Nothing like jumping right in. I am working on building up the guts to pull my engine next winter. Lots that I want to do.

Thanks for you service.

[arbita1]

Maybe the wires that connect to the speedometer sensor? Did you disconnect that before you dropped the engine? Maybe a picture would help.

Going to be doing mine for the first time in the next few weeks!

[gwolc]

Thanks for serving and Welcome Home - Oh and congrats on the SC

[longhsot1911]

Many thanks all. Just recovering from last nights post-grime libations, and about to hit the motor again. Hopefully, no Oh S#&% moments that require another order. I would love to be driving this car next week.

[brads911sc]

welcome. i did the same thing the first time i removed my engine. good luck getting her up and running. thanks for your service.

[pete3799]

Thanks for your service.
Did you drop just the motor or motor & tranny?
If just the motor could be these.

[longhsot1911]

BINGO!

That is it!

Much relief. Now to pull, solder, fix, re-instal



Now that I have some food in my stomach, and know what the problem is, I suppose some more details are in order.


I have wanted a 911 for may years. They always appealed to me. My first ride in a manual transmission car was my uncles 83 targa sometime in the mid 80's. I have had many toys over the years, but all domestic. 84 Camero (I know, but it was great in high school), 64 1/2 mustang, rock crawler truck, various Harley's, an 800 HP 1969 Firebird pro street car, a 1973 454 Corvette....

I have always been on the lookout for someone willing to trade their Porsche for whatever toy I had at the time. Casual offers have been posted on Craigslist for years. Well, 5 days before my last deployment, I actually received a reply that sounded legit. The fellow had a white, 1983 Cab. Well, as much as I liked Porsches, I had never dug too deep into the details. I showed up at his house in my Corvette two days later to discuss a trade.

The car was stored in a bad way. It had been sitting outside under a tree for what looked like a year, and was covered in grime. The interior had signs of mildew, and was in pretty poor shape. The body appeared to be great shape, with the battery tray as the only visible area of concern from rust (yes, previous battery had leaked and took its tole. The car smoked a little on startup, but ran smooth. I did notice a clicking in the right rear during the test drive, but figured it was a sticky caliper/warped rotor. While the car was a far cry from perfect, it was a chance to check off two of my life's wickets- own a German car, and own a convertible.

I drove the car home with a huge grin on my face. After a good cleaning, it started looking pretty damm good. I was concerned with a heavy oil leak and the fact that the idle was sitting at around 1200 RPM. I was familiar with the troubleshooting of vacuum leaks, so I knew I would be in the engine compartment for a bit. Then I ran out of time. Hop on a plane, work 15 hour days, research for another 2-3 every night. I joked to my buddies out forward that I would be able to rebuild a 915 in my sleep by the time I returned....

Last Sunday, I returned. Waiting for me were 5 packages. All of the items I felt I might need as a result of my research. That evening, I resisted the urge...

Monday morning. I open the garage, start the car, and begin with my can of gumout. I notice several injectors that are affected by the spray. I replace all of the injector o-rings. It helps a little, but idle is still over 1k. I know the procedure, so I beging disconnecting lines in preparation for a drop.

All total, it took me about 2 hours to have the motor out of the car. I immediately tore down the intake, and called it a day.

So what did I find?

Most injector o-rings were shot. One injector sleeve was cracked. All injector sleeve o-rings were distorted. The oil thermostat o-ring was squared off and cracked (yeah oil leak). I am missing the plastic housing that directs air from the shroud to the oil cooler (don't know where to find one of these), the intake boots were loose. Several vacuum lines were cracked and broken (held together by the fiber outer sheath). A squirrel had cached acorns atop the transmission, the right rotor was badly scored- the pads were rubbing bare metal. All pads needed replacing. The rear bogue shocks were shot, and the bushings in the shift coupler were shot. Pulling the plug wires resulted in two breaking at the extension. All plugs showed a lean condition. About what I had figured...

Good thing I had ordered the following...
Bilstine shocks
New rotors
New pads
Braided lines
Shift coupler bushing
Shifter cup busing
Shift rod bushing
New oil filter
Intake gaskets
Intake boots
injector o rings
injector sleeves
injector sleeve o rings
air filter
fuel filter
plugs
wires
feeler gauges
valve cover gaskets
new valve cover nuts
extra fuzes
two spare fan belts
ATE super blue break fluid
Breather cover gasket
Thermostat O-ring
windshield wipers
cap
rotor
oil cooler seals
poly airbox straps
Bentley manual
101 manual

So far, all parts have been used. My only debate right now is this. Despite my care, some carbon was dislodged when removing the intake manifolds. I am concerned that if I set the valves cold, motor out of the car, a particle might hang a valve just enough to create a false setting (akin to why it is recommended not to remove the plugs). The engine ran strong before pulling. I think I might be better off re-installing the motor and running it for awhile to clear out the valves rather than setting them now. At some point when my bank account recovers, I will be installing Carrara chain tensioners, so I will be back in her sooner than later.

Thanks for the well wishes and the help!

Matt

[longhsot1911]

[longhsot1911]

Have I mentioned how much fun I am having with this! I am really appreciating the design, and can't wait to get her on the road again. Also, this forum is fantastic! More info, more experience, and more people willing to take the time and help out than in most forums I have frequente in the past. Thank you all again.