I was getting ready to drop the engine but......
 

I was planning on dropping my engine this weekend and tearing it down to replace the lower 12 dilivar studs, new gaskets and putting everything back together. Wayne has got me scared! Has anybody done just the studs and gaskets?

John

I'm sure many will advise that you dont, and maybe you shouldn't. But I did that on a 3.0 that I had. I fixed the studs and bolted it all back together. Ran like a champ and I had no problems at all. None. Everything else was in good condition though and I think the studs broke as a result of it being subjected to salt air (corrosion) before I bought it.

MMarsh I need to do the same thing my motor runs great but pulled studs. Did you replace the rings when you did that?? Or just slide the barrels right back on and bolted it back together. I hear the same thing as John. that I should rebuild the whole thing. I don't realy want to get that much money in the car when it runs so well burns about a quart every 2k miles confused:

Mike, did you reuse the rings like greg asked? I'm glad to hear that it can be done. john

John do you have pulled studs or just want to replace the ones that you have in there now the PO of my car said that he did that on the other side but did only the studs that were bad he has a drill jig to drill the holes for the timeserts I hear that if you just take out the old studs in a mag case it realy makes them weaker than they were before and that I think is what happend to my car they did a topend rebuld and replaced the studs with out timeserts and the they didn't last long so if that is your case timesert it be for you put it back together GREG

Yep, I reused the old rings (against the advice of some) and bolted it all back together. It didnt smoke or leak. I didn't even know that I had broken head studs intil I went to adjust the valves, the engine ran great before I replaced them and ran great when i was done. Maybe I was lucky.

MMARSH did you watch the clocking on the rings so that they were back to close to where they were Or just put them back and go Were your cilinders naskil?? and no reseating problems

Greg, I have two broken studs. I found them when I pulled the valve covers to adjust the valves.

I was unable to resist the "while I'm in there" temptation, but I do believe that if you just replace the studs and gaskets, as long as you're careful, your engine will be THE SAME as before, except for the studs and gaskets. I think it is possible to slide the cylinders out far enough to access the wrist pins, drive the pins out and never separate the pistons from the cylinders. That way, the rings never change postion.

BTW, I re-ringed my old pistons and cylinders and they seated JUST FINE.

Superman did you hone them also and what with like a lite stone I don't mind putting new rings on but I don't know what my cylenders are if they are naskil you can do that right but the other ones you can't

how many miles on that engine? the bottom end tends to last a long time, but the heads often need work at 125K or even earlier, due to excessive guide wear. it never hurts to check them while it's down. and the cam tower to head area always seeps somewhat, and that can be resealed when the heads are off of it.
the ring thing is entirely up to you. new ones (goetze) most always work fine as long as the cylinders are still in spec, and the ring lands in the pistons aren't worn out. and lots of folks reuse rings if the car was not smoking previously.
arrange the ring gaps with the oil ring at 12 noon, and the other two just above 4 and 8 o'clock.
a lot of people freak out at the thought of having to remove a cylinder and having the rings be reinstalled in a different position than they were running in. think about it. there's no guarantee that any ring will stay in the spot you put it in. there's nothing holding the ring in position. how many engines have you taken apart and found the rings to be in the original, recommended installation position? none!

John I was talking with a Guy the other day about that same thing that a ring staying in the same place all the time I did my diesel at 21.1 CR how could they My motor has about 30k on a top end but I plan on checking every thing befor I put it back together In the drag cars i have had I'm all ways pulling pistons out and putting them back in what I'm not use to is the aloy coated cylinders I think of the old vega nightmirs

My engine has 107,000 miles on it. Runs strong and had no symptoms of needing a top end rebuild.

John

I think you're not supposed to hone either of the two aluminum cylinders types used on 911s (Nikasil or Alusil). Mine are Alusil and I did not hone them. None were more than .0015" from installation spec at 182K miles! If I hadn't seen this with my own eyes, I would find it hard to believe. Porsche engines are the same as any other engine in some respects, but in others they are a whole different breed of cat.

The cylinders did go through John Walker's BFPWM (large parts washing machine) which took the oil glaze off them. The finish, without the glaze, was kind of stone-like. Interesting. At any rate, they seem to have showed the Goetze rings who is Boss!

just keep it simple then.

Didnt pay any attention to where the rings were originally. At the time it was easy to resist the temptation of doing any extra to it because I didnt have any extra money to put in it. This last time around was alittle different and I went at it alittle differently. It sounds like you would be fine just fixing the studs and like John Walker says I would just keep it simple.

As always, thanks for all the support and guidence. I'll keep everyone posted on the progress and I'll snap a few pics while i'm in there too.

Thanks Again!

John