first engine drop - the good, the bad, the ugly (CIS and Clutch)

[area man]

I just did my first engine drop, on a 1980 euro SC. It all went smoothly, thanks to the Pelican bulletin board! I used a motorcycle jack with a dolly made of 3/4 ply to hold the engine, and lowered the front wheels to the ground to get the rear end up higher. Worked like a charm. It took me about four hours, working alone in a tiny garage, and that was after everything was disconnected but the mounts. The key for me was to go slow, and to make sure the jack and dolly were positioned correctly under the engine's center of gravity.




I dropped the engine because I needed to chase down vacuum leaks, fix a leaky selector shaft seal on the transmission, and replace the clutch. A mechanic at one of the independent Porsche places in town told me the clutch was "sort of funkydoodles." It looks like the 'funkydoodles' condition is being caused by oil leaking down from the top of the engine. Pix below.

Once I had the engine out, I noticed two things right away. First, the big vacuum hose running from the air box towards the left was crimped by the Auxiliary Air Valve when the PO installed the engine about ten years ago. Looks like this is at least one of the culprits for the unmetered air problem.




Not good for the hose!




Does anyone have a part number for this hose? I can't find it on any of the parts diagrams. Also, oil spilled out of this hose when I rolled the engine out. seems strange to have oil connected to the air box.


The bigger problem was the area around the oil pressure switch and the crankcase breather cover, which was flooded with oil. It looks like the oil is coming out of a loose connection on the breather hose - the one with the green stripe.




It also looks like the oil is flowing onto the transmission and even into the clutch compartment itself, if that's possible (this shows oil seeping onto the bell housing by the starter motor).




So I pulled off the transmission, removed the pressure plate and found this. I'm thinking the discoloration on the flywheel is from oil. Btw, the wrench positioned like this worked perfectly to hold the flywheel - no need to fashion a flywheel lock. I used a pressure plate bolt in the flywheel to brace against the top end of the wrench.




Behind the flywheel it looked like this:




As you can see there's oil covering the flywheel seal, as well as above it and below it and along the crankcase seam.






So the more I look at this, the more I think the oil is coming down from the crankcase breather hose or cover and fouling the clutch. I'll fix that and also replace the flywheel seal. But what if the oil is coming through the seam in the crankcase too? Is that possible? is there any way to tell? If it is, the oil will just mess things up again, and obviously i'd need to tear the whole engine down (sure hope not...).

Help on this would be GREAT. thanks D

[schumicat]

the area you show is notorious source of oil leaks (theromostat gasket, breather gasket and pressure sender). you should replace them along with the oil cooler seals while engine is out; see the 101 probjects book for how-to. If you search on my name you should find thread about the part no. of that breather hose. it is normal to have some oil in it if the oil was overfilled at some point.

[area man]

Thanks schumicat. I checked that thread. I think the hose you were referring to is the one with the green stripe on it, running from the crankcase breather cover to the oil filler neck. The one I need to replace is the other large one in the photo, that runs from the black boot at the top (called 'air box' on the parts diagram) to a port right next to the oil filler neck. for some reason it doesn't show up on any of the parts diagrams i have.

[area man]

oh - and i'm definitely replacing those seals as per the 101 projects book!

[kodioneill]

Well done dude, well done!

[timmy2]

Pelican Parts - Product Information: 930-107-399-00-M100

This is the upper hose from airbox to oil tank.

[area man]

Thanks Kodioneill and timmy2. I think that is the right hose - I got thrown off by the 'air filter' in the product title.

[timmy2]

No Problem, it's the one I replaced in my recent adventure as in the pics in this post:
Finally, back in the game!
From my thread here:
Finally, back in the game!

[area man]

Thanks for the link. Looks like I'm headed in the same direction...