Rus, be prepared for war with the exhaust. If the bolts are rusty and crusty they can be a real bugger to get out. I had to cut, grind, heat, burn and drill some of them. There were so frozen into the holes of the crossover pipe that I had to remove that and cut a slot in the flange to beat it out. Fugly work. Not a lot of room when doing it with the rear hub and ancillaries in there. I also replaced the cat with a test pipe. Installed a new O2 sensor while it was all over the floor.

Good luck!

I was probably just being a "Richard" with that comment (I spend too much time arguing points in the A/C threads - ha ha!), but in my 30 years of experience adjusting valve lash on air cooled engines (including aviation), I have never done as Marc B. advised and never had a problem with carbon dropping from the plugs. In fact, when a 100 hour inspection is done on aircraft such a Cessna and Piper, the compression/cylinder leakage check is done first (on hot/warm engine) and valve lash is done later (the opposite of what was advised earlier). Similar style engines - opposed cylinder, air cooled.

Ronnie, You may have a lot of posts, but I've probably preformed AT LEAST that many valve adjustments on 911's in my 30 years of turning wrenches on Porsches. Ask the best pro's they'll agree. Airplane engines, I don't know. Porsche engines, we do know intimately. The spark plug sits DIRECTLY above the exhaust valve, makes sense doesn't it?

Yes Marc, that makes sense, and I definitely respect your experience and apologize for the offensive nature of my previous comment about "wackiness".

Just realized I have every socket under the sun except 23mm. Before I order one - anything special to look out for? Would a 23mm combination wrench actually be easier to use?

Are you referring to a wrench for the fan nut? If so, no way is there room for me to get a socket on there, so I use a 1" wrench and/or the fan pulley spanner to turn it (I use the toolkit wrench if I need to take it off, but it is too much of a hassle to use that for the purpose of adjusting valves).

I stupidly forgot to check the toolkit - and found everything I needed there. 24mm wrench and lock spanner.

I found that rotating the fan with the lock spanner fails to rotate the engine. I went to change the belt and then discovered that the spare in the toolkit from the PO is a 15/32"x28" not a 10x710 or 9.5x710 per the factory. It is also toothed whereas the one that was installed was a smooth V. I had to leave the garage but suppose I'll refit the belt that was on the car, retension it and attempt to rotate the crank with it.

Is rotating the crank with the belt a fairly standard procedure? ie if I can't rotate the crank, the belt must have been rather loose?

Even with a properly tensioned belt, sometimes it will slip when you turn the fan pulley or the fan pulley nut - all you have to do then is squeeze the belt together with your fingers of your non-wrench hand to add a little tension (doesn't take much squeezing). Of course, this whole pulley turning business is easy on my car as it has very low static compression (7:1) compared to yours. :D

Ok glad to hear this is normal - so you're saying I squeeze the belt together while turning?

Right - I'm right handed, so I turn the wrench with my right hand while squeezing the belt together with my left. Usually, you will only have to squeeze long enough to get the crank moving and then it will continue to turn without squeezing (for a bit, at least).

Also, you can set the belt as tight as it will possibly go to help with this process (then set the proper tension when you are finished).

Okay this worked - sort of. I tightened up the belt well within spec, pinched it and got the motor to rotate. A bit. I could get it started rotating but as soon as I stopped pinching, which is awkward, it stopped rotating. This is not going to work to set the engine precisely at TDC. I am familiar with all the caveats about removing the plugs but wonder - would removing them make it significantly easier to turn it over, or is it just mechanical friction causing the majority of the problem?

How else, besides rocking the car in 5th and using the starter motor does one turn the motor over?

If it were me, I would remove the plugs in a heartbeat (much easier to turn the engine over with them removed) - I've done that with every engine I have ever checked valve lash on except my 930 as it turns easily with such low static compression.

You might try just removing a couple of the plugs and see if that helps.

Yet another reason I want a 930. Practicality.

Thanks, I'll give it a shot.

Buy the correct socket in 1/2" drive and an 18-24" flex wrench/breaker bar. There should be room on an '87 and the extra length will give you the leverage you need to sneak up on your timing marks. If you don't already have the breaker bar it's handy for loosening lug nuts.

You are recommending a socket for the fan nut? Not understanding why this will help - I can rotate the fan nut/fan assy with ease, problem is it doesn't rotate the motor - belt slips even when well adjusted.

Or are you suggesting I put it in 5th and rotate the motor by reaching around to the lugs with the breaker bar?

Longer wrench allows you to easily turn the motor over with one hand on the wrench and one hand squeezing the belt.

Lug nuts is a secondary reason to own a 1/2" breaker bar. Some people seem to need a reason for buying more tools. I just through that in as an aside. My appologies for the confusion. -J

Ha ha ha, not sure the 9-11, around town, MPG could be called practical (not that I care about gas mileage with that thing)! :D

Another thing I thought I would mention is that Wayne recommends in his "101 Projects . . ." book to remove the spark plugs in order to more easily turn the engine (this is in the chapter on valve adjustment).

Or just use the starter to turn the engine when going to the next valves requiring adjustment... eliminates silly games.

Removing two plugs did the trick.

If I'm not using the asymetrical jacking technique and don't want to do a full oil change... can I simply remove the lower valve covers and be prepared for the oil that comes out of them... or will basically all the oil in the case come out with it? If the later, can I simply empty the oil from the case, leaving the oil in the tank?

I decided to just drain the oil. Can't hurt to change it.

Wish I had started with the p/s exhaust valves - they are an absolute breeze and it really helps to do these before any of the others. Again found no tight valves. All were just a tiny bit loose.

Going to try and get the heat shield off tomorrow morning and tackle the d/s exhaust valves and be done with it.