1st drop & top end observations & questions

[yelcab1]

Separate motor from transmission, remove clutch plate, pressure plate, and flywheel

Mount engine to the yoke and lift engine up into the engine stand
Remove:

Muffler, brackets, and engine mount braces
engine tins
heater motor and ducts
crank shaft sensor and revolution sensor, head temp sensor and all associated wirings
intake manifolds and runners and throttle housing and fuel injection rails
alternator and fan loosen and disconnect wirings from the back
shroud and all wiring above the engine
Engine oil cooler
flip upside down ... and remove
cat converter, and o2 sensor
headers
turn right side up and remove
valve covers, rocker arms
timing box covers, chain tensioners, sprockets
Remove cam shafts
timing boxes
Cam towers
heads
cylinders
Pistons
split case
crank shaft and intermediate shaft
oil pump

[r-mm]

Cross shaft and 4 nuts are off trans but it's not that easy to separate. Any suggestions? Lots of rocking? Its sitting on a dolly about level with the motor which is still on the ATV jack.



Meanwhile I'm going thru disassembly. Finding some nice details like the fact that the electrical connections @ alternator can only be reassembled in the right order as they are keyed to the diameter of the studs. Lots of oil on the top front of the case by the good old triangle. A few questions that Bentley isn't clear on

-Cyl head temp sensor - remove entirely or is is possible to disconnect the elec conxn like the oil press/temp gauges?
-Is the idea to pass various DME sensor wires thru the metal shrouds so they can come off with the intake as one big assembly?

[r-mm]

First surprise...

Airbox is cracked on the back / top. Anyone seen this before? Anyone selling one?

[r-mm]

Pulled the injectors, I'll be bringing them to Marren Fuel Injection in Oxford CT for cleaning and balancing. Happened to also have the SPICA mechanical injection pump from my Alfa sitting out. SPICA & DME - I like fuel injection in all forms. In fact I have only ever owned owned one carbureted vehicle, an early monster.

[yelcab1]

Starter comes off. Slave cylinder comes off. Cross shaft comes off the tranny
See the fork flopping away from the T/O bearing.
Four nuts off the tranny and the gearbox must come apart from the engine. Nothing holds it back. If you can get a spatula in between the gearbox and the tranny and wedge it out, it may help. But at that point, it MUST come off.

[Smoove1010]

Originally Posted by r-mm

First surprise...

Airbox is cracked on the back / top. Anyone seen this before? Anyone selling one?

That's a drag, but those things have all gotten a bit brittle by now. My surprise was finding the bottom-rear plastic tab broken off, leaving the wire clip/hook nothing to grab onto. I improvised a fix with a piece of brass hardware used to hold basement windows closed. There are numerous postings on this forum with fix-ideas, and there's always the used-parts forum. They've come up from time to time, but they seem to go pretty fast.


GK

[r-mm]

Originally Posted by yelcab1

Starter comes off. Slave cylinder comes off. Cross shaft comes off the tranny
See the fork flopping away from the T/O bearing.
Four nuts off the tranny and the gearbox must come apart from the engine. Nothing holds it back. If you can get a spatula in between the gearbox and the tranny and wedge it out, it may help. But at that point, it MUST come off.

Check check check....

The tranny is riding on three studs which are fixed to the engine case, correct? It is feasible that it is just hanging on these, much the way for instance the breather housing on top of the case took some slapping to ride up its studs, the tranny is this on a grand scale. I'm twisting it back and forth and can see it moving free of the motor but its hard to pull it away without the motor wanting to come towards me. I need a helper.

[yelcab1]

Gear box rides on four studs on the engine case. They are approximately at 2, 4, 8, and 10 o'clock positions. You take three nuts off, and one barrel nut off (at the starter) and If you can wiggle the gearbox at all, then it will slide off with some persuasion.

[michael lang]

r-mm, how long did it take you total to get the drivetrain out? I'm doing an overall rebuild after a track incident earlier this year and I'm trying to decide if I really want to do the removal myself before I send the car to the body shop. It really boils down to available time, it never ceases to amaze me how much life gets in the way of me getting to the things I really want to do.

[Jesse16]

You can do a decent airbox repair, I did mine. I used black RTV and some fiberglass screen material (window screen type) and its basically invisible and has held for 4 years. Still looks fine. Screen is on the inside with the RTV and a little outside. Or use any black resiliant material you prefer. Kinda like repairing fiberglass but more flexy.
As others will say, you may be encouraged to replace the Head Temp gage, and the two position sensors while out. Just far easier to do now and if original, they are very old. Super easy to do when out.

[Jesse16]

Also FYI, if you're not tearing all the way down, put rags in all those intake holes or any holes that a dropped fastener could fall into. Be diligent on this to prevent alot of headache! Be careful.

[whiz05403]

Have you separated the tranny from the engine yet? don't forget the shaft that holds the clutch fork in. It will not separate unless you remove that shaft first.

Look at the end of this slideshow:

87 Carrera engine drop (1 of 36)

[michael lang]

Thanks whiz. I appreciate the slide show, for someone who has never done a drivetrain drop, the pics help a lot.

[r-mm]

Michael, i believe the full drop took me three days, i went slow, started disconnections on a tuesday fully expecting hitches along the way, aiming for a weekend drop, but it came out rather smoothly.

As many here have said, next time it will likely be a one day affair.
Thanks for the tips jesse, i now have rags in the intake holes, but i will be removing the heads as well. Ill give the rtv a shot.

[r-mm]

I got the trans off the motor. Needed just a tiny bit of careful prying to get it started then I was able to work it off.

I couldn't find a spec for the clutch thickness service limit, but its a rubber centered sachs so It'll likely be replaced with a OEM spring centered disc.

Has anyone run the "power friction" spring centered clutch? Sells for just under $200.

Although, for $170 more the SPEC stage 1 kit included tools and a pressure plate. Can anyone weigh in on clutch choice? This is a street car and will remain stock with the exception that I may add a chip and exhaust at some point.

Finally - I was about to remove the flywheel but thought twice. I'm not touching the bottom end and the rear main seal was dry. Any reason it should come off, besides being able to flex my new XZN sockets?

[yelcab1]

Nobody goes in this deep without replacing the rear main seal behind the flywheel. It is bad karma.

[r-mm]

Flywheel has been removed, engine has been leakdown tested (cold obviously).

I started a new thread, but at a glance here are the numbers. Very confusing.

Compression (done warm, engine in car)
1: 175
2:187.5
3:190
4:175
5:180
6:180

Leakdown (done cold)
1: 12%
2: 1%
3: 20%
4: 25%
5: 2%
6: 70%!!!

[docrodg]

Something wrong with those numbers. 70% leakdown with 180 compression just not gonna happen. Something maybe got into the valve seats (Carbon)?

[r-mm]

Agree. There is a reasonable amount of carbon in the intake runners. I have been careful to disturb it as little as possible and vacuumed around the area before removing the intake manifold. How does one avoid this?

[r-mm]

More observations during disassembly:

1. Clutch rubber looks very healthy, compared to the dog bitten monstrosities I've seen some people posting pictures of. Naturally it will be replaced. They flywheel looks fine to me, throw out bearing spins perfectly. I've read many posts on this and am comfortable cleaning and re-using the flywheel but it would seem foolish to reuse the TOB. The way the parts vs kit are priced means its about $350 extra to do the flywheel as well. I know that sounds like peanuts and I've read some nasty comments elsewhere to the tune of if you can't throw money around don't own a 911, but I'm still a bit unsure about how to proceed.




2. The flywheel pilot bearing does not feel so smooth. Is it common for these to go south? Since the flywheel looks like the PP (messy but no scoring or burning) I'll clean its surface and reuse it.

3. I just noticed that the main T fuel lines have been replaced at some point, with common hose clamps and FI hoses. They didn't leak a drop! I'm now conflicted about replacing them, especially since its been confirmed several times that this job can be done with the motor and most accessories in situ.