Gary,

If you think spending $30 for a set of jackstands is outrageous wait till you buy the rebuild gasket set for $287 for your top end rebuild project. BTW, you might need an engine stand and engine yoke (optional) but if you want it done properly, you need to borrow or buy some of these tools to do a decent job. Otherwise, you are doom for disaster from the very beginning. Good luck.

Tony

You will need for sure the cam sprocket holding tool. I made a homemade one and broke it instantly.

I'll say this, I rebuilt my whole engine without an engine stand. Built it 100% on a table.

No special jack needed, just balance cases on a standard jack with damage protection. Jack mine high enough front bumper touches ground and then put cinder blocks with boards until the rear tires are supported.

Lastly, the cam timing is the most complicated but it's not bad if you don't overthink it. Follow Bentley and Wayne's book as a supplement and it's easy.

It seems like a newcomer might be able to figure out how to remove the engine.
If one were going to have a pro rebuild the engine, is it even worth removing it yourself?
How much do you think you'd save on the $15k rebuild? 4 hours labor? $500? Doesn't seem worth the hassle.

Thanks for the great ideas and advice guys. Gave me a lot to think about.
By the way.... of course I have a good set of jack stands. Like most Porsche owners, I spend alot of time under my car. Just not sure they are tall enough for an engine drop.

Gary

Check my first time drop thread, im halfway thru a top end and clutch. Also a pretty experienced home mech, i bought $500 in tools for the job, that includes some pretty good comparison shopping and many trips to harbor freight. The drop was pretty easy. The rest of it is rather involved. Not rocket science and very rewarding but lotsa parts, lotsa googling techniques, probably lotsa surprises although ive been lucky so far, no snapped bolts or broken headstuds. Im budgeting between 3000 and 3500 inclusive of tools, mach shop, parts etc. will take me a month minimum, working an hour or two at night and much of every weekend, but its my first time. Also i screwed up the critical path by not ordering things like the engine stand yoke soon enough.

Cost Concerns
 

You need to make some "Porsche" friends who likely have an abundance of tools sitting and may be willing to share.
Buy used special tools and re-sell when done using. That's what I did and I always recovered 75% minimum of the cost. Not much you can do on the actual P-Car parts you'll need but we're pretty fortunate they're easy available at all for 25 to 30 year old + cars.
The tools I keep seem to get used all the time, jacks, stands, etc. so they were all excellent investments. My high reach Arcan Jack (always in use) does everything including lifting the entire car for the removal process. Cost was less than $100 on special.

There are dozens of project threads on this forum, you'll want to spend some time reading them. Get Wayne's engine book as a minimum reference, better to have that AND the Bentley Book.

I worked on cars, motorcycles, and other motorized objects my entire life, but never on a Porsche. I found that the most important time I spent on my drop-and-top-end project was the "class work."

there was a picture of someones large flat four point jack that was recessed into a square hole cut into the garage floor. Only a few inches deep tho enough to level the jack to the floor. A very nice setup as it looked to be enough to raise the entire car high for an engine drop

We used our lift and a let it down on a 4 wheel furniture dolly from harbor freight. Was very easy

That would be Mr. Jack Olsen, a Porsche guy with amazing talents. His garage is something to covet for sure.:cool:

Regarding getting the engine and gearbox out of a 911, it is relatively simple if you plan ahead. As far as rebuilding the engine, don't do it unless you have lots of previous engine rebuilding experience. These engines are difficult to rebuild at best. If you have to remove broken studs and bolts, it gets much more difficult. Add to this joints without gaskets (Never understood why they do this......Cost saving?), valve timing setup, nikasil/alusil barrels, etc to contend with, it is a very time consuming, costly and complicated process. It is very rewarding when completed I am told. I will let you know when I have finished!

My way
 

Here is the way I did it after considering the cost of a car lift.
I used 8x10 cedar lumber pieces and made 4 solid stands. I jacked the front
and then the back twice. Each time raising the car and placing a block underneath each wheel. I measured the height from the bottom of the engine to the highest part of the engine to see how much room I needed to get the engine out.
I removed the rear bumper and supports (very easy) and then measured from the reflector down to see how much I needed to raise the car to remove the engine (plus the height of the jack).

Jacked it up, undid the 4 mounting bolts...(with other associated stuff) and dropped it straight down (relatively speaking)....

Very easy to do. and I think the stands are safer than Jack stands....plus it provides a lot of room to get underneath and do some cleanup work.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1381516862.jpg

WOW! How big are those freakin' tires???

Roger

315/30/18 and if you look carefully, you will see 996 big red brakes inside of them as well.

Very cool! Makes me kinda envious of your "big booty". I'm still toolin' around in my '72 with a "skinny ass".

Roger

Im by no means an experieced 911 mechanic but i did it for the first time in a few hours using a big red floor jack, a few bits of 2x4 wood and and 2 high lift stand that i borrowed from a friend that likes raised trucks with big wheels. :)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1347069543.jpg

This was my first engine drop.....
I have learned a thing or two since then...Be Safe!

For the engine drop: if you're a 911 owner with a set of basic tools, it's pretty easy. The "work" that is hard is the top end you're speaking of.

Getting to the tools/jack/jackstand investment you're contenplating: a standard set of 4 jackstands will be fine. In fact, when we dropped the engine out of Dad's car we never raised put the jack stands higher than the 3rd or 4th setting. For the re-install I pulled the rear bumper, and had the jack stands no higher than the 3rd setting ever. DohertyCM has a pretty good idea with the blocks as stands, quite a bit safer as well.

To a point, you're working on a car that is very special. Tools tend to have a use in the future, and if you buy a nice jack, and 4 "A-zone" grade jackstands, you're going to be fine. Further, that may be the cheapest part of your voyage! And if you don't like the color of your jack or jackstands (or dont have the room for them), you can always dump them on C-list when you are done with the project.

For the re-install, I grabbed an ATV jack that really helped. Nice, but not a necessity.

Good luck!

What the heck is holding this car up? Please dont tell me its just that jack!

Dude it was my first time....I said I learned a lot of things during that drop...

(yes it was just the jack)