First timer takes on '84 Targa

[jmills]

Several months ago, my wife and I bought our first air cooled 911, an '84 Targa. It had some known oil leaks and a clutch that needed replacing. We have been enjoying the new ride, but the time has come to dig in and do some repairs. Since every project will be a first for me, I have been reading a lot on the forum for guidance and how-to’s. I figured I would start a thread detailing the repairs from a first timer’s point of view and the lessons learned. I just hope the lessons learned is fairly short. I am all ears if anyone has any pointers, tips, or things to be aware of as work my way through the repairs. I am sure I will have plenty of questions, so be gentle.

The car has been leaking oil for many years and I don’t think anyone has taken the time to clean the motor. We figured this would be a good starting point to try to pinpoint some of the leaks. I used degreaser from the $1 store and my electric power washer. It isn’t spotless, but I would say it is 100% better. At least I can see the motor now.

Before:


After:




I mentioned earlier that the clutch needed replacing, which is due to a lot of chatter. After cleaning the engine, I found that the shaft that the clutch levers attach to was pulling out of the housing.



The clutch lever issue was discussed in this thread:
Clutch Lever Issue

The consensus is that the pin that holds the shaft in place was broken or had come out (More on this in a minute). With the discovery that the shaft could fall out and leave us stranded, we decided to start the repairs.

[jmills]

With the cleaner motor, it became obvious that the main oil leaks were from the oil return tubes. Here is my first box of gaskets, o-rings tubes and other “while I have the motor out” stuff.



Here is a picture of the car in it’s home while the repairs are underway. Hopefully, it won’t be a prolonged parking spot.



I went ahead and replaced the oil return tubes with the motor in the car since access is pretty good. These repairs went pretty well considering these were the first real repairs on this car. A discuss on the tube replacement is in this thread.

Oil Return Tube Reinstall

Now that the first repair is behind me, it is time to start on dropping the motor. My schedule has been busy, so I am trying to do a little every evening in preparation for a weekend engine removal. I will mention that I have been spraying Kroil for several days on just about any screw connection in an attempt to reduce the number of fights I have with stubborn connections.

Day 1:
Disconnect the positive and negative on the battery.
- Drain oil from oil tank-lesson learned-You guys weren’t kidding when you said that the oil flows very fast out of here. My POS oil drain pan was not able to keep up with the flow and overflowed. Luckily, I had some plastic under the pan and did not create an oil slick in the garage.
- Drain oil from engine
- Remove oil filter. My filter was on there pretty good and there was no getting it off my hand. My large strap wrench did the trick.



Day 2:
- Drain oil from transmission and replace fill plug with a magnetic one. Lesson learned-with the car on jack stands and the nose slightly lower, oil will come out of the fill hole. Make sure you use your oil drain pan when you remove the fill plug.
- Removed clutch lever arms. When I went to remove the large lever, the whole shaft pulled out of the housing. This confirms the thoughts that the pin had come out or is damaged. It appears that the only thing that was holding the shaft in place was the tension on the omega spring. Seems like it was only a matter of time before it fell out on it’s own with all the clutch chatter.



In any event, the car isn’t moving until this can be sorted.

- Remove soft oil line between the oil cooler and tank.

Day 3:
- Remove the hard line oil connection. I used two larger adjustable wrenches and after several days of Kroil spraying, I had no difficulties getting these disconnected.
- Disconnect positive lead on the starter.
- Remove heater hoses.

This gets me caught up through last night. Hopefully, I will have more to report tomorrow.

[jmills]

This brings me to my first question. When disconnecting the shift coupler, does the car need to be in neutral or in gear or does it matter?

[wacko]

Can't help with your question but I am enjoying the thread. Keep the updates coming

[Robey5]

For Dad's car - we left it in neutral to remove the rear coupler.

Question: Do you have Wayne's book? There is an outline that details what to remove on the coupler, (during engine removal) and how this can be done so that your installation is easier.

Good luck, I (quietly) have really found a soft spot in my heart for this car while putting Dad's back on the road. You're working with a nice car, for sure!

[nineball]

not that it will help in your case but for anyone else wanting to change the trans fluid always make sure you take the fill plug off first. nothing worse than draining it empty only to find you can't fill it back up.

x2 on wayne's book. and the haynes manual.

[PushingMyLuck]

Enjoying the details and photos.
Please be as detailed and verbose as you have time for.

[Smoove1010]

First project is a drop? Nice! I'll add to the chorus on Wayne's books, both the Projects and the Engine book. The Bentley manual has been handy to me as well.

That's a great looking car - good luck on your project!
GK

[jmills]

I do have Wayne's book (the projects book) but have not gotten the Bentley manual yet. It is on my list, but I have just not ordered it yet. The tech articles have also been a great help along with previous posters.

[boxster03]

I like the little mutt - what's his name

[jmills]

The dog's name is Huey and he is our 12 year old Boston Terrier.

Day 4:

I made more progress last night

- Disconnected the shift coupler. I thought I remembered seeing in my service records that the bushings had been replaced recently. The shinny looking parts seems to confirm that this is new. At least that is one less thing that will need replacing.



I don't have a fancy cover to protect the rear of the car, but a towel and clips works pretty well.



- Unbolted the compressor. Most of the write-ups are on an SC and have 3 bolts that hold the compressor in place. Mine has 4 bolts, so I assume this is a change with the 3.2. No issues and the bolts have good access. My hesitation was with the electrical connection. At first glance, I did not see how to disconnect the wires. Upon closer inspection, it is a spade type connector that can be disconnected if you push needle nose pliers into the protective sleeve and grab hold of the metal part (not the wire). Here is a picture of the wires disconnected.



- Removed the sway bar. I don’t know if this is necessary, but I put a floor jack under the suspension on either side and raised the suspension just enough to take the load out of it. I did not jack it up enough to lift the rear of the car. I feared the bolts on either the drop links or brackets would fight me, but that wasn’t the case. I started spraying them with Kriol a couple of weeks ago, so I am sure that helped. I was able to remove the nut on the drop links with a regular deep well socket, socket wrench and a breaker bar over the handle.





I was surprised at how clean the 30 year old drop link bolts look. I wonder if they are original.



The bracket bolts came off very easily.

I'm not sure if I will have any time to work tonight since it is Halloween. More to come when I have more to report.

[jmills]

I have not gotten to the fuel line stuff yet, but have been reading ahead. Most of the write-ups talk of a fuel filter and accumulator. I only have a silver cylinder (filter), so I assume the 3.2 doesn't have a accumulator to disconnect.



The black cylinder is connected to the distributor, so I am thinking this is the coil.

What exactly do I disconnect here? All the other write-ups disconnect the line coming into the top of the filter. I plan to do the same, but there are references to other fuel lines. It seems there are differences depending on the year and I really don't know what I am looking for. Any hints on what lines and what they look like or where they go so I can identify them?

[poorsha]

WHat colour is your nails?

[CCM911]

That coupler looks like it is an upgrade. Not bad at all. No, you do not have a fuel accumulator, so you'll need to disconnect the line from the filter. While you are there, look to the right of the fuel filter and you will see three plugs in a row(between engine and filter). Disconnect those. Also, stick your hand behind the engine(on the same side) and feel around. You will find a cable that plugs in just ahead of the firewall. Unplug it now so you won't forget.

You are doing just fine. Take your time and have fun.

[jmills]

The nail color clashes with the car. The wife was giving a helping hand last night and has been for the last couple of days.

[3point2]

Great thread, i have an 84 and new to these cars. Will be following this thread. Big job for a first project!

[jmills]

Quick question-How do you disconnect the electrical connections in the engine bay? They all appear to be the same type of connection, but I don't just want to pull on them to see if they come off. I have pulled gently, but that doesn't appear to work.

[jmills]

I may have answered my own question. I see that the thin "U" shaped metal clip holds the connections together. Is there a trick to getting the metal clip to clear the ears on the connector? I have just been popping the clip loose with a screw driver.

[Smoove1010]

No trick, you can stick a small screwdriver under one end and lift the metal clip up a bit while jiggling the connector. It'll come loose - if it doesn't, do the same thing to the other side of the connector to release both sides. Once you get one off, look at it closely and once you see how it locks into place you'll have a better idea of how to finesse the others.

Check this out too:
How to remove spring lock AMP connector

[PushingMyLuck]

Excellent photos and detailed narrative.
Since you're a beginner, you're assuming nothing, which gives a lot of good detail.
Please keep this level of detail going, for the other n00bs here.

It's also very cool that your wife is sharing in the quality time.