Any advice on SC rebuild or Bay Area engine rebuilders?

[EricTheRed]

I recently purchased a '78 SC that has some broken head studs. I was thinking about MotoMeister for a rebuild, but whoa. I did a search on this list and.... Well... Lets just say that I'd doesn't sound like a good idea. Of course, results vary and I might get a good job from them, but I've decided to improve my odds by going local.

I'm trying to decide how to best deal with the engine. I may do a top-end rebuild myself (I have limited funds, unfortunately) so I'm looking for a reliable machine shop in the SF Bay area to do the heads and help me spec out the Ps&Cs (preferrably in the San Mateo or Hayward area). It's possible that I'll borrow the cash to have someone else do a rebuild, so if anyone can recommend a mechanic that does complete rebuilds, that would be great too.

I've heard good things about CT automotive and Pete's Porsche restoration. Any feedback on those two? I've heard they are good, but they're both kind of far from where I live.
How about High Performance House?

For machine shops, Ken Jensen (does a lot of VW/4 cyl stuff) is a possibility. Not sure about others. I'd sure like to find a place that can rebuild Nikasil cylinders.

Some more on the car: it has 135k on it and did not smoke at high revs or on decel (at least not that I could detect). Had low (135 lb) pressure on #6 cylinder, and the others were all 155 to 170 (avg 160). I was told by the mechanic who did my buyer's check that the valves are difficult to adjust on #6 and that a valve adjustment might fix the compression problem. I was doing a valve adjust when I found the broken head studs (all four of them). Needless to say I was a little bummed. It turns out that the valves on #6 were not tight, that I could tell.

There's no exhaust leaking due to the broken studs, but there was some oil seapage at the base of a couple of the cylinders. Not sure if it was from the cylinders or something above. Guess we'll see.

I paid $5,500 for the car. I've spent about $2k on parts (struts, tie-rod ends & ball joints, plug wires, tensioners and arms, CV joints, odds and ends. etc. that I was planning to install. Now it looks like I'll be spending a bit more on the rebuild.

I've talked to some folks about getting the top-end rebuilt and it looks like I can expect to spend $3500 to $4000 to have someone else do a topend if the Ps&Cs are OK and a lot more if they aren't.

I've owned and repaired Brittish cars ('62 Austin Healey, '65 Land Rover) but have always loved Porsches. Happy to own one, but I 'll be a lot happier when I get this baby on the road. I've done some rebuilding (hot-rodded Datsun 510), but it's been quite a while.

Anyway, that's my story. Any help or advice that you can provide will be much appreciated.

Thanks!
Eric

[Bob Spindel]

I'd highly recommend German Precision in Sunnyvale. It's a one man shop, run by Ted Robinson. He's excellent. I may not have this exactly right, but I know it's close-- he worked at Garretson's with Bruce Anderson way back when.

All he does is engine work.

Bob

[nostatic]

If it's any consolation, it sounds like you got a great deal on the car, so even after a rebuild you'll still be into the car for less than most people *and* you'll have a fresh engine.

CT has always been spoken of highly here as I recall...

[emcon5]

Did you have your car at German Motorsport in Fremont recently? I was in there a few days ago, and there was a car there that looks just like yours, a red SC with an early turbo tail.

Paul at German Motorsports is a good guy, and does good work. I know he sends his machine work to German Precision.

You can probably save a few bucks by sending the heads to EBS, labor costs less in Reno than the SF Bay area.

Tom

[EricTheRed]

Guys,
thanks for the info.

Tom,
It wasn't me in Fremont, but whoever it was had good taste in cars (chuckle).

The tail is a fiberglass unit that I'll be selling soon. I just purchased a stock engine cover on eBay. It will probably take me a little while to get it painted, but as soon as I do, the tail goes.


Eric

[Bobboloo]

That's interesting that all four broke on #6. I thought SC's were supposed to only have dilivar on the bottom row.

Maybe on early 78s' they used dilivar for the top and botttom row as they did on the late 77's. Either that or the car ran for a while with just the two top iron studs and they eventually gave out.

Any of you guys got an idea?

Bobby

[EricTheRed]

Sorry for confusion. The broken studs were on 4 different cylinders. I think that's why I wasn't getting any exhaust leakage from the engine. Really I could probably keep driving it for a while (one mechanic told me the old "if it ain't broke..."), but I'd rather know that I can drive it long distances without a partial engine failure lurking in the wings.

Been there, done that. KnowwhatImean?

Eric

[scarebus]

I saw Ted Robinson at Jay Robison's machine shop today. Jerry Woods in campbell does supreme engine rebuilds. Most of his machining is done by Jay's Precision Machining in Santa Clara. He did my 3.0.