You can get your parts right here on Pelican. At 145k miles, I would go at a minimum as far as pulling the rods...

Good luck - have fun with the process.

Are you close to a border crossing?
Have your parts delivered to a border mail drop and drive over and pick them up.
You will not only save a bundle on the shipping alone, but also the brokerage fees that often come along with them.
Good luck with you overhaul and be sure to checkout the engine rebuilding forum. It has some pretty knowledgeable guys hanging around.

At that mileage, you could probably still get away with a valve grind and replace the lower row of studs with steel. Done plenty that way. 125K is kind of normal mileage for the guides to be loose enough to replace and to reseat the valves, so you're not too far beyond that.

At 145k just do the whole thing. The top end is where all the work is so once you get down to the head stud replacement its not much more to split the case and replace the mains and chains anyway. Will add a bit more expense, but you would hate to just do a top and then have a main fail next year... probably requiring you to re-do the top.

Time to move this thread over to the Engine Re-building forum ;)

____________________________________

^^^ listen to John more than me ;)

Thank you for you valuable input John. Which would you go with, ARP, Race Ware, OEM? Not wanting to start some kind of argument but I would like to know what you use. I was reading a post on Rennlist this morning where Randy Hubbard says ARP are junk. I used ARP in my chevy rebuild. My brother in law used ARP in his pro street and has had no problems. Are the RW any stronger than OEM steel?

Steel, like the top row. Anything else is over-kill for a stocker.

I thought the lower exhaust studs were non magnetic. Was this from the upper row?

Never mind, the barrel nut is steel.

The first step is to drop the engine and begin the dis-assembly and diagnosis. The condition of the parts as you find them will dictate how far you have to go. If you've rebuilt chevy engines then you have the aptitude to learn what you need to work on this one. This will give you a golden opportunity to buy some new tools.

I've worked on cars and motorcycles my whole life, but the top-end job on my 911 was the first time I ever dug into a Porsche engine. (http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/729856-87-drop-top-drop-n-top-end.html) It was one of the most satisfying things I've ever done. I went in as deep as I needed to: when I took off the con rods and saw that the crank and con-rod bearings were in excellent shape and the case was leak-free, I stopped there and kept the project to a top-end, hone/re-ring, rod bushings and rod bearings.

There are many excellent threads to help guide you, and I will add my voice to the many who recommend starting by reading Wayne's engine book. The engine rebuilding forum also has a wealth of information. Look for posts by the acknowledged gurus as well. In my thread I made it a point to include links to expert posts that I used as references. I've put about 1,000 miles on the car since the project - it runs great, burns no oil, and is bone dry!

Good luck!
GK

Near Kitchener Ontario
 

To help make that decision I had an oil analysis done. Saw some copper in the report and elected to split the case; I'm sure I would have been fine without but the intermediate shaft bearing was showing through.

Welcome to the adventure! You will indeed learn a lot.

Randy at Whaletail is good for used parts, order any new parts from Pelican.
Before you dig in, read, read, then read some more, there is tons of documentation in past engine teardown threads not to mention Wayne's rebuild book. Also review the shop manual, Bentley, Tech Info, and anything else you can lay your hands on.
That is not to say that removal and teardown are difficult, it is straight forward if you follow the documented steps and know what you're getting into.
In addition to the great help and advice available on the forum, there is likely someone living nearby who has already been down the road before.

Study up then Giddy up

I too had copper showing on the intermediate shaft bushings. The #1 bearing was showing a little copper as well on the thrust surfaces. 133,000 miles.

Rod bearings were pretty good.

I did not do an oil analysis, so I can't say I would have known about the copper.

I just figured its 32 years old. Time to reset the clock.

First shipment of parts have arrived :) http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1426370394.jpg

I was about three months behind Smoove for my "Top End Plus".
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/752699-vermont-first-engine-drop-87-targa.html


I have never rebuilt an engine before and this was a total blast! I did get bit pretty hard by the "while you are in there" snake but that's OK.

Have fun, tons of smart guys all willing to help you along on this site.

Mike

I picked up my package from Porsche in Oakville Ont. Very friendly people there. They have a few classics in the shop being restored at this time. Parts guy gave me a quick tour of the shop. Beautiful white 930 going to be sold when done I'm told. I will get some pics the next time I go down. I can see a new Macan in the future to replace the wife's Audi.

heck, I had a broken head stud at 120,000 miles. It was one of the middle cylinders. my mechanic said just drive it. I did for about 40,000 miles with no real issues. Ran well until that mini van made a left hand turn in front of me at that intersection. I've missed it every day since.

And it's out! very uneventful. ATV jack worked well and did it myself in about 2 hours.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1426801708.jpg

So what I have found so far is, #4 has 2 broken lower studs and both compression rings broken. Chain ramp and chain tensioner on that side are both NFG. All other rings are good and still within spec. Cylinder 4 seemed to have lots of oil in it. Possible hydraulic lock? Oil was never overfilled. Never smoked. Any ideas as to what would have caused this?

My box of parts have arrived!! But then I went to the garage and did some more cleaning. The transmission bell housing was covered in what I thought was motor oil. I gave it a good cleaning and discovered that there was at one time a catastrophic clutch failure that had punched holes in the casting.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1429145423.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1429146698.jpg

There was a small leak coming from this hole. Picked up a gasket set from Porsche cause I figured I would be tearing into this and might as well replace the seals. Had to pry at the diff cover quite a bit because it was sealed with some sort of clear sealant. And found where someone not very skilled at tig welding had tried to fill the hole presumably while the engine was still in because they only welded it from the inside. they made a mess of the seal surface with I think a flap wheel and some sand paper?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1429145830.jpg


So off it goes to get repaired properly in the morning. But on a good note I got my valve covers back from bead blasting and powder coating. What do you think of the gold lettering? I'm not sure what I think yet. I might sand it off. Had enough of the car tonight so I'm just going to go read my new book. Thanks Wayne!!!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1429146418.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1429146467.jpg