How do you document/organize your engine teardown/rebuild?

[Trakrat]

So... I'm trying to think about how to document the teardown of my engine.

I've put some bolts and nuts in sandwich bags and used a permanent marker to write on the back where the bolts and nuts go.... but I'm not thinking that it will be enough.

How should I go about documenting everything?
What worked best for you and what would you change?

Do I need to be concerned about whether my engine is TDC when pulling it apart? Or does it not matter?

Do I need to document the condition of everything? Document part #s and/or serial #s?
What do I need to take pictures of, and how should be identifying what the picture is, bolts used, etc...??
What do you do to keep the bolts, nuts and other hardware with their attached parts?

I don't have unlimited counter space, shelf space, or dozens of boxes.
I'd love to see some pics of how you keep everything organized.

I've already ran into a problem with trying to figure out where I got a couple of bolts a nuts sitting on the garage floor... which is easy to do when you are working to remove something, because you are trying to get to something else... and all of sudden, the 2 bolts you wanted to remove required you to remove 2 other bolts from something completely different.

[jlex]

I haven't torn into a Porsche engine, but when I worked on my BMW, what I did was to have a legal pad and wrote down each step I did on a separate numbered line. If, on that line, I was removing something, I'd take the item and put it in a plastic baggie. On the baggie, I'd put a number in a circle, then on the line on the legal pad, I'd put the same number with a circle.
In that way, you've then made a list of what you've taken off, as well as a step by step procedure that you'll follow in reverse when putting it back together.
Worked well for me!

[bpu699]

Digital camera, take a pic of every single part you remove. Walgreens runs specials, 100 pics printed for $9 every couple weeks. Print.

Black permanent marker. Grease pen,

Zip ties in all colors. Coordinated zip ties to any line you remove and its matching location on the car

Thermolabel printer is nice...but not necessary. Colored zipties work great

Ziplock bags for screws/nuts. Ziplock the bag to the part it belongs to

Home depot plastic stackable boxes, $4 each, but 10-15

Home depot 5 level plastic shelf, $50, buy two unless you want everything all over the floor

Garage heater, 220v, AMAZON... you will need it depending on where you live

Dedicated garage space, where that motor will likely be for the next year in pieces...

Huge 1 inch foam insulation sheet, 4x8, home depot. Nice to put part on, like crankshafts. Because if you drop a crank shaft, and it hits concrete, you will likely want to cry...

When disassembling, jot permanent marker on everything (match pistons to cylinders), rockers to shafts, etc, etc, etc

Did I miss anything?

Bo

Then take your budget, get a calculator, and multiply it by some number between 2 and 5...

[Tom '74 911]

Originally Posted by Trakrat

How should I go about documenting everything?

For the non-expert (like me) I just try to go slowly and document EVERYTHING with photos. I take photos of every piece before removal & then every piece and it's associated hardware gets put in a labeled baggie.

What worked best for you and what would you change?

It's not possible to take too many photos...

Do I need to be concerned about whether my engine is TDC when pulling it apart? Or does it not matter?

Doesn't matter. Be sure to spin the engine a few times with the valve covers & timing chain covers off so you can see how it all works. Also, you could go through a round of practice cam timing during disassembly...

Do I need to document the condition of everything? Document part #s and/or serial #s?

Yes on the condition of everything because you'll want to replace anything that's worn out... Parts and serial numbers aren't really necessary for everything, but like with photos, it's hard to have too much info.

What do I need to take pictures of, and how should be identifying what the picture is, bolts used, etc...??

See above

What do you do to keep the bolts, nuts and other hardware with their attached parts?

I use baggies of various sizes

I don't have unlimited counter space, shelf space, or dozens of boxes.
I'd love to see some pics of how you keep everything organized.

You will need SOME space! I put all the baggies, grouped by category as much as possible, in cardboard boxes which are easy to stack

I've already ran into a problem with trying to figure out where I got a couple of bolts a nuts sitting on the garage floor... which is easy to do when you are working to remove something, because you are trying to get to something else... and all of sudden, the 2 bolts you wanted to remove required you to remove 2 other bolts from something completely different.

It takes a lot of systematic patience!

I'm now going through all the baggies and cleaning EVERYTHING to get ready for assembly. Once cleaned, items go into a new labeled clean baggie until needed for assembly. Maybe not the least wasteful method, but an easy way to make sure everything stays clean...

Tom

[Pazuzu]

#1. What book are you using to tear down the rebuild the engine? Wayne's is as complete as it needs to be, and walks you though the tear down nicely. I assume you've already received it, and read it at least once cover to cover first.

#2. In general, there are only about 10 different types of hardware in your engine (nuts, washers, etc). probably 96% of the loose stuff fits in those 10 types. So, keeping track of the 8mm nuts for the chain covers vs. the 8mm nuts for the outer case is not that important. Now, it's easiest to know what is what once you are DONE, but it's something to keep in mind right now.

#3. I can't think of a specific example in our engines, but when I tore down a Mazda engine, the timing chain cover had 22 nuts/bolts around the edge, or 5 or 6 different styles (longer, shorter, bigger smaller, nut, bolt, etc). I took a scrap of cardboard, sketched the cover on it, and stuck each bolt through it, or taped each nut to it in position, as well as writing the order they were removed next to each. It was trivial then to go back and installed them, according to the number and location.

4. Buy a metal stamp kit. Either a hardened point scribe, or a set of letters/number. Everything in there is aluminum, and you can easily mark all sorts of parts with one quick hit from a hammer. Keep all of the piston/cylinder/rocker/rod marked together, for example. You will NEVER keep them straight if you just put all 6 pistons in a box and say "I'll just keep them in order here in this box until needed". It's ain't gonna happen, Murphy's Law says something will occur.

5. Sort, package, and store everything with the assumption that (a) this will take 6 months and you will forget everything, and (b) that you will move before then, and have to put everything into one big box and move it. Label it such that you cannot forget what it is, no matter what. Drivers side/passenger side, what part it is, how many of each type of hardware it needs.

When you've completely taken it apart, put all of the tools you just used into a box as well. you will need all of them and more anyways, make sure that none of them get lost.

[Trakrat]

Originally Posted by bpu699

Garage heater, 220v, AMAZON... you will need it depending on where you live

I've already been looking into this... any recommendation?

[cabmandone]

I bagged and tagged everything and took a lot of pictures before I took a part off. For the rockers I'm used a cupcake tin and wrote the location for each rocker on it so each went back where it came from.

For heat, you might consider a "big buddy" propane heater depending on the size of your garage and how well it's insulated.

[Tremelune]

Good stuff in here...

[jferrante]

Very good information - I always wondered but never asked - hell I lose lug bolts taking a wheel off

[cabmandone]

Trakrat,
Don't just write it on the bag with marker. I would write it on a piece of paper and then seal it with clear packaging tape to keep oil from getting on the tag. The other thing I did was used electrical tape to tape bags with bolts/nuts to the part it went with.

[gtc]

Instead of ziplock bags, I organized the hardware i removed from the engine in a few of these:
https://www.harborfreight.com/24-compartment-large-storage-container-61881.html
I wrote the description of the part directly on the case above the individual compartments.

I found it much easier to sort through than a pile of ziploc bags, especially when it came time to reassemble the motor.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by cabmando

For heat, you might consider a "big buddy" propane heater depending on the size of your garage and how well it's insulated.

Big Buddy looks sweet.

Focus on BTU's.

15k dual head pie plate heater and spring for a 30 pound tank. $85 for double pie plate - half for single head. $63 for empty 30 lb tank. A buck per pound to fill these days. Single head with 30 lbs on full blast will last five working days. With moderate insulation you will be warm in the heat zone but it will be brisk outside the fire until the later part of the work day.

Gas stations with cooking grill 20 lb tank replacements are filled only to 15 lbs. Hose job.

Find a place.

[juanbenae]

ahhh, grasshopper, got you thinkin.

I'm pretty sure by all the posts from trakrat this project is consuming him. I know, ive been there more times than I can count. getting much sleep my man? keep a note book next to the bed because you will have the best ideas at 1:15 AM on a school night.

I admire your gumption for jumping in with both feet full speed ahead!! I always pussy footed around researching the shat out of a project instead of just diving in and posting S.O.S. threads mid act... by some of your posts it seems like you are researching little and over thinking a lot. there are millions of words here in the archives if you were to search some on your next assignment looking for names like "earlysman", "grady clay", "johnwalkersworkshop" or countless others that have shared their knowledge with us over the years here. it very well may seem like you've done the project before you start and being up at 1:15 AM consumed over your project obsession grady, earlys & john's information will help you sleep soundly by 1:30.


toby

PS- start a build thread already so we can answer multiple S.O.S. calls in a single thread

[bpu699]

Originally Posted by Trakrat

I've already been looking into this... any recommendation?

This thing works great in my 1.5 car guest house. Will keep temp in the 60s when it's 20 degrees out side. Takes about 6-8 hours to heat up...

https://www.amazon.com/Infrared-Heater-DR-988-Garage-5600W/dp/B003XOZN7A/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1507680202&sr=8-4&keywords=Garage+heater+electric

My hybrid solution is to use a propane torpedo heater , 50,000 btu, to run it for 5 minutes which gets the temp up to 90 degrees and heats the slab/etc. then use the electric heater to maintain it.

You could just run the electric heater all day, but I only work on it on weekends. The electric heater takes about 50 cents an hour to run. $12 a day. 360$ a month.

No point in heating a garage during the week...

I was going to put in a furnace, but insurance agent said if there is anything flammable in the garage that may cause issues if anything happens. Oddly, electric heater and torpedo aren't an issue...

[Trakrat]

Originally Posted by juanbenae

ahhh, grasshopper, got you thinkin.

I'm pretty sure by all the posts from trakrat this project is consuming him. I know, ive been there more times than I can count. getting much sleep my man? keep a note book next to the bed because you will have the best ideas at 1:15 AM on a school night.

I admire your gumption for jumping in with both feet full speed ahead!! I always pussy footed around researching the shat out of a project instead of just diving in and posting S.O.S. threads mid act... by some of your posts it seems like you are researching little and over thinking a lot. there are millions of words here in the archives if you were to search some on your next assignment looking for names like "earlysman", "grady clay", "johnwalkersworkshop" or countless others that have shared their knowledge with us over the years here. it very well may seem like you've done the project before you start and being up at 1:15 AM consumed over your project obsession grady, earlys & john's information will help you sleep soundly by 1:30.


toby

PS- start a build thread already so we can answer multiple S.O.S. calls in a single thread

I've never been one to do a single thread... but I suppose I should. It would just help to add to the documentation of what I'm doing.
And I will always over think... though it took me 30+ years to finally learn to NOT think myself into a corner. HA!!

As for searching... I'll check those out. I'm sure I've probably already read through them before.

[RDM]

When the time comes to reassemble, you will not remember how they came apart, no matter how much your brain tells you to trust it. Be self-disciplined (or terrified) enough to go slowly, bag, label, and photograph. It's frustrating to slow down that much, but the value is beyond measuring when you reassemble with complete peace of mind and no guesswork.

I bought three sizes of Ziplocs (the generics work as well for this application) and wrote on the outside of the bag, which was not permanent enough. Paper inside or clear tape over the top would help the labels to last as long as they need to.

Rather than print your pictures, spend the last part of each evening posting them here in your epic build thread, rehashing what you did that day. That also helps when reassembly comes!

[florio]

I just did mine: piece of cake with Wayne's book and pictures therein!

Yes, freezer bags galore and large boxes to sub-divide parts and fasteners to keep them together.

I kept all the parts I replaced until the end and that sometimes helped locating where a new replacement part goes (it was clear when you ordered it, less so when the big box arrived with everything thrown in, and not at all when you are in the garage).

Good luck,

[bpu699]

Originally Posted by florio

I just did mine: piece of cake with Wayne's book and pictures therein!

Yes, freezer bags galore and large boxes to sub-divide parts and fasteners to keep them together.

I kept all the parts I replaced until the end and that sometimes helped locating where a new replacement part goes (it was clear when you ordered it, less so when the big box arrived with everything thrown in, and not at all when you are in the garage).

Good luck,

The process is actually kind of fun, as long as you don't set any tight deadlines...

The internet is an amazing thing. If it weren't for the internet and sites like this, and youtube, not sure anyone would have the courage to do this on their own...

[Tippy]

I took a hundred pics, and never once referred back to them.

Waynes book and the Bentley manual is all you need.

Bag and tag is all that's needed IMO

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by Tippy

I took a hundred pics, and never once referred back to them.

+1

Aside from power cell parts going back to the same place, you can almost dump all the fasteners in a turkey baking pan and figure it out as you go.