How much does an engine case cost?

wastintime · 05-07-2002, 09:47 AM

Does anyone know how much a 912 engine case should cost? Also, between '65-'69 was any year's engine case particularly better than the others?

thanks,
Andrew

wwwcad · 05-08-2002, 07:06 PM

Hi,

I recently had to buy another case, mine was cracked by an exploding piston. I have a 68 912 and paid $450 for an entire 1969 case, it included all 3 pieces including the oil pump, oil filter canister and oil cooler. About 2 weeks ago a complete 3 piece case went on eBay for $400. So I would expect it to run you somewhere around $400 for a 3 piece unit.

Hope this helps. In some instances, you might get an entire engine for $500 or $600, which might be handy for parts. A local used parts dealer wanted $1,000 for a 1969 engine complete. A little steep when I got the case I need for $450. Also, my research didn't turn up any differences between the 912 acses from year to year.

Good luck!

Bill

Green 912 · 03:06 AM

Pre 69 oil cooler uses hard mount. The 69 soft mount was intended to help stop the case cracking problem at the oil cooler mounting base. Some other small things as well.

Good cases are getting harder to find. Lots of kinda good cases. Motor builders tend to hold on the the good ones. I have 3 kinda good ones but am allways looking for the good ones.

Prices run from $150 to $500 for usable to nice (about the same as entire rough motors on the right coast)

wwwcad · 05-09-2002, 04:33 AM

Thanks for the info on the cases. From the sound of it, the 69 case might be a little better in terms of the oil cooler mounting. Exactly what is the difference in the mounting? What do you mean by "soft" mount? Just curious.

We'll see how it holds up. I'm wondering what all of us 912 owners are going to do in 10 years as much of the used parts gradually are consumed and become unavailable. Heads and cases are critical and becoming difficult to find. Not a good sign for the future.

Thanks for the info.

Bill

Green 912 · 05-09-2002, 11:59 AM

Both can still be found in OK amounts but that hasn’t stopped me from pack ratting motors and parts. I got caught last year without a set of usable heads when needed and had to fork out a resonable $300 to get the motor back on the track. Not now...

I think that as parts get harder to find and get more expensive people tend to treat them better and it is also more cost effective to repair the old parts that are sitting in the shed. Why shave and rebore a case when you can get one for less than the cost of the machine work? When the cost flips the damaged but still repairable stuff comes out of the woodwork. When a 912 motor is “too expensive” to fix and someone crams in a type 4 there is one more 912 motor for the faithful to use. In the rust belt the cars turn into iron oxide but the motors and gearboxes remain and this is a good source for parts as well. I bought a cherry condition case set for $300 that was made in 70. Yes 1970. It was a parts case and the 3rd piece doesn’t have a motor # on it. I have the 3rd piece to sell to someone that wants the #s to match on a motor that didn’t come with the car. Found an entire motor for $160, good solexes, good flywheel and p plate, new clutch, case is damaged but repairable, excellent heads, 1 under crank (can cut to 2 under still good for street), good rods, cam, followers, 022, small 12 volt gen to sell the 356 gang, all the tin, linkages and a set of NPR 1720s not even fully broken in as someone tried to bolt a VW trans to it and trashed the mains. The motor didn’t even run long enough to seat the rings. There are still deals but are getting harder to find.

The 69 oil cooler mounting point has 2 holes where thick cylindrical seals sit and hold the oil cooler up off the case. There is a 3rd bolt point that also isolates the cooler from the case. The cooler floats on rubber rather than being hard bolted to the case. The way to tell the difference is the 69 case oil cooler oil holes have a shoulder socket and the 68 and earlier cases are flat where the oil cooler holes are.

wwwcad · 05-09-2002, 02:42 PM

Hi,

Well, I'll try to be positive about the outlook for future parts, but I think your strategy of stockpiling key parts is a good plan. I now have an complete extra 3rd. piece of the case as well as numerous little parts and plan on cleaning and storing them for future use. I also plan to buy an entire engine should one cross my sights at a reasonable price. It'll be interesting to see how it works out over time.

Got some good news today. The machine shop can save my crankshaft with a $125 grinding so the world is good right now. Also was able to unfreeze the rusted throttle bolts in my Webers so I will be able to rebuild them afterall. I guess things do work out sometimes! I was crushed a couple weeks ago when I had to search for a case, but I'm keeping the busted one just in case it ever becomes cheaper, as you said, to fix it rather than replace it! Maybe in my spare time I'll take up aluminum welding. NOT!

Thanks for the info,
Bill

Green 912 · 05-09-2002, 05:30 PM

With the right equpment rewelding a case is easy. Much easer than tryng to weld a cracked cast iron block trust me on that. How bad is your case?

wwwcad · 07:21 PM

Hi,
Unfortunately, it isn't just a crack. When the piston blew, the inward thrust of either the rod or chuncks of the piston itself, came down on one of the cam followers. The impact drove the follower down, totally destroying the bottom half of the channel the follower rides in. It was n a pile of pieces, not big enough to recover and use. So, the channel for the follower is now missing it's lower half.

I realize it could be fixed, but the cost of actually fabricating a new channel with the proper tolerances would be quite expensive from what I heard from several machinists. As someone in this forum once said about fixing 912s, "Anything is possible if you spend enough money!" So, I thought it better to just replace the case for now and keep the broken one for possible use in the future. You never know, right? It might come in handy. In fact, I already used 7 of the cylinder head bolts so it has served a useful purpose. It also gives me a spare distributor gear, oil pump and oil temp sensor. Worth holding onto for sure!

Hey, by the way, you're right about the oil cooler, it has the indents for the rubber washers. I probably wouldn't have realized that without your input. Thanks for the comments.
Bill

Guido · Guido's Garage

Well, the worst case is that we have to, and this is a hard one, load in a 911 motor. There, I said it. I didn't light on fire or anything!

wwwcad · 05-10-2002, 04:09 AM

It's OK to think outside the box! You could even do a Type 4 if you had a restricted budget. I think if it came down to no longer being able to fix the 912 engine, I'd be tempted to move to a 911. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it!

Bill

timmy · 05-24-2002, 09:05 PM

check out the pelican pictures from the swap meet I looked at one for a hundred bucks it has no case # so brazil would be a guess, but it is a thought ,,, thanks to pelican for the swap meet I found my fuchs on 15 wheels nice addition for my targa, i wish there were more vendors "money burning a hole in my pocket that day" had a list of stuff/items , did well though, pelican should have a vendor name or???? for space three [3] on the first page of pictures a black ford truck the case has a bright red filter on it can't miss it so check if it is what you think you need again thanks pelican need more vendors next time,,,, come on guys part with your stuff ,,,,,I need a softwindow for my 68 targa