944 Engine Rebuild Status Update - PICTURES

[cchyper]

Everyone,

The engine build up has taken a while, but its getting there. I finally have recieved the rebuilt head, cross drilled, balanced and micropolished crank, cleaned pistons, rods and other assorted goods in the mail. We did the intial build process Saturday and these are the pics that i have taken to document it all. There will be more later but here is the start.

Hurdles:

1. Head stud removal to replace with ARP racing studs
The studs on the header side are easy to remove, but the rest are slightly harder. To remove we used a couple pots full of boiling hot water to expand the aluminium enough to give us some play. Along with a pipe wrench to give added grip to the studs that stripped.

2. Cylinder wall pistons clearances.
I had the block honed CORRECTLY by a local machine shop that does the engines for Fordahl racing. The problem is that there seems to be a little too much slack between the piston and the cylinder walls. With a new ring in there the ring gap measures about .026 inch while max recommended is .019 inch (?something like that?). When it comes to other motors this measurement would be considered slightly insignificant, but since its a porsche i thought i would ask. Do you think this will cause vibration or chatter, or PROBLEMS in general? What do you guys think?


check out the blog with all the pictures here:
Porsche 944 Rebuild Blog




It all begins here - another porsche guru in the making:

[ae1969]

Nice....

Well the head stud story brought back my nightmares.........

Definitely exhaust side are always easier.....those intake side ones.....YUCK...

But to answer your questions.

If your ring gap is over spec ......this tells me someone overbored these for the next piston size.

Thats not a good thing. What was the final spec on that bore........

[cchyper]

we are going to have the block measured to find the final bore. If this was bored incorrectly... the machine shop is going to get an ear full.

[Razorback1980]

Did you ask the machine shop about the bore? I agree with Alex that maybe they had planned on going to the next size piston. I am guessing they wouldn't just hone it and not mic it which would tell them it was out of spec and at that point, you would think they would call you and let you know what was going on. If I had spent that much money and time on it, I think I would want it the best I could make it within the budget constraints we all have to work with.

[schwank]

Given that you are 'relatively' local to me, I have to ask where you got your cage work done. Was it at Fordahl? I don't know any builders down here in PDX and am looking for builder options for the forthcoming winter, when I plan to get a cage installed.

Nice rebuild work, that thing should be quite smooth once she's back on the track.

[cchyper]

The cage is acutally a bolt in autopower 6 point. I did it my self. I know a guy that had his cage done in portland, if you want i can get that info for you. i will post it asap.

[schwank]

Please do... I'll be running a Weltmeister harness bar for my summer DE's but the car will be undergoing a more thorough race prep during the rainy months... cage is first and foremost on that list.

I appreciate it, thanks. I'm pretty close to your state interior wise, now I just need to get my motor up to snuff.

[cchyper]

i just emailed him for the info - get back to ya soon..


are you planning on running this as a street car ever? Cause i removed all my sound dettening gunk and it really sounds like a rattle can in there. I ended up falling in between race and street and getting some dynamat to quiet it up. Some would call me a softy - i just like my hearing.

[cchyper]

My buddy says:
"Gilbert Engineering in Vancouver, WA. He did a great job. 360-624-1955"

[cchyper]

No one cares about motor rebuilds anymore? Is this a boring subject?

does anyone know about this?

2. Cylinder wall pistons clearances.
I had the block honed CORRECTLY by a local machine shop that does the engines for Fordahl racing. The problem is that there seems to be a little too much slack between the piston and the cylinder walls. With a new ring in there the ring gap measures about .026 inch while max recommended is .019 inch (?something like that?). When it comes to other motors this measurement would be considered slightly insignificant, but since its a porsche i thought i would ask. Do you think this will cause vibration or chatter, or PROBLEMS in general? What do you guys think?


check out the blog with all the pictures here:
Porsche 944 Rebuild Blog

[pokey]

Not boring, just waiting to see what the macine shop says.

[mscromer]

If I was you, I would make sure everything was within tolerance, I wouldnt take any chances on building the whole thing up and having to take it back apart later. I would find out why you are getting these measurments and fix it now. They make tolerances for a reason.

[Razorback1980]

I don't find it boring at all. Not sure where you got that idea but for me..it's the opposite? I agree with Pokey...I'm waiting to see what the machine shop has told you. I would also be interested in approximate costs to get the machine shop work done...possibly breaking it out if possible. I'm getting ready to pull my engine and want to know what to expect for costs. If you don't mind my asking that is. Thanks for sharing.

[WaA420]

Yawn.... This post is really boring.

I heard the guy helping you put this engine together is gay? Is that fuch in the picture real? Is that little kid yours? I've also heard that boiling water won't do anything for stuck head studs. Anyways, good luck with the build.

Russell

[cchyper]

Oh man its not cool to be bringing up personal matters like sexual orentation. This is not the place for that... but i do think that he putts from the rough on occasion. Not for sure though, hes one of those brokeback kind of dudes. You know carharts and levis but is hiding a little something from the world... catch me drift. thats not my kid we just picked him up from the local mini mart cause he was standing on the sidewalk. He seems to like shinny things so we just brought some aluminium foil and BAM he was in the car. He really likes those fuchs. About the fuchs - yeah those are real, the guy that is working on the motor with me says that he sleeps with them at night. KINDA freaky.

anyways story time is over

MORE PICS AND UPDATES SOON!

[Slam]

I'm a lesbian trapped in a man's body...

[legion]

You hade your cylinder walls honed? Please educate me. I thought that destroys the nikasil coating.

[Razorback1980]

Hey Legion....you are correct, it does destroy the coating. You can however have it put back on from what I am reading. This topic is covered in detail in the shop manuals. I talked to our Porsche dealer here in Houston and he laughed at me and said they don't even work on 944's anymore but gave me the name of a guy that does reapply the coating. There is also a company that has a different version of the product but I can't remember who it was. Their's was called Nikachrome because they said Porsche trademarked Nikasil but they said their coating does the same thing only (of course) their's is better.

[nynor]

you can have the cylinder walls redone by mercedes folks. same process. so i have heard.

[Razorback1980]

That's good to know. I am having trouble finding people in Houston to do it.