Engine Overhaul vs. My Skills
 

I've recently purchased a 1988 944 engine with 89k miles to go into my spec racer. My current engine has a damaged cylinder and piston. Is my list below a good start? Should I pull the head, inspect the valves, and replace the head gasket too?

-rod bearings/gasket
-water pump
-belts/rollers
-oil pressure relief valve
-filter housing seal
-new clutch


I've never done a lot of this work before, but none of it seems to difficult with Clarks Garage manual and Pelican forums on my side. Would I be better off not risking my engine to my inexperience and pay somebody to go through it?

Thanks a lot.

Are you working on the same engine with the damaged piston/cylinder? If so, then yes, you need to pull the head for sure. You CAN just rebuild the bottom end in a pinch, but if your overhauling I'd say you should do the headgasket anyway.

Long before the internet, I started pulling and rebuilding engines with no prior knowledge and figured it out as I went along. Today it's much less intimidating with forums like this, online manuals, etc. It might take you longer, but I'd say if you've got basic skills you could handle it.

That said, my son just bought a 300zx with an engine freshly rebuilt by someone who had no idea what they were doing and must have been in a hurry to not find out how to do it right. Shiney new paint and gaskets averywhere you look. But also oil leaks, vaccuum leaks, intake leaks, exhaust leaks, missing or loose bolts everywhere. They even put silicone on the exhaust manifold gaskets. It took me a while to figure out where the wierd smelling white smoke was coming from.
We gave up on fixing their mistakes and are pulling it out to swap for his old one.

I've got a new (used engine) with good compression that I'll be using.

Rebuilding these engines is fairly straight forward. I think I've logged over a dozen now. Replacing the front seals is key, along with the pan gasket. It's pricey, but I have run into leak issues with re-using them. Be careful when re-inserting the the oil pump drive collar, and be sure to get the spacing ring is the right spot (and make sure you have the proper bolt washer depending on your steering, manual or power!!)

If you need any tips, feel free to drop me a line, I have 2 944 engines on stands that I am rebuilding right now. One is a spare, the other is a dyno engine that I will be using to test port-matching and polishing of heads. I sent you a PM with some more info.

-Nick