Removing Turbo Engine

[Ronbowon]

Does anyone know what the flat rate is for removing and re-installing the engine in a 1989 Porsche 944 Turbo?

Thanks,
Ron

[AaronM]

I sincerely doubt there is a "flat rate" for this.

Given that the book time on a clutch job is in the neighborhood of 24 hours though, I would guess that you're looking at anywhere between 12 and 18 hours of shop time to remove the engine (and the same to re-install it).

Based on prevailing labor rates, that probably means between $3,000 and $5,000 to pull and replace the engine in a 951.

[fejjj]

Does anyone know what the flat rate is for removing and re-installing the engine in a 1989 Porsche 944 Turbo?<br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
Ron

12-18 hours total time to remove and reinstall based on prior experience doing so.

[DannoXYZ]

Weird, are mechanics getting less-skilled over time? My book in 1998 showed 16-hours for clutch-job and most times I did it in about 10 hrs. I found that it's actually faster to remove the engine for a clutch job than to go from the back and remove the tranny & torque-tube.

So about 12-18 hours is in the ball-park. Depending upon who you take it to of course. With more experience, I'm able to remove a 951 engine in about 1.5 hrs. First time, took me about 10 hrs.

[s14kev]

Originally Posted by DannoXYZ

Weird, are mechanics getting less-skilled over time? My book in 1998 showed 16-hours for clutch-job and most times I did it in about 10 hrs. I found that it's actually faster to remove the engine for a clutch job than to go from the back and remove the tranny & torque-tube.

So about 12-18 hours is in the ball-park. Depending upon who you take it to of course. With more experience, I'm able to remove a 951 engine in about 1.5 hrs. First time, took me about 10 hrs.

Engine out the bottom or from the top?

[AaronM]

Originally Posted by DannoXYZ

Weird, are mechanics getting less-skilled over time? My book in 1998 showed 16-hours for clutch-job and most times I did it in about 10 hrs. I found that it's actually faster to remove the engine for a clutch job than to go from the back and remove the tranny & torque-tube.

16-hours book time is for the NA cars.

The turbo cars with the 2-piece crossover pipe have a book time of 20 hours and the one-piece crossover pipe makes it 24 hours.

A mechanic who knows what he or she is doing can do it faster. Looking it up, the actual charged time for the clutch replacement on my '86 951 (one-piece crossover, book time 24 hours) was 17.5 hours.

[DannoXYZ]

Originally Posted by s14kev

Engine out the bottom or from the top?

Engine out the top. I remove these items first:

1. hood
2. intercooler-pipes & intake-manifold
3. alternator
4. exhaust-manifold, crossover, turbo & downpipe. If you've got 1-piece crossover, remove the studs from the wastegate and use bolts to re-install. This will make removing things much, much faster the next time.
5. power-steering pump & AC-compressor, leave connected to hoses & tie to side out of the way
6. crank-pulley
7. head
8. disconnect clutch fork & torque-tube, motor-mounts, etc.

At this point, you've removed about 100-lbs and made the lump a lot smaller, easier to manage. Attach hoist and use leveler to angle front of engine up as you lift out. I did 6 engine-rebuilds for friends in a year once when I had the shop, got very quick with the removal. That gave me a lot more time to do a meticulous job on the rebuild and installation.

[Micha]

I hope it's OK to revive an old thread to ask questions. If not I can start a new thread.

I am removing a 1990 944 Turbo engine with a cracked cylinder for repair, or I might part the whole thing out depending on how this goes.

It looks to me this car was designed to have the whole body removed off the drive train, then do repairs. I don't have a lift so I'm working on the floor and I'm using Clark's garage instructions for rough direction. Those instructions say "remove exhaust" but since they are not specific to Turbo cars, not much detail is given.

Down pipe has four bolts at the turbo (1) and two of them can not be removed with engine in place that I can see. I was able to remove 3 bolts (2) mid way down the downpipe so that section can stay attached to the turbo and engine assembly on removal, I assume.

The up-pipe on the right (3) however has 4 bolts/nuts 2 of which can not be accessed as far as I can see. Do I leave the up-pipe attached to the turbo/engine on removal?

[944 Ecology]

Drop the entire driveline (engine, clutch, torque tube and transaxle) in one piece.

Dividing up the individual parts is much simpler when you don't have the chassis in the way.

[kdjones2000]

#3 are possible to remove with the engine in the car. Use swivels, universals and gear wrenches if needed. You will have to remove from the headers as well.

1990 Turbo? Is this a Euro spec car? They didn't make US spec 951's in 1990...

[Micha]

Originally Posted by kdjones2000

#3 are possible to remove with the engine in the car. Use swivels, universals and gear wrenches if needed. You will have to remove from the headers as well.

1990 Turbo? Is this a Euro spec car? They didn't make US spec 951's in 1990...

Sounds like I just have to work a little harder? I will do that. It looks to me like up-pipe can stay on while the engine is removed from the bottom.

It is a Euro spec car indeed, was exported to Japan as left hand drive. After that it came to the US. It's possibly the only 1990 951 in the US.
It's low mileage car but is kind of weathered. I think it's worth keeping.


To the poster above, next time I will take the body off the drive train I think. The place I have it at makes that option very hard. Low ceiling, no hoist and no room back and forth.

[kdjones2000]

Unique car

Yes the crossover pipe can stay if you are removing the engine from below.

I have removed many engines (not entire drivetrains) by jacking up the front of the car, removing the radiator and front bumper, and just slipping it out though the front.

No need for a lift, or even an engine hoist.

Entire drivetrain is pretty easy with a lift.

Tools for removing the crossover pipe while in place:

[azbanks]

One thing I did to make it even easier to remove the engine out the bottom/front is to remove the support plate under the radiator.
You have to remove the four bolts but the plate is still kept in place by metal sections at each corner.
I had to cut out one of the sections that keep the plate from being removed.
I cut the section on the drivers side - rear. That gave me enough room to remove the plate.
Once the plate is removed, you have a lot more room to pull the engine out the front.
I hope these pictures show what needs to be removed.

[kdjones2000]

Thanks for reminding me about that, AZBanks.

I did that mod on the race car so long ago that I forgot to mention it.

[nize]

If you cut off that metal section how do you reattach the plate? I remember I had to bend my plate to get it off, and then bend it back to reinstall. Not ideal but it worked.

[Micha]

azbanks, kdjones2000, nize, 944 ecology - thank you for the help. If I come up with something innovative along the way, I will post it here.

[soxnail]

I just bent them back and left them like that.
Sox

[Micha]

Still working on removing this engine, took about a month with time constraints, getting close...do I separate the engine at the clutch housing (clutch housing stays in car) or do I separate the torque tube flange from clutch housing (clutch housing comes out with the engine)?

[kdjones2000]

Take it all out in one piece.