I've been a little lazy re the 924S project for various familiar reasons.
I haven't yet ascertained why the original engine from the car is locked-up (I will at some point) but am proceeding with Plan A of transferring its external equipment to the engine I bought last September from HondaDustR aka Greg. I believe it is an 86 944 motor (Greg described this in his thread and F/S ad ... I need to look it up again); it doesn't have the spring loaded tensioner...
...whereas my car's OG engine does (and I don't think this motor had ever been removed prior to me) ...
I remember that Greg said I'd need to get a matching timing belt cover because the two halves of the set he was using didn't match and therefore a couple of the screws didn't line up right. I will need to study the parts numbers.
Today was hot and humid, so I took the opportunity to scrub down the replacement long-block ... we all like things to be clean. Not that it was filthy, far from it, but it's been a few years since Greg overhauled it so I used my now standard approach of mineral spirits, brush and Bounties on the few areas of oily dirt, then misted Purple Power and deployed my rather pathetic yet better-than-nothing HF air/siphon gun pulling from a bucket a mix of hot water and dish soap. The amount of liquid this thing can pull is minor but the overall lack of oomph is more a function of it running on 150psi of compressed air as opposed to ten times that, as you'd get from a real pressure washer. But this also makes it much safer to avoid water getting into the ports of the head and orifices in the block, which I'd plugged.
The next step was my dental-hygienist-inspired process, described when I cleaned the transaxle, using Fast Orange hand cleaner with these Nyalox abrasive brushes on an electric drill. This combination is pleasingly effective, the Fast Orange capitalizing on the brushes' own capabilities; a good method as long as you're not using it anywhere where the hand cleaner's abrasive could do harm; I was careful.
This was in turn all rinsed thoroughly, blasted with compressed air and toweled-off. It looks better in the flesh than these photos.
The goal is cleanliness; I won't get crazy detailing this engine to kingdom come ... very little in the way of painting anticipated.
Next I will install the new water pump and belt kit; the latter I bought a few months back and is from Continental with new rollers ... what everyone uses, I assume. There were no leaks present so I'm leaving the sleeves along, unless anyone convinces me otherwise.
The water pump will be URO's new production version of the "late model" pump, now with an aluminum impeller, as opposed to iron, IIRC. Learning about how URO developed this part is what got me into a conversation with them about their product line in general. As I've stated elsewhere, I'm open-minded about using aftermarket parts on this car and I don't place stock in the "anything made in China is bad" ethos; from my work at an Asian OEM, I know better. I'll also be using their radiator hoses and will report here as to how everything fits and works. To their credit, the guys at URO (in California) solicit this kind of feedback.
Kind wishes to all, John