As I think I said before, my car now has 167K on the odometer. I have about 4 inches worth of paperwork for my car – it’s always been very well taken care of. When I bought it at 150K, I had a leak-down done on the motor. All cylinders were between 5-8% COLD. Not bad… not bad at all. In fact, I’m not sure it gets better than that.
But I was starting to use a fair amount of oil… maybe one quart every 900-1000 miles. When at the track, I can see some blue smoke when I decelerate and when I shift at, say, 6000 RPM the guy behind me gets the (lightweight) James Bond treatment. Yep, you guessed it folks, it’s the exhaust guides. How do I know? You mean besides the smoke? Well, remember when I replaced my engine oil line I had to remove the driver’s side heat exchanger to do it. I peeked up at the exhaust valves, and they had a fair bit of black crust on them, as well as some carbon caking in the header pipes themselves.
But not only that, I have a high mileage motor that I am driving the snot out of at the track more and more often. How long before I miss a shift? Will the 18 year-old springs keep the valves off the pistons? How many times can I bump the rev limiter before one of the original 9mm rod bolts commits a violent suicide?
But most importantly, how the hell can I (almost) keep up with the 993s and the RS Americas at the track?
Must… have… more… power.
I considered my options at length. Rebuild or transplant? Transplant or rebuild? Let’s see… I can get a 964 engine in “low mileage” but still unknown condition with a transplant kit and a new exhaust set up for around $9500. Or, I can get a Varioram and all the accoutrements for around $11,000. I read and read and read. I even called the good Dr. Timmins for prices and availability. He had both a 964s and 993s available… all “low mileage.” Damn. Be careful what you ask for. I waffled. I vacillated. I flipped, and then I flipped again.
But in the end, I couldn’t do it. I just could not fork over 10-11 large for a motor in unknown condition. I know it makes all the difference who you buy from, but still… I didn’t want to end up in this situation. The link is below, but all you really need to read is the first sentence:
“Well, I wasn't planning on doing a rebuild.” Go here for the whole tale -
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=374822
Plus, I’ve secretly (as far as my wife is concerned) wanted to rebuild my motor myself. So one day I last September I just decided to jump in with both feet. Hell, I’d already had the engine out a couple of times… how hard could rebuilding it be? ;-)
So after a ton of research and a number of phone calls and emails to this forum’s go-to guys (JW, Steve Weiner, Henry Schmidt, Steve Wong and John Dougherty) I came up with a plan:
- Retain the Motronic system (I still have to pass emissions for a few more years)
- Dougherty’s DC-19 Cam grind (Motronic-friendly, slightly hotter than the 964 grind)
- Dougherty’s performance valve springs
- Twin plugs via a 964 distributor and Andial splitter
- 98mm pistons and cylinders, <=10:1 compression
- Raceware rod bolts
- Carrera HEs with a Dansk pre-muffler and an M & K 1in/1out
So I made what was to be the first of about a dozen orders to Pelican about 8 weeks ago, and I then began the removal, teardown and cleanup. It’s been a long, greasy, grimy and occasionally tedious road (I’ve spent days and days in front of my HF ultrasonic parts cleaner now). But I am almost ready to begin the build.
I have all parts except the pistons and cylinders in my possession, and what I don’t have is (finally) on the way. The case, rods and crank are at the machine shop now. My parts are organized and clean, and I have begun installing the twin plug electronics. Finally, I catch a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel…
I’ll wrap up this post with some pictures of my progress to date:
Motor coming out:
[img]http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads11/IMG_63791196045953.jpg
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On the stand. Damn... Alusils (I knew before I opened it):
Pretty clean in there. You can tell it's had a lot of Castrol from the golden hue, I'm told:
Crank & bearings looks pretty darn good:
The insides are now on the outside:
Now the fun really begins. My "cleaned and ready" parts cache:
Fast forward to the completed heads and the newly rebuilt dizzy. They tell me two holes are better than one:
Cams and refurb'd rockers:
The Andial splitter's all wired in:
In the next installment, I'll post my progress and some gratuitous interior shots...