[jwasbury]

Dropping the engine isn't a huge deal. The hardest part is getting the car high enough in the air to have clearance to remove the engine. Once the car is that high, your next problem is do you have a jack that goes high enough to support the engine while the car is so far above the floor? It can all be done by getting creative with a couple floor jacks and some large wood blocks, but it is a bit intimidating when your 500lb engine is balanced precariously on a block of wood sitting on the 3" pad of your floor jack. Like most things, it becomes less intimidating after you've done it once.

The other thing is, when you start modifying the cars, often the engine access improves. Mine has all the emissions junk removed, the long neck intercooler and 965 style bypass valve completely eliminate the clunky factory bypass assembly. Mine also has distributorless crank fire ignition, so the dizzy isn't crammed in there between the compressor outlet and engine fan. Once I remove the intercooler (which is generally mandatory on any 930 to get any meaningful engine access from the top), I can easily get to spark plugs and other stuff.

I didn't appreciate just what a huge difference all that is until I started poking around this 1987 930 I just purchased. This one has a 100% stock engine with all the emission trimmings. I finally understand why people say they do a partial engine drop to change spark plugs. There is so much emission crap on the drivers side of the engine, it's impossible to get at the plugs from the top without removing a lot of plumbing and hardware. Unless you live in Cali, pull all the crap off the car. Keep it in a box in case you ever want to sell the car or move to Cali.