[Tom '74 911]

In terms of splitting the case or not, I have only torn down 3 engines, so I am not an expert by any means. But... I have a hard time imagining taking an engine down to the short block & feeling like I had been able to keep all the dust, dirt & grime out of the case. The 3 engines I've taken apart were average dirty and it would have been darn near impossible to guarantee that none of it entered the case during disassembly...