Engine Rebuild - Part 3 (Mar 10)

About 2 weeks after tear down had finished the rebuild with cleaned, re-conditioned and new parts began.

The pistons and cylinders, even with 170,000 miles on them were still well within tolerance so had been cleaned and polished. The pistons also received new rings of course:

The conrods received new little end bearings because the originals were well worn:

Each cylinder head and valve was de-coked, the valves re-seated and new valve guides fitted:

The crank was polished at the machine shop:

The valve was reworked, oil ways checked and new studs (with inserts where necessary) fitted:

Lots of new parts that include crank shell bearings, a full set of seals/gaskets, oil through pipes and the all important (and very expensive) uprated dialever studs that bolt the main casing, cylinders and heads together:

A cleaned case ready for reasembly:

The rest of the car waits in the corner of the workshop under cover:

Engine Rebuild - Part 2 (Feb 09)

Pictures of the disassembled engine:

Then it was a case of de-coking, cleaning, polishing and re-assembling. The good tins (unlike the one above) and new tins went off for blast cleaning and powder coating.

Engine Rebuild - Part 1 (Feb 10)

Although I like to work on the car myself, I'm no where near enough competent (or have the facilities) to do this myself. Hence, on Monday it went into Unit 11, Warrington for Danny and Jonny to tear down. The car had multiple small leaks in all the usual places that an aging 964 engine has (timing chain covers, power steering pump, crank case nose seal, cylinder base gaskets, etc) and some leaks from breather pipes around the inlet. Therefore, I elected to go for their menu rebuild as a starting point. This includes addressing all these leaks, fitting new oil through pipes, new valve guides, de-coking the valves and cylinder heads, new piston rings, new timing chains and tensioners.

Of course, lots of other stuff crops up once the engine is out, particularly engine tins that need to be replaced or blasted and powder coated and breather hoses that have hardened and need to be replaced. Ideally, I want to have a LWF and clutch fitted but that will depend on how heavy the main bill gets! Luckily, my current normal DMF and clutch has been found to be in excellent condition and can go back in if the funds run out.

Here's the empty space in my engine bay where the lump used to reside:

The clutch slave cylinder and hose (left of next picture) has already been identified as needing replacement as has the clutch fork:

Here's the inlet and engine cowling that has been set to one side. The cowling is oily from leaking breather hoses. It's also split and some point so is going to need replacing:

Here are the first pics of the engine as it's being (quite quickly) disassembled. Obviously it's very dirty and oily at this stage:

This pic shows the rusty crank case breather hose on the right that will soon be coming off and replaced:

A 'New' set of Road Wheels (Nov 09)

I finally said goodbye to the Cup 1 replicas which were sold on to a friend looking for some and found a good set of 17 inch Sport Classic Boxster wheels. My Continental Sport Contact 2 tyres were duly fitted and mounted to use as by 'best' road wheels. Although not period correct for the car I think they are good look and are both well made and lighter than the old replicas.

A 'New' set of Track Wheels (Sep 09)

I've been thinking about wheels again lately and keeping a keen eye on the usual places they come up for sale. Ideally I want to change the Cup 1 replicas that I use on the road for something smarter. The Cup 1s were badly kerbed when I got the car and are heavy compared to original wheels. Similarly, I wanted to swap the boxster wheels I use for the track for something a bit more in keeping with the car but not overly expensive.

First to come up were the 'track wheels' which I found on ebay just over a week ago. I've now got a set of 17 inch 996 carrera 4 wheels for it for the princely sum of £258!

These are 7 inch wide at the front and 9 inch wide at the rear, with offsets that don't need any spacers. Although not the best looking Porsche wheels in the world, they have a good reputation for being light and strong. Ideal for the track.

With the wheels on at their first outing at Oulton Park:

...and on the move at Curborough: