During one of my early test drives with the interior of the car gutted, I realized that the interior of the car was getting pretty hot. My suspicions were confirmed when I took infrared thermometer readings on some surfaces inside the car. The worst offender was the passenger side footwell, which was reading over 140 … Continue reading
I think my next article will be a summary of weight reducing actions that occurred to the Porsche Track Car but first I think discussion of the wiring is warranted. Many of the items jettisoned to reduce the weight of car were fed by the electrical system of the car. There is a truly massive … Continue reading
I have never been very excited about the brown color of the car. I suppose it had looked pretty good in its original metal flake glory but faded out, it was not very attractive. I decided it was time to do something about that. Here is what I started with.I am fortunate to have painted … Continue reading
Since the Porsche track car project was lagging into the winter months, what with the engine rebuilding effort, I decided to tidy up the interior of the car and put it on a weight loss program. Since the engine was out, an obvious first step was to clean up the engine compartment. I few items … Continue reading
I finally got my head back with new valve guides, valves ground, and the head shaved flat. Did I mention that I gouged the cylinder head to block surface prying the head off? The shop had to take 0.050″ off of the block to get it to “clean up”. After consulting with one of the … Continue reading
I got started on re-assembly of the engine. First I decided to make a fixture for the standard mounting bracket on my engine stand that would allow me install the flywheel. Having the Porsche shop manual at your side as you assemble the engine is mandatory. It gives you all the correct torque values and … Continue reading
It was time to turn my attention to the damage to the block due to the blowout of the balance shaft bearing. I had the machine shop tap the oil supply holes to the bearings, which were then stopped with internal hex screws. In the same photo above you can see the passages that allow … Continue reading
Once I had the engine out of the car and dis-assembled into its basic components, it was time to do an evaluation and see which way to go next. As far as I could tell, the cylinder head and cam tower were in good shape. The cylinder bores looked fine visually. I used a bore … Continue reading
Tearing down an engine that you are unfamiliar with is always an intense learning experience. And it can have it’s challenges. Like stuff that is stuck and stuff that requires a tool you don’t have. The last engine that I totally rebuilt was the engine in my VW camper van shortly after college. I guess … Continue reading
Sorry about the “cliffhanger” ending on my last post. I will cut right to the chase. Although many of us would quite correctly guess that the problem was related to rod bearings, that was not the case. No, my car chooses to march to the beat of a different drummer. The problem was pretty obvious … Continue reading
