1987 3.2 Carrera Backdate project - Sladeys hotrod

[jury]

Nice one Mark...Great news !

[911hillclimber]

Excellent.
Plan a mini road trip soon and enjoy it all!
11/10 for DIY perseverance.

[Nige]

Happy days, you have strong perseverance skils!

To summarise then. the no start was down to the ECU getting buzzed, this then was then fixed so the engine fire up but ran crap, which was then down to slack valve clearances?

[sladey]

Yep that’s right - I’d got a couple either too slack or too tight. I’d no idea it could make such a big difference. Also surprised at how tight the gaps should be

The injectors were probably OK but were definitely filthy. The injector loom was split in various places but was probably OK. Still glad I replaced it though.

[Nige]

Valve clearances are odd as surely they affected the running prior to its winter layup?

[hashman]

I'm so glad you overcame your issues Sladey.
All though it was a complete pain in the ar$e for you , its been informative for us reading.
Hope you have trouble free miles from now on.

Karl

[rhd racer]

Well done Mark, that’s great news. You’ve found other things along the way that were contributing to the poor running (or about to) so you should have a super reliable car under you now


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[sladey]

Valve clearances are odd as surely they affected the running prior to its winter layup?

thinking about it when Mike Bainbridge rebuilt it in 2013 he would have done them then so they should have been alright.

I buggered them up when I set them during this latest work. In my defence this was the first time I’d set them since replacing the distributor with a DIS setup (don’t ask me what that stands for)

[911hillclimber]

Dead easy to get this tangled-up when there isn't a distributor pointing at '#1'.
I had similar issues when doing the clearances on my hot 3.2 with no distributor, easy to get dis-orientated.

Harder still when the engine is in the car, on a stand much better, but you can still miss the mark so to speak.

All over and done with now, and you have yet more tools in the draws!

[sladey]

Driven it to work this morning. When the engine is cold it still doesn’t want to idle but from memory I had that issue previously. Once warm it idles fine.

The engine does seem to have a bit more “pep” above 4k - picks up nicely

[Nige]

Mine can be wobbly idling and will stall if you can't catch it until its got some heat in it. Its more apparent in the warmer months, as I guess it clicks off its warm up cycle sooner than it should. Mines stock Motronic too.

[911hillclimber]

Have to say, my 3.2 is at least 140K miles now, never been apart and uses the Boshe DME with a Bob Watson chip mod from 1994.

Starts, ticks over and runs super fine on E5.
New injectors 20 years aback.
Sometimes stock is good!

[sladey]

OK so yesterday was a good day - I’ve driven it to and from work every day this week and starting to form a snagging list. Yesterday I was able to get down to it.

First I topped up the oil and checked and set the tyre pressures.

Then I wanted to check I’d got enough voltage at the battery for the AC system - that would stop it from working. However, as mentioned when the engine is cold it struggles to idle, hence this cable-tie lash-up



That allowed me to measure voltage. At 900 and also at 2000 rpm getting a steady 14.5 at the battery. Even at the lumpy too-low Rickover - 400-600 rpm - it’s giving 12.8-13.2 volts. The AC needs 12.5 volts to work. My conclusion on the AC is that it’s not working because it’s not been hot enough. You can’t set the required temperature easily (i.e. with a knob) - you have to log in to the system - which is fine. So I’ll bide my time on that

Having switched to the oddyssey battery (which I bought second hand at the DDK swap meet) I was concerned that as a lightweight ‘race’ battery it wouldn’t be up to the job but so far it’s been fine and the voltages are spot on.

Coming back to the idle issues I also wondered if the problem was related to the idle control valve being gummed up so I took that off and washed it with carb cleaner until the liquids came out clear. I fitted it back in and drove around the block. It seemed to be better but I won’t know till I drive it to work this week but fingers crossed.

I’d got some trim coming apart on the A pillars so I glued them back in place.

My engine lid had started popping open on most journeys so I had a look at that. Firstly the fixing bolts were loose so I tightened them up. Secondly the latch on the ‘closed’ position wasn’t sticking out as far as it could, so I was able to adjust that and it seems a lot better now.

Then I did a bodge to tide me over until I can do a proper fix. My engine has always been dirty - always looked messy. During the last bit of work it occurred to me that because I’d had to cut a chunk of the tin work out (when I fitted the 993 heat exchangers) and also was using smaller diameter pipes that there were a number of gaps in the tinware joining the upper half of the engine to the lower half. When I thought it through I realised that the fan would be sucking air through these gaps - the air in the bottom half is dirty and oily, not least because of the various oil drips I still have. I will therefore make some pieces up to close the gaps - but in the meantime I did this



Literally a sticking plaster solution. Yes it looks crappy but it’s short term and I want to see how the engine’s appearance is without these holes. There were a few small holes which I also plugged with some rubber grommets. We’ll see how that pans out but it makes sense to me

On Friday while driving home from work I also remembered that my MOT expired at the end of May! - so I’ve got it booked in for Monday morning

Finally I wanted a way of fitting my oddyssey battery in securely - this week it’s been jammed in with some shadow foam


It was surprisingly solid!

So a bracket came with the battery but doesn’t fit in my battery compartment.

What I thought I’d do is build a ‘sled’ that does fit the battery brackets and then make the battery bracket fit my sled. Of course then I found that I’ve run out of welding gas, so I thought I’d blob some ‘holes’ gas-free welds to hold it in place and when I get the gas I’ll weld it properly. The bracket with the battery is in folded aluminium and my sled is in stainless so I’m bolting the two of them together

This is the work in progress so far and will let the battery be solid when it goes for the MOT




When I get the welding gas I’ll weld it up properly, pretty it up a bit - possibly adding some holes and then paint it black.


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[RobFrost]

It's important the tin not only seals but also the rubber seals are in place and well-positioned, because if the fan pulls in exhaust gases (or burnt oil off the exhaust) from down below they can come out of the blower in the cabin. CO accumulates in the blood and takes up to months to clear, so on a long journey this can become very problematic.

[sladey]

Ok fair point. The rubber seals are fine thanks. Oily but fine.