"Sleeper" hotrod - homebuild 2.7CIS to high comp 2.7 MFI

[gav p]

Right. Long time, no post! A couple of work trips, a week of hols followed by family coughs and colds... and before I knew it several weeks had passed without a project update.

Anyway, things have been ticking over on the project. Firstly, I made an interesting trip down to Dorset, and dropped off a few boxloads of parts with Alan at Canfords for refinishing. As expected the new workshop was mega-clean, and full of lovely cars in various stages of restoration. Its great to think that the oily tinware and suspension parts which i have dropped off are destined to be transformed - recoated and re-plated to original spec (or better) ready for the rebuild.

In the meantime, I have now also removed the original 2.4E engine from the car. This is being stripped now, so I'll post some pics in a mo.

[gav p]

So, I have now removed the original engine from the car, and commenced stripdown. The plan with this one is to use the anciliaries, tinware and MFI on the new 2.7, and place the remaining parts safely into storage since they form part of the matching numbers heritage of the car.

This is a very satisfying stage of the project, because, whilst performance hasn't been particularly bad, there have been lots of anoyances which I've put up with for years - oil leaks, oily smells through the heating system etc etc.. To finally get the thing out and strip it down feels very satisfying - a little bit like finally getting to itch a really annoying spot!

Anyway, the engine came out without issues - it's been out loads of times for other jobs over the years so everything came apart very easily;



Once up on the stand, it was interesting to see the extent of the oil mess underneath -



- everything was covered in oil, but an extra thick accumulation coated the rear box by the pully area as can be seen here.

One minor positive effect of having all that oil around is that the heat exchangers are in pretty good condition. The left one in particular is rust free and has years left in it; the right one is not quite as good, but both are very useable. However, since I will be going for fresh SSI's on the new engine, these are now surplus to requirements and I'll sell them in due course. Give me a shout if you're interested.

[gav p]

Whilst under the car tackling the engine removal, it was good to see that the under-arches areas are still looking good after 7 years of all-season use. The combination of bare-metal, etch primer, por15, 3M stonechip, topcoat colour and lacquer seems to have held up really well, with no signs of damage or corrosion.

Dinitrol underbody wax applied via a lance was also used in certain areas to ensure protection in the hidden corners where the spray gun cannot reach. This seems to have done the trick, although I still wonder whether it's also worth adding wheel arch liners at some point.

[squirdan]

loving the sleeper hotrod look you are aiming for Gav and the work you have done so far

sadly lacking the skills to do the work myself but my end result should be similar

I am in Clapham so when my car is finsihed would be great to come round and compare notes

[gav p]

loving the sleeper hotrod look you are aiming for Gav and the work you have done so far

sadly lacking the skills to do the work myself but my end result should be similar

I am in Clapham so when my car is finsihed would be great to come round and compare notes

Any time - I'm in Twickenham so not too far from you.

And do get in touch when yours is done. I am aiming to have the car back on the road for summer... apart from anything else, the DDK Scottish tour deposit is paid!

[gav p]

So, another huge gap between posts. But I finally have a few mins to post an update...

At present, the car looks like this:



Lots of jobs have been done, but the key piece of work - the machining of the donor 2.7 engine bottom end - is still not complete after 6 months in the machine shop I guess the best things come to those who wait, but to say this has set things back is putting it mildly.

Driving the car to Scotland for the DDK Highlands trip seems increasingly like a pipedream

So I still have a garage full of new engine components, waiting for the case and heads to be returned. Still, it has meant I have had plenty of time to carry out some other upgrades -
- new S/RS spec trombone oil cooler and pipework fitted
- 3.2 front caliper and strut conversion carried out
- 2.4E MFI pump recalibrated to 2.7 spec by Michael at 911mfi.com
- lovely fresh tinware and other items powder coated/plated by Alan
- Rear 3-point seat belt mounts fitted
- 2.4E motor stripped and cleaned for storage
- bit of headrush purchase of a pair of grubby 7R rims, now being refurb'd by Alan...


I'll post some pics and comments describing the trials and tribulations of these jobs in the next few days.

In the meantime, anyone have a recommendation for a toddler seat which works particularly well in an early 911? I am yet to try our Britax out for size.

[gav p]

Well, within a couple of hours of posting the above status, I received a call to say everything was actually ready! Funny how these things happen. So I dropped everything and drove up to Nick's workshop. In order to make up for some lost time Nick volunteered to put together most of the bottom end last night after hours One minor setback was that the crankcase turned out to be a 75.5 MY, which has main bearing tabs on the opposite side to the 70-75 bearing set which I had bought for the build. However, Nick obtained the correct bearings today and has now finished the bottom end build. Heading up to collect it tomorrow morning. What a difference 24 hrs makes, after months of waiting!!

Whilst it would have been great to do the whole build myself, in the circumstances it was great to have the expert on the case and everything bolted together speedily. Now looking fwd to getting it all home, and doing the rest of the build over the next couple of weeks.....

[Bootsy]

So Scotland looks like it will be a goer? Well done!

[sladey]

Go for it - you gotta love a deadline!

[gav p]

Absolutely.... I generally don't get much done without one! Nick's handywork - rebuilt crankcase - now sitting waiting on my workbench

[gav p]

I've now had a chance to crack on with the build - crankcase came back as a built unit, to which I fitted the head studs -



It was then a process of assembling the new JE pistons into the cleaned and refaced 2.7 barrels which came with the donor engine -


These pistons are beautifully made, and are designed to give 9.5:1 CR with the factory standard head and barrel lengths. By the time the used barrels and heads had been refaced this was elevated slightly - and along with some shimming changes the final figure for the build is now 9.8:1, which should be a worthwhile upgrade over the stock 8.5:1 setup.

The dome shape of the pistons is clear from this shot - not as extreme as some, but significant for a mixed use street engine -


I've now also fitted the heads and one of the cam carriers, so things are starting to take shape. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get on to fitting up cams, rockers and setting the cam timing

[gav p]

As mentioned above, one of the associated jobs has been to fit an external oil cooler. I originally acquired a 28 bar 930 cooler, but eventually decided that the early style S/RS serpent cooler gives the neatest installation, as no additional brackets are required. These are available new from Porsche.



I am using a used set of brass sill-mounted oil pipes and thermostat unit from a 3.2 carrera - this saved about £500 compared to buying new, but I must say that by the time I had cleaned these up, painted them and released all of the seized threaded unions, I could see the value in just buying new parts...

[gav p]

Another job has been to upgrade 3.2 Carrera front callipers. Being an E, with 3" spacing calliper mountings on the original Boge struts, the upgrade required a change of strut.

I managed to get hold of some late 3.2 struts with the appropriate 3.5" mountings. However, these have the shock cap thread on the outside of the strut, as opposed to the early type which has the thread on the inside - see picture:



On the middle is the 1973 strut, the left is the 3.2 one and the bilstein shock insert from my original strut is on the right. In order to use the early style inserts in the late style struts, a special cap is needed - this is the thing sitting on the shelf by the 3.2 strut. These caps were kindly donated by Chris Turner who had a spare pair lying around in his workshop - thanks Chris

[gav p]

The struts themselves were powder coated by Canfords, and once I'd assembled them with my bilsteins and the new caps, they looked great -

[gav p]

I also had a pair of 3.2 callipers refurbished. An interesting comparison of calliper size and pad size between 3.2 and standard M calliper is seen here -



After some research and a few posts on DDK, I chose Ferodo DS2500 pads. Based on comments received, these are pretty great on the track, and fine for road use. However, I must say I was slightly concerned when they came through the post in a box with "Racing use only" in very big letters on the side! Hoping that these will be OK, and will work adequately in general street use without lots of warming up.