1973 Porsche 911E RHD – Silver

[Bootsy]

I bet he says that to all the boys.

But back to the thread - another great update, really enjoying this

[911GP]

To be honest, I would have kept my old ones if they hadn't been messed with. The Carrillo ones were quite expensive are probably overkill. However, I agree they do look nice in those photos! It is a shame they will never be seen.

Continuing, Gary checked the piston ring gaps and piston weights and graded the barrels and cylinder heads:




On the throttle bodies, Gary cleaned up the butterflies, rodded out all the holes and built up the butterflies. He re-faced the stacks, gave them a final clean and fitted them to the throttle bodies:












We decided to get the distributor reconditioned and judging by the photos, it looked like this was wise. This was sent off to be reconditioned. It wasn't very expensive at a couple of hundred pounds.














Gitesh

[911GP]

The pistons, cylinders and cylinder heads were fitted to engine case:





There was quite a bit of work carried out on the cam carriers but I don't have any photos to share of this. Based on the details from the invoices, the oil spray bars were removed from the cam carriers, the oil ways were rodded out and spray bars refitted with new core plugs. The cam carrier faces were cleaned and flattened. Camshafts and cam boxes were fitted to the case and parallel running of the timing chains were set. Idler arms were built up and fitted. One of the chain tensioners was rebuilt but we had to replace the other one:











This is the new engine cowl Gary had made. He scuffed it up a bit to make it look less shiny, drilled and cut it to fit the engine:





You can also make out the lower rocker covers I bought from Carpoint, which needed a bit of adjusting to get them to fit properly since the holes didn't quite line up.

Gary did a good job on addressing a damaged pipe on the oil cooler. Before:







After:





Have a few more bits to follow but almost there now.

Gitesh

[911GP]

Wiring loom, inlet manifolds and tinwork were all fitted. The MFI pump was then fitted and timed up. I decided to fit a new set of injectors. Injection lines were cleaned and fitted, the heat exchangers were then fitted followed by the chain box covers.

Fan and Fan Housing

We decided to paint the fan housing in Cerakote and it came out pretty well but there was a slight difference in finish versus the fan itself so I asked for this to be painted too. We figured it would be a better match and provide some extra protection to the magnesium.





The hub was then riveted to the fan. My alternator was old and was working ok but I decided to change this while we had access. I didn't need a high output alternator and we looked at Bosch Group alternators but I decided to fit a 70 amp WOSP unit instead. Once fitted to the car the fan looked good, although the flash reflection in the following picture doesn't help. It actually looks better than this.



New HT leads were fitted and then the flywheel. Ready for dyno testing next.

Gitesh

[yoda]

Looks superb to me!

[911GP]

Thanks Feroz.

I was keen to diagnose and fix the issue I had with the car stopping so I asked Gary to arrange dyno testing. He arranged this at Neil Bainbridge armed with an extra CDI box and an additional coil I had bought advertised on the DDK parts area. Other than the leaking MFI unit, which they resolved on the day, there were no issues with the engine. Gary had increased the compression ratio a touch on the rebuild but not much. The dyno test results pic below is a bit blurry but the results were max 200bhp at 6300rpm and 179 ft-lb torque (243 Nm) at 5200rpm. I'm pretty pleased with this.



And here is a pic and video of the engine on the dyno. You can see the fan is darker than the last picture on my last post.



https://youtu.be/vJBca0xFQOk

Gitesh

[yoda]

Wowser, that’s nearly RS power let alone E or S! That’s a great result, you must be so pleased and the car will fly.

[911GP]

True, especially since we didn't drift too far off standard spec with factory spec pistons and cylinders. Great result.

Gary had said that the engines run hotter when in the car versus the dyno due to being enclosed so the plan was to next test the engine in the car since it could still be an issue with the CDI box or the coil. The car ran fine when first started but would lose power once warmed up. We also checked the fuel tank for rust thinking maybe a bit of rust was being sucked up and blocking a pipe. Gary drained the tank and noticed a brown stain on the inside of the tank, which led us to think there could be some rust there. It seemed odd since we had installed a new tank when the bodywork was carried out a few years ago. I did some research and found POR15 tank sealer system, which had good reviews with the advantage of being resistant to all fuels and alcohols. I discussed it with Gary and ordered some of the kit.



The system comprises of a tank cleaner, etch primer and the tank sealer itself. Like everything the key is good preparation with thorough cleaning before application. It was upon cleaning that Gary noticed that the brown stain was some sort of stain/varnish and not rust. We are not sure what this was. It could have been there from the factory or it could be from a Porsche fuel additive I had bought for winter storage. Anyway I had ordered the tank sealer system so asked him to continue and all went well. If you are considering using this, there are some good videos on YouTube on preparation. I ordered a professional kit from Frost (comes with extra tank cleaner).

Gary carried out the first engine service, including adjusting valve clearances and checking cylinder head torque. He fitted the clutch and gearbox and installed this in the car with fuel and oil (through DDK recommendations we used Valvoline VR1 but I had been using Castrol Magnatec previously and judging by the condition of the engine it had been good). The engine was started and brought up to temperature and the oil level was checked. It was then Gary noticed a slight weep at the fuel filter console. His thought is that air was getting in here, causing an airlock which was leading to the engine losing power and eventually stopping.

Gary tested the engine for 68 miles and I have done another 50 miles without any issues so hopefully we are all set now.

I'll post some final pictures of the engine soon.

Gitesh

[Darren65]

Great thread update Gitesh, beautiful work and a great result!

He's pretty good that Gary chap isn't he!

[911GP]

He is indeed, Darren!

I finally got around to taking some pictures of the engine back in the car:

















I thought would be useful to share the rebuild cost with you since it may help others. It is something I found difficult to judge and it is too easy to start a project like this and find that the cost is significantly higher than expected.

With labour rates having increased in recent years, I don't think cost in pounds is helpful. Total labour was 207 hours including, strip down, rebuild and dyno testing. Parts and sub-contracting work was extra as was the MFI rebuild (about £20k total). There were areas where we could have spent less on parts. Offsetting this, overall i think my engine was in good condition and the cost on parts could have been higher.

Lastly, I would like to thank Gary for all his hard work and attention to detail.

I'm looking forward to putting some miles on the car now the weather is getting better.

Gitesh

[yoda]

Car looks amazing and thank you for the write up. Hope you get many fun miles in the car.

[hot66]

A fresh mfi motor does look good

[jtparr]

Looks good….now you can enjoy the driving…!

[Darren65]

A truly wonderful car and build. Well done