December 3, 2018

Filling in on the last two years

996 M96 Rebuild
So the rebuild dragged on for almost 2 years… The first 4 months were pretty active until I ran into a major issue at first startup, and then the car just sat there for about a year. Below is a timeline breakdown:

I had the engine cleaned and head surface at the shop. The valve guides were on the limit of spec and the cylinders were a bit out of round, but I didn’t have the $$ to do a valve job or to sleeve the block. I just threw new rings on the pistons and hoped for the best.

Engine coming together in my kitchen

Drilling a hole to locate the gears with a set screw. These are known to slip and grenade the engine.

Putting the engine back in.

When I started the engine for the first time, it ran like crap. I also had the MAF off, which probably contributed to this. I tried tinkering with it and restarting, until I heard a loud knocking noise and the engine started gushing oil. When using the cam holder tool, I accidentally pushed on the edge of the cam freeze plug, which dislodged it. The oil pressure buid up in the cam was enough to propel the freeze plug out of the engine.
Looks like I’m not the only person with this issue… The car then sat for about a year, until I decided to try the threaded plug fix. This didn’t go so well since the cam cracked instantly when we tried to tap it… After two more months of extreme procrastination, I made a trip to a local scrap yard and picked up a used cam. I did the swap with the engine still in the car, which I think was the right move. The hardest part is putting the valve cover back on without smudging the sealant. In the process I also ended up cleaning the lifters, which still had some metal shavings in them from the IMS failure.