good morning mid-engine maniacs.
In a fit of (in)sanity, I've agreed to rebuild the Queenie's '76 2.0 liter.
I pulled the engine/trans yesterday and have gained newfound respect for you mid-engine guys. I've been playing with 356, 911 and 912's Porsches for many years and hanging the ticker out the rear does make for convenient engine removal (in fairness, her car DOES handle a bunch better than my early 912).

Anyhow....
The impetus for the overhaul was the smokey operation (especially when cold), the many oil leaks and a VERY difficult smog check, not to mention the "less than smooth" operation at lower revs.
Indications were that valve guides and rings are culprit. Agree/disagree?

Now with the engine out and the periphery stripped, I'm not so sure.
Here's what I've encountered:

number one injector has been replaced with a similar but not quite right injector. The injector hold-down was not even making contact with the injector (and it's grommet) and thus allowing it to wiggle out of place.

all vacuum hoses (and there are many) in a sad state.

many dodgy electrical connections including the individual injector ground wires, oil temp sender wire, and others.

cracked plastic intake runner to head insulator (does this connection use no paper gasket?).

And of greatest concern, loads of sludgy oil residue INSIDE most of the intake system (including the bottom of the air cleaner box, the throttle butterfly and the "box" just below it upstream from the intake runners).

On the plus side, the heads look quite fresh. Fairly clean externally and when looking down the ports. I don't believe there is an accurate way to check for valve guide wear without dismantling, is there?
This agrees with reciepts she recieved when she bought the car a year or two ago. The previous owner had a reciept for engine rebuild including rebuilt heads and p/c's.
In addition the car got a "thumbs up" compression check about a year ago (sorry, she doesn't have the specific #'s)

Now my question to the forum (and thanks a bunch for reading this far!):
Is it possible that the top end is basically sound and that the cause of Queenies distress is sometyhing other than valve guides?

Muchas gracias por tu consejo.

I think the best way to check this would be to do a leak-down (cylinder leakage) test. Click here for more info on how to do this.

Now that you have it down this far.. send the heads out to have them checked out and measure the piston bores. I'm betting the engine is fine and everything you listed off is causing most the problems. Having the heads checked out.. will just bring peace of mind if they find nothing wrong with them.


B

Thanks, Brad.

One of the guys that I work with used to be a VW mechanic back in the day, and he mentioned to me that if the pushrod sleeves (?) were not installed correctly (crease up?), that could be causing the oil to get into the air filter, etc. Any thoughts on that?

The intake plenum always has some oil in the bottom of it. The breathers hoses from the crank case all end up in the air cleaner. Typically if you DONT hook them up to the air cleaner.. then the pushrod tube seals leak from internal crank case pressure. I'm not sure how this could happen in reverse.

Replace them.. they are cheap.


B

Oil in the intake could be from blow by on a worn out engine or it could be from a faulty PCV valve.

The push rod tubes are dirt cheap, www.bus-boys.com sells the for less than $3.00 each.

The plastic intake insulator has the gasket built into it. If you buy a engine rebuild gasket set it will come with new ones. I would change the oil cooler seals too.

pushrod tube seals...check. (slick design. raplaceable w/o teardown!)
will also renew injector seals (both per injector)

Really you only *need* to replace the one on the small end of the injector. The other sees no stress.


B

So are you really in Bolivia??? Whats your name???

Please look over the engine bay wiring harnesses while they are out. They typically have hardened/cracked wiring, corroded/missing/loose terminals, cooked harness casing and missing boots, all of which can be a serious problem.

I would be happy to do whatever needs to be done to Qs wiring harnesses, if they are questionable. Any lady who is bold enough to own one of these 30 cars is to be held in high esteem...and should not be stranded becasue of a simple problem with a wiring harness.

Send me the wiring harnesses...all three of them. Fuel injection, Alternator and Ignition. I will send them back to you repaired or replaced so they are reliable. If the needed repairs are not too extensive there will be No Charge.

PM or mail me for my shipping address when you are ready.

The link to my 914 harness website is below for more info.

Take him up on it... get them boxed and off to him TODAY. try and clean them up a little for him.


Jeff..

What would it take to host your websites on here ?? in other words hang it off the backend of the 914club server ??

I get so f-ing tired of clicking on the links and the connection being slower than molasses... I think we push your wiring stuff enough to at least have a shot at hosting it for you.


B

Very cool...

By all means Brad...I didnt know that was available...

What do I have to do to set it up...?

Bolivia..yup.
Four years living there and I've seen only two Porsches, both in the capital (La Paz).
Mine wouldn't last a day on those roads (although plenty of Brazilian VW's around).
www.llama-mama.com

Indeed the three harnesses are a mess.
As you are so close in San Jose, I will likely take you up on your offer.
The injection control unit has a harness (not reoveable with a connector). Can we work on that as well?

Jeff...thank you, from the bottom of my heart. You're very kind to offer this service to me, and I will be more than happy to compensate you well for your time and effort - even if that means driving to SJ and buying a round!

Actually Speed.. the harness unplugs from the brain. Pull the grey plastic cover off the end (long narrow one) and pull on the white plastic "pull tab".

Jeff,

Andy I will work on this and have something setup for you before the weekend is over.


B

Cool. Which sites do you want?

The three together take up about ~150 megs...growing daily.

EDIT: I just checked it...its ~220megs...

Mica (Pancho mentioned your name)...

Glad to help. Think about coming up to one of our 9:14 breakfasts in the Bay Area when you get on the road again...we'd all like to meet you and see your car...thats thanks enough.

Order a new PVC valve as that sounds like its toast from Porsche. You shouldn't have that much oil in the plenum unless something is wrong like the PVC valve is failing.

Geoff

mr. bowlsby,
do you have a cd burner? that would be the easiest way to get the data over here, once set up, we'll give you remote access to maintain and update ...

Andy

Thanks, Geoff. I just got off the phone with Pelican, and I should have the part next week.

I love replacing all these inexpensive parts...it's practically painless. Of course, I'm not the one who has to install them.