my DIY engine rebuild

[seningen]

Originally Posted by flaps10

I appreciate the support. I failed to mention that I have signed up for Jake's "101" class in October, and he's pointed out his four day hands on class in December as a great follow up. I'll have to shake some money out of the family budget and burn some vacation time from work to get to that one, but I'm sure it's worth every dime.

Last night was a tedious one. I got started on the car later than I planned and ran into my first road block: the 10mm triple square tool is too long to fit between the bolt head and the differential housing. I'd seen it mentioned in other places (on the Pelican Parts write up comments) but thought it wasn't going to apply to me. Duh.



So I eye balled a good length and loaded it into one of my vises and out came the Dremel tool. It took a good 20 minutes and several of those thin grit wheels but I made it through and was able to test fit the tool into the bolt head.

A 13mm wrench just slips over the outside of the tool but of course there's nothing like enough leverage to break the bolt loose. Out came the closest cheater bar (the upper section of my floor jack handle). I could tell right away that the tool would want to climb up out of the head of the bolt and that I would only have about 1-2 tries before boogering it up completely.

A hammer stroke or two to set the tri-square and it usually comes out ok without stripping. Make sure the heads of the bolts are clean -- they can gunk up and
the tri-square doesn't set deep enough.

Note when you reassemble, check the torque specs -- and again
after 100 miles or so -- they can work themselves loose again.

Mike

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by seningen

A hammer stroke or two to set the tri-square and it usually comes out ok without stripping. Make sure the heads of the bolts are clean -- they can gunk up and
the tri-square doesn't set deep enough.

Note when you reassemble, check the torque specs -- and again
after 100 miles or so -- they can work themselves loose again.

Mike

Or clean both the bolts and the threaded holes with brake cleaner, use a dab of Loctite, and torque to specs. Then they will stay put.

[flaps10]

Finally, a milestone.



Last night at about 10:30 I was able to wash my hands and go to bed. It took me about 1.5 hours to get all of the engine to transaxle bolts broken loose and the transmission mounts too.

Funny how long I struggled with the top bolt on the engine/trans bolt when I realize I could reach it easily from the top if I just pulled the snorkel out. Duh.

Once everything was loose I supported the transaxle with my floor jack, and employed my air ratchet to pull all the hardware out and get the mounts off.

Then I grabbed my son and had him run the floor jack while I wiggled and checked everything.

I'm calling it a win.

Quickly looked over my clutch (re: the issue of not disengaging completely). Was a bit puzzled to find the date of May of 2014 on the pressure plate, so the clutch had been "done" prior to me purchasing it.

Looking at the actuator lever expecting to see a crack I didn't find one, but there was quite a deep shiny divot where the tip of the slave cylinder pushes on it. That was probably enough to keep it from getting full reach. Funny how far some people will go and not do a job correctly.

[jaykay]

Originally Posted by flaps10

Finally, a milestone.



Last night at about 10:30 I was able to wash my hands and go to bed. It took me about 1.5 hours to get all of the engine to transaxle bolts broken loose and the transmission mounts too.

Funny how long I struggled with the top bolt on the engine/trans bolt when I realize I could reach it easily from the top if I just pulled the snorkel out. Duh.

Once everything was loose I supported the transaxle with my floor jack, and employed my air ratchet to pull all the hardware out and get the mounts off.

Then I grabbed my son and had him run the floor jack while I wiggled and checked everything.

I'm calling it a win.

Quickly looked over my clutch (re: the issue of not disengaging completely). Was a bit puzzled to find the date of May of 2014 on the pressure plate, so the clutch had been "done" prior to me purchasing it.

Looking at the actuator lever expecting to see a crack I didn't find one, but there was quite a deep shiny divot where the tip of the slave cylinder pushes on it. That was probably enough to keep it from getting full reach. Funny how far some people will go and not do a job correctly.

Wow your car is pretty low for this work....good on you!

[Tucker2]

Enjoying this.....please keep posting. Great stuff.

[flaps10]

Jay, I think the shadows make the car look lower than it is. I had no problem working under the car or sliding the transaxle out from under it. I'm sure I'll have to remove the rear bumper in order to slide the engine out, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

On that note, I noticed that with the 996 you drop the engine and trans together. I thought the presence of the cross member under the bell housing would preclude that. But looking at the pics on 986fix (the DIY person I referred to in my first post - great pics btw), the cross member miraculously disappears just prior to dropping the engine without comment. Any thoughts from those of you more experience with this process?

This morning I crawled under the car in full motorcycle gear and snapped this pic, because I wanted to know what kind of IMS I have (single or double row).



My uneducated eye, comparing to the pics on the Pelican parts tech article says this is a double row. And the cover doesn't look old and nasty.

Starting to wonder where my metal is coming from. Was it a failed bearing that someone replaced and didn't flush? Maybe my chain tensioner pads are worn through?