Maint to do? Swapping in a used 2.7 - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

78F350 · 10-21-2014, 10:08 PM

I'm putting a used 2.7 from a 5-speed into my 2.7 Tip. Both cars are 2001s. I haven't been able to track down the history of the donor car yet (other than front end hit in Dallas area last May).

I'm looking for advice about what to do while the engine is out and what parts/fluids to use.

For PS fluid, ATF for the Tip, and brake fluid are there regular parts store brands to use or is is pretty particular like the coolant? (I got the coolant from Pelican already).

I am changing the IMSB, water pump, and AOS. What am I forgetting?

Spark plugs... Just thought of that. Are coils generally left alone 'till failure?

Are there considerations for changing the engine from 5-speed to tiptronic other than the clutch~Tq converter?

Here's a thread started by NewArt that had some helpful info:

Engine on the floor. Now what?

Thanks

peterbrown77 · 10-22-2014, 05:55 AM

New coolant tank - almost impossible when the trans is in the car.

jsceash · 10-22-2014, 06:23 AM

Are you installing your tip, or the 5 speed? Changing the transmission type will give you problems.

The Converter or clutch can be installed on the engine with no issue or changes. The Porsche recommendation is replace the attachment bolts, my opinion is that's up to you. I took a 3.2 motor that had a Tip and with no modification installed a 5 speed manual on it. This was in a car that originally had a 2.7 and 5 spd. All just bolted in.

jsceash · 10-22-2014, 06:55 AM

1. Radiator connector hoses between the motor and underbody aluminum tubes.
2. Inspect coil packs for any sign of rust or epoxy cracking.
3. Spark plug tube orings
4. Water pump / thermostat
5. Serpentine belt tensioner pulley and Idlers.
6. ?? your call but the power steering pump is hard to replace with the engine installed
7. Motor / transmission mounts

78F350 · 10-22-2014, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Are you installing your tip, or the 5 speed? Changing the transmission type will give you problems.

The car receiving the engine is a Tip and remaining a Tip. I am just putting in the engine from a same-year 5-speed.

Quote:

5. Serpentine belt tensioner pulley and Idlers.

I can't believe I didn't think of that one. I have seen two of those fail on other cars in recent years.

Quote:

7. Motor / transmission mounts

The mounts actually look pretty fresh on the donor engine. I'll have to take a look and see if the transmission mounts are different between the two. I expect they are.

The coolant tank definitely sounds like a good idea.

Thanks

BYprodriver · 10-22-2014, 09:25 AM

Pull the cam covers & cams to replace the Vario-cam wear pads

78F350 · 10-22-2014, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BYprodriver

Pull the cam covers & cams to replace the Vario-cam wear pads

That one made me pull out the manuals and do some reading. I'm still not sure... Are you referring to the chain ramps?

I'm just about out of budget for my October projects, so I'm probably not going to take that on. I do plan to tear-down the bad engine for a possible rebuild in the following months though.

clickman · 10-22-2014, 11:56 AM

Low temp thermostat and replace oil cooler with S version, both to improve engine cooling.

Oil filler tube, the bottom section where it attaches onto the top of the engine.

Spark plug tube O-rings.

Voltage regulator (mounted on back side of alternator)

Which ISMB fix are you going to do?

BYprodriver · 10-22-2014, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 78F350

That one made me pull out the manuals and do some reading. I'm still not sure... Are you referring to the chain ramps?

I'm just about out of budget for my October projects, so I'm probably not going to take that on. I do plan to tear-down the bad engine for a possible rebuild in the following months though.

Easy to do with engine out of the car & probably the most difficult task to do with engine in car. Should be done at 60K miles on all 5 chain engines. Indy mechanics charge about $2,000 to install this $50 dollars worth of parts with engine in the car.

Gilles · 10-22-2014, 02:04 PM

[QUOTE=BYprodriver;422586]Easy to do with engine out of the car & probably the most difficult task to do with engine in car. Should be done at 60K miles on all 5 chain engines. Indy mechanics charge about $2,000 to install this $50 dollars worth of parts with engine in the car.

Hello BY,
Do you know when (mileage) they recommended to replace the vario-cam wear pads on a ('07) 3 chain motor?
Regards

jsceash · 10-22-2014, 02:37 PM

[QUOTE=Hello BY,
Do you know when (mileage) they recommended to replace the vario-cam wear pads on a ('07) 3 chain motor?
Regards[/QUOTE]

Your engine does not have these.

78F350 · 10-22-2014, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Should be done at 60K miles on all 5 chain engines. Indy mechanics charge about $2,000 to install this $50 dollars worth of parts with engine in the car.

Ah...
So, these? Full set?

Pelican Parts - European Automotive Parts and Accessories - Porsche • BMW • Mercedes • Volkswagen • Audi • Saab • Volvo • MINI

BYprodriver · 10-22-2014, 03:04 PM

No just the last pads in your post

78F350 · 10-22-2014, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BYprodriver

No just the last pads in your post

Perfect. That does sound like a great use of time/money while the engine is out.

clickman - I am ordering the O-rings with the tubes from Pelican now (996-105-325-52-M36).
For the IMSB I found a good LN Engineering one used on eBay for 1/2 the cost of a new one.

78F350 · 10-22-2014, 05:26 PM

...Just kidding about the used IMSB (see my post from about a week ago for the eBay one). I debated which one to get for a while and ended up going with the Pelican Parts (Part #: PEL-IMS-1). Not the best 'solution', but seems sound and well reviewed.

78F350 · 11-28-2014, 06:14 PM

A few notes to add now that the engine is in:

I didn't realize until I had the engine installed that the brake vacuum line and intake were different between the two engines. The new engine had the single vacuum connection at the left front and a built in resonator in the intake line. The old engine had a 3 connection vacuum line with a venturi and a clamp on resonator. I wish I had noticed that before I installed the engine.

Part #21 (Venturi tube) vs the elbow # 23 in the lower picture.

~~~~~~~~~~
#23 (Elbow)

The rest of the vacuum tubing was brittle. Probably a good idea to plan to replace all of it. I missed one piece and of course it broke when I was installing the engine.

After I got it all in and started it up it ran like crap.

Lots of bad scenarios came to mind of what could be wrong. First guess and least scary was MAF and sure enough that fixed it and it was easy enough to do with the engine in.

Differences from the Tiptronic to 5-speed engine:

The wiring harness for the tiptronic integrates the transmission bundle with the engine wiring. There is one vacuum line that splits into a 3 way on the 5-speed that is a 4 way on the tiptronic. There is an extra junction in the cooling lines on the tiptronic that facilitate the transmission cooler. Other than that everything seemed like a direct swap.