Schoir,

I did look through their site. Seems like a good thing to do. It also seems to be alot of money. I know at this point whats another 600 bux. Do you have any experience on any of these? I don't know what is involved in pulling the piece off that there speaking of. The motor is not yet in the car. I was waiting for a pilot bearing to come, which finally got here. Let me know if you have any more info on this. Thanks for the concern.

Jay

Seems like good insurance to me to install the retrofit kit, and it makes the most sense since the engine is out of the car. Their bearing is a severe duty ceramic bearing, coupled with a beefier support stud (which is weak in the original because it also has a deep groove cut into it, as well as the stud being too thin for comfort) and a beefier flange.

At the very least, remove the IMS flange and the nut on the end of the support stud that you will find when you remove the flange. You can then manipulate the support stud the same way that Charles Navarro does in his video and see if there is any axial or radial play in the bearing.

He also recommends that you remove the seal on the front of the bearing to permit better cooling and lubrication. His theory is that the sealed bearing's grease gets washed out by fuel contaminated oil, especially if there are long oil change intervals involved and the seal prevents fresh oil (from the engine) from getting in there to lubricate it. The result is what is pictured in the pitted and corroded ball bearings in his video. I can't vouch for this approach, but I certainly would investigate it further as it seems to be logical: if the original grease in the bearing gets washed out and there is no access for the engine oil to lubricate the bearing, it seems logical that the bearing would not hold up.

If you have a single-row bearing, after you remove the flange and the nut you can extract the bearing after removing the metal circlip that holds it captive. I would call Jake Raby or Charles Navarro directly as they are very helpful.

If you have a double-row bearing, it can't be replaced without engine teardown, but, at least if you inspect it as described above, it will give you peace of mind that it's stable.

IMO it's better to at the very least know the condition of the IMS before re-installing the engine.

Regards, Maurice.

I have a dual row bearing in this case means I cannot do there retrofit kit. :( I just went out side and checked it out. There kit only works with the single row bearing. I was able to take the nut off it though and try and wiggle it around. There was no play at all. I take this as a good sign.

I want to add to this whole project...

This would not take this long at all to do if the parts came quick and if I did not have only one day a week to mess around with it. I don't even get the full day, just a few hours here and there. I am getting married this weekend in disney world so it has been crazy. I am going to get this thing back in the car when I get back from disney. All the parts are assembled and ready to go except for putting the flywheel and clutch on and then the tranny. I am dropping off my flywheel at porsche today for the new pilot bearing to be pressed in. If you had all the parts and everything prepped I think you could do this in a long weekend.

J

JAAY:

Definitely a VERY good sign that there was no play. Glad you checked it out, it should give you some peace of mind.

Regards, Maurice.

Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials! :cheers:

Regards, Maurice.

Thanks. I can't wait to get down to Florida. I am glad there was no play in the bearing too. Once I get back I can't wait to get this thing in the car. It has been laid up now since November 07. I'll be surprised if everything still works. Top, lights etc....

Looking forward to following the rest of this. Thanks for taking the time to take the pics and post this Jaay!

Great write thanks for the updates, hope Disney was a blast.


Gary

2 photos of the motor in the car. Not running yet but I am sure as hell happy that I am at this point. I felt like I would never see the motor in the car.

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s...DSC_0488-1.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s...S/DSC_0495.jpg

jaay -

i'm getting ready to do my 3.4L swap this summer. i'm in the process of sourcing shop equipment (hoist, engine stand, motorcycle jack, etc) and have a couple of questions:

1) how high off the ground did you have to get the oil pan in order for the motor to clear everything (height-wise) on the way out?

2) what did you use to jack the engine into / out of the car & how high did it have to extend?

the reason i ask is that i'm considering a specific motorcycle jack that goes from 4.5" fully collapsed to 16" fully extended. i'm not sure if this gives me enough height to reach the bottom of the motor once the car is up in the air.

Too bad you're not close to Dallas, TX, as I have all of the shop equipment you'll need and would be glad to lend it to you. Harbor Freight has a very nice motorcycle/atv Jack that works perfect for lowering the engine out. There is a thread on Renntech.org where a guy just r&r'd his motor using this Jack. I can send you a link later to his web site where he did an excellent write up with pictures.

that would be great. i actually already picked up a hoist & engine stand from harbor freight and was considering the motorcycle jack, but wasn't sure whether it would reach w/ the car up. definitely post the website w/ the pics if you get a chance.

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?/topic/31033-remove-your-m96-engine/page__p__172135__fromsearch__1&#entry172135

That's the link to the thread, which has links to his website

http://www.nutrod.com/

Hi Jaay,

I just wanted to know if you ran into any problems getting the engine running from your last post a year ago.

Thanks