For the better part of the past two months, I've been removing my old engine, transferring the tiptronic wiring harness and other stuff from it to a replacement motor, and putting in the new motor.
The motor got slightly damage in shipping (cam solenoid wire sheared off) and I ended up transferring a variocam solenoid into it. The whole process on this project has been two steps forward and one step back. I made a cam holding tool, changed the solenoid, and put the camcover back on. Not hard when the motor is sitting on a furniture dolly on the floor of the carport.
I got the engine in, and started. The green plugs for the cams promptly popped out and spewed Mobil 1 all over the pavement. Engine runs great other than this little defect.
After a day or two of messing with it, I looked up the problem on the internet. It appears that in my enthusiasm for sealing the cam cover up with goop, I got carried away and blocked the drain hole for the right engine bank. Oil pressure must be good, it'll pop those plugs out in seconds!
So back to the drawing board. Today, I'm gonna start disconnecting stuff so I can lower the engine down enough to remove the cam cover, clean off all the new-old sealant and and more carefully reseal it up. I had a bunch of credits at Amazon and ordered a couple of new cam plugs.
Woe is me, I guess. At least the weather is nice in Tucson. Discouragement and project fatigue are setting in, but can't put it aside. Hot weather is in 3 months--and I'd like to drive with the top down for a while.
:ah: