So the build begins... - Page 2 - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

jaykay · 08-01-2012, 07:51 PM

Eric,

Have you been able to complete all these task by yourself of is another set of hands needed to accomplish some?

Eric G · 08-02-2012, 06:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by feelyx

I love threads like this....
Eric, Could I get your old bearing to inspect?

Feelyx, which bearing? The IMS...if so my friend who did the harmonic vibrational analysis has asked to have a first look at it. He is in the process of updating a study paper over his work which will be going into PCA North American. My car is part of the study group where we baselined my car before the build, the after analysis with the new components will be used in part of his paper, along with about 45 other Porsche cars.

Mind you, my bearing did not show frequency anomalies, rather it was my cam chain tensioners that showed the highest frequency to noise ratio.

Here is a link to the first paper:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwYQrJT16ogVYlM5T1JCSXFta0k

Once he is done I would be glad to ship it to you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaykay

Eric,

Have you been able to complete all these task by yourself of is another set of hands needed to accomplish some?

Jay, it is just me right now (with my wife acting as support for this) She loves working on the cars and learning, but since I am doing most of this during the day time hours while she is at work, she ends up being my evening support and beer drinking buddy at the end of the day.

Surprisingly, all of these tasks are simple enough for one person with the tools. Like I said in my previous post, anyone who does this work using only jack stands I take my hat off to them as it can get cramped under the car. Robin said for this project there was no way she wanted me to have to work like that. After seeing my friends lift at his house...the decision was made.

Nice thing about this lift (besides the cost), is if don't want to leave it in the middle of your garage, you can wheel it away. Since her car fits over the top we just leave it set up.

feelyx · 08-02-2012, 06:58 AM

Awesome... Thanks Eric, Please post a link to the final update to the analysis if you can, thats good stuff. Makes me wanna finish this off....
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/boxster-cayman-forum/649150-my-ims-fix-3.html

Gilles · 08-02-2012, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Jay, it is just me right now (with my wife acting as support for this) She loves working on the cars and learning, but since I am doing most of this during the day time hours while she is at work, she ends up being my evening support and beer drinking buddy at the end of the day.
.

Eric, you are a very lucky man, does you wife has a sister..?

..ha! Good luck on your build

.

Bruce Wayne · 08-02-2012, 12:57 PM

nice thread eric.. your car is very clean underneath..

does your wife have two sisters ???

Eric G · 08-02-2012, 05:24 PM

Day 5 and today brought some surprises and more progress. I had a friend call me up who wanted to help and spend the morning just catching up as we had not seen each other in awhile. (This will come in later).

With yesterdays minor set back of the broken oil filler tube, I decided today I would get some bigger things done. On tap for today is removal of the front suspension, remove the drivers side radiator, replace the fuel filter, replace front swaybar bushings, build struts and then clean up components.

First up was to remove the under panels to access the fuel filter. I am sure that there was a good reason to bury the fuel filter where they did. This is an easy job, but it does require some patients as you need to be careful in working around the plumbing.

Spend the time looking at all the attachment points. In particular are the clips that hold the front panel. If you look at the clip you will find there is a tapered section that you can put a straight screw driver and pop one side of it off. This will allow the clip to hang free and in some cases it might drop off.

Once you remove the covers you are presented with this:

In the last picture above, the bracket you see with the two bolts...this is where the fuel filter is located. You will need to remove a few parts to access. There is a foam piece and a bracket that will need to be removed and then a compression fitting that holds the filter in place.

Note: have a bucket and rags ready when you remove the filter as you will get about a pint of fuel that will come out of your filter. I thought I had prepared with enough stuff to catch everything...not...as I had about a half cup of fuel pour on my head. Doh! This burns and I am glad I don't have to do this every year. After the burning sensation stopped and I had the old filter in a bucket, the new one was installed and back in place I was ready to start draining coolant.

OK earlier I said I had a friend who wanted to come help and spend some time catching up. While he is not a car buff, we have built enough bikes together that this would be fun. Yes and no. I asked him to pull the main radiator lines and drain out as much as he could. Well, this seemed to go well as he got the catchment unit out and things seemed to be going well....then...

Eric G · 08-02-2012, 06:20 PM

I hear this comment...what is this spring and screw doing with oil coming out! Crap...that is not radiator fluid.

Well, he had managed to remove the piston from the oil pump and start to drain some of the oil. After a few words, we laughed and agreed that he is good at building bikes, he sucks at working on cars. I reinstalled the parts and spent about an hour laughing and telling each other how much we were stupid. My car, while it is important, is not work more than a friend.

On to the rest of the day, my friend decided that it would be best that we stuck to bikes when working project. I removed the rest of the suspension, and cleaned up the underside leaving me with installation of the front steering components and suspension.

In addition to the suspension, I had been dealing with a drivers side radiator leak. Turns out it was in the middle of the radiator. My better half says...order a new radiator and be done with the problem rather then tracking down someone to repair it.

A lot of these pictures I am posting are so that folks can see what things look like.

I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the wheel wells and determining what I am going to do on Friday.

Again as always, if there something you need or would like pictures of...PM me and I will get a picture posted for you.

Have a good evening,

Eric

jaykay · 08-03-2012, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric G

Feelyx, which bearing? The IMS...if so my friend who did the harmonic vibrational analysis has asked to have a first look at it. He is in the process of updating a study paper over his work which will be going into PCA North American. My car is part of the study group where we baselined my car before the build, the after analysis with the new components will be used in part of his paper, along with about 45 other Porsche cars.

Mind you, my bearing did not show frequency anomalies, rather it was my cam chain tensioners that showed the highest frequency to noise ratio.

Here is a link to the first paper:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwYQrJT16ogVYlM5T1JCSXFta0k

Once he is done I would be glad to ship it to you.

Jay, it is just me right now (with my wife acting as support for this) She loves working on the cars and learning, but since I am doing most of this during the day time hours while she is at work, she ends up being my evening support and beer drinking buddy at the end of the day.

Surprisingly, all of these tasks are simple enough for one person with the tools. Like I said in my previous post, anyone who does this work using only jack stands I take my hat off to them as it can get cramped under the car. Robin said for this project there was no way she wanted me to have to work like that. After seeing my friends lift at his house...the decision was made.

Nice thing about this lift (besides the cost), is if don't want to leave it in the middle of your garage, you can wheel it away. Since her car fits over the top we just leave it set up.

Nice so its better than the two posters out there? What brand and model is it?

Yes I will have to recruit the GF when the time come but she will want me to build a boxster for her as well!

jaykay · 08-03-2012, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric G

Feelyx, which bearing? The IMS...if so my friend who did the harmonic vibrational analysis has asked to have a first look at it. He is in the process of updating a study paper over his work which will be going into PCA North American. My car is part of the study group where we baselined my car before the build, the after analysis with the new components will be used in part of his paper, along with about 45 other Porsche cars.

Mind you, my bearing did not show frequency anomalies, rather it was my cam chain tensioners that showed the highest frequency to noise ratio.

Here is a link to the first paper:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwYQrJT16ogVYlM5T1JCSXFta0k

Once he is done I would be glad to ship it to you.

Jay, it is just me right now (with my wife acting as support for this) She loves working on the cars and learning, but since I am doing most of this during the day time hours while she is at work, she ends up being my evening support and beer drinking buddy at the end of the day.

Surprisingly, all of these tasks are simple enough for one person with the tools. Like I said in my previous post, anyone who does this work using only jack stands I take my hat off to them as it can get cramped under the car. Robin said for this project there was no way she wanted me to have to work like that. After seeing my friends lift at his house...the decision was made.

Nice thing about this lift (besides the cost), is if don't want to leave it in the middle of your garage, you can wheel it away. Since her car fits over the top we just leave it set up.

Nice so its better than the two posters out there? What brand and model is it?

Yes I will have to recruit the GF when the time come but she will want me to build a boxster for her as well!

Eric G · 08-03-2012, 07:59 PM

Today was a simple day as my target was to get the front suspension installed. I had a tad bit of cleaning on a few parts that I did not get to yesterday. No friends who wanted to help, no dropped oil pump pistons or any other parts.

We had a good laugh over that yesterday as I don't know who was more freaked out, me at hearing the comment or he at having unknown parts fall out.

I digress, the process was simple enough in getting the parts put back, but is much easier with new parts rather then reutilizing older parts. Probably the hardest part today was the fact that the bolt that holds the brake line to the hub sheared off yesterday and I had to mill down the housing and drill and tap out a new hole for it. Took a little over an hour from set up to finish, but the bracket was reset.

I will say an amazing thing happened today as yesterday I found that the drivers side radiator was cracked on the housing (more than a shop could fix) so I went to PartsGeek and ordered a replacement...and it showed up TODAY! They have proved themselves to be very reliable with one off unique parts. Not as good as Pelican where I can just call up and have something added in under one minute...but with the radiator in hand, I will be able to button up the front end tomorrow. I am hoping that I can get started on the clutch master cylinder and a few other items for Saturday. The next biggy is going to be the IMS/RMS but I need a couple of tools and parts to arrive before I will be able to get to that.

AndyA6 · 08-04-2012, 06:01 AM

Eric, thanks for sharing! Really nice posts(s) and much appreciated!

Just another idea: How about upgrading to the larger "S" oil cooler since you may want to do the seals anyway?

And yes, you are a lucky man with a wife like yours! Mine starts to understand when I wrench on our cars but that took a long time.

Looks like your car will be as new when finished, so jelly!!

Later,
Andy

Eric G · 08-04-2012, 06:50 AM

Andy, your comments are much appreciated. The oil cooler had not been on my radar for upgrading or the seals. I ran across and older thread that talked about updating the seals...so at a minimum they are already on order. Seems like a great idea on upgrading the cooler...so thank you.

When my wife and I were first dating and we went out on my bike and she said, "this thing go any faster then this"? I knew this was going to turn out well.

AndyA6 · 08-04-2012, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric G

Andy, your comments are much appreciated. The oil cooler had not been on my radar for upgrading or the seals. I ran across and older thread that talked about updating the seals...so at a minimum they are already on order. Seems like a great idea on upgrading the cooler...so thank you.

When my wife and I were first dating and we went out on my bike and she said, "this thing go any faster then this"? I knew this was going to turn out well.

Good one! My wife really likes modded cars now! We even modded our mountain bikes.

Keep up the good work, everybody here is cheering you on.

rdc8118 · 08-04-2012, 09:27 AM

Eric, great post, thanks for sharing.. How did you support the engine when dropping the tranny? I've got a scissor lift at home and thinking of doing the clurtch/ims over the winter. Just trying to figure out if I'll be able to achieve it.

Eric G · 08-04-2012, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rdc8118

Eric, great post, thanks for sharing.. How did you support the engine when dropping the tranny? I've got a scissor lift at home and thinking of doing the clurtch/ims over the winter. Just trying to figure out if I'll be able to achieve it.

Not sure if this is going to cause anyone consternation, but I have done this on other builds and it works nicely for me.

In the first picture the central point circled (as noted) I used a jack stand to support the engine while using the transmission jack to back the tranny out. Then I lowered the car a tad bit more and put the dense rubber spacers in and lift the car back up. Compression was minimal and the engine sits soundly on the pads. I have seen others use 2x4's and other small pieces of wood. So I think there are a few schools of thought on supporting. Personally I like the rubber as it maintains solid but soft contact.

Eric G · 08-05-2012, 02:51 PM

Sunday morning off to a little slower start as I realized that I missed a crucial step in the front suspension installation. I failed to head the "tighten the front wishbone when fully loaded" step as I found that my drop link was pushed up right against it. Loosened up the proper bolts, dropped the car down and loaded the front end and tightened everything back up...perfect. Felt a little silly about missing that, but that is why I write myself post it notes on my build board for secondary and final checks for each of the systems I complete.

Today was spark plug tube, spark plugs and coils day. In preparing for this I had my boat drain plug like is mentioned in Pedro's mods for pulling the tube.

Now, I would like to write that everything went smooth as cake, the tubes came out like butter and the whole thing went back in a easy fashion. This however would be a misnomer. The boat plug worked by itself on only one plug. If found the diameter of the plug tube exceeded the maximum expanded diameter of the boat plug.

As such, I needed more gripping power so I decided to use drywall sandpaper as a insert between the rubber and the tube. This allowed more gripping power and I was able to get one more tube out. After that, the tool did not work worth crap. Without boring you on the process of elimination of what would remove the tubes without dropping pieces into the engine, I ended up using a curved pry bar that was able to pull the tubes out.

Caution: Please, what ever you do...do not break off pieces of the tubes. They will drop right into the engine and unless you can fish them out, you are going to be in trouble.

For my case I was able to keep everything together and all the tube came out. Total time to pull the tubes ~90 minutes.

Getting the bolts out and the coils removed was not a big deal (with the suspension and removed this becomes an easy task). In the first picture if you look to the edge of the tube you can see the paper between the tube and the plug. You will also see a pair of offset pliers. I found that they worked better than the standard screwdriver Pedro recommended.

In the end I was able to get all the work done in about 2 1/2 hours. However, with the cylinders open I decided to take a look inside each of the cylinders to see how everything looked. Pulled the borescope out and had a look around each. I will say that for an engine that now has over 90K miles on the odometer, I was impressed to see clean cylinder walls.

Cylinder 1:

Cylinder 2:

Cylinder 3:

Cylinder 4:

Cylinder 5:

Cylinder 6:

While some of the cylinders may look "dirty" this is actually minimal carbon build up on the pistons and the cylinder walls are smooth as butter. This makes me feel good as there is no immediate issue on the rings or pistons that needs to be dealt with.

One final picture for today...I indicated that I found a broken "third" tube on my oil filler tube when replacing the reservoir tank. Here is what I found (the center of the picture shows the hole! How the car kept a solid idle I don't know...but hopefully the tube will be in to Pelican next week and I can get it installed the week after.

So, where do I go next? As soon as I have the two additional parts in for the slave cylinder, I will be installing the new master and slave cylinders for the clutch and installing the rebuild kit onto the transmission. After that it will be the water pump and low temp thermostat.

One of the best aspects of this build is that by setting manageable daily goals, I don't get overwhelmed with tasks, I don't have the car so far disassembled that parts and pieces become overwhelming in how they are spread out. My end goal is to have the car done by the end of the month.

Eric G · 08-08-2012, 06:27 PM

Well, it has been a few days since a new post as I had to go back to work. Funny you wait for vacation time to come around and then once it is over you are already missing it.

Well today was the final draining of the coolant from all the lines, engine and radiator and then I had to deal with the oil pan. Seems the PO jammed the drain plug in so hard it wedged itself in place and they stripped the allen head out of the plug.

Ended up drilling two holes into the drain plug, placed a spanner wrench in then...bingo! Out came the jammed plug. Then after the engine was drained, it was time to remove and inspect the oil filter.

What was in there were small black plastic particles. Only about two small black particles were magnetic everything else was plastic. This seems to follow everything I have been seeing in that I don't believe the IMS is failing, but it still is going to get pulled.

The final picture is the magnetic drain plug with a 19mm head installed. For those that are worried about how far it will stick down. It is well withing the clearance of the exhaust manifold.

AndyA6 · 08-08-2012, 06:51 PM

Thanks for the update! Wrenched myself a bit today. Surprising about the tubes....

Eric G · 08-10-2012, 04:55 PM

Well, decided to take today off and see if I could make a serious dent in my "still todo list". Temps have been running in the 113F+ for the last few days (in Eastern Washington)! so the motivation to work in the evening was really low. Forecast was for nice temps today so...

First off, my purge valve made it to me from Bar10dah yesterday, so that was the first item to get installed. Before making the installation I verified that the part was the upgraded version from what I already have...it was and hopefully when I get the car buttoned up, the error code on this will have been cleared. In addition, I followed the directions on many posts that says to use a compressor and blow the lines out and reassemble.

Next up, my next to last order from Pelican showed up having my new clutch slave cylinder line and connector. I had ordered the slave and master cylinder but failed to notice that you have to order two additional parts. The little connector and new line added $320.00 to the build bringing the upgrade of just the slave to over $400.00. Porsche is mighty proud of these parts. Oh well, out with the old and in with the new:

You would think this would be a simple conversion, pull the old line out, replace with the new connector, install the new line and attach the slave. Wrong. The instructions are in German with no English or French translations. So, I first translated the directions which are as follows:

überwurfmutter von kupplungsstutzen abschrauben!
überwurfmutter bis zum anschlag an den stecker schieben!
baugruppe mit montagestopfen bis zum anschlag in die!
uberwurfmutter einstecken!
überwurfmutter gemeinsam mit der baugruppe vom stecker abziehen!
überwurfmutter halterosette und baugruppe demontieren!

In English:

union nut from unscrewing clutch clip!
union nut to stop the slide connector!
subassembly mounting stuff up to the fence in the!
Insert the nut over !
union nut pull together with the subassembly from the plug!
union nut holding rosette and subassembly dismantle!

Translation to me:

Huh?

OK, I called Pelican and asked if they could simply confirm what the pictures in the instructions were indicating as it appeared that the plastic piece (see below) was being used...but I was not making sense of it.

Pelican had nothing in the books, on file or in their database to help and they were surprised as this is an upgraded piece that had a TSB on it, but could not find that either. OK, so a little brain power was needed on my end (for a Friday that's asking a bit). What is happening here is the black plastic piece is simulating the brass end of the new slave line in holding the plastic compression fitting. You attach the new connector to the existing line with the plastic piece in place, remove it before you reach a tight fit, insert you new slave line and than tighten. The whole thing is to keep parts and pieces aligned for the final assembly. Not that difficult, but going through it for the first time you do need to think about what you are doing. In the end, the slave was installed and I was happy.

Next up was the clutch master cylinder...how hard can this be? I set the car at a height I can get to the clutch peddle and into the bonnet with ease and begin the process of removing parts. If you have never done the master cylinder, the slave cylinder line is removed by pinching the protruding ends of the black fitting together while pulling at the same time. It releases the spring clip holding it. Note: put something under these lines as you will get drippedge and you don't want to ruin your paint. Now to what I hoped was the easy part, removing the master from the clutch peddle. Not! You need to be a 5' 1" contortionist to stick your fingers, arms, head, light and tools into this area to remove the two nuts and one cir clip. I was able to do it as it just took patience and a slow approach. In the end the master cylinder came out, the new one went in and this portion of the project was completed. Time to complete was about 2 hours.

Next up new water pump and low temp thermostat but decided to stop for a bit of lunch and let the experience of the clutch parts settle down, the dog needed to go outside and I had a delivery of some new tools that showed up! Yeah more tools!

Since I need to remove the inside panel to pull the serpentine belt off the water pump...best get it off. Four main plastic fittings and the carpeted section comes off, seven screws and two nuts and the metal panel is off. Using a 24mm socket I relieve the tension on the pulley and remove the belt from the water pump. Now in studying my notes and postings on removing the water pump, some have stated you need to drop the front motor mount to access the "tough bolt", while others have stated you can do it from below. I opt for the below method to see if it can be done with out removing the front mount.

In the end it can be done, you just need to have ample light and patience to get to all the bolts on the water pump, primarily the hard to reach one behind the motor mount. Also, PAY ATTENTION TO BOLT LENGTHS! There are two long bolts on the pump...but if you loose track of where they go, they are mounted through the holes that have the set plugs built into the water pump housing.

So I pull the water pump and find that I did not have to cut the gasket, which indicates that the pump had been replaced at some point by the PO. I also pulled the thermostat and it appeared it had been replaced as well, however it was a stock temp so it still needed to come out. In a side by side comparison I am glad I did this (even if there was a functioning water pump) as the old impeller was the plastic version. Yes it was in good shape, but it is not worth risking failure down the road.

Now as I was cleaning the block where the gasket was going to sit, I also took time to look over my notes, the manual and threads from numerous boards I have saved and decided that I was not going to use any "additional" sealant on the gaskets. Part of replacing a part is following the torquing specs. These are metal gaskets with a low torque setting. Wrenching down on these guys could blow the seal and predicate the need for additional help, however, after seeing Mike and Pedro's threads they don't use sealant and follow the specs...and it works. Since Porsche does not call it out I am going with the product as directed. I may kick myself down the road, but I also know that when using seals as directed, things tend to work out for the better.

Putting the water pump and thermostat back in place was a cake walk. Alternate your pattern when torquing down the bolts, verify you have all the bolts correctly torqued in place and reconnect your hoses. Time for this job was just over an hour.

Eric G · 08-10-2012, 05:19 PM

Last item I decided to tackle for today was the rear main seal (RMS). As I showed earlier in the thread, mine is leaking and needs to be replaced. I spent a great deal of time reading a lot about what people have done, not done, tried, failed, succeeded and otherwise tried to work their way through the installation of this little seal. It is amazing how setting a seal to 13mm can cause so much heart burn.

Well, in my research I found several wonderful threads. One was on manufacturing your own RMS seating tool and the other was on the reasons behind the depth setting for the RMS. First off, the tool. There was a thread where a user took plumbing connectors and fabricated a tool. I see why they did this when you are facing over a hundred bones for the Porsche tool. For my tool I took a slightly different approach and when with plumbing end connectors rather then cutting wood spacers and gluing parts together. I simply took a 4" end cap and mated a 3" flat end cap inside of it after cutting it down the the proper depth setting (13mm). I added a hole to accommodate the lip on the crank and the set pin thus giving me the proper depth to seat the seal.

Once this was done, I needed to remove the old RMS, and has been proven over and over again, I drilled my hole, inserted my screw, used a pry bar (placing my hand under it when pulling) and removed my old RMS.

Now with the old seal out I want to share a thread from cheetahonline which had beautiful shots of the new PTFE RMS seal installed and why you want to ensure the 13mm insertion.

The M96 Porsche engine found in the Boxster / Cayman has an Rear Main Seal "RMS" to seal the back end of the crankshaft (the end the connects to the transmission). The photo above shows the old seal already removed. The problem that many people have is how to properly install the new seal, so that it won’t leak again. Porsche has updated the seal itself and the recommended installation depth. To see which RMS update is available for your specific engine, check out Pelican Parts - Porsche Boxster/Cayman Parts & Accessories Catalog. The new RMS will come with a plastic installation sleeve as shown above. For the rest of these photos, the crankshaft has been removed from the vehicle to show how the new seal is installed with the plastic sleeve and the new mounting tool. Normal procedures, such as completely cleaning the area should be done before replacing the seal. This article is strictly showing the proper procedure for aligning the seal.

Place the open end of the plastic insert onto the crankshaft end. This should fit on as shown. This surface is where the seal will slide onto to stop splashing oil from exiting the engine. This seal does not support the crankshaft in any way, it is only a seal to stop oil leaks.

Slide the RMS onto the shaft as shown. The depth does not matter yet, as the setting tool will be used to get the proper depth. (they used a delrin tool in their thread similar but slightly different from mine)

Place the tool onto the end of the crankshaft (rotating it until raised area on the crankshaft lines up with the hole on the tool). With a hammer, tap around the back of the tool evenly until the tool bottoms out against the crankshaft. This should be very obvious as to when it happens, as the sound of the taps should change once they are contacting.

Remove the tool and the seal should be mounted squarely to the crankshaft as shown. This new mounting depth of around 13mm is shown above. The original depth of 11mm left the seal farther out on the crankshaft. The reason for the change is most likely two-fold: the seal is moved away from the edge of the case where is could leak easier and moving the depth to a slightly different spot to avoid an attempt to seal on an area that already had been shown to leak.This should be done during clutch changes, or during an IMS replacement / upgrade. The RMS itself is a $10 part, but labor to replace it is usually billed out at 8 hours (same labor to replace a clutch). Therefore, take the extra few minutes to replace the seal if there is any sign of leaking any time that the transmission is removed.

(end of Cheetahonline post)

On the directions that came with my new seal, it clearly states you want to insert and leave the seal alone for a minimum of 4 hours to allow the material to seat properly. Not a problem as my project is not going anywhere for the next few days.

So, how did my tool do for seating the seal???

Well, we are almost at the point where I am ready to do the deed on the IMS, I still have a couple of areas to work on but I decided this was enough for today.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions...please post them up. I am only writing my own ditherings here to document what I am going through on this build hoping that some of it is useful to someone.