Swapping engines
 

My 986 suddenly started performing poorly — overheating, smoking, and a liquid that smelled like coolant was dripping out of the exhaust. I checked the oil and, sure enough, the dipstick was coated with a milky froth — oil and coolant mixed. I haven't done a compression test, but the symptoms pointed to a cracked cylinder or something equally unwanted.

Accordingly, I bought a replacement engine on eBay, another 2.7L M96, with 39,901 miles on it. The engine I'm replacing has clocked over 155,000 miles. The replacement cost me $4200 including shipping from Florida. I bought the car for $5000, and I've spent a little over $800 on a new water pump, heater core, ignition switch, light switch, and like-new drivers seat. With the engine swap the outlay will come in around ten grand, not a bad price for a clean 986 with relatively low miles on its engine.

I will be chronicling the swap in this thread. In the meantime have a look at my new engine.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1725926676.jpg
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1725926708.jpg
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1725926735.jpg

this engine looks great, congratulations!

PS: how old is the new water pump? If kind of new, I would swap it to the new engine, take pictures :-)

I put it on early last year, and I doubt I've driven the car more than a couple thousand miles since then — too busy working on it — so swapping the water pump might be the way to go. At the very least, I'll keep it as a spare. I can probably scavenge quite a few nice parts from the old engine.

Holding that frothy dipstick, I decided right then and there to pay eBay a visit. The thought of dropping the engine and rebuilding it didn't enter my mind. For one thing, I don't have the special tools it would take. For another, it's an engine with 155,000 miles on it. I think I made the right decision.

I totally agree, too expensive to rebuild these engines or transmissions and hope it goes well.

Hopefully, you’ll be back on the road soon. I think these cars are worth saving!

Congrats on scoring a nice engine.

Before scrapping the old one, might be worth taking a few compression tests to pinpoint the problem. It might just be a problem with the oil cooler and the intermix was occurring there.

And now is the best time to easily get to those 'while you're in there' parts. Believe me, having gone the rebuild route, I know it can be expensive to start throwing more $$$ at unbudgeted parts but you'll never have a better chance to get to them like now. Things like radiator hoses, engine mounts, clutch, plugs, coils, fuel injectors, etc.

Sorry to hear about your problem, but I like your attitude and decision to make lemonade out of the lemons. I will be watching for updates. Good luck with the swap.

It is a bit disturbing to hear that a 2000 2.7 engine gave up at 155,000 miles. I have about 149,000 miles on what is likely to be an identical engine.

I hear you. I talked to another 986 owner with just over 300,000 on it, so I was counting on getting more miles out of mine.

To add insult to injury, I had recently changed the oil and coolant, and I'd replaced the fuel regeneration valve under the left manifold (without removing the manifold, an advantage to having smaller hands).

Note that all the hoses, wires, and lines are intact on the new engine. In addition to the low miles, that sealed the deal for me. On some engines for sale on eBay they cut those things for expediency when they remove the engines from the cars. The seller struck me as a conscientious guy.

If you are interested I have a engine swap check list originally based on the Pelican instructions. I have added a lot of details, some just for me some are more general.

You bet, Grant. Thank you very much. I also plan to read your engine-swap thread. YouTube has a number of videos I plan to watch as well.

Yes, I'm curious to know what actually happened inside the engine. Whatever it is, with oil and coolant mixing I'm sure it's fatal — $4200 sure.

New clutch and IMS bearing make sense. And new engine mounts as well. I hadn't figured on plugs, coils, or injectors, but I'll listen to a convincing argument why I should.

Do the vacuum canister and all vacuum lines before the new engine goes in and check / change the small vacuum operated valves under the intake as well as the oil filler tube part with a flexible accordion section..

Consider keeping your AC system intact with your current compressor unless it was having issues. You can keep the compressor from the new engine as a spare.

I have put the files into Dropbox, you should be able to retrieve them with these links

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ss2dbwsi1tlsvjvxaddik/Engine-Transmission-attach-and-verify-list.odt?rlkey=ms3vlhjb0ak51n1my6ebfpu9p&dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/12j4u0qhvvhmvlv19zhfo/Engine-removal-checklist.odt?rlkey=occnpqnq3dez5ic7mcvqy3awa&dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/4tazjtr9sj3ndlz3n8eo9/Transmission-removal-checklist.odt?rlkey=xit5tht6b1kh5uji7bedze33p&dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ptqvt6ya9b71i4xt06z1k/Notes-on-checklists.odt?rlkey=8zliunz2x4yolvung6isqqux7&dl= 0

If there are any questions get back to me... good luck.

I greatly appreciate that, Grant. I noticed you built your own dolly. I'm shopping for furniture dollies on Amazon. I'm looking for one with a low profile, since clearance is an issue, and of course enough capacity. Speaking of which, do you happen to know the approximate weight of the engine?

Then I wouldn't have to recharge the system, right?

Correct. Most instructions for removing the engine will have you unbolt the compressor from the engine, then remove it as you lower the engine. AC hoses remain attached.
Put the compressor into the new engine before it's fully raised in position. No need to recharge the system.

Wish I hadn't sold my cherry-picker hoist. I last used it to install a Chev 230 ci six in my cherry '64 Chevy van (which I should have hung onto), and then it took up space in my garage for years, untouched. Guess I'll just rent one. But this is a good lesson for me: Don't sell your tools. No telling when they might come in handy, like the cherry-picker hoist would for this project.

On these cars I've found that an engine support bar makes the job much easier. Here's a JFP post: http://986forum.com/forums/641804-post19.html

Also, if you are careful with placement (NOT the middle of the sump plate) a heavy duty transmission jack works great for lowering and lifting in conjunction with the bar for stability.

One last note from me... The car needs to be raised up high to have clearance to move the engine past the suspension brackets. I don't have a lift and typically will have the car at several different heights through the process and only have it highest when moving it past the suspension. The first time I did it I used cheap jack stands on blocks - Stupid and unsafe. Splurge on some good jack stands if you don't have a lift available.