Meridian Boxster Rebuild Project '24

[Homeoboxter]

Further insights into the engine.



Stripping the top.



Something seems off here.



Yep.



Everything looks clean and nice inside though, no sludge, deposit. etc. This was indeed a well maintained car.



Ouch...

[Smallblock454]

Originally Posted by Homeoboxter

Ouch...

Well, i think you found the problem.

Hope there is no excessive damage to the engine casing. Sometimes these chains can do ugly things

How does the IMS look?

How do pistons, rods and valves look?

[Homeoboxter]

Originally Posted by Smallblock454

Well, i think you found the problem.

Hope there is no excessive damage to the engine casing. Sometimes these chains can do ugly things

How does the IMS look?

How do pistons, rods and valves look?

The casings seem fine, I haven't discovered any damage on them so far, which is great.

IMS looks great too. Rods look fine, pistons have slight damage but seem reusable, I'll have to do measurements though. Several valves are bent. I'll upload pictures later.

The question is, why did the chain snap? Tearing a dual row chain apart like this requires quite a bit of force. However, I think I found the answer for that.

Inside the scavanging pump, that's a crack right there:




Yep, the rotor is broken.



It clearly picked up something which seized up the pump and hence the camshaft, that's why the chain snapped. I can make out the piece that's now melted in the pump housing.



But I have no idea what it may have been and where it came from. So far I haven't found anything that came loose, missing bolt, etc. So I'm puzzled. Anyways, the engine obviously needs to be taken apart to the last bolt.

[Homeoboxter]

Here's a picture of the IMS bearing. No sign of damage or even wear.



The sprocket also looks fine looking down from the head. The bottom sprocket is the mirror image



Head off.



Tiny marks from the intake valves.



Or, in this cylinder, from the exhaust valves.



All valves should be closed with the camshafts being off. The reason why they are open is they are bent. It's not very much of a damage after a timing chain failure.