New POS project vehicle!

[CurtP]

How about a pic of the progress? I've already posted the before shots, so here's the teardown:


Here's where I am today:






I found a set of aftermarket SFR headers to replace the factory manifolds. They arrived and right back out the door they went to Swain Tech for coating. Other than the headers, there's only a handful of small parts that I need. The plater lost one of my brackets and various washers, bolts and nuts. I have a new chip to install in the computer before I start it too. I only have a couple of waste gate hoses to connect then I can install the intake. I'm getting close.

[DJJordache]

stellar work as usual!

[CurtP]

Thanks, but to be honest, it isn't up to my usual standards. I'd love to pull the engine and have the entire engine and engine bay soda blasted. The Alusil block cleans up really nice - I've seen quite a few of them polished and they look amazing. Not that I'd go that far, but it would be nice to get rid of all the oxidation.

Basically once everything is installed, everything that you see will look nice. From underneath it looks nice - it's all the stuff that's in the middle that still looks like crap. It will have to do for now until I figure out what else I want to do with it. Next round of plating will be all the hardware I forgot this time, plus the heat shields and exhaust hangers from under the car. I had quite a bit plated and all of it was around $100. I'm just not happy that some of the stuff is missing.

But for the most part, getting everything plated was a way to stop the corroding and make what's left last longer. Plus I did discover some parts were in dire need of replacing (like a coolant line that was severely damaged in an area that couldn't be seen when it was installed). I found a wicked vacuum leak coming from a ruptured diaphragm in the heater control valve too. I had no idea, but since I had it apart, I decided to replace all the heater hoses and the control valve since they're prone to failure. So as I'm putting it back together, I'm testing the vacuum lines and inspecting the wiring. I'm hoping that all this will pay off with considerably better fuel economy and more reliable driving.

I can't wait to see what it looks like with the intake and fuel rail in place! The rail looks great and I think the intake turned out nice too. The cam tower is painted with Eastwood's wrinkle paint, and the intake was done with their Aluma Blast paint. I had acid etched the intake and it looked great until I touched it with dirty hands - then it stained and nothing would get it clean again (except another cleaning with acid). I'm hoping the weather holds out tomorrow so I can wrap up the upper engine.

[CurtP]

Getting there:

[Bort62]

Looks great man!

Hang in there btw - Life has it's ups and downs.

[CurtP]

Headers arrived today. I'm planning on having it running tomorrow

Today I redid all my vacuum lines. Previously I had just replaced the sections the PO had installed and never really check to see how he had them run. Like everything else that moron did, they were all fucked up. Each individual vacuum device was tested, then each branch was tested prior to final connections to the intake. Found a couple of issues that are now resolved.

I refinished the AFM the other day - it looks great. It's installed along with the airbox. I'm still missing some parts, but nothing that will prevent me from getting it running.

I think the only things left is the header heat shield needs to be installed, the headers installed, the heater crossover tube needs installed, the reference and O2 sensors connected, and the cooling system filled/bled. Oh, and I still need to install the chip in the computer too.

No pics today. Ran out of light before I got to a stopping point.

[MoparBoy01]

Looking good man, awesome work

[CurtP]

Well, that sucked balls. Car was together for about 24 hours. #4 is still a geyser and when I pulled it back apart, found that the cylinder is cracked. So now I'm back to square one.

I have sourced several short blocks. Looks like the one I want is 17 hours away and still in the parts car. Looks like a road trip to go yank a motor, bring it back and do a complete refresh (all seals, gaskets and bearings).

It will be a while before I have any new updates.

[CurtP]

Small update: Drove 17 hours to Arkansas to get an engine. Got there, dropped the engine from the parts car, stripped it down to a short block and had it on the stand in just a few hours. Did an acid wash the next day, stuck it in the back of my WK along with a bunch of interior parts and drove 17 hours back home. I was at the guy's house for 23 hours. The following day (yesterday) I jumped back in my Jeep and drove up to Ashburn, VA for work. Since Friday, I've been in my Jeep for close to 40 hours and logged over 2500 miles.

Looks like I'll be picking back up on this project sooner than expected.

[Ken L]

Oh but it's going to be so cool to have that back on the road. I really like the details that you're taking care of.

[greengc4x4]

Wow Curt, I forgot how beautiful that car is since I saw it in person. You surely do amazing work to any vehicle you touch. It is looking very good.

[CurtP]

Saturday:

[ATL ZJ]

LS...?

[paulkeith]

crazy...are they transaxle cars?

[Jeeptech01]

I think it is similar to a vette with the torque tube/ transaxle setup.

[CurtP]

I have been tossing around the idea of a LSx engine swap for some time. A big part of me wants to do it. I've also thought about pulling the LT1 out of my Formula (396ci), detuning it a little and stuffing it in the Porsche. But a huge part of me wants to keep the Porsche all Porsche. If there was a way to stuff the 928 engine in the bay, I'd do that (it's too wide)!

A big problem with the V8 swaps is everything is half-assed. I have seen ONE that looked good, but I didn't dig down too deep into the install to see how good it really was. The headers made for the swaps don't fit and are stupid expensive. The alternative is a mis-matched set of shorty block huggers, which don't fit for shit either. And nobody that I've seen has a set of long tubes, which is the only way I'd do it. So I'd have to either fabricate my own or have someone make me a set. Wiring harness is another issue - it either takes some time to build your own or $1k to have someone else make it for you (and you have to provide both harnesses; the $1k is labor). If I lucked into a super cheap LS1, I would consider it. But I'd have another $10k-$15k wrapped up into doing it my way (968 6-speed, long-tubes, stainless exhaust, brake upgrades, etc etc etc...

Maybe I should part out the Formula and use that engine and have Stainless Works build me a set of headers.

[CurtP]

crazy...are they transaxle cars?

Yep. The 928, 924, 944, 951 and 968 all have the same basic layout and have a 50/50 f/r weight split. Clutch is still up front, and a clutch change is a 24-hour job.

I still have to drop the rear suspension assembly and transaxle to get the torque tube out. I have a spare torque tube being rebuilt with new driveshaft support bearing assemblies. When I'm done with the car this time, there won't be anything I haven't touched. I was even able to source a brand new engine bay wiring harness for cheap (they're $2200 new). I'm on the lookout for a new engine harness too, but I don't expect to find one of those.

The engine bay is going to be cleaned up and painted while the engine is out. A big box of parts will be shipped out for plating.

[CurtP]

I forgot to take pictures last weekend - I'll try to get some this weekend. AC system is out, everything in the cowl is out, headlight buckets are out and disassembled, most of the brake system is out. There's not much left of her. I'm still piling hardware up to send off to get plated - I have to empty out the inside of the car and go through all that crap too.

The good news is I was able to find my titles for my Formula! I hope the DMV is open Friday so I can go get new plates for her and get her out of storage and inspected. If I can't drive the Porsche, then I'll at least drive the beast this summer!

[CurtP]

I keep meaning to take pictures, but I always forget. I've been in the process of gathering parts and doing more disassembly. The new engine is half assembled and I've been at a stopping point until my parts came back from getting zinc plated (which came in a couple of days ago). I've been trying to sort through 60# worth of nuts, bolts, washers, brackets and heat shields for the last two days. I have a pile of Ziploc bags full of hardware and I'm still not done. This weekend I'm going to try to get the engine done and get started on the engine bay. Engine bay paint is on the way, and I need to pick up my paint guns from storage. The new headliner material arrived and is similar to Alcantara. Last night I ordered yet another steering wheel (a factory one this time) and a couple of parts I will need to put the headlight buckets back together. Dash is out, HVAC plenum is out - I'm down to the bare firewall. I still need to drop the transaxle, rear torsion bar housing and take out the torque tube. My room is full of parts and I have another huge box of parts in storage.

[CurtP]

Pics:

[DJJordache]

nice shiny hardware!

[CurtP]

I'm not happy how the engine looks. I'm going to pick up some small wire brushes and Simple Green tonight and try to give a good scrubbing. Normally I'd use aluminum wheel acid, but it destroys the zinc. I also didn't want to get the acid in the bearings.

This engine was not well taken care of. I could not believe how much sludge was in the counterbalance shaft housings, the oil pan and in the crankcase. It's taking me a lot longer than anticipated and I've had to order more parts - I'm tired of ordering parts!

[CurtP]

The final pieces for the headlight buckets came in yesterday, so I finished getting them together. New pivot bushings and rubber caps on the bump stops. Everything was completely disassembled prior to being plated. The black backdrop is my new headliner material. If the weather holds up this weekend, the plan is to get the engine bay and cowl painted. Engine is coming along pretty well. Oil pan was installed last night.

[DJJordache]

[CurtP]

Some painting was completed this last weekend.

Bedliner in the cowl:


Engine bay in primer: