1988 Porsche 944 Track Toy

The oil cooler I have used before, B&M 70265 Fairly small so easier to mount. The only tricky part is setting up all the fittings and hose.

I ordered the stuff for my external oil cooler. Thanks for the suggestions! This looks like it'll work.

That's 10 feet of -10AN hose, two 22mm -10AN male adapters and crush washers, two -10AN hose ends, two 1/2 NPT hose ends, and the aforementioned B&M Cooler.

For the record: Black Friday sales all suck. Nobody actually gives deals on stuff you actually need. Boo.

This all cost substantially more than a used stock 951 oil cooler would have, but this will look really good. Hopefully it will perform well, but as we all know:

It is better to look good than to feel good. --Fernando

I'm feeling a little bummed today because I went and checked the tracking for my $700 parts order and it says it was "Delivered to Front Door" on the day before Thanksgiving.

There's no package at my front door. :-(

In reply to CrookedRacer:

Oh no, that's terrible! Neighbors perhaps?

It did suck, and I was sad for three days.

Today while walking my dog I began checking porches. I walked all the way up the 200-foot driveway of my neighbor's house, two doors down. The box was right there on their porch but it wasn't visible until I was halfway up the front steps.

Turns out these neighbors haven't begun living there yet, which explained why they hadn't dropped the package by.

Score! glad it wasn't stolen.

I did some parts cleaning yesterday evening. I should get used to typing that.

I started with the scale on the outside of the oil cooler console, and cleaning of the various seal surfaces, which are in rough shape wherever it was supposed to seal coolant.

There was much red RTV silicone in the channels.

I can't tell whether the RTV is there because the channels were rotten before, or if the rot is there because someone used RTV.

In either case, I think I'll be forced to use RTV in concert with the seals I purchased, simply because the pits are deep enough that I don't think the normal seals are going to be able to fill and seal them.

Then I got a little ahead of myself and did some assembly of the fittings and the oil cooler. I do wish I had bought a 45 degree one for the horizontal-facing port of the console, but I think the 90 will work out just fine too.

The fittings are bigger than I expected but I'm pleased because there won't be any restriction and the additional oil capacity can't hurt (other than the weight). I'm thinking I should have bought the nylon braided kind in that respect.

So now we're getting into the nitty gritty of this engine rebuild.

I've got it completely apart, crankshaft out, pistons out.

The "good" bearings are pretty beat up and flaky. And I learned that there's a machinist very near me in Maryland who has developed a race bearing fix that should help keep this problem from occurring ever again.

He's officially retired, but he still does stuff for 944 folks from time to time...

It's kind of like when The Bride traveled to Japan to visit swordmaker Hattori Hanzo, who once created legendary samurai swords of unparalleled quality. But he's sworn an oath to stop making them.

The bride's story is so compelling — and her revenge so justified — that of course Hattori Hanzo forges her a sword.

"I have vermin to kill."

Yeah, it's kind of like that.

So Michael Mount is going to come out of retirement, and prepare my connecting rods by machining them big ends to true round, adapting and sizing them for a true race-quality bearing developed for NASCAR. He's going to prepare my crankshaft as well (one I'm buying from Just Joshin' Used Porsche 944 Parts, not the old crank) starting with cleaning and magnaflux inspection. He'll cross-drill the rod journals #2 and #3 for better oiling, polish all the journals, and confirm the oil clearances so that when I put it all together, it should be perfect for killing vermin.

Meanwhile, I've got lots of parts to clean, not the least of which is the block. Here's the oil pump I'll be taking apart this weekend:

That black crud is gasket maker (possibly Loctite 574, possibly something equivalent)...

I got my used crankshaft and a set of forged rods from Just Joshin' Used Porsche 944 Parts this week, and this morning I took my block, my pistons, the crank cradle, the old rods, the crank, and the forged rods to Michael Mount so he could assess everything.

We chose to use the forged rods for their strength, and because they should mitigate deformation in a high rev environment. They weigh exactly the same as the cast ones do, so they'll be legal (no points) in PTE class rules.

He is going to clean up the piston skirts to ensure there's no residual steel shrapnel embedded in them, and he's going to clean the block for me inside and out, something that I was really not looking forward to doing.

Michael assessed the pistons and cylinder bores and agreed they were usable.

So stay tuned for some serious assembly updates, sometime in mid-January. I can't wait!

I got the oil pump apart with generous heat from a propane torch (the kind a plumber uses). It was necessary in order to loosen the loctite on the screws. Even then, it was a close one... the Allen socket head screws were just about to give when the threads popped loose.

Once everything cooled down, this is what I found:

The pump turns easily enough, but those gouges and scoring in the housing (along with the even deeper scoring in the aluminum side) are only going to rob the efficiency of the oil pump, whinch is the last thing one needs in a race engine.

So this is likely another part that will need replacement.

I don't think I mentioned what Michael Mount will be doing to prep the crankshaft.

First he'll clean it up. Then he will magniflux inspect it for cracks, then for trueness and journal tolerances.

He's going to cross-drill the #2 and #3 rod journals for better oiling, and then he will micro-polish all journals.

Finally he will check oil clearances on all the rod bearings, so I shouldn't have to worry about that when I assemble things.

Can you tell I am excited? It's like Christmas Eve!

John, What's your status? I'm doing my swap starting tonight. Yoo hoo! There are more good parts on my parts car than I thought, so I may swap more than I thought. Give me a holler if you want to compare notes. PTE here I come!

Last night I picked up my clean block, modified rods, bead-blasted pistons, race-prepped crankshaft, and NASCAR-grade rod bearings from Michael Mount.

Today I took advantage of the weather and gutted the passenger door. No more power windows and locks!

Tomorrow and Monday I will be removing more of the unused wiring and possibly painting the interior. Maybe I will remove more of the dash. Gotta lose way more weight.

Glad you are on schedule!

Sounds great...your build is impressive. I have a no points engine so heading to the rule book to strategize. Enjoy the weather!

Thanks Jack!

So the short block is back on the stand. No modifications here, just very cleaned up and the Alusil is looking really good.

The freeze plugs were removed to allow thorough cleaning, and new ones put in.

Here you can see the modification that was made to the forged rods to accommodate the tougher Clevite bearings. This is for durability and provides no HP advantage. As I mentioned earlier, they weigh the same as cast rods. So no points here.

Here are the bearings side by side. The new Clevite bearing is substantially narrower than the stock one. It's a little disconcerting, but that's what I expected.

Here's the #2 piston, and some of the damage that was done by the bearing shrapnel at Watkins Glen last year. Michael Mount beadblasted this area to ensure no steel remained embedded in the skirts.

The crankshaft was checked for cracks, checked for true, cross-drilled on the #2 and #3 rod journals, micro-polished on all the journals, and tolerance checked. And a reminder to replace the pilot bearing. I have a nice new one of those, too.

Yesterday and today, however were unseasonably warm days in the Washington DC area. I wasn't going to waste them inside the garage. So I spent them outside working on the car itself.

First I gutted the passenger door, which I've been meaning to do. I took it to its logical conclusion this time, and took out all the wiring all the way back to the terminal blocks above the footwell. It was nice to be able to quickly disconnect the loom there. I went ahead and removed the wiring from the driver's side, and removed the headliner and map light forward of the cage's front hoop.

I also used a heat gun to remove the sound deadening material inside the door.

I have a few things to research now, like the best way to remove the headlight pop-up mechanisms, headlights, fog lights, and the dashboard if I decide to get crazy.

I also need to find out if it's possible to disassemble my oil pressure regulator valve to clean it. It might be harboring more bearing pieces.

Finally, I did some research into how and where I will place my new external oil cooler. I still have mucho decisions left to make on that.

Just my usual comments, loctite 518 or 515 on all gaskets and flanges, no leaks are a wonderful thing on race engines ! As a rule of thumb with seals black is standard, red is better and blue is high temp, my preference. A good bearing and seal shop should be able to match to a sample. Like everything sealing lip design has advanced over 30 years. SKF sight is a good one for info. Thanks for the great write up :)

Porsche-there is no substitute....

I would be worried about those bearings too. Although minimal, there is a power advantage as the more narrow bearing will have less resistance.

The headlight mechanism is huge and heavy. Removing it would shed some serious weight. like 20lbs+ easy from my memory of trying to get it back in a car.

I dont know that the headlights have any way to stay in without the mechanism however. If you want to gut them and leave the lids you would need to fab something to hold the radiator sides in place.

In reply to Flight Service:

I don't believe that's true.

If you go to bearing manufacturers websites (SKF is a good one), most have bearing calculators that calculate rotational friction resistance from a bearing. The width of a bearing literally isn't a factor in the formulas. That's because the wider the bearing gets, the larger the area over which the normal force is distributed. The lower normal pressure per unit area means lower resistance per unit area. The relationship is linear. So it doesn't matter how wide the bearing is, the rotational resistance is the same.

...To an extent, that is... as the width of the bearing approaches a knife edge, or if you have a really wide bearing that can't possibly be loaded uniformly, many other factors come into play.

That's my understanding of the formulas for a simplified model, anyway.

You are actually correct, though. Theoretically, the narrower bearings offer a very small performance increase... but due to their lighter weight. The thing is, the crankshaft weighs SO MUCH relative to a sliver of bearing, it certainly wouldn't be measurable.

Yesterday I posted on the 944 Spec racers page on Faceballs, asking how everyone does their headlight deletes on their rides.

I got a great idea from one guy who retained the pivot bar for the attachment at the top, then made a little bracket to hold the front edge in place. I liked that one so that's what I will be doing on mine.

And they're gone! This car no longer can be driven after dark. It's official!

In reply to CrookedRacer: Nice! That definitely makes for extra space in the nose. Looks great.

Looks good! That pivot bar is heavy though!

CrookedRacer wrote: In reply to Flight Service: I don't believe that's true. (some time later...) You are actually correct, though.

Well which is it?

Maybe it is a green transmission thing.

Flight Service wrote: Well which is it?

I can't make up my mind.

Speaking of which, I've been feeling less than enthusiastic about putting this engine together again. I'm battling a general lack of motivation. I think much of it is fear. I sometimes tend to put off that which I'm afraid of. Or which I fear will just be a general pain in the ass, like cleaning that damn oil pan.

My SPEC order was cancelled due to being out of stock. So instead, I have ordered a Fidanza lightweight flywheel, a stock Sachs clutch that a friend had purchased but wasn't using, an Ishihara-Johnson crank scraper (steel), and I've been rebuilding a used oil pump that will hopefully be an improvement over the one I showed off earlier.

The "new" oil pump looks like it's seen some metal junk move through it as well. Maybe they all look that way? Or is this serious?

Here it is before cleaning it up. It was seized with a bit of rust but it wasn't serious at all. I cooked the aluminum behind the two hex socket head screws with a propane torch for like five minutes each to loosen the Loctite... I was really lucky that the hex heads didn't strip out while trying to remove them. I would buy two more screws but Home Depot never has the specific screws I need. I can get 50 stainless screws from Amazon for $12 shipped. Should I do that?

This is after cleaning up - there are still what appears to be some bits of metal embedded in the pump. Most I've made smoother with some emery paper, but some remain, including this one which can be pretty clearly seen in the picture. I'm not sure how to remove it or whether it really matters.

The pump spins pretty freely after some sanding with some 360 grit emery paper. So I'm hoping it'll be ok.

Anyway, the bottom line is that progress is slow whenever I find myself in a cloud of uncertainty. My hope is that things start picking up once I have the crank scraper on hand for final assembly of the bottom end. I wasn't sure whether I wanted a teflon one, a steel one, or none at all. But I think I got some good advice from the guys at Ishihara-Johnson who said the steel one would do me a lot of good, and that if a safe engine is my goal, that I should save the cash from the teflon version and get a brand new OEM pickup instead.

This is because one of the most common causes of bearing failure (besides viscosity breakdown due to high oil temps, and besides oil starvation due to Turn 10 at Watkins Glen) is a broken pickup tube. They generally fail from years and years of metal fatigue, and a brand new one just starts the clock all over again. It sounded like a great idea to me, so I have one on order now. Just some extra insurance to help me sleep better.