Bummed, 944 with howling bearing

[TooManyWrenches]

I do have access to a good machine shop that built the bottom end of that last engine that needed machine work - an old SBC. But I know what work goes into that and its pretty pricey to do it all correctly and then add on the Porsche Tax. Hopefully I was able to turn the engine off before the crank got too bad, But if it needs more than a polish, likely Marsha (car's name) will get a heart transplant. Just waiting a few more days to hear back on this job.

[seiplej]

My recent engine rebuild was about 4k total. All standard rebuild parts. Nothing in mine required a lot of machining.

[TooManyWrenches]

Yeah, I figure that even if its just new bearings and a polish to the crank, I'm gonna be in for more time and money than i want to give. Bummer, but this car is going up for sale.

[TooManyWrenches]

So I pulled the motor out, figured that at worst I would sell the car with the motor out if it was junk.
Pleasantly surprised to find the crank in decent shape. One rod bearing was pretty bad, one main had a 1mm gouge in it right into the copper. I'm thinking that a balance shaft bearing failed as one of them was pretty loose upon disassembly. I ordered up all new bearings from 944store. I will home polish the crank, it had wear but not enough to take it down to the .5mm for undersized (and those aren't available anyways). I believe I have .001" to polish before the crank is too small, but I'll double check. hopefully the bearings will crush to the small side. I may have to swap them around to find the right combo, plastigage should help (nothing is perfect in the mechanical world, find tolerances that work together!)
Now I'm in the process of making mounting bolts for the engine stand (lathe work), then I'll be finishing the cleaning of the block. Also have to mic the balance shafts, and crank. The water pump studs are corroded, but otherwise the block is fine, there was one scratch in a cylinder that I hit with a soft scotchbrite and oil by hand. That removed the burr but of course is not going to fix the scratch. I'm a little worried about the cam and the cam bearing surface in the tower- I can't find wear specs in the service manual. And I got one dead lifter.
The worst part is: I can not for like of me figure out where all the debris came from, ALL the bearings were complete. nothin was spun. And the motor is 100% disassembled down to the last bolts in the oil pump. I hate to blame everything on the last guy, and this motor only has around 35k miles on it. It had the original dated 9-84 bearings both main and rod. The head gasket was fine, but there was a bunch of rust flakes on two of the head studs inside the block. They cleaned up, and since I can't buy just 2 studs (been looking), I'll just run what Ive got. The pistons are great looking, no carbon build up in the rings. Deck seems flat, head seems flat. Found a bunch of sludge in one crevice of the girdle, but not blocking the gallery. The oil pump had a spooge of sludge in it too. I know it sat with coolant and oil mix in the crankcase for at least 2 years, maybe the coolant attacked the bearings, but I did multiple oil flushes and it was never run low on oil.

[whalenlg]

but not enough to take it down to the .5mm for undersized (and those aren't available anyways)

For other readers, I did find new, .25mm under sized Porsche oem main and acl rod bearings from ebsracing earlier this year. Worth checking with them if needed.

[Supernaut]

Sounds like relatively good news! Here are my suggestions:

Worn cam journal - either send to line2linecoatings to plus up the diameter with anti friction coating, or new hot cam from Lindsey

Balance shaft covers - make sure the covers are original and matched to the correct side of the engine - these are line bored when assembled at factory so are not interchangeable. If someone did swap them earlier, maybe it contributed somehow to the looseness/failure you saw.

Dead lifter - if you're going to replace it, please send me the dead one? I have an idea about how to recondition them without disassembly. I'd test my own, but they all just went back in the motor.

[Lowencash]

Embrace the disgrace.

Howling Wolf logo.jpg (81.66 KiB) Viewed 803 times

[TooManyWrenches]

Been waiting on parts and stuff. Still can't figure out what failed. Broke a ring because I couldn't drive 10 minutes to the orileys, had to wait a week for new rings. The bottom end is back together. I polished the crank by hand, and the plasitgage said the new bearings have .002 +/- .0005" of clearance. The pistons had good deal of carbon on the top. Looked like a very low mile engine per the pistons, but the bearings were definitely run dry at some point.

[TooManyWrenches]

And there of course was drama with getting bearings. i bought a set of ACL rod bearings and aftermarket mains from 944store.com. Emanuel (sales manager) stood up for the crappy packing job of the drop shippers and replaced the dinged up mains. that cost 2 weeks to get replacements. So 944store gets my big thumbs up recommendation for good customer service - they were the only place that had reasonable priced bearings available.

I'm trying to rehab the lifter, but if it won't come back to life I'll give it away to someone. The INA VT0022 definitely does not fit the 8v engine, as reported on the interwebs, I'd love to find a reasonable price replacement, right now they are over $100 each.