Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Just got back from a great weekend camping in wales and the car ran like a dream and didn't hesitate at all on the 4 hour drive there and back .

Anyway, i have a new engine which i will be dumping in my car in the next month after i finish spraying it, while its out on the bench i was thinking of tarting it up a bit.

Question is, should i spary/hammerite the engine, or clean it and leave plain or polish? i have seen some really great looking 944 lumps and not sure where to start, anyone had a go themselves at this?

http://www.lindseyracing.com/LR/Parts/ENGINES.html

Stewart Gordon up here in the TIPEC Scotland region painted his block to match his bodywork last year. It’s in the last issue of All Torque, but the photo wasn’t the best. Issue 81 (April), page 19. You can check it online here.

I'd go for clean/polish personally. A lot more work but it has the advantage that if & when you have an oil leak it doesn't strip the paint. Cleaned my head & cambox & polished the letters to a mirror shine with wet & dry & I think it looks a lot better than when it was painted. A good time to repaint the engine bay. Down to your own preference in the end.

The last engine I built was the wover, pic below. This had a silver sprayed crankcase using wheel silver from Wilkinsons which are the cheapest.
The silver looks better than the original alli & also stays cleaner.
The engine before was a CVH for the Scimitar & that had a red (body colour) Plastikote finish.. Any decent oil based paint is OK for a crankcase.
I've polished alloy blocks in the past & it is bl00dy hard work, if you really must then it may be worth getting it bead blasted.

I think the silver engine paint looks best and it'll be oil and heat resistant. Painting just the cam cover would be good though.

Okay i've had a look around and at the moment im thinking of painting the engine silver, and the cam cover metallic yellow or dark metallic red, a contrast to the body colour would be nice and rub down the lettering on the top down to the metal and polish them, then im going to polish the intake manifold, now i just have to sit down and do it

Yup it takes forever, the rocker covers on the Rover above are around 3 days work. Rubbed down, filled & primed, sprayed body colour, rubbed back for the silver fins on top then lacquered!

paint

with polished esp. mirrored finish it's hard to maintain, you'll be constantly wiping off fingerprints...probably develop OCD

I've now started work on the engine and thought i would take pics step by step to keep you all updated , im going to be working on it each evening for the next couple weeks so should have updated pics each night , im stripping bits off as we speak, but for now, heres some pics of the engine before any work:

The engine is a 2.5na 1988, and i can already see some slight tweaks from my current 83 engine, and although this one is filthy compared to my current engine, under all the grime it seems to be in great nick

Been busy this week but managed to do a little to the engine the last couple of nights, removed and baged eall the small parts that are bolted to the engien with the plane to get the block as bare as i can without taking the head fully off so i can mask up and enamel the block, also used an ultrasonic cleaner to clean up my injectors and will order new rubber seals and new cambelt kit this week , since this picture was taken i have also removed the clutch and its housing. The larger parts that have been removed will be sand blasted and painted seperatly, i have tested some red hammerite on the alternator support and its not quite right, so will try out soem more colours.

Just a quick question, any tips on how to remove the large lower cog at the bottom of the cam belt assembly, and also the two balance shaft rollers? some pics of how the engine is looking now

Looking good.
To remove the balance shaft pulleys you need a special tool to hold the pulley in place while you undo the nut, cant remember the part no but its in the workshop manual which is worth downloading. I cheated and used 2 screwdrivers that were a perfect fit for the 2 holes, very tricky though.

For the large pulley you will need a flywheel lock to stop the crank turning and a strong arm (or long lever) as the crank bolt is torqued to 210 nm.
I would imagine you will be looking at the clutch before fitting the motor so if you don't have a flywheel lock you could do as I did and bolt a long length of unistrut to the crank or flywheel.

Any of the above 'bodges' are at your own risk and no responsibility for skinned knuckles, lost limbs or broken tools.

You will probably also need a gear puller unless they have been removed recently.

Thanks for the info, i have the manual and did spot those, was just hoping i wouldn't have to buy them , as for the clutch i will be replacing it.

I'm in no huge hurry so will hunt around for the tools, thanks

I can recommend Bruce Arnn's stuff http://www.arnnworx.com

The only tool you actually need is the flywheel lock, lock the crank at TDC with all the marks aligned. The lock can come from Arnworx. It is ESSENTIAL that the crank does NOT move when working on the belts. Get yourself a Krikit to tension the belts when finished.
The balance shafts can be undone using the belt to stop them rotating & done up the same.
Looks a bit oily in there so you may need to do the seals & possibly top hats.

Never locked the flywheel once when doing the belts. As long as you check the timing marks after fitting the belts and rotate the engine by hand before starting all will be well.