Most liked posts in thread: 998 Automatic Engine Rebuild

Only got about 3/4 of the first can to spray, then it just quit......I tried cleaning the nozzle but no joy, so I broke out the second can and it not only sprayed better and lay down smoother I was able to use the whole can. Plenty of paint on there now. So now it's just time to let it cure out.....probably at least 12 - 24 hours till I can safely handle the parts. I'll let it cure out for at least a week to harden off good.

 

It's always sumthin..... things were moving along swimmingly till I noticed this......


I don't know how I didn't see it before but there it is. That black line is where the rear main seal rides, and it has worn thru the surface hardening of the gear. I've never seen one wear like this before - I've seen them wear a groove in but not this, where the surface is worn off like this.



And of course, 998 A+ (82-92) automatics are completely different from all the others!

I was able to find a new one at a specialty shop in England so it's on it's way to me, but will probably take 2 weeks to get here. Till then I can mount the engine on the gearbox and bolt the head on, but then I'm stuck till the gear gets here.

Click on the pics to see it up close....pretty gnarly, dude.

 

That was less than an hour of work, so no worries.....

And I'm done for today, tomorrow will be spent looking for the correct fasteners and laying them out, attaching a few more bits and bobs and so on.

Friday the primary gear is supposed to be here, so then I can add the rear cover, torque converter, oil pump and lines and so on, then it's about ready to go into the engine stand - that will be a red letter day!

I may have a buddy come over first and help me set it into the box again so I can make sure it will fit and look at how I'm going to brace it up.

Once it's in the engine stand I'll fire it up and run in the cam, once I get the timing set and all that, let it cool down overnight and retorque the head, reset the valves and fire it up one more time, then it's ready to go into the box and get shipped off. I'm going to have to check but I think my original estimate of time - given all that was going on - was back to him by the end of July - I'm right on pace to do that.

I may try and turn it over with my big ass 1/2" drill motor on the bench, otherwise it my have to crank an awful lot to fill the torque converter before it pressurizes the bearings.

 

I got the engine mounted up in the test bed, all wired and plumbed except for the water temp, I seem to have misplaced the adaptor - I can get one from Vicky Brits so I'll do that this afternoon.

In the one pic you can see my modified engine steady bracket - this engine really wanted to lean over in the test stand so I had to adjust the turnbuckle quite a bit to get it straight.

I also still have the lift bracket Clancy gave me on the engine and I'm using my "paint" valve cover rather than the nice aluminum one I bought for him, because the tin one works with the lift bracket and the aluminium one doesn't - makes it easier to get it in and out of the stand.

Next up, crank up oil pressure. I used my big half inch drill to try and crank up pressure on the bench but it would barely roll it over, and it got hot pretty quickly - I think the oil pressure came up but it had to fill the oil filter cannister and the torque converter - I put 5 qts in and now it's a quart low. I have to take the red bracket off to get the oil cap off so I can add oil - PITA. At any rate, I don't think it will take much cranking to get pressure on the gauge now, but before I could try it I had to charge up my battery.

Next up..............videos!

 

After re-torqueing the head, resetting the valves, double triple checking the timing and adjusting the carb as best I could, I pulled the 998 auto out of the engine stand and loaded it into the shipping crate on the pallet I made for it out of the one my compressor came on. I cut some 1X8 boards into L shapes and screwed them to the corners of the pallet so the box couldn't shift around on the pallet. I cut up some bits of 2X4 to make blocks so the engine couldn't shift around in the box, then I made some steel brackets out of EMT so that the engine couldn't tumble either, it's as bolted down as I can make it.






I found all the spare bits and boxed them up - new coil and coil wire, exhaust fittings kit, K&N air filter, spare oil filter and quart of oil and the extra heater hose he had asked for, even tho he won't be using the heater on this car as it's strictly a summer car for him.

All I need to do now is gather all the paper work and put it in the box too, then bolt the top on the container and wait for the truck to show up. I'll also put his ratchet straps around the container and pallet so it will be firmly attached......then I'm done.

If you go back and look at the pics of how it arrived, you'll see why I made so much effort to make sure it arrives safely back in Boston.

This has been an interesting project, and it looks like he may be sending more work my way later this year, but before I do anymore of his first I need to get a couple of my own projects finished up!

 

Well, I hope he gets it installed before Xmas! All he has to do is set it in the subframe and raise it up into place, hook everything up and turn the key.

He has another 998 automatic being delivered to me next month for a rebuild, and in October I'll probably see the white car for a suspension overhaul.

Monday I'll contact the trucking company and see when they can come get it - I hope it's quick, I need the space in my shop!

Just found out he bought a Classic Mini Pickup shell from a friend of mine - no idea what his plans are for that, but I have a feeling the second 998 auto rebuild might have something to do with it!

 

I would like to do a supercharged 998, I think it would really be fun. Don't know what he has for a budget for this car yet....

 

Yep, pallet jack......

Next up I need to work on my own damn cars! I need to finish my Innocenti and I may be going to overhaul the engine in my Racing Green 89 - or I might go ahead and start on my rear engined Mini project (Ecoboost) although I have a feeling it won't be an Ecoboost, but either an R53 motor or a Honda.

 

The owner wants a specific color for this engine/transmission, Resida Green rather than the dark Morris Green that most of them were painted, so I ordered it up from the local automotive paints store and OMG is paint getting expensive! 2 cans of color and 2 cans of epoxy primer - $123!

 

I can't see the point of using this over good ol RustyOleum or POR15, other than custom color. A good etch primer and brushed on POR looked every bit as good as this stuff......

And $122 for 4 cans of spray paint? Sheesh.....

 

I'll have a 20-30 min long run to break in the cam, then let it cool overnight - retorque the head and reset the valves, then run it another 20 min or so to make sure there are no leaks and it doesn't run hot, has good oil pressure etc. Then I'll double check the timing and mixture and call it good.

As this is a street engine and on an auto trans, I'm not worried about him running it too hard during break in. Plus too and also, this car won't be getting that many miles the rest of the year before it gets put away for winter....I doubt he'll have it back in the car before Sept or Oct as his shop is really busy too.

 

Just a few seconds run time as I don't have any coolant in it yet, and it's blistering hot outside and don't want to leave the back door open any longer than necessary......