Dear Aunty Jane- It’s me again.
So I had my nice sit down and think. After taking the Porsche engine to pieces, we found that the engine is actually in fairly good shape after all. The crank and bearings look nice. The pistons and bores are smooth and good to go. The head was an interesting one though. 3 broken valve springs with several soft and leaning over. But no bent valves? Totally weird dude.
Porsche engine – definitely fixable
So, definitely fixable then and frankly, a shame to throw in the bin. It still says “PORSCHE” on the lid after all which surely counts for something. Being a Zimbabwean trained motor mechanic, raised under sanctions, one can and should always make a plan. We didn’t need that much to fix her heart. A top gasket set, a set of valve springs, a cam follower too. An engine mounting and a set of used valve springs would do. Oh, and a distributor rotor arm- ours was broken.
it’s a secret
Dirk Matthee holds a lot of used Porsche stuff and he had most of what we needed. The piston rings presented a tougher challenge, but after scouring some Mahle Piston catalogues, I found a set available locally. I wont say what they are from- it’s a secret, suffice to say they cost 3% of the price of the set from Porsche. The distributor rotor looked very VW like and bugger me if a Golf Mk1 rotor arm isn’t the exact fit. I mean, the exact fit. R78– sold!
We are now at the stage where the engine is built and installed. Soon, maybe even tomorrow, we will swing her to raise oil pressure. Then, the plugs go back in and we try for ignition. I’m quite excited really. This is recycling at its very finest. We are saving this old girl from the scrap heap which makes me feel virtuous. I just want to hear her run and to drive her a bit and then who knows? If she feels a bit underpowered, we may simply create a 944 Turbo…
So that’s the story thus far. With some patience, some ingenuity and persistence we will bring this car back to life for not that much expense. After all, driving a 39 year old Porsche is way greener than buying a brand new Tesla. That ticks my eco check box nicely.
So, I don’t really have any questions for you at the moment, I just wanted to give you some feedback and tell you how excited I am.
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Read Part One HERE:
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