BACK ON THE ROAD AGAIN ? FOLLOW-UP

Well I have been out enjoying having the car running gain as much as possible. I have about 200 miles on it so far and there seem to be no issues. There is a little tappet noise that I don�t remember, but all else seems fine. I haven�t redlined it yet, not really much chance to do that, but I will take it out on the highway and get it up there sometime this week. I wanted to thank everyone for their comments and support, and to give some specific answers and responses as follows: Tippy asked �So are you the first shade-tree mechanic to fix the intermix? If so, you are the hero of the 966 world right now� Actually I don�t think I am the first. This site http://986fix.com shows the rebuild of a Boxster engine that had a cracked head. He also has a series of videos on YouTube that are great to watch. They were really informative and helpful, although I did not do a complete rebuild like he did. Maybe I am the first 996 owner. But I definitely won�t be the last, I am talking with at least 2 other members that are currently working on intermixes with cracked heads in almost the exact same spot as mine. Mother said �My first thought "more guts then brains" but glad to see you have both. From what I have seen your work was well thought out and did not skimp to get it done properly. I hope you get over any strange noises syndrome after doing the work. Great job. � In my case I think it was more guts than money. I have been a spec custom home builder for that last 16 years, and that business is basically dead right now. When the car had the intermix last year and I was told I would have to replace the engine, to the tune of $15,000+ I just parked it. The only choice I really had, particularly if I wanted to stay married. Finally this spring I said what the hell, and just started taking the engine out and apart to see if I could find the problem. I am still suffering from the strange noise syndrome, but that will go away at some point I hope. Todds911 asked �How long would you say it would take you now to drop your engine? Do all the electronics get disconnected via one main wire harness? I used to drop my old 83 911 in 2 hours, but there were no radiators fluids & hoses to deal with. There were the oil lines, two motor mounts and two transmission mounts, the axle hook-ups and the trans linkage. All the electronics were disconnected with one main wire harness in the engine bay. The hardest part was jacking it up and then bringing down the engine/trans unit on my wobbly jack. If you have a C4 it probably is a little more complicated than a C2, but I hear you can remove the trans first in the 996 without having to remove engine along with it. Can you give me some insight on the challenges, like how you jacked the car up far enough, how you physically dropped the engine down? You must have some self-made engine or trans dollies, etc.?� After all the practice I go with dropping the engine and putting it back in (5 times with the crack, sensor and cam plug issues) I would say I could drop the engine in 3-4 hours, including all the braces, etc. After the second drop I did not put everything back in place on the other drops until I knew the engine was good. With a 996 there are a few more lines etc. to disconnect than with an air-cooled engine. About 6-8 hose clamps/hoses for the cooling system, the main electric is two big connectors, but they are easy, two fuels lines for most (mine also had two at the AC compressor, but these apparently are not common), and removing the AC compressor, which was a pain until I found the easy way to get at the rear bolt, the power steering lines and a few other misc items. A C4 only has three bolts on the cardan shaft (drive shaft to the front) so this doesn�t add much to the job. I always dropped the engine and trans together, you can drop the trams alone, but you need a support for the back of the engine, and the upper bolts on the trans are a pain to get at. I had the rear of the car about 33� above the ground so that the engine could rool out on the jack I used with easy clearance. The front was probably 26� or more up, this made it easy to get off all the plastic shield and the hoses on the cooling system to clean it out. To jack up the car I used a Torin Big Red jack hydraulic that goes to 26�-28� and 2x12 blocks under the oil pan and the front cross member. This allowed me to put jack stands under the jacking points. Had to buy some tall jack stands. I used a ATV jack from Torin under the oil pan (again with 2 x 12 blocks) and the hydraulic jack under the trans. The only challenge with this was that the ATC jack would not go high enough so I had to put a 2x12 a few bricks and another 2x12 on the jack, lower the engine half way, then put blocks under the exhaust to temporarily hold the engine. Remove the bricks and one 2x12 and then lower the engine the ret of the way. For the trans I lowered it with the jack onto an extra roller creeper. This allows me to roll the engine out from under the car on the ATV jack and the roller creeper. Kind of a pain, but it worked. Yasuro said �if intermix can be fixed for $5k - $8k, i'd say there'd be a ready market for this service.: I think if one has a shop with the tools and equipment the intermix/crack I had should be under $5,000 to fix. Figure 20 hours labor at $100/hr. and $1,500 for the head fix and parts, it could be less than $4,000. However, not all intermixes will be from the same crack. I will try to post a more complete write-up in the not to distant future. Just wish I had taken more pictures. I took quite a few, but when things got rolling I just focused on getting the darn thing done. Again, thanks to everyone for your interest.

Bravo. I dropped my engine almost exactly like that. The good thing is the lack of individual electrical connections. The car has two military type multi pin connecters to disconnect the whole thing, almost...the exhaust can stay in place untill you have it out. My wife thought it was like Legos while she watched the progress. Good luck with the funny noise syndrome! An inspiration for sure.

Sounds like you may have a stuck lifter... You should have sent them to me for blueprinting ;-) You may have also ended up with some sealant ending up in a critical part of an oil galley feeding the lifter valley and thats impeding lifter "pump up".... That sealant does bad things.. In fact its more than likely what dislodged the cam expansion plugs, believe it or not.

Perhaps this is a new calling for you.... Not dropping 996 engines, but writing a book on the process. Similar to how Wayne did it in Pelican Parts..... If you documented the process with pics, and added in all of your detailed commentary on shortcuts and gotchas, I'm sure many would-be home 996 mechanics would be interested. Especially now that the prices have dropped to the point where new buyers tend to be more of the type to get their hands dirty with DIY's.... Regardless, great job! Congratulations. I'm sure the driving feels great!

If you wrote a book, I'd buy it. Paying a couple of bucks for "real" knowledge is worth it.

What is the strange noise? (I searched but could not find reference to it)

Awesome work! Glad your wife allowed you to spend all that time fixing the car. I guess as long as you are not spending $15k, she can do without seeing you for a few months! I hope most of us never have to go through what you did!