1999 Carrera 2 project

May 31, 2020 I dragged this home a couple of weeks ago, '99 Carrera, RWD/ 6 speed manual: Heading home The bed of the truck was full of parts! I had been looking for a project for a while, made an offer a while back on a similar Tiptronic 911 but seller wasn't ready to face his situation. Good: 73K miles Clean interior Straight body Not so good: Engine disassembled Bad crankshaft, crazy money for new, hard to find good used Sat for 6+ years, old gas/tires Plan: Found a used short block w/ LN IMS bearing upgrade Inspect/confirm short block condition Reassemble with my heads (already cleaned up) Evaluate everything, replace consumables/common failure items Sell off unneeded good engine parts So far: Replaced trunk struts Siphoned 5 gallons of old nasty gas Scared myself silly reading discussions of failure points and pricing parts 6/4/20 Short block had intermix and some sizable metal debris in the sump, sent it back for a full refund 6/6/20 back to shopping for a solution, at least need a crankshaft. New is $4,000+, used market is pretty thin, usually with journal damage. One source has used/polished for $3,450. 6/9/20 Meanwhile, getting the gas tank cleaned out and ready for the replacement pickup and pump. The float had disentegrated. 6/14/20 Finished with the fuel tank/sender/pump. Frunk cleaned up well. Put compressed air to fuel lines, return line OK, realized supply line goes through fuel filter so clearing will have to wait on filter replacement. 6/29/20 Let's try again

Yeah, sounds like a good idea. Looks ambitious with potential.

50k mile engine from a 2000 Carrera, sump looks much better, oil was pretty clean, no debris

6/29/20 Pretty sure the IMS bearing hasn't been addressed

Quotes source post: 18330068

Nice. Did you scope the cylinders for good measure?

6/29/20 Already buttoned up the sump, I'll be replacing the usual items: water pump, thermostat (160�), AOS, spark plugs & tubes, front & rear crank seals; pondering IMS bearing plan, will at least take its front seal off and replace the flange seal 6/30/20 Changing out the 2000 model e-gas throttle body for the 1999 cable throttle turned into replacing the entire engine harness, making progress though 7/3/20 AOS, T-stat and water pump replaced, throttle body and wiring harness switched out, waiting on parts to minimize oil leaks, making a cam lock tool so I can safely inspect the infamous IMS bearing, gratuitous pic of new shiny bits:

7/4/20 Yesterday I freed up the ignition switch with some CRC electric contact cleaner. Before, it wouldn't reliably turn to on or start. I got the radio unlocked thanks to one of the Rennlist gurus. Today's task was to make a tool for locking bank 1 cams so I can safely inspect the IMS bearing, trial fit here on a spare head. It's not pretty but it works. The screws are holding a second piece to get a 4mm thickness centered in the cam slot. Removing the cam plug in the end of the head allows the tool to engage the exhaust cam, locking it in place. Plan A on the IMSB is to verify that it's good (hopefully), remove the outer seal and replace the flange seal. A couple pics from when I got it home and cleaned up

7/10/20 Back to work, getting closer to installation Got a couple of parts orders in today, leaking seal behind crank pulley replaced, spark plugs and tubes/seals ready to go, then on to RMS replacement and IMS inspection I understand the 996 is relative quiet so I'm planning to do a PSE/Fister-style hack on my mufflers, adding 1 1/2" bypass pipes, should look like this when done 7/11/20 Here's the cam lock tool in use, makes more sense with the cam cover in place. That's the exhaust cam being locked. It's driven by a chain from the IMS on the other end and drives the intake cam via another chain. This engine has 5 chains: crankshaft to IMS, flywheel end of IMS to bank 1, other end of IMS to bank 2, bank 1 exhaust to intake, bank 2 exhaust to intake. 7/17/20 Crank at TDC and locked, bank 1 cams locked, IMS and bank 1 chain tensioners removed, IMS flange and outer bearing seal removed to get to this view The bearing feels fine, turns freely but there's oil where there should have been grease. Not knowing how long it's been that way, there's a new dual row bearing going in.

8/4/20 I've been stuck at IMS bearing removal for a couple of weeks, tried & failed using a cobbled together tool (threaded rod/pilot bearing puller), gave up and bought the proper tool. The old bearing came out in 5 minutes along with a few ounces of oil that don't belong in the shaft. The new bearing is in the freezer getting smaller. 8/5/20IMS bearing installed, replaced o-rings under oil cooler, still need to replace rear main seal

8/16/20 Stalled for a while waiting on a new coolant tank (when they are old they're prone to leak, causing coil pack issues on bank 1). Switched to headlights and then brakes. Coolant tank in, engine in place w/o transaxle so I can get to the rear main seal. I understand it's easier to mate the engine and transaxle out of the car but it was easy to lower the car onto the engine, bolt up the engine mounts and temporarily support the flywheel side. With the engine stand out of the way, I can replace the RMS and install flywheel and clutch. One more diversion before installing the engine, removed the front bumper and cleaned condensor coils and radiators, it was due

8/17/20 RMS, flywheel and clutch installed (pressure plate was new when car was parked, a little rusty but not even broken in)

8/28/20 Added fluids, next morning had a coolant puddle under the new tank. After thinking I'd have to drop the engine and remove the tank, I used a flexible head camera to examine the situation. The tank itself appeared to be ok so I emptied it, pulled the hose off and found a mold line on the hose barb that apparently kept the hose from sealing. I really didn't want to remove the tank so I shaved the edge of the hose barb, put a little gasket sealer on it, reattached the hose with two clamps and refilled, still dry the next morning. Before starting the engine, I wanted to crank it a bit to distribute oil to all the nooks and crannies I had emptied. Nothing happened when I turned the key. A bit of research led to using a jumper to bypass the start lock relay. Success. I added gas and tried to start with no success. It seemed the DME (Porsche speak for ECU) wasn't energizing anything. I started back at the key, changed out the electrical part of the switch but no joy. Replaced the blown fuel pump fuse. More research made me think the immobilizer wasn't recognizing the key (only have one). Finally checked fuses (again), no fuse in the DME slot. Next start attempt was successful but ran rough. It threw misfire codes for #1 (P301/P1313) and #2 (P302/P1314), both below the coolant tank. I changed those two coils, cleared the codes with my generic Bluetooth reader and it ran a bit better but the codes came back on the same cylinders. I found a reference to oxidation in the bulkhead connectors where the two engine harness plug in. Apparently long term storage can be a problem there. Deoxit is recommended to clean those so I've ordered that. Meanwhile, I cleared the codes, started it again and let it run for a half hour or so. The confirmed codes are gone but it still shows P1313 as pending.

9/1/20 Transaxle in, clutch cylinder in, shifter and axles connected, moves forward and backward in shop under its own power! AC vacuumed and charged today after installing new drier, outlet temp in the thirties! I hope it holds up, held vacuum for days before drier replacement. Check engine light returned, haven't scanned yet, still runs great. Bled clutch cylinder again, hoping for better pedal feel. Working on tidying up, waiting for insurance confirmation before test drive (gently in neighborhood on 14 year old tires) 9/2/20 Scan showed P150, O2 sensor circuit (bank 2, sensor 1), cleared, we'll see if it returns. Test drove through neighborhood, no issues so I made the 7 mile round trip to insurance office. They would only provide liability coverage before seeing it in person. They young lady said it looked nice, she'd never seen one like it, what year is it? She did a cursory walk around, asked what deductibles I wanted, and said she would handle it, 5 minutes in and out. Found Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ tires on closeout at Tirerack.com and ordered, wife was nervous about me driving on 14 year-old Kumhos. Here's my homebrew transmission jack, didn't get a picture with the transaxle on it. The crossbar at the bottom bolts on in place of the regular round lift point. The chain went around the bellhousing and the bolts stabilized the other end. We were very careful rolling it under the car! 9/13/20 Test drive revealed an issue at about 4,000 RPM, kind of falls on its face. It didn't throw any codes so need to consider fuel/air/exhaust flow. I also saw a reference to MAF causing the same symptoms without throwing a code. New tires came in but OCD kicked in on wheel appearance, lots of prep and waiting for paint to cure. Moving on to brakes and suspension, will be installing Akebono ceramic pads and Bilstein B6 struts/shocks. Front lower control arms are on the way after seeing damage on the inboard end. Lots of "while you're there" items.

9/20/20 Calipers rebuilt and cleaned up, front suspension and brakes reassembled, two new tires mounted and balanced, waiting for paint to cure on the other wheels, then on to more shakedown tasks. 9/21/20 Tires mounted/balanced/installed, cleaned MAF, good test drive, revs properly now, yay! A few follow-ups: Scraping noise from left rear, maybe parking brake. The rear spoiler deployed, I wasn't sure it would since the fuse box switch is missing. Of course it's still deployed in the garage so that's a project for another day. There are separate up/down relays so I'll start there. Driver's window won't go back up. I knew the switch was balky but was always able to push a little harder until now. 9/22/20 good day - window switch freed up, spoiler switch found/working (had been pushed out the back of the fuse panel), spoiler cleaned and lubed, we'll see if it goes down on its own now, found/fixed scraping noise from left rear (dust shield was touching the rotor), bled brakes Now on to mostly cosmetic stuff

That's the bulk of the project. Replaced the MAF sensor.with a new one new battery in 2021 repaired the HVAC doors to achieve proper operation replaced the shifter with a 997 part to address some sloppiness. replaced the CD storage bin with a cubby. front bumper cover was replaced after a parking lot bollard incident. There's probably more that I've forgotten.

No, didn't scope the cylinders

Nice project, enjoy her!

Nice job on all this work. Very well done, and glad it came out nicely! Edit: was all this work done in the year 2020?

Quotes source posts: 18330101, 18330178

Nice work! So the puddle showed up tomorrow morning? I'm a little confused too. Maybe he's actually working on a DeLorean.

He's posting from his logs, I would say.