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Rebuilding a 3.4 996 motor

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8 captured repliesDiscussion pagination complete · Source accounts, not a confirmed diagnosis
THIS DISCUSSION / SOURCE-DERIVED OVERVIEW

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YOUR RESEARCHRebuilding a 3.4 996 motor

Leading reported evidence

Use bolts

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Suggestion

The proper cam holding tool and saddles uses bolts to protrude into the openings on the end of the cams regardless of their positions:

Rebuilding a 3.4 996 motor
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Leading evidence: 'Use bolts' (no explicit attributable resolution; this is a reported action or suggestion). Across 1 matching discussions, The most frequently discussed action is 'Use bolts' (1 discussions). For that action, 0 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. No action has an explicit, attributable resolution report under the current rules. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.

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Use cam hold down tools; they are designed

Suggestion or failed attempt

No successful repair reported for this finding.

0
Reported fixes
0
Unsuccessful attempts
1
Discussions
Read evidence and context

Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.

Discussions that contain suggestions
1

0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.

0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.

Suggestion

Use the cam hold down tools; they are designed to prevent cracking or breaking the cams due to uneven spring pressures when the cam cover is off.....................

Rebuilding a 3.4 996 motor
Frequently discussed actions (2)

These are separate views of the same evidence. Frequency alone does not establish a fix, and these counts must not be added together.

Use bolts

No successful repair reported for this finding.

0
Reported fixes
0
Unsuccessful attempts
1
Discussions
Read evidence and context
Discussions that contain suggestions
1

0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.

0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.

Suggestion

The proper cam holding tool and saddles uses bolts to protrude into the openings on the end of the cams regardless of their positions:

Rebuilding a 3.4 996 motor

Use cam hold down tools; they are designed

No successful repair reported for this finding.

0
Reported fixes
0
Unsuccessful attempts
1
Discussions
Read evidence and context
Discussions that contain suggestions
1

0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.

0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.

Suggestion

Use the cam hold down tools; they are designed to prevent cracking or breaking the cams due to uneven spring pressures when the cam cover is off.....................

Rebuilding a 3.4 996 motor
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Counts describe captured discussions, not unique people or a diagnosis. Author identities are not reliably stored. Exact duplicate evidence is counted once across matching discussions; one discussion counts at most once per action/state. Multiple repairs reported together remain a combination. Suggestions and failed attempts do not establish a fix. Matches cover whole discussions and can include related faults, model variants and incomplete threads.

8 eligible posts · 0 unverified posts · 1 discussions match the subject in their title or opening post.

  • Pelican Parts: 1 discussions

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0 acknowledgements have no verified action link; they do not establish a repair result.

Generation: 20261027T060112Z · outcome-qualification-6. Deterministic extraction; no AI model inference. How we use sources

POST 1 / ORIGINAL POSTEROriginal post

I will be doing my first M96 rebuild of a 996 3.4 motor that had a suspected cylinder failure. The borescope shows something near the side of the piston that shouldn't be there! Anyway, the question I have is, that since I'll be tearing it all down anyway, and I can't rotate the engine at all, does it matter if I don't use the cam hold down tool when I remove the valve cover to get the heads off? My plan is to examine everything and then have the cylinders relined. I'm sure I will have many more questions once I get going, but the removal of the engine is tomorrow and tear down to follow. I am grateful for any responses. Tony

POST 2Original post

Sounds like its pretty borked so if you are doing a full rebuild it wont matter.

POST 3 / ORIGINAL POSTEROriginal post

Right then...a full rebuild is the plan. It had some sort of a rebuild 3000 miles ago, and part of the reason I bought it. I think the original cylinders must have been reused and just new rods, bearings, pistons etc. installed. Hopefully the heads were done, but we'll check that too. I will magnaflux the crank and start from scratch. At least I'll know what I have when I'm done.

POST 4Original post

Use the cam hold down tools; they are designed to prevent cracking or breaking the cams due to uneven spring pressures when the cam cover is off.....................

POST 5 / ORIGINAL POSTEROriginal post

Thanks JFP, what if the slots don't line up? I saw an early picture of a shop made thread in tool in the 101 projects book. That would be handy! Not sure if my cams are slotted or are able to be threaded. Will know more when I pull the motor and take the cam plugs out and look. Motor is a '99 996 in a 2000 Boxster.

POST 6Original post

The proper cam holding tool and saddles uses bolts to protrude into the openings on the end of the cams regardless of their positions:

POST 7 / ORIGINAL POSTEROriginal post

Got it. I was thinking about the cam timing tool for the chains on the other end. Thanks for clarifying!

POST 8Original post

Talk to LN Engineering about Nickies cylinders and bumping that 3.4 to a 3.8 . My 99 C4 bumped to 3.8 made 388 hp at the crank last year . That's almost 100 hp more than stock . You won't regret it . But I did have Len Hoffman perform some magic on the heads . Have fun

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