Anyone have a good aircooled contact?

I'm having a hell of a time getting a straight answer out of people since a lot of people I talk to or ask questions all have different answers for my engine questions. Does anyone know someone who knows their stuff and could entertain my questions on the 3.0 for m 911? I have some questions regarding engine work, oil consumption, etc etc...

Rennlist.com. Pelicanparts.com

Yeah I posted some questions and actually got decent info on pelican, rennlist gave me a lot of opinions but so far no technical data upon my questions. Would prefer to talk to someone that builds the engines and get some good solid technical data.

There are lots of folks that build/work on aircooled Porsche motors. Jerry Woods in Cali, Frank Beck in AZ, Aaron Hatz in MN. It depends on what you are looking for. Is it burning/leaking oil? What kind of questions do you have? The folks on Pelican know their shit and seem to be more hands on like you. Rennlist is big for 944's and 993's for some reason, but seem to be lacking in SC and even 3.2 Carrera content.

Thanks for that info Luis, that would explain a lot of the variation in answers. Getting some great answers on pelican, got a few more followup replies.

 

Essentially, I realize it is normal for the aircooled engines to use oil. I am not familiar with what and how much is normal for an engine, however.

 

My engine runs like a dream, sounds great, very smooth, pretty quiet (as quiet as an aircooled engine can be, anyway).

 

I'm using 1qt about every 800 miles or so. One member told me that anything less than 620 miles for one quart is acceptable per factory spec, if that is true, then it sets my mind at ease. Someone said "You're good for a while" - well, how long is "a while?" - The main question I had was whether or not it will change during winter months. Reason being is that lately the weather has been below freezing when I've driven the car. So warmup on an aircooled engine to my understanding is a much more loose tolerance than most engines because of their warmup cycle. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

So my understanding is that until the engine is warmed up that those tolerances would be different, so my other understanding would be that perhaps you may use more in the winter than you would during summer? Or is this incorrect?

 

I'm just trying to grasp if it's normal. So far, it sounds like it is. The other question I had is, since the engine is almost 180k miles, what all is involved with a rebuild? What NEEDS to be rebuild? What would I be crazy NOT to rebuild? etc etc... each person seems to have a different opinion of what a "rebuild" consists of. It's just a daily driver, it is not a race car, it won't see track days... etc etc..

 

But in essence it runs great, gets pretty good mileage, runs smooth...

From the sounds of it (IMO after owning a couple of air cooled 911's) you have a car that is one of those "bulletproof 3.0/3.2's" that run 200,000+ miles with no real problems. It still has a good 20-40k left on it if maintained properly but it would not hurt to do a rebuild in a year or two. As far as a rebuild is concerned, I would have somebody do it with some experience under their belt to ensure that it runs another 200k after you do it. Should not be more than $5k unless you wanna get fancy.

 

Try joebiz...he owns a bunch of them.

From the sounds of it (IMO after owning a couple of air cooled 911's) you have a car that is one of those "bulletproof 3.0/3.2's" that run 200,000+ miles with no real problems. It still has a good 20-40k left on it if maintained properly but it would not hurt to do a rebuild in a year or two. As far as a rebuild is concerned, I would have somebody do it with some experience under their belt to ensure that it runs another 200k after you do it. Should not be more than $5k unless you wanna get fancy.

 

Well.. I put about 10k a year on my cars. I don't see a reason to get fancy. $5k is quite reasonable and not a huge deal. I was told it'd be 10k to do mine, but I thought "Really? That sounds ridiculous" to myself since the car runs soundly. And yes, I also heard the 3.0 is pretty much bulletproof, it is a 3.0 for my 911SC.

 

Upon tearing everything apart and doing the valves I really did not see any wear that looks crazy. In fact the marks of wear on the lobes looked VERY reasonably clean and normal, the engine really does run quite soundly.

 

The guy I am talking to on pelican right now is bouncing pms back and forth with me and told me that since I commute the car and due to my commuting route that I likely will use more oil than most cars because:

 

A. It sees colder winter than most so the engine has more expanding to do before it is warmed up

B. It sees more city miles than a long highway trip, so the oil consumption should be "averaged" over time, not to be fret over when I check it frequently.

 

His answer made a lot more sense to me and it was well explained, he even had some good numbers, technical explanations as well so that really put my mind at ease. Although a simple rebuild in a few years is definitely doable if it'll provide me with years of enjoyment down the road.

 

I think I'll start asking my questions on pelican instead of rennlist. I'm not saying there aren't knowledgeable people on there, but I seem to get a lot more opinions on there, than hard solid technical info. Pelican seems to give me more technical info and a lot more info from people who do a lot of the DIY - so as you said, it seems to be more up my alley.

 

Won't lie... there are times I miss the simplicity of just knowing exactly what is wrong, where it's wrong and working on the 944. But I truthfully enjoy my 911 like no other. There are times I contemplate having a modified 924 as a daily (yeah, no joke) and then having one for the track. But, there really just isn't quite anything like my 911, I really do like the car. I wonder if I'm the only guy to have said that? LOL.

 

Try joebiz...he owns a bunch of them.

 

Thanks Gaman, I'll drop him a PM.

BTW, for the love of god (like I said before after you bought the 911) buy one of these, throw snow tires on it for the winter and put the 911 away till the snow melts. Thanks

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1984-VW-RAB...=item33682f5796

What's wrong with driving them in the snow?

The salt and sand beat up beautiful old cars. They get wet and stay wet in the garage.

We don't salt our roads here. Thankfully. That is a good point though.. However I am usually pretty good about rolling a car up on ramps and spraying them off in the winter. But... good point.

Go to 911.uk