Injector cleaning and intake work

Back-flushed the injectors, and installed them with new seals.
I put together a makeshift injector cleaner consisting of a small pump (originally designed to spray plants), and a pulsating circuit involving 555 timer chips.

8 millisecond pulses are sent to the injector as fuel is being pumped through it. Simple and hopefully effective. During the back flush, I did remove some debris that was trapped in the injector screen..... So at least it wasn't in vain. 

I also changed the fuel lines, and covered the new ones in silicone/fiberglass fire-sleeve.

New vaccum hoses are hiding under the freshly cleaned intake and throttle body.
Here are some picture of what they looked like when they were first removed.

The actuating arms on the throttle body also got a bit of paint.

Fuel rail

Yet an other cadmium plated component, that lost its shine. Re-plating would be nice and it would retain the original look, but it's quite pricey. An $8 rattle can goes a long way.

Masked, media-blasted, and primed.

I have a spare rail from an 85.5. Here is the difference some paint made. The pressure regulator, dampener, and rail cap also got painted. Red is a bit bold, but it works to identify the fuel system. Just like yellow for oil, like the original oil filler cap, and dip-stick..... at least that's my excuse for tarting up the engine bay.

The 85, and prior fuel rail was quite different (the FPR and FPD were both on the aft side), but now I've noticed that even these two late 8V rails with identical part numbers, have their differences.

The 86 one has had some improvements.
*rounded guard to prevent fuel hose chafing
*oval mount hole for minor alignment adjustments
*alignment tab to mount the dampener at correct angle

 

Cluster Brightening

The gauges on the 944 are illuminated by 3 plastic (prism like) reflectors. The mirrored surface as deteriorated with age. it flaked and faded, causing the cluster to be poorly lit at night. The first step was to completely clean the reflector of old traces of mirror. Nail polish remover Worked quite well. I did not want to use anything stronger, since I am unsure of how it will react with plastic. (MEK might chew right through it) My inspection mirror from work had to be sacrificed. It's plastic, so if I drop it say... off the wing 15 feet on the hard cement, it will not shatter to bits. Its life started out as a B737 bathroom mirror.

I used aluminum take to hold them in place on the cluster. The tape was also used to cover the sides of the reflectors. I hope it works. It can't be any worse than before.

Sheared bolt.

While underneath the engine, cleaning the lower balance shaft housing, before resealing it, I noticed that a bolt was missing from the oil pan. Unfortunately the shank was still inside the block. It broke pretty deep, about 1cm inside the hole. drilling it out was also a problem, since in order to get on it, I had to drill between the oil pan sump, and crossmember. 

After drilling the bolt as far as i could get with a 6 inch drill bit, I tried removing it with a screw extractor. The was no way of turning the extractor, that has a 1/4 inch hex end, since the bolt is buried so deep between other components.

Some modification was required. I pounded a 1/4 inch hex nut on the end of the extractor, so I could turn it with a socket on a long extension. This worked, but instead of removing the bolt, it was chewing it up. I needed the extractor to bite. Trimming the tip, made it less likely to bottom out, but it still was not enough.
I finally found a bit long enough in a co-worker's tool box. It was thinner than I needed it to be, but that ended up being fine.

I finally removed the broken bolt by drilling it very deep. It only had 1.5mm till I came out the other side. I was a bit paranoid about drilling through the aluminum block, so I periodically checked the swarf with a magnet. Of course this would have been much easier to do with the oil pan off, but that is a pretty involved job. Engine should be supported from above, steering rack removed, crossmemeber removed..etc... It would benefit from a new gasket, but if I do pull it out, the rod bearings should be changed. Too many things are in pieces right now for me to start something else.

Swaybar Bushings

The right side middle bushing caught my attention. It looked pretty swollen. Its location is unfortunate, because power steering fluid and oil can drip there. Upon further investigation, the other bughings were found to be brittle and cracked.

The bushing on the right side of the picture is the new replacement.
The sway bar links were pretty rusted, so I sand blasted them.

This one looks like it bottomed out on something, but after pounding a socket through, it become round again.

 A bit of paint, and it's ready to go back on the car. Note, the VW logo next to the Porsche logo ("P" inside a triangle).

The gear is here.

Installed the new gear. Not too difficult, it just requires a lot of patience, and steady hands.
Pulling the needle off is the part that made me a bit nervous, the shaft it goes on is very delicate.

Cam tower install

The rear cam cap is on. It's held on my 3 small bolts, and is sealed by a cork gasket. This gasket was leaking before, and oil dripped on to the exhaust manifold. Once hot enough, blue smoke used to exit the engine bay. I look forward to not having that problem anymore.

Before bolting the tower to the head, I scraped off the remains from the old gasket, gave it a good clean, and aligned the new gasket. The top side is marked with the word OBEN.

In order to keep the hydraulic lifters from falling out when the cam tower is installed, I tied them with dental floss. Some people recommend using grease to keep them in their bores, but I think this is a better idea.

Installation complete!

Gear install, and more paint

Torquing the cam gear 10mm tripplesquare bolt, to 50 foot pounds. The cam gear retainer also called the "dog" in the manual, is best held with a 32mm box end wrench. It was pretty hard to do with a big adjustable wrench.

Also painted the cap from the rear of the cam tower, and the engine lifting ring that is attached to it. Decided to go with red for the ring, kind of like a tow hook.

Tower reseal

Extreme glare!
Painted the front seal/gear housing, after some very careful masking. I only wanted the paint the outside.
A new seal and shaft sleeve have been installed in the front side, and the large o-ring and small brown seal have been placed in the back.

The shaft takes a thin Mylar seal. This stops oil from seeping between the shaft and the sleeve. The back end of the sleeve is flat and lipped, so it is clamped up against the step in the cam shaft, by the bolt and cam gear.