The Project Pad

Good catch!

Wheels are hot, nice score.

My OEM radiator was leaking so I set out to find a replacement. OEM ones are $350+. I tried to order an aftermarket one from 4 different places and all of them cancelled my order to them not being in stock or being backordered for almost a month. That started to put a hamper on my BBQ plans, but then I remembered that I had a griffin aluminum rad sitting around for the Porsche. A few quick measurements and I set out to make it work. It's wider, but shorter so it required relocating the oil cooler. That was easy, just a simple 90* rotation to place it below the radiator and everything fits.

Bracket for mounting the oil cooler and bottom mount for the radiator:
IMG_20141004_245234616 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

Dimpled copper for splicing radiator hoses:
IMG_20141004_010623236_HDR by alxdgr8, on Flickr

New lower hose:
IMG_20141004_011323592 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

Zip ties holding the top until I fab up a bracket, but everything fits and the factory shroud works great!
IMG_20141004_130803338_HDR by alxdgr8, on Flickr

Oh, and I plasti-dip'd the car red. I'm pretty disappointed with how it came out. I decided since I had an 80gallon compressor and refrigerated air dryer I didn't need to use one of the airless paint guns and decided to use a HF HVLP gun with a 1.8 primer tip. I don't think I sprayed it on heavy enough and it dried to quickly not allowing it to smoot out. I got a vast variation in finish over the car; from smooth to astroturf basically. Oh well, it's a 10 foot car and it looks better than the sun-faded paint.

IMG_20141004_134352425 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

IMG_20141004_134403256_HDR by alxdgr8, on Flickr

Need to fix the parking brake (got all the parts), change the oil, and hopefully do a valve adjustment. I think that the valves being out of spec might be part of my hard start problems. If all goes well, I'll be leaving midday on Wednesday to head to Vegas!

Looks good in red! She's coming along nicely.

Dip the grille surround too and it'll look

Oil changed, new parking brake shoes installed and adjusted, and a new fuel filter. Didn't get to checking the valve lash, that'll have to wait. Got over 100 miles on it now with the new radiator and all good so far. That means it's ready for 2700 miles right?
Now I just need to put 4 rings on the grill...
Heading to Battle Born Quattro (as long as I don't get shunned away) in 36 hours!

Sweet! See you here man!

Cant wait to see this there! You're bringing my compi risers right

Dave wrote:Cant wait to see this there! You're bringing my compi risers right

I wish! As soon as I get back from the BBQ I'll have some more free time to start working on that stuff again.

Well, the head is coming off. Found at least one burnt valve which would explain the low compression.

IMG_20141123_165553936 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

On a more positive note, I grabbed some E420 4-piston calipers that bolt up from the junkyard for about $40.

IMG_20141123_165839599 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

Bummer on the valves, but at least you know what it is. Good score on the brake calipers.

And the head is off! Lots of carbon buildup (not surprising with 320k+ miles), but the bores still look great with clearly visible crosshatch still. Got a good set of exhaust valves that I'll be swapping in, then doing a full valve adjustment. Also going to refresh all of the chain/tensioner stuff, most likely going to change to a manual chain tensioner. Not much else to do other than clean it up and change a few gaskets.

IMG_20150328_242007308 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

IMG_20150328_242015627 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

When you say burnt, you are talking about that crack?

loxxrider wrote:When you say burnt, you are talking about that crack?

Yeah, but it looks like it's not actually a crack, not sure what I was looking at.

Pulled the rest of the valves this morning, and after close inspection I can't find any cracks on any exhaust or intake valve. I'm not sure what I saw with the borescope, maybe just cracking of the carbon deposits. I'm still going to swap to the other set of exhaust valves since they have about 200k less miles. Will do valve stem seals while I have everything apart, then I just need to set the valve lash properly. Hopefully this fixes the low compression issue...if not, who knows what will happen. I'm definitely not spending the money to rebuild the engine so it would get sold or swapped. Parts for this car are more expensive than any other German car I've ever owned.

Got carbon?
IMG_20150328_122431 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

IMG_20150328_122302 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

IMG_20150328_121913700 by alxdgr8, on Flickr

Anyone want a project? Lacking motivation to get this running again. Started to hash out a spreadsheet on how much I could make parting the car. Could easily make more pretty quickly than it's worth running...but it pains me to do it to a rare car that's not wrecked/rusted. Maybe I'll put it up on CL for a few weeks at an as-is price and see if anyone bites.

I might need to make some garage space for a four-ringed replacement in a few weeks...

What are you going to get? I was going to ask if you are interested in a coupe.

Feeler out as a project car before I decide to part it:
http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/cto/5125306633.html