997 turbo engine removal DIY - engine refresh and new turbos

As a sidenote, I think next time (note, I am sure there WILL be a next time) the engine comes out for any meaningful work I am going to put it on one of my engine stands, probably the beefy one. It will mean removing the gearbox yes, but will save a load of messing about and the use of my custom Porsche OPC 'beech log' tools; which have been very handy for rotating the engine into various angles! (pack one side up one side down)

For an intial phase though where a fair bit of force is needed trying to free seized components it's nice to have gravity on my side. An engine stand would have been flapping about a bit at some stages.

Another update to the thread...

It's is now parts order time :mrgreen:

I decided to take it down to this level, order the new parts and then do the oil cooler orings and coolant elbows under there when I have the new parts in, as it is less orifices to seal up :grin:
I am currently in the process of making a list of all of the bits I need. I have done phase one clean on the engine and will be doing another clean tonight.
Turbos will come off when I have the new pipes as I want to replace them as I remove them so I can get the routing right without major messing about seeing as its a first time stripping this engine.
Heres a few pictures of progress







Everything looks good , apart from the coolant elbow leak shown in a previous post. Also, all of the oil lines that are fitted with the dual orings are very well 'in'. I have not tried getting them out yet properly, but after a first attempt I know they will be nasty.

So, tomorrow is parts order time, and start to clean and prep the parts to go back on. Like coolant manifolds etc, big clean and prep for new orings.

The parts list I am making covers every oring, seal and rubber pipe on the top of the engine... On top of that are all turbo lines, and various gaskets and bolts etc

Cheers

:worship: :worship: :worship: (wow)!

ok so a few updates, after putting together a parts list, it seemingly kept on growing as I needed to buy specialist greases , sealants and the like for the reassembly of a few bits.

So the parts arrived yesterday :thumbs: thanks to my friendly local Porsche centre, but there have been a few issues. Some of which are worth noting for any other 997 turbo owners.

The main one being, the pipes that supply the turbos with coolant (flow and return) are currently unavailable from Porsche, on long term backorder due to a change of manufacturer, so the new pipes are not even due for testing until the last 1/4 2019 expected Nov/Dec, but a date for being in stock is totally unknown.

This is clearly an issue, and I am just thankful that I only cut one of the pipes, fortuitously the ONLY one that the OPC was able to supply!!

So I have a plan for this and a 911t tuner in America has kindly helped me out with his old pipes which means I may not have to battle to get my ones out of the turbos. (Im removing them all as a unit to see if I can get them out)

Anyway, heres what £2500 of parts from Porsche looked like when they landed and as soon as the new turbo pipes arrive I will be getting it back together. I have spent a lot of time cleaning all the parts and the engine, that will be in another post when its rebuild time.!

I was very impressed with the quality of the turbo scavenge pump (image one), as I am replacing every seal and oring that I can get to I just had to disassemble it to have a look, the special optipit grease it needs on reassembly is rather pricey though I found...

I decided to rebond the main coolant manifold pipes. Well, what a waste of time that was.... I have no doubt there are people who have had these pop out on 996s and it seems to be more USA on 997ts. I can confirm mine where totally rock god damn solid and it took a lot (hours) of effort to get them out undamaged. As a result, I wish I had not started that job c: but hey ho, I will be rebonding them as in the video I linked earlier with jbweld and then they will be rock solid again.
Its the sort of job there is no turning back form as once you have applied heat to try and free one up, you are committed.

The only one that came out easier was the smaller one above the water pump, the one prone to the issue I believe, but even that was by no means loose or with any sign of leakage.








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Small bump to this thread post holiday.. Back on getting it finished so will post up some more details as I progress and I haven't forgotten about doing a removal refit guide. Will attend to that once I have it back together.

There has not been a great deal of progress due to holidays this month but I decided to replace some other parts so made a list of some random items (speed sensor brackets and other random bits that were rusty) , bought a new OEM water pump which I am waiting on. Also trying to find a cheaper source than Porsche for the 5 and 1 Coil packs. Anyone got any suggestions? the same with spark plugs; what are people using on their 997T?

The turbo scavenge pump that is located in the rear water 'bracket' or manifold as I refer to it proved to be a bit testy. Not much info out there on rebuilding it




Managed to get the WM info on it but it was a bit sparse on backlash and such. Now, had I known then I probably wouldn't have stripped it as I had to pay a silly sum for some special optipit grease from Porsche and then stripped and reassembled it 100 times to check it was turning perfectly because any issues would be bad in many ways (think damaged IMS or broken gears and metal bits or turbos with blown oil seals or all three!).

So now all the coolant pipes have been rebonded (as mentioned the only one that came out without a major fight was the small one under the water pump, that was a definite candidate for popping out as it came out in about 5 seconds. The others though.... no fun at all.

I digress anyway; will post some more useful updates next week, I have to replace the seal on the auto tranny connector as it looks like it may have leaked over time. Not going to remove the box in this sitting as at the moment its a known good element, and I dont need to remove it currently.

More updates coming soon.
I am also going to replace the orings in the cam oil scavenge pumps as I was advised to do this by a US builder of some repute.

The jury is out on whether I will buy a set of cam timing plates (cant rent/loan any for love nor money ) to have in stock!

Not sure if this is talking to myself :?: but an update to the rebuild works. Managed to get some time on this over the last few weeks and have reached the crux point; and am now on re assembly.

Summary of work done is - a sh*t load :mrgreen:
but including replace camchain guide bolt washer
stripdown to the level as in the pictures below
Replace all orings, sealing washers, rubber pipes and coolant elbows.
Replaced both main oil pipes (the big return that enters the bank1 side of the casing) and the multipoint one that goes to the oil tank (Have to remove the engine bracket again to do turbo lines to front manifold so will attach the loose clip then! **for those who noticed it undone**)

Fit new tiptronic gearbox connector seal (I actually bought a new multiplug off ebay for the mercedes auto tranny but it was slightly different but was from the correct gearbox (the locking tabs were different) so I just used the orings off it.
Remove and rebond the coolant pipe stubs (more to come on this *see pics)
Replace coils and spark plugs (on the pending list)
Fit new turbos and all turbo lines (coming soon)
Rebuilt front coolant manifold, new water pump, check and rebuild scavenge pump
Fitted new aux belt tensioner wheels
To fit driveshaft guibo
Remove any rusty bits, clean or replace

Plenty more I forgot


So, not wanting to waffle, here are some pictures, the order may be a little jumbled, apologies for that.


How it is now




and more repair pics


Hmm, doesnt look good







here you can see the fitting extruding , the brown stuff is the bonding epoxy that is left on the stub where it has pushed out.






I was semi pleased to find the coolant elbows off the main distributor were in good condition, no signs of leak and still with fresh looking silicone grease around them; I suspect they were replaced by OPC at some point, the engine has certainly been out before as the engine bay metal coolant pipes are new looking.

However I found on the bank one side that the rubber pipe that comes off one of the elbows was perforated BEFORE the jubilee, it seems He-man did the jubilee up way tooo tight and squint as well, and it has either torn then or more likely over time. There was also some coolant puddles on this side of the casings once I got it down this far, whether that was from stripdown or from previously I dont know. Either way, it was a problem and could fast have become a BIG problem!

The other thing I found is that the manfold that houses the coolant temp sensor, has two of the pipe stubs starting to push out. I will be removing them all tonight and rebonding them with jbweld, but the image above shows where the brown epoxy is now visible where the stub has started to work itself out. This would have undoubtedly let go in a big way at some point...


Other points to note

• You Can replace the coolant elbows without removing the main base coolant manifold. They are a little awkward to get to (well the one that is under the secondary HEX is, but its possible
  
  Dont expect Porsche to be able to supply all the parts you need.... on several occasions there have been parts or brackets I wanted that are out of stock, not in stock, not likely to be in stock for a loong time. Luckily I managed to work around this; but not possible for all parts eg turbo coolant lines
  
  Dont start a job like this and not expect it to run and run, I have now bottomed all the main issues, but I knew it would be a rats nest, 'I might as well do this, and that etc'
  
  Cleaning the front coolant manifold and all the other underside bits took a LONG time but I am a bit OCD with rusty items; but regardless of that, to make them clean and good to reseal took a significant amount of prep work.
  
  As above, a large part of the labour has been cleaning old parts for re use, mainly the coolant manifold but just getting some nuts off the underside was hard and I ended up having to cut the old lines to get them off (eg. the main oil return that runs between the cam covers)
  
  
  

So, just waiting on a couple of missing sealing washers but the rebuild is now underway once I have rebonded the remaining 3 coolant stubs. Hoping to get the engine ready to refit for 2 weeks time depending on what free time I get to do it. Then the fun starts refitting it and running/testing it. Just in time for winter :grin:

Your not talking to yourself :thumb: pretty sure I`m not the only one wathching this with interest and admiration,having spent the weekend wrestling rusty nuts and seeing some of the issues you are coming across the more age related issues were going to find with these cars unless you keep on top of them not a huge revelation I know but a timely reminder they need a bit of looking after.

Gazc2 said:

Your not talking to yourself :thumb: pretty sure I`m not the only one wathching this with interest and admiration,having spent the weekend wrestling rusty nuts and seeing some of the issues you are coming across the more age related issues were going to find with these cars unless you keep on top of them not a huge revelation I know but a timely reminder they need a bit of looking after.

Click to expand...

:thumb: cheers Gazc2, someone else who feels the 997t pain :mrgreen:

What did you end up ordering for your studs and nuts? (turbo ones..!)
I have just ordered some M8 copper locknuts off ebay, not entirely sure what other options there are?
are you doing coils and plugs per chance ? If so does anyone know where to get the thinner coil from for cyl6. My opc seems pretty inept, the spares manager is away on holiday and I cant get through all day on the phone lines... I ordered Beru's for the other 5!

I think I am just going to go with the standard studs from the OPC although I did find these titanium ones as an option and went with the nuts from merlin motorsport

https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/p/k-nut-6-point-m8-x-1-25-k-nut-m8

https://titanclassics.com/product-category/nuts-and-bolts/titanium-studs/

not sure on a source for the coils I had mine done at my last service.

are you having to do the studs on your replacement turbos ?

Gazc2 said:

I think I am just going to go with the standard studs from the OPC although I did find these titanium ones as an option and went with the nuts from merlin motorsport

https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/p/k-nut-6-point-m8-x-1-25-k-nut-m8

https://titanclassics.com/product-category/nuts-and-bolts/titanium-studs/

not sure on a source for the coils I had mine done at my last service.

are you having to do the studs on your replacement turbos ?

Click to expand...

Yes, saw those k nuts, the ones I have gone for are similar, just a little chunkier but copper and designed for turbos or manifolds.

No, the new turbos are only 5k miles old and from florida so they are immaculate;** update I checked in the boxes and all but one studs are missing** whoops

I do find it surprising that Porsche didn't use better suited materials for some of the low down studs, and bolts, but I guess UK weather is very hard on any car and any material!

Gazc2 said:

Your not talking to yourself :thumb: pretty sure I`m not the only one wathching this with interest and admiration,having spent the weekend wrestling rusty nuts and seeing some of the issues you are coming across the more age related issues were going to find with these cars unless you keep on top of them not a huge revelation I know but a timely reminder they need a bit of looking after.

Click to expand...

Absolutely this ^^^^ Great work - Not sure I'd have the balls to go this far!! although I'm up for some DIY maintenance.

Please keep the updates coming :thumb: :thumb:

Great read and great to see someone actually have the nuts to work on their own car rather that be too scared to drive it because it will go down in value!
Fantastic, love it and I'm for sure going to work on mine when I eventually get my mits on it!

DarkHorse, great work and a very informative write up.

I never went as far with my work, which started out as a water pump issue which I foolishly ignored when I was buying the car. Glad to see you've replaced the pump, it's not the gasket that goes on them its the drive bearing/seal that starts to weep and whilst it's not hugely critical it's just plain annoying.
I got my pump from Autodoc and it was a Pierburg which by chance is what was fitted to my car from new.
The coil packs are an issue as Beru have changed the design of them. They now have a a thicker body than the originals and as a result the fixing bolts don't rebate into the pack they sit proud which means that on the drivers side the pack nearest the turbo fouls the actuator. The only solution is to fit an original Porsche coil pack as they still have the old style packs. I got 5 of the new ones from D911 and they also sourced me a Gen Porsche one so that I could get the actuator on. TBH 2 of my original coil packs were in perfect condition so I could have probably used one of them, the other ones were split and rusted so went in the bin.
As for plugs I think I went with Denso Iridium, those or Bosch should be good
I'll attach a picture.

Thanks Eastern Jets, the coil on mine near cylinder 6 has a melted look to the back of the connector plug, so as you did I am replacing the set. Managed to order the Beru coils off ebay for half the price of the OPC but have ordered the original one from Porsche and its due on monday. I have bought the NGK iridiums? never had an issue with NGK plus before so hopefully they should be good to go!

As far as progress goes, the pipes are all removed and bonded and the engine is starting to go back together (more pics to follow). I am going to try and get a few hours on it tonight, what a way to spend a friday night :dont know:


Whoops, forgot that oring, managed to source a viton one from a local specialist








I realise all engines will be different, but it seem the ones that have caused the issues are mainly the one on the front coolant bracket next to the water pump, and the one on the RH bottom side of the 4th picture down. The fitting next to the thin one that feeds the turbos with coolant (or returns it from them )

That would tally with the tightness of the fittings. Some were extremely well in and I regretted starting to heat the one in the second pic from bottom (under PS pump on top coolant manifold) as it was a swine to get out . Removing these and reusing them is quite comitting as once you have applied heat to the epoxy you have to continue!!

Anyway, will post more progress pics as I get them. I have also seperated the EGR valves (secondary air valves I think porsche calls them) from under the intake manifold, and have cleaned any carbon out from them. There was a fair bit.. pics incoming

It is the cleaning up that takes the time, fitting new parts is the nice bit.

**tonights update, both heat exchangers fitted with new orings, and various other tedious items.

Next job trying to get the old turbos off round 24..

Cheers

NickHappy said:

Gazc2 said:

Your not talking to yourself :thumb: pretty sure I`m not the only one wathching this with interest and admiration,having spent the weekend wrestling rusty nuts and seeing some of the issues you are coming across the more age related issues were going to find with these cars unless you keep on top of them not a huge revelation I know but a timely reminder they need a bit of looking after.

Click to expand...

Absolutely this ^^^^ Great work - Not sure I'd have the balls to go this far!! although I'm up for some DIY maintenance.

Please keep the updates coming :thumb: :thumb:

Click to expand...

Cheers NickHappy! Will keep them coming for sure!