Pallet motor freshing - May

Remember that 2.5L motor I bought? Well the Glen is coming up, so we need to freshen it up and pop it in the racecar. Let's put in on the engine stand and go to work.


What is it with used 944 motors and squirells? Every motor I've pulled has peanuts stashed away somewhere on the block.

Once again, it's time for a heavy dose of Engine Gunk and a wash in the driveway. While I'm not going to do a full rebuild, a motor needs at least to be clean so you can see any leaks.

Oh, I just love working on 140,000 mile neglected street motors. Case in point, here one of the bolts holding a water hose adaptor to the block, just flat out snapped when some torque was applied to it. Luckily, a stub was left so we didn't have to go visit heli-coil land, which is just past the house of "Drill out the snapped bolt and don't f* it up"

None of my gentle and not-so-gentle ministrations helped. So off to a local mechanic's shop. Bruce works on cars, big diesel trucks, school buses and builds honking big motors for vintage tractor pulls. Definitely an old school mechanic with lots of tools and techniques for solving problems. An aceltylene torch and vice grips was just the ticket here. The loud bangs when some lingering gas/oil vapors cooked off was just an extra treat.