Liners and pistons

[PSH]

ORIGINAL: 944 man

Hows it coming on Pete? Not given up, I hope?

Hi Simon.. hope you are well...it's not so much giving up as other things have taken over my time and money, if you remember my quandary in deciding whether to continue with the car or getting back to my other interest ie live steam locomotive's, I won't live forever and even now I have at least 8 years work to go on the larger loco. I'm afraid the car lost out in that round, the good news is that I have completed one loco which has been steamed and have made very good progress on my much larger one.

I'm not sure what to do about the car, guess I'm getting older and a little wiser about money, plus it can't carry my loco's...:} There's an awful lot of money tied up in the car, the block alone that's still looking lovely sitting in my workshop set me back £4.5k in parts and re-boring costs, not to mention all of the associated parts that she has been developed around over the years.

I'll have to make a decision about her soon as it's not doing her any good sitting around, if I won the lottery I'd certainly get her finished, don't need a new performance car, she's pretty good and I've driven some exotic machinery over the years that can't match her, failing that I may have to seriously consider passing her on to a new home.. just not been able to bring myself to do it yet..... we shall see...

Pete

 

[tref]

Surely the loco's need their own dedicated trailer Pete? Preferably with an integrated pump-up table so you're not having to lift them... then of course you'll need a nice torquey car to pull said trailer... oh yes they do make a towbar for the 944Turbo[]

Otherwise... put it on the mantelpiece - it really is a thing of beauty.

Best wishes,

 

[PSH]

ORIGINAL: tref

Surely the loco's need their own dedicated trailer Pete? Preferably with an integrated pump-up table so you're not having to lift them... then of course you'll need a nice torquey car to pull said trailer... oh yes they do make a towbar for the 944Turbo[]

Otherwise... put it on the mantelpiece - it really is a thing of beauty.

Best wishes,

god forbid... a tow-bar on my car?????..

Pump up table is how these things are generally moved around... even the small one is around 130 lb.... the big en will be 230 lb.. trust me I won't be doing any lifting....I may get a BMW estate or something similar to use. 'Put it on the mantelpiece' ? jesus don't say that to any engineers.. these things are meant to steam and work hard....little one will pull 10 adults... big en.. 20+ including the required amount of carriages and we are talking about big people not lightweights...

Pete

 

[tref]

I meant putting your turbo being the mantelpiece-worthy beauty actually, I think everyone has a train on there[]

Tref... B-Eng, and a few other letters... I think that classify me as an engineer! That, a four-year apprenticeship and 30 years in engineering[]

Said apprenticeship was involved in manufacturing Pistons, Piston Rings and Liners - you would think I could contribute more to this thread wouldn't you! All I learnt was how little I know!

 

[PSH]

haha.. yes sorry Tref... I forgot your engineering background, I should have said model engineers who build live steam loco's, it's sacrilege to talk about mounting them in a glass case ....btw I wish I could put the smaller train on the mantelpiece... SWMBO won't let me.....

The poor old turbo is looking very sorry for herself...I really should do something about her, even if it meant selling her on for someone else to get the fun that I've had over the last 15 years... such a tough decision to make that's for sure, thank god know one has knocked on my door with a wad of cash in their hands..

Pete

 

[Mac944]

ORIGINAL: PSH

Hi Mac


I'm not on this forum much these days so have only just seen your request for info regarding engine work for alusil blocks, talk to
Serdi Uk
Sarum Complex, Salisbury Rd, Uxbridge UB8 2RZ
01895 232215

ask for John he will be able to answer any question that you have and point you in the right direction as to what sleeves , pistons you may need if you decide to go the sleeve route, he can also machine your alusil bores in house if that's what you want. He's a top guy who knows his stuff and his company works on all types of high performance machines, from F1 cars to the latest top marques including Lambo's which actually have a design flaw and crack a liner with very little use, he's designed a new sleeve to cure that. In fact last time I was there he had two lambo blocks in for this mod, one of which had done very little mileage since new. I'm sure he would be able to do your engine relatively quickly, feel free to mention my name Peter Seymour-Howell, he re bored my 944T and also supplied me with a set of full race IASA pistons for my car, he also did Andrew S's car (422bhp) also of this forum many years ago.

Regards

Pete

Thanks for the info Pete.

In the end I took the block to a local machine shop at the beginning of the week. They've started the sleeving process and will make the final hone when the custom pistons arrive from JE in about four weeks.

I'll hang on the details for Serdi though, could come in very handy particularly as they are only 20 mins up the road.

Cheers

 

[Mac944]

ORIGINAL: PSH

Hi Mac


I'm not on this forum much these days so have only just seen your request for info regarding engine work for alusil blocks, talk to
Serdi Uk
Sarum Complex, Salisbury Rd, Uxbridge UB8 2RZ
01895 232215

ask for John he will be able to answer any question that you have and point you in the right direction as to what sleeves , pistons you may need if you decide to go the sleeve route, he can also machine your alusil bores in house if that's what you want. He's a top guy who knows his stuff and his company works on all types of high performance machines, from F1 cars to the latest top marques including Lambo's which actually have a design flaw and crack a liner with very little use, he's designed a new sleeve to cure that. In fact last time I was there he had two lambo blocks in for this mod, one of which had done very little mileage since new. I'm sure he would be able to do your engine relatively quickly, feel free to mention my name Peter Seymour-Howell, he re bored my 944T and also supplied me with a set of full race IASA pistons for my car, he also did Andrew S's car (422bhp) also of this forum many years ago.

Regards

Pete

Hi Pete,

Just wanted to say thanks again for this info.

I was let down today by the local machine who informed me they won't/can't sleeve the block. So gave Serdi a call and they were really helpful. I'll be delivering the block to them later this week for them to assess.

Fingers crossed they be able to help!

 

[PSH]

Hi Mac

Glad to be of help.... your in safe hands with John and his team... if I ever do get back to rebuilding my car it will be John who does my head work, changing the valves to F1 type spec. I have had work done by other engineering firms in the past which was not to my likening, I could have done better in my own workshop...lol John's measuring equipment is very accurate and very expensive, perhaps that's one reason on top of his skill and experience .. anyway good luck with your rebuild...

Pete

 

[944 man]

A viable alternative to Perfect Bore / Capricorn then?

 

[PSH]

hi Simon

I'm afraid that I've had no experience with them but have only heard good things about them.

Regards

Pete

 

[Mac944]

Hopefully, yes.

There are some differences though. Capricorn are able to Alusil back to the original bore size through various processes.

Although Serdi can't produce back to the original bore size, they can oversize to remove the wear and then use a special cutter to expose the silicon etc. The result is a cheaper process than Capricorn due to fewer machining processes but it does mean custom pistons (as Porsche no longer produce oversize pistons) with rings compatible with Alusil.

Serdi can also steel line the block but are a bit more expensive than the average machine shop but critically have experience of Porsche engines. The downside with the steel liner approach for me to use Serdi is the current turnaround of 6-8 weeks so I'm now exploring the possibility of oversizing the bore slightly.

 

[PSH]

I took the route of over-sizing as I had a small score from when an iridium plug ( btw some dyno's refuse to run with these plugs , I found out the hard way why) broke up, in fact this happened on the morning of the dyno day at Silverstone when the car produced 368 bhp.. only did one run due to a hesitation which then turned out to be just the plug breaking down.... makes me wonder what she would have produced with a few more runs... Anyway if replacing pistons why not get Serdi to supply IASA full race pistons as I did although I'm not sure if they do pistons for the S2, the turbo pistons are designed for much higher boost with no blow by than standard pistons offer. Andrew S also went the over size route when fitting his 2.8 crank at Serdi's.

Pete

 

[Mac944]

That's a very good point!

What is the cost of a set of IASA turbo pistons? (I imagine they will be a similar cost to S2 pistons), at least that way I will know whether to stick with JE or not.

 

[PSH]

I don't have the invoice to hand but recall a figure somewhere around £1500 for the machine work and pistons/rings.. it may be detailed in my build log on this forum somewhere but I'm useless at using search engines..lol

Pete
edit: aha.. just found the thread.. just used the author search..lol here it is if it helps anyone... http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=705721&mpage=1&key=

 

[Mac944]

Wowza! That's some impressive work!

Couldn't find a cost on the thread. If the cost of the pistons is similar to JE that would certainly help.

I've just called Serdi and they are calling me back later with costs and turnaround.

Fingers crossed!

 

[PSH]

Thanks Mac... i hope that i can get back to it one day...we shall see..

Pete

 

[Mac944]

After speaking with Serdi it seemed the turnaround time would be an issue. Due to supply of the pistons.

I was starting pull my hair out, called Kevin at EMC. Although they're a bit more expensive, they are able to sleeve the block a lot quicker.

Rebuild should recommence in a week or so...

 

[MarkK]

Kev and Alex will sort you out!

 

[Mac944]

Dropped the block off this morning, pistons were in stock, should get it back in a week.
Should have just done that in the first place, could have had this sorted weeks ago. I live and learn!

 

[MarkK]

Brilliant,they will be really helpful also later on if you need to bounce ideas around about suspension or anything else 944 related they have so much experience and make great coffee whilst you chat aswell[]