Engine

Technical Information and Restoration Parts for the 928

New Engine

At 86K miles the engine in the convertible needs a little refreshing. Instead of having the car down for an extended period I decided to get a second engine and prep it for installation with the new transmission. Best of all I was lucky to get a low mileage S4 engine.

Armed with a new powder coating set up I started on refreshing. Of course, after getting started cleaning up the manifolds and valve covers why stop there. Here are some pictures.

The Intake Manifold and Valve Covers are powder coated in Black Chrome with a high gloss top coat. They were first stripped by American Stripping in Sacramento, CA. The resulting rough surface was smoothed and polished. Since the lettering on the manifold was rough and pitted I surfaced the top to give a cleaner look. Why do free advertising for Porsche?

The most important part of getting a good powder coating job is preparation and using as thin as powder coat (low pressure) as possible. The metal Porsche used to cast the manifold and valve covers is pitted under the original powder coating. I found sanding and polishing to be of value in getting a smooth surface. I also used a little Metal Lab filler. I only detailed the visible surfaces. The final result is a smooth high gloss finish almost like glass.

The timing belt was just done before I got the engine. However, there were some issues with the job. The top of the water pump was rough so I polished it. The mounting shaft for the tensioner arm was rusted and pitted causing too much play. The electrical contacts for the timing belt were corroded giving false and random readings.

So getting started was just a matter of cleaning things up until the front of the engine met the powder coating gun. The backing plates to the cam towers and the cam belt covers are powder coated semi gloss black. The tensioner, Air conditioner and alternator mount are bead blasted and then coated with a semi gloss clear. This gives a very nice natural light gray look.

The exhaust manifolds were rusted. I had these professionally blasted and then I powder coated then with a Hi Temp Semi Gloss Black. The aluminum heat shields (not shown) were cleaned and powder coated Hi Temp Stainless Gray. The heat shield on the left manifold is stainless steel and polished up nicely.

After my experience with the ease of powder coating and the end product which is far superior to painting in look and durability I would never again consider painting for engine components.

Now on to assembly with new gaskets, hoses and miscellaneous other parts.