1998 550 Maranello "sorting" thread--DIY

Not really. I'd love to drive it but never did because I new it had a leaking coolant hose in the valley. That's how this all started. I did drive it once around the block though before it went on the lift.

I'm hoping to wrap it up in the next few weeks. Fingers crossed!

 

Timing cover is being reassembled
Photo 1 shows oil pump chain access plate reinstalled with new gasket. Be careful to look inside of the cover while it is still off as some of the red "goo" on the new gasket can squeeze inward and could become one of those terrible "blobs" that float around in the oil.

Photo 2 shows the oil pump chain and tensioner plus the crankshaft sprocket. I gave these a thorough cleaning and inspection and all looks well, except for below. The oil pump spins freely and smoothly.

Photos 3 and 4 are closeups of the surface of the tensioner. Tensioner is kind of a misnomer as it is a pretty low tension chain setup, and despite the marks on the surface of the tensioner I will let it go until the next major. I make them look big here but they are overall fairly minor.
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My timing gears arrived from Ricambi, right on time, and thus began the process of replacing them. With the oil pump chain sprocket off the crankshaft it is easy to slide the gears in. Make sure that all the coupling surfaces are clean, and coat every surface with new engine oil.

Photo 1 shows the new gears in place, mated with the crank serration.

Once the gears are securely seated you can slide the crank sprocket back on (also coating everything with engine oil) and reapply the chain. Once the chain is reapplied the tensioner can be reinstalled. It is a solid form and creates tension only by virtue of its shape (Photo 2)

New gasket in place (photo 3)
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The next part is quite difficult if you don't have a savior like Dave Helms who makes a key suggestion to you to get the job done. I coated the inner bore of the new bearings with a "hint" of antiseize because of the amount of fretting that had occurred on the prior shafts. At this point the cover can be slid on over the two shafts and the crankshaft. I'm now stuck trying to figure out how I'm going to draw the shafts back into the inner bores of the bearings without pounding the hell out of everything.

At Dave's suggestion, I went to the local Lowes and bought two 3/4 inch cylindrical steel spacers, that fit closely over the shafts of the timing gears. (Photo 1)

I cut each of them into two pieces, one 29mm long and the second whatever amount is left. Once you have the cover positioned, slide the shorter of the two pieces onto each shaft (Photo 2)
Slide on a 3/4 inch washer and the ring nut (Photo 3)

Now, using the ring socket you can slowly and gently tighten each ring nut in an alternating fashion (half turn on one, half turn on the other) and slowly you will be able to cinch the shafts into the bearings. You will see the cover slowing migrating towards the block as it is carried along with the bearings. Halfway through you will need to switch to the 29mm length cylinder pieces, as the shafts pull more and more into the bearings. (Photo 4)
When the shafts are all the way in the ring nut on each side will hit a stop as you tighten, which indicates that the shafts are fully in. At this point you can take a rubber mallet to each shaft and to the corners of the cover and the case will be fully in place.

*Disclaimer* My photos are showing this being done on the cover after I finished installing it, hence the nuts being in place on the cover shafts.
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The WSM does not specify what to torque the cover bolts to but being that they appear to be aluminum studs I chose 10 Nm. I torqued all the nuts and bolts and voila (Photo 1). I reinserted the crank nut and turned the crank, noting that the gears move smoothly (I believe more smoothly than before but maybe I'm hallucinating) and that they make absolutely no noise in there.

Bill I do plan on tallying approximate cost at the end of the thread. I'm guessing I'm into this about $6k in parts and tools at this point but if you look at the volume of work and things I've done and replaced in this entire thread you will see what a bargain it is!
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John... no drilling was necessary for this tool. My tool approximates what the draper tool does. The front side of the ball cage was in pieces already in my bearing and I was able to just scoot the balls out of the way to make space on either side of the shaft for the puller arms to fit in. And FBB I replaced the timing gears because of how I bunged up the shaft ends trying to initially pound them out of the bearings. Next time I know

Regarding the comment about being afraid of a Maranello, I can see your point. I don't blame you. I would caution you about reading my thread and assuming too much about Ferraris in general. Another route for me could have been to fill the car with gas and just drive it from the day I got it. It was due for another major next year. I may not have had any problems with anything before that major came about, or I may have. Hard to say. What I can say is that it would have been a risk and it certainly would not have been operating at its full potential. Look at my hydraulic lifters...over half of them have tested to be bad. That's bad engineering IMHO, but I'm guessing they were borrowed from another manufacturer. Another central issue here is the use of timing belts....If you look carefully many of the things I've done are related to that system. I had a '07 997TT and it was a good, reliable car. Probably much better engineered than this car. But there's something special about a Fcar that owners often talk about. Porsche doesn't have that. It all depends on who you are personally.

I'm guessing that when I'm done if I added up all the work that I'm going to have done here and did it all at the dealer (remembering that you couldn't get the SRI connector kit done at a dealer) it would have cost about 20K, if not more. Easily.

 

The 997TT was a monster. Plain and simple. Although I mean that in a good way I had a lot of trouble with it for the following reasons:
The interior was rather small, and I was quite tight in it.
I was constantly stalling the engine at stop lights...coming from a 360 I was nervous about burning the clutch starting out and used to just try to let it out with minimal gas. In the 997TT for me this = stall. :-(
It was a bit of a sterile experience. There was almost no exhaust note to be heard...the turbos take away from the note, as opposed to the singing you get from a Carrera S with the sport exhaust for example. There was however an assload of road noise.
It was scary fast...you floor the gas in first and there was a brief turbo lag and then this massive surge forward that was sometimes difficult for me to control.
I had nothing but high marks for how it was assembled and the quality of the fit and finish.

I really thought I was just too stupid to drive stick until I replaced it with a DB7 V12 which is so easy to shift that a caveman could do it smoothly. Then I felt better.

Porsche parts are a LOT cheaper. Except the interior finish parts which are ridiculous.

 

Thanks very much! Your threads have inspired me!

 

Now come on...remember that my fuel line was leaking at the beginning of this thread. And yes, I bunged up the drive gear myself.

 

Thanks very much Bradan! You guys rock!

So today is odds and ends day again. Time to fill the gearbox, as the backordered banjo bolt arrived recently and I can actually finish that job.

I have no connection to Motive, but let me put a plug in for their power filler apparatus. Makes the job easy and clean for a DIY-er like me.
According to the WSM the 550 gearbox/diff contains 4.5l (1 gallon) of fluid. I chose Redline 75w-90NS gear oil and added 4 oz of Redline limited slip friction modifier to one gallon of the oil. Pressurize the filler and it fills itself with no supervision. Nice. After this fill I'm halfway between the min and max lines on the stick (Photos 1 and 2)

In the meantime, cleaned MAF sensors and idle air controllers (Photo 3) Not a whole lot of contamination there.

Lastly finished power steering hoses. This winter my car is going up to my excellent shop, Competizione, to have the motor mounts replaced and at that time I will ask them to replace the pressure hose for the PS pump. That will make all new hoses, which is good seeing that all of them were sweating PS fluid. (photo 4)
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