3/18/08
512BBi Major Service
François was out of town, but he left me and Alvin a huge
project to tackle. A 512BBi was in for a major service,
which includes camshaft belt replacement, cam tensioner bearing
replacement, water pump rebuild, valve adjustment, and anything else
that could use cleaning and painting while the engine is out of the
car. At the very least, François wanted us to remove the engine
from the car, and to get as far as we could until he returned. I wanted
to prove to my boss that I was up to the task and was not going to let
him down. The biggest fear I had was hitting up against a glitch that
would prevent us from proceeding with the engine removal, stopping all
work for the rest of the week. Alvin and I took a deep breath and
diligently got to work.
Boxers seem to be all engine behind the rear window, and pulling the
engine seems easy except for one problem. The clutch cover tends to get
hung up on the rearmost cross brace, so removing the clutch cover
alleviates most of the clearance issues. Only the input shaft to the
transmission needs to be cleared once the cover is removed.
Of course before hoisting the engine out here's a short list of things
to do:
Drain oil from sump and oil tank
Drain coolant
Drain gearbox
Remove exhaust system
Remove headers
Disconnect all fuel lines to engine
Disconnect A/C hoses
Remove passenger side alternator and lay to side
Disconnect electrical connections to Driver's side alternator
Disconnect multipin connector to engine wiring
Disconnect throttle linkage
Disconnect coolant hoses
Disconnect shifter linkage after transmission is set in 2nd gear.
Disconnect oil lines to engine...
Disconnect oil lines to engine....uh we had a problem
The pressure fittings on the oil lines for the dry sump oiling system
were huge. 46 mm to be exact, and no amount of hunting around the shop
turned up a wrench that would fit this nut. My worst fears were coming
true, and I was trying to figure out what to do when by chance, I got a
call from François. He forgot about this nut, and usually
borrows a wrench from a friend of his. Just short of buying a wrench
for this procedure, I decided to call Bill Pollard at Sport Auto to
bail me out.
Bill had three Boxers at his shop in various states of repair, and was
all too familiar with the humongus nut for the oil tank. With the
amount of times he needed the large wrench, he bought one off the
Snap-On truck just for working on Boxers. It has the right offset to
reach up inside the car to break the fitting loose. After a ride up to
his shop, I was back in business!
After some discussions and maneuvering, we figured out the best way for
the engine to come out was straight and level until the input shaft of
the transmission came into contact with the rear cross member, then it
was simply a matter of turing the engine slightly and guiding the shaft
gently around the cross bar, all the while watching for clearance of
the A/C compressor at the back window.
I was very proud of me and Alvin that by the end of our first day, the
Boxer
engine was on the floor, but it probably had something to do with a
good teacher! The next step is to get the cam and belt covers off, and
start checking the valve lash. Alvin's going to start cleaning the
intake runners, and vacuuming the inevitable mouse poop on top of the
cylinders, and we'll be well on our way to completing this full service
when François returns!
Just a reminder, I'm looking for a
new Vintage Ferrari Project. If you have, or know of a restoration
project, please let me know. It would be great to restore another car
on this website! My E-mail.
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