Seeing the finish line on an extensive engine rebuild job, along with a laundry list of other issues on this one-of-a-kind 1969 Porsche 912!
This car rolled into Midwest Performance Cars with a Frankenstein-like engine. Sourced with many aftermarket parts – very little stock – all of the internal tolerances were one-offs. As beautiful as it looked, the engine had never run correctly and could not build oil pressure, and we were charged with figuring out what the heck was going on. After performing a complete tear-down, deleting a second, added oil cooler and the oil lines running to it, we sent the crank out for polishing, and replaced the camshaft with a new piece from Webcams.
Replacement of nearly all internal fasteners with factory-spec Porsche and other high quality hardware was necessary, as the suspect, previous engine rebuilder had used inferior hardware. Finally, after replacing a non-spec, broken oil cooler valve, reassembly followed.
Once the 912 had been buttoned up, it went through extended road testing and fine tuning, as it also has a programmable fuel-air mixture and engine timing black box that requires quite a bit of fiddling to get just so. But tune it we did, and the result is a 912 that is just a blast to drive! Here are a few pictures of it at our friend’s detailing “lab”, Simon’s Shine Shop in Lincoln Park. They hand-washed it and performed a thorough cosmetic inspection, recommending a minor paint correction procedure that would have this car ready for even the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance!
