The last of the great air cooled engines

The air cooled 3.6ltr, 250BHP engine fitted to the 964 is an all-round great performer. Air/oil-cooled, horizontally opposed, dry-sump lubrication, rear-mounted with electronic fuel injection, DME-controller and twin-spark. The only fault being that they were prone to a leak or two...Well, let's be frank, these engines usually have more leaks than a porcupine's raincoat!

Rebuild

So I set about fixing that, and more. I stripped the top end down and rebuilt it, machined the cam case surfaces, new cam chains and replacing all seals including the troublesome case thru bolt o-rings. The job included overhauling the heads, new rings and servicing the dual distributors and replacing the drive belt. For good effect, I had all tin wear and valve covers powder coated, the fan coated in a beautiful gold and the brackets cadmium plated.

The engine was good shape, having only done 143,000 kilometres. I replaced the dual mass flywheel and clutch and overhauled the clutch fork and fitted a new starter motor.

I replaced all belts including the power steering belt, plugs, plug leads and distributor caps and installed new Wevo semi-solid engine mounts.

And I fixed the oil leaks.

John Ward

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