[Charles Geer]

I'd like to thank you guys on this forum that responded to my initial questions about my variocam getting increasingly noisy as the engine oil warms up. We pulled the Oil Pan off of my 968 F Stock racer and there it was. A clearly visible "CRACKED OIL PICKUP TUBE". Two more laps around Road Atlanta and my motor would have literally gone up in smoke.



Word of Advice. If you notice that your variocam gets increasingly noisy as the engine warms up, you probably have this problem. Believe it or not your oil pressure won't drop to zero, but it will start to suffer from sucking in to much air with that oil...And that ain't good.



Needless to say this is a very expensive lesson. Luckily found a 30,000 mile 968 organ donor to make my race car live again.



Make sure you balance shaft belts are properly aligned because if they are not your engine will begin to create terminal harmonics due to the imbalance of these big piston four cylinder motors.



My problem was magnified due to the fact that the damaging resonance stayed in the RPM range that sped this engines death.



I have no Idea how this motor won a race with it's bearings scorned and scorched...but I guess that's why they call it a PORSCHE.



Again, thanks for this forums great insight.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[flash]

bummer to hear about that - couldn;t ahve been any fun



can you post a shot of the oil pickup tube and it's mounting? i'd like to get working on a better design that won't break - given that i am running a light flywheel, with plans to lighten the crank and rods, this may well change the harmonics and strengthening the weak components makes sense

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[Charles Geer]

I will grab a digital camera and post pics of my severed oil pick up tube.

It is a poor design. It is "goose neck" shaped and cracks at the base where the tube is connected to the base of the engine. The pick up mesh on the other end "snakes int to the oil sump and when full of oil is putting pressure on the

base of the tube.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[flash]

cool - i'm thinking there has got to be a fix for that

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[Greimann]

[quote name='flash' date='Jul 24 2005, 05:14 PM']can you post a shot of the oil pickup tube and it's mounting?

[right][post="7836"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]

Here is one from Mike Hammond's site. He is another that had the same problem.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[flash]

ok - halfway there - now to see it installed in the block so i can try to figure out where it needs reinforcement - it looks like there is already a mounting point down at the screen

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[Eric_K]

It is the same setup as the 944 so there pics floating around. The bracket by the screen attaches to the oil return line.



Eric

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[flash]

look pretty simple then - a bracket to that point and then to the block oughta do it - i've had to do the same thing on other engines when we made a deep sump and had to extend the pickup



thanks for the shot - when i yank the pan (hoping that isn't any time soon - knock wood - i'll do it for sure)

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.