Valvoline VR-1 20W-50

Porsche 911 Final Engine Startup Prep

Finally the home stretch to lighting the fuse on this thing.

Onward with preparations for the first engine start up. With the engine and gearbox finally in and the gearbox mounting holes repaired, I could reconnect everything that attaches to the powertrain. First I connected the shift coupler to the gearbox shift rod.

Porsche 911 Shift Coupler

Next I connected the oil lines from below.

Porsche 911 Engine Oil Lines

Then I connected the oil breather hoses up top and added a new oil filter.

Porsche 911 Oil Breather Hoses

Next was connecting the fuel lines, vacuum lines, and harness connectors.

Porsche 911 CIS Fuel Lines

I did my best to set up my vacuum lines for CA emissions compliance. I should note that documentation for this was a bit unclear so I had to double-check myself against the factory manual, the vacuum line diagram under the deck lid, and the Pelican Parts elders:

Then I connected the throttle rod at the engine bellcrank…

Porsche 911 Throttle Bellcrank

…and down by the gearbox. I should note that I read a ton of forum threads that had to do with the throttle sticking open while the car was driving (scary situation) or the car being down on power, only to find that the pedal to the floor did not open the throttle all the way. With that I went ahead and checked everything multiple times to make sure the entire throttle linkage was lubricated at any pivots, not touching surfaces it was not supposed to, and a pedal to the floor equaled a fully open throttle plate. Hopefully that reduces the chance of this ever being an issue.

Porsche 911 Throttle Bellcrank

Reverse switch, ground strap, and speedo sensors on the gearbox were reconnected (not shown).

Porsche 911 Gearbox Crossmember

Then we connected and adjusted the clutch cable.

Porsche 911 Clutch Cable Adjustment

Since this is a 2-person job I had my oldest daughter practice sitting in the driver seat.

I re-filled my tired gearbox with some of that old “rebuild-in-a-bottle”.

Porsche 911 Gearbox Oil Filling

And finally I adjusted the shift coupler as best I could. It goes in all gears and the reverse lock out works. I did not reconnect my CV axles just yet, in case the engine needs to come back out to fix any oil leaks.

Porsche 911 Shifter Assembly

VR1 20W-50 on deck.

Valvoline VR-1 20W-50

Glug glug down the oil tank.

Porsche 911 Oil Tank Filler

Someone with more experience at Porsches than I suggested I pour a few quarts down the oil breather so the pump doesn’t start up dry. This seemed like a great idea.

Porsche 911 Engine Case Oil Filling

Next I tried cranking the motor with no spark or fuel to build oil pressure. No issues there thankfully. A crank or two and the needle on the Druck Press gauge shot right up!

Next I added some fresh gas, primed my fuel lines, and set my mixture to its initial setting. I will be covering the CIS initial mixture setup process in much greater detail in a later CIS Setup series with written instructions and video footage.

My stock muffler went back on so I hopefully dont scare the neighbors. I did go talk to my nextdoor neighbor and my neighbor across the street so they don’t panic when they hear this thing light up for the first time in 3.5 years.

Porsche 911 Factory Exhaust Muffler

On the next post we make flat six noises.

Please share with fellow enthusiasts.