1/4 scale Porsche 911 engine

Turbo95187 · March 26, 2020

I recently picked up this kit and decided to tuck into it.

First part is to build the pistons and connecting rods.

Each piston is comprised of four parts. Two piston halves, a conrod and pin to allow the piston to articulate.

The parts fit together with a simple press fit and the built up fit is excellent. Half of the pistons are done now.

iamsuperdan · March 26, 2020

I like this! Very cool project!

Turbo95187 · March 29, 2020

On 3/26/2020 at 1:03 PM, iamsuperdan said:

I like this! Very cool project!

Thanks! I wanted this for years so I treated myself to it for my b-day right before all this crazy stuff started. Perfect to while away the quarantine blues. I will continue to update this as I get more completed

unclescott58 · March 29, 2020

A great model. I sure had fun building mine.

Turbo95187 · March 30, 2020

17 hours ago, unclescott58 said:

A great model. I sure had fun building mine.

Very sweet builds! Thank you for sharing

Turbo95187 · March 30, 2020

Time to build the crank!

The piston/conrod attaches to the crank with a cap and two screws. If you have sausages for fingers like me, this is rather tricky and caused a lot of fumbling and cursing.

Rich Chernosky · March 30, 2020

Brett.....thanks for bringing this up and showing it to me in person. Glad to see you are building it. It will be a cool project when done.

Turbo95187 · March 30, 2020

Once the crank is built up, it is put into the crankcase which is a horizontally split clear part.

Once the top half of the case is attached, you then attach the cylinder barrels, which are also clear.

Turbo95187 · March 30, 2020

2 minutes ago, Rich Chernosky said:

Brett.....thanks for bringing this up and showing it to me in person. Glad to see you are building it. It will be a cool project when done.

Rich!!!

It will be. I'm about ready to pack up the car with a few kits and hunker down in the shop with you! We could have a super model-a-thon!!!!

I'm glad you like it Rich. I will bring it up once it's finished - I'm not going years without coming up again.

Rich Chernosky · March 30, 2020

4 hours ago, Turbo95187 said:

Rich!!!

It will be. I'm about ready to pack up the car with a few kits and hunker down in the shop with you! We could have a super model-a-thon!!!!

I'm glad you like it Rich. I will bring it up once it's finished - I'm not going years without coming up again.

We actually had a mini model-a-thon this last Saturday and planning on doing it again this coming Sat 12-6. Just four of us.

Turbo95187 · April 1, 2020

Now it is time to build up the cylinder heads. Each side has a clear head with valves you need to put in.

Valves are made up of the valve stem, the valve it'self and a spring.

The holes the stems go in have the proper angle so there is no fumbling around, trying to get the correct valve angle.

Both finished.

unclescott58 · April 1, 2020

Amazing kit, isn't it Brett? I had so much fun building mine. And I'm enjoying watching you build your's.

Again, this kit is expensive. But, I'm sure as you would agree Brett, it's such a nice kit it's well worth the price one has to pay. Their 289 Mustang engine is just as nice. And again, well worth the price. It's been a long time since I've so surprisingly satisfied with a model kit like the two Franzis' engine kits I've built so far. In fact I'm so satisfied, that I keep thinking about buying their Porsche Carrera RS and BMW bike motors. Even though I have very low interest in either engine in real life.

The one I'd really like to see them do is the old air cooled Volkswagen Beatle engine. Such a classic icon, I hope they would consider doing that one soon. Franzis is a German company. It would seem like a natural fit to me. The other one they could for sure sell a copy to me, would be the Honda 750 bike engine. I know Entex use to make one. But, it wasn't transparent. And I'm sure it was no where near as good as Franzis would do. Franzis, if you want my more of money, there are two to consider.

Turbo95187 · April 2, 2020

22 hours ago, unclescott58 said:

Amazing kit, isn't it Brett? I had so much fun building mine. And I'm enjoying watching you build your's.

Again, this kit is expensive. But, I'm sure as you would agree Brett, it's such a nice kit it's well worth the price one has to pay. Their 289 Mustang engine is just as nice. And again, well worth the price. It's been a long time since I've so surprisingly satisfied with a model kit like the two Franzis' engine kits I've built so far. In fact I'm so satisfied, that I keep thinking about buying their Porsche Carrera RS and BMW bike motors. Even though I have very low interest in either engine in real life.

The one I'd really like to see them do is the old air cooled Volkswagen Beatle engine. Such a classic icon, I hope they would consider doing that one soon. Franzis is a German company. It would seem like a natural fit to me. The other one they could for sure sell a copy to me, would be the Honda 750 bike engine. I know Entex use to make one. But, it wasn't transparent. And I'm sure it was no where near as good as Franzis would do. Franzis, if you want my more of money, there are two to consider.

I am now thinking of the Carrera engine myself. While it was an important engine in the history of the early Porsches, race and road, I am not huge fan of the Furhman Typ 547 engine. But I think it would be a lot of fun to build.

It is a very good kit, very little clean up needed of parts and the way it fits together without any issues is great. Very Tamiya like in quality and fit. While not cheap, I am willing to pay the price for such a great kit. I should have some more bench time tonight so there should be some more updates tomorrow.

Turbo95187 · April 3, 2020

Time to attach the heads!

First we put on the oil cooler.

Next, the oil return pipes between the heads and crankcase are slipped on their mounting pegs.

Now attach the head gasket...

Finally, slip the head on and use screws to attach it to the cylinder barrels.

Once again, for someone with sausages for fingers like me, getting the screws in the holes is a chore. After lots of cursing, the heads are now mounted.

Next is to build up the cams.

Turbo95187 · April 10, 2020

Ok, time to add some more here. I had to build up the cam and rocker shafts and they are composed of a metal shaft, cam lobes, gear, and rocker arms. First was the cam. Took me a bit to figure out I was trying to use the wrong metal shaft - the cam lobes had a D shaped opening in them and I was trying to use a circular shaft. Took me a bit to figure this out - the cam shaft was D shaped as well... so much for being smart!! Here is the built up cam.

Next was the rocker shafts, with a circular shaft and rocker arms on it. Once I figured out I was using the wrong shaft for the cam, the rockers were easy.

Now turn the engine so you can work with the cylinder head being horizontal, then place the cam shaft in the middle of the head.

The rocker arms go on either side of the cam.

Then the cam cover is attached.

Next you have to attach the timing gear on the front of the engine and the timing belt. Very tricky to get the belt right over the different gears, so that will be the next update.

Turbo95187 · April 14, 2020

Time for cam belts. The kit has two pins used to lock the gears in the correct spot for the belts so they do not move during installation, as well as a lock bar to lock the crank and the cam you are working the belt over in place. Helpful but very loose fitting, so if you knock the bar while working the belt over the gears, it can come off.

Once the belt is on, you put a follower on to keep the belt tightened. Once the first belt is on, then you put a cover on over the belt.

Next the other belt goes on.

The finished belts and covers.

To finish up this part of the build, you add the distributor. This comes already wired with the leads to the 'spark plugs' which are red LEDs that will flash to simulate the spark plug firing.

Turbo95187 · April 14, 2020

Now we need to finish the cam covers. These are in two part,s the top which just has the PORSCHE lettering and the bottom cover which is ribbed for heat dissipation.