Page 26 - KCRPCA MayJune 2021

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So as if you didn’t see the pistons in bank 1 already installed, with the crankshaft car- rier secured into the block, it is then flipped over and the bank 1 pistons and rods are installed in that block half. This is a bit op- posite of the bank 2 side as we will see later, as the piston and rod are installed already connected at the wrist pin and lowered into the cylinders from the top (as shown in the previous picture).
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Insert the pistons from the top using a ring compressor sleeve on bank 1. The sleeves are tapered so they can easily be pushed into the cylinder without the use of a conven- tional spring compressor tool. The process is so much simpler. With the pistons/rods
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Before installing the other block half in place, there are two coolant passage seals that need to be installed in the block. They are a rubber/metal seal that allows coolant to pass from one side of the block to the other. The reason I mention these is that there has been a lot of talk about “lifetime” coolant. The metal in these seals will degrade if there are impurities in the coolant. Once those degrade, they will start to leak and this is one of the 28 or so failure modes of these engines, as they cause a coolant/oil intermix problem. This is not good. Keep your cool- ant fresh every 5 years or so. If you own an M96/M97 engine, this should not be a prob- lem as you should be replacing your water pump as a preventative measure every 3-4 years, which means you will be replacing the coolant that often.
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The next step is to lower the other block half onto the motor and secure in place. The
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in place, the rod caps are installed from the bottom side and torqued to spec.
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Der Sportwagen