KMASS993

So after much thought I decided to remove my Varioram unit to do some maintenance on the top end of the engine including upper valve cover gaskets, injector cleaning, new engine pad and possibly doing the lifters. I also wanted to do some cleanup. Well, after pulling the Varioram unit, I have to say boy I am glad I did this. Not only did I find some rodents nests (most likely old) between the engine top cover and the cylinders, but also behind the engine pad.




In addition, while inspecting my Varioram I found one of the seals had removed itself off one of the intakes and lodged itself in the other cylinder banks tubes, effectively causing faulty operation in both Varioram units. I don't know how long this has been like this but to say the least, I am excited to see the difference fixing this problem will have on the cars performance. See below for some pictures.




I noted some oil where the cylinders meet the engine case and was wondering what would be needed to cure this. I am not sure if this oil is from a leak or possible the butterfly valve in the Varioram leaking on it.



Lastly, any "While you are in there" with this kind of freedom within the engine compartment? No really sure what else I can access with the engine disassembled.

Quadcammer

definitely plug wires if yours aren't fresh

KMASS993

Unfortunately they are fresh.

Jeff96-993

SAI check valve. Man, it looks so easy with the intake removed.

Mike J

You see this oil coating on many cars - I think its from all the air that is being pumped over the cylinders, so if there is any oil in the air, when the air gets grabbed by the fan and pushed through the cylinders it tends to slightly deposit -- so over a long time you get these sort of filmy deposits. Then particles in the air also deposit on the oily film, and it starts to build up some thickness.

I have not seen the varioram come apart like that before - how many miles on the engine?

Cheers,

Mike

KMASS993

Engine has 62k on it. Was surprised to see it in that condition as well. I wonder how long it has been like that. I have noticed some slight hesitation before, maybe this was why.

epj993

Kevin, I need to replace a leaky oil pressure sender and wanted to remove the VR as well, do the seals and anything else. I noticed the fan & alternator are still in place. Most posts I've seen mention removing them. Did you loosen the motor mounts to drop the engine slightly? If you can, would you provide more details on how exactly you removed the VR? Any more pics?

Thanks in advance,

KMASS993

Eric,

I did not remove the alternator or fan and I would say you really don't need to do this. Everything comes right out once everything and you have plenty of space. I would say that in order to remove this way you may need to remove the flapper on the bottom of the Varioram unit, which provides some extra clearance. Additionally, the A/C needs to be removed for this all to work. I'll work on a write-up, but I just removed stuff until it came free!

Kevin

epj993

Great - thanks Kevin!

osugasman

Kevin,

By removing the A/C, do you mean moving the compressor out of the way or did you drain the system and disconnect the lines? (Nice RS motor mounts!!)

--Brian

kjr914

In the first pic lower left corner, you can see the AC lines still attached, but hanging over bumper's left side.

Kmassed002,
A little late, but my engine top looked exactly like yours and it was the leak from the butterfly valve under the varioram. I replaced the seal where it goes into the vram, but another user (msperic?) had the valve itself leaking. At least you could do that seal w/o any problem. I did it with Vram in the car and i had to push hard on the plastic cowl over the engine to get it in....thought I was going to snap the butterfly valve getting it out.

I've done a lot of cleaning under this @#$^% thing, but I do think I'll be pulling it to do my plug wires.....and then just do all the WIIT (while i'm in there) stuff.

Bill Verburg

The cylinder base gasket is pretty flimsey, I believe that it's probably breathing a bit. Not a leak, and not something to worry to much about but the big bore engines are pushing a lot of oil soaked air around and can at time pressureize the cc. I've actually seen the base gaskets blow out from extended high rpm use.

the green things are oe base seals




RS/RSR/Cup used a more robust gasket w/ a groove machined in both the cylinder and the cc bore.

RS/RSR/Cup seals

osugasman

Kevin,

Where did you look to see the displaced seal? Did you break the varioram down?

--Brian

01coccobet

I like the RS seals