JohnKoaWood

If it is leaking just goop it up with a nice healthy coat of Permatex copper or ultra black... to replace the O-ring the balance shaft cover has to come off... and well... just goop it up and enjoy the car... clean the area with some brake cleaner, and goop it up, nice healthy coating concentrate on the gap between the circular plug and the balance shaft housing...

rear main.... it is a crap shoot, if it isn't leaking it might start tomorrow, but then it might not... if you replace it the new one could leak, or not... is it worth the risk of a leak?

knfeparty

I forgot to buy the permatex until after I had left the hobby shop so I didn't get around to sealing up that balance shaft housing but I cleaned it up yesterday and it had leaked an appreciable amount of oil so it is definitely leaking.

Stuff left to do until I put it all back together:

1. resurface flywheel (gotta wait until some shop is open during the week)
2. rebuild tranny mount with 3m window weld (got the goods will probably do this soon) Thinking about doing this on the spring plate bushings too.
3. permatex the balance shaft housing
4. buy a bunch of bolts to replace ones that are missing. The 8.8 grade bolts that have 13mm heads that are so common on the car...what pitch are they?
5. Replace the RMS?
6. CLEAN I did this all day today. I used one of those 1 gal pesticide sprayers that you can pump up, a 32 oz spray bottle with 3:1 Optimum Power Clean, and a paintbrush. I refilled the 1 gal sprayer twice and probably lightened the car by a couple of pounds. The front end of the car, especially the crossmember, oil pan, and control arms, look very nice. I'll get some pics when I get a chance.

Other stuff I gotta do:

1. Re-install the PS pump. To those of you who have rebuilt a PS pump before...you know that REALLY annoying circlip thing that holds the spindle into the rest of the pump? Well mine just fell off during operation so I had to open it back up and put the clip back on. It wasn't broken so I just snapped it back on and compressed it with pliers a bit and then crossed my fingers.

2. Replace the strut mounts. The ones on the car now look great when the car is on the frame lift. And then you let it down and the wheels touch the ground and the suspension compresses. And by the suspension compresses I mean the metal plate of the strut mount rises about 6 inches above the rubber part.

3. Replace the coolant overflow tank. I bought a new one and hadn't had to open the cooling system yet. I took off the heater control valve to get better access to the bellhousing so I might as well replace this and do a coolant flush.

4. Clean all my grounds on top of the bellhousing. Noted!

Airflite40

about the rear main, i have replaced 3 of them and none have leaked upon replacement.

from what i have read in the past the people who replaced them and still had leak problems either didn't drive the seal in all the way or there was a brand of seal that was known to be problematic.

I would replace it. You have to push the new seal all the way into the groove, so it will sit recessed in the groove. go to home depot and get a 4" threaded cap, it is the exact diameter of the seal and works great for tapping the seal in.

knfeparty

4" threaded cap? I don't understand. Like a PVC pipe cap?

Airflite40

yeah sorry i meant PVC pipe cap. take the seal with you so you get the right one.

944Ross

I believe it's a threaded PVC plug, not a cap. That's what I used and I saw it on here somewhere. I still needed to file the threads a little to clear the opening.

The problem with rear mains is Porsche's switch from a PTFE (teflon) seal to a Neoprene type. AFAIK only Paragon sells the PTFE type, it's about $30. The PTFE ones are brownish, the newer style are black. (It's hard to tell in Paragon's picture). Elring makes the good one, Kaco makes the newer style.

The other thing is, on my '84, when I did the clutch, it had never been apart before, and the seal was flush with the back surface of the block, not all the way in. It wasn't leaking, either. So I'm questioning the need to drive it all the way in, if the factory didn't. But... I did drive mine all the way in, and it's not leaking either...

knfeparty

Well if I do change it, I'll have to drain out all my oil, right? But if I do change it I can add it to those extraordinarily long lists of things people say they've done to the car.

944Ross

No oil came out of mine when I did it. All right, a little, but normal level was apparently below that point.

knfeparty

So more than 3 and a half months later...the car moved under its own power today!

I still have to get the exhaust heat shields and exhaust put back in, as well as the power steering pump (I had to pull it apart to re-rebuild it).

I also took advantage of having the exhaust out to replace the tranny fluid. What came out would have been good for much longer but the fluid level was low and I wanted to try out swepco 201. Only got to drive the car around the parking lot but it was as least as smooth as the amsoil that came out. It is also blue and very sticky! So hopefully it will work well with the LSD.

New clutch is smoooth but I need to readjust the pedal travel. Engagement is a bit high compared to the old clutch. I can't tell if all the racket the car used to make in neutral is still there because the open-header exhaust is so loud.

Only weird thing to report is that when cranking, it does take a little bit of turning over before it will go and right before it fires up the tach needle goes from bouncing a little to jumping all the way up to 2 grand or more! The engine doesn't sound like it's going that high though.

Looking at the "before" pictures I hadn't remembered how dirty the underside of the car used to be...hope to get some good "afters" up soon.

Mike C.

The white sealant at the corners of the oil pan is probably the special loctite goop that is specified in the FSM (IIRC). It could mean that someone replaced the oil pan gasket at some point and did it right (the goop is only supposed to be used in the corners). I hope you did the RMS.. It would be a shame to have to pull all of that apart a few thousand miles down the road (I learned the hard way). Good luck with it.

knfeparty

I did not perform the RMS because the one I got was of questionable quality, I couldn't find the correct PVC 4" cap thing to save my life, and the one that was in there was dry. But I have one now so if I have to pull it back apart oh well.

dme

I'm in the middle of doing my clutch now. Took a side trip to replace the seals on the leaky oil filter housing. What a pain in the butt. I wish I had a lift. I've been stuck on my back the last two weeks doing this job. My BIGGEST fear is that the new rear main seal will leak and I'll have to ask myself whether I'm willing to tear it all apart again.

knfeparty

25 NOV 2009

Done! Drove it home today. Shifts super-smooth after the new clutch and the swepco 201. Also the transaxle stopped leaking...it was leaking down one of the allen bolts on the back. I removed the bolt, cleaned it, and put teflon tape on it and now it isn't leaking.

I may have lost some power steering pump mounting hardware...I didn't have a parts diagram so I just left the P/S pump out for the time being. I still have a terrible buzzing sound from broken timing belt covers (they are rattling against the engine) and the whole car still shakes at idle despite the nearly new motor mounts. The clutch-out idle roar is gone though, presumably from the replaced clutch throwout bearing.

I guess next is a timing belt job in order to replace the timing belt covers. Anyone want to come to Jacksonville and teach me?

Tom M'Guinn

Here's a better view of it...

944Ross

Oh my god is that clean!

Congrats on your successful clutch job, knfeparty! Belts will seem a cake-walk after that!