earossi

I am having a tough time re-sealing the cover on the lower balance shaft housing on my 968. Attempting to do the re-seal job with the motor installed in the car makes it difficult to move the cover plate into place without disturbing the Loctite 574 sealant that has to be spread onto the cover plate before slipping it in place (there is no gasket).

Do I need to remove the exhaust header and right side motor mount bracket (a lot of work) to do this job, or is there some sort of "trick" to getting the cover into place without harming the sealant. It would be a shame to put the car back together only to find that the lower balance shaft has an oil leak.

I have attempted to carefully install the cover plate five times now.....and none with success. Any help out there?

Techno Duck

I did it with motor in the car and engine on a lift about 4 years ago on my buddies early '85. I opted to remove the right side engine mount bracket to make it accessible. Headers stayed in the car, though i dont know how much of a clearance difference there is with the 3L headers. I had the crossmember off so it was not much more work to get the support leg out (4 bolts).

Ill be dropping the pan on mine in a few days to do the rod bearings on my 951 and plan to reseal that lower balance shaft housing aswell while its apart.. that stupid rear o-ring is leaking like crazy. The plan was to do it the same way with removing the engine mount, but ill play around with it a little and see if it can be done with it still in place.

earossi

How difficult is it to get to all the upper bolts on the right side motor mount bracket? Looks like there is a heat shield just above the bracket. Also, I would prefer to just lower the crossmember enough to change out the motor mounts. Do you think that is an issue?

To completely reseal the balance shaft assembly there are 2 O-rings, 1shaft seal, and a paper thin plastic gasket that seals the rotating seal race to the balance shaft proper. In addition you will use a sealant like Loctite 574 to seal the cover plate to the engine.

With the motor out of the car this is a no brained job.

krystar

if u need an extra hand lemme know. i'm not too far

xsboost90

i pulled one on a turbo w/ the header on but i believe i had to pull the balance belt, alternator and braket for the front of the lower bs to get it out.

earossi

Not sure about the configuration of your engine, but the alternator is on the other side of the engine in my car, so is not an issue. Perhaps you are thinking of the upper balance shaft which is located about where the alternator is located. My issues are with the lower balance shaft located on the exhaust side of the motor.

And, yes, you definitely need to pull the balance shaft belt to get the BS front housing off the car or to get the balance shaft out of the car if you only need to change out the plastic washer seal on the shaft.

Jay W

I did it on my 968. I had to remove the motor mount bracket just to get the bolts out of the balance shaft cover so I do not know how you managed to get it apart with the bracket in there. I do recall having to remove the heat shield, but it is a 2 piece heat shield and only one of the pieces had to come out, probably the rear one. One or two of the heat shield bolts are accessible from the top side rather than the bottom side. They are hidden from view but are accessible from the top. The header did not have to come off.

earossi

Jay,

When you removed the right side motor mount bracket, how did you handle the crossmember issue? Did you remove the crossmember or just drop it down far enough to get the motor mounts unbolted?