Yummybud924

I have dropped the oil pan before, and I have a manual rack so it's not very difficult getting the oil pan off. However, I've never touched the rod bearings.

My car has over 300k kms on it now (it's an 85.5 944) and i'm barely getting 4 bar oil pressure when reved, and 2 bar idle so I thought I should replace the bearing and oil pickup (I hear they crack).

Anyways what I'm worried about is removing and installing the bearings and installing them correctly. Is it pretty much fool proof when installing bearings or is it easy to install them backwards or incorrectly? Also do you need a special socket to remove the rod nuts?

I'm also wondering how the bearing on the rod end comes out and how a new one goes in after you remove the cap. If anyone has any good pictures or tips it'd be appreciated.

Arominus

Once your that far it's easy, just get bearings, assembly lube and new rod nuts and your good. Once the pan is off that takes me about an hour to swap them all out. You need a 12pt 15mm socket if I remember right. Consider replacing the oprv o rings as well, they are cheap and can influence your oil pressure.

Yummybud924

k thanks

My oprv does not have o-rings, it is just the piston and spring. it did fail a couple years ago and I got zero oil pressure. The cylinder than it rides in came loose from the block and I had to glue it back in the block with some special lactate.


so, any chance you can put the bearings in the wrong way? and how do you take out the bearing on the rod after removing the cap.

i'm also worried about accidentally scratching up the crank

Butters944

It's easier than you're making it sound. After removing the cap the other bearing should kinda slide/roll around and fall out (for lack of better terms). If I recall correctly, you can't put the bearings in backwards because they have notches that only fit in the cap one way. Just make sure the caps are facing the same way as they did when you removed them. I noticed a "944" number stamp was on one side of the cap, so to make sure I didn't forget I wrote down "944 stamp facing towards (front/back) of the engine". Not sure why you'd be worried about scratching the crank.

Hope this helps,
Keith

mytrplseven

When I did this last winter, I wiped the bottom of the bolt caps with acetone and the used a magic marker to put a piston # and a "forward" arrow on each cap. Then pull the caps evenly off the rod. Use a paint stick (soft wood won't scratch anything) or being very careful with a small screwdriver to push the upper bearing out if it doesn't readily come out. In some cases, it's necessary to push the rod upward a hair to just take the load off the bearing surface. BE VERY CLEAN FROM HERE ON. Note the location of the little notch on the bearing as they come out so you'll know the orientation of the replacment bearings. Pour or paint assembly lube onto the new bearings and slide them over the crankshaft journal and insert into the caps. Push the caps onto the bottoms of the rod and thread the NEW nuts onto the cap. Torque the rod nuts to appropriate value and you're done.

Now the fun begins (putting the oil pan and gasket back on). There's many tecqniques on line about appropriate sealant for the corners and whatnot but one thing I strongly recommend: Clean the mold release off the rubber gasket with laquer thinner and all the metal surfaces that it's supposed to be in contact with with acetone. This prevents creeping and bulging problems, especially where the corners seem to pop out the most. Apply selected adhesive in a thin coat in the corners and reassemble the pan after it has set for a few minutes. I use Yamabond (or Hondabond) adhesive that can be bought from most motorcycle dealers of the same name. They use it for joing engine case halves. Great stuff.

StoogeMoe

I don't know if it's fool proof. It's not even Yummybud proof.

You should measure your rod journals to make sure they are still within spec. Otherwise new bearings aren't going to help any. And don't miss the point about getting new rod nuts. You cannot re-use the old ones. Just do one rod at a time and you don't have to worry about marking them. Torque them down to spec using an accurate torque wrench. You don't want to be using some cheapy thing from Harbor Freight.

I've never done them with in the engine in the car, but I bet that's a mess and a pain to get the pan bolts back in. GL!

Arominus

I did it over the winter in car and it getting the pan back on was really the worst of it.

Yummybud924

ok thanks guys. I was debating whether to pay a shop to do it or to do it myself. Now I think i'll do it myself and if I run into a problem i'll post pics here and hopefully get help.

I have no idea how to measure rod journals. Is this absolutely necessary. I was planning on just ordering standard size bearings. I read somewhere that when you take the old bearings out the will be stamped with std if they are standard size, is this true?

Also, I don't have a super expensive torque wrench I have no idea how accurate it is. It was $100 bucks from Canadian tire and it's a mastercraft brand and goes from 20-250 ft-lbs. I doubt it's super accurate. I also have a smaller inch p ound torque wrench for torqueing the pan, and water pump bolts. If I need to pay a couple hundred for a professional torque wrench it might be better to pay a shop to do it.