paalw

Might be? You have a photo of a later version? I have noticed most of the parts that are marked with production year on this car, says 91.

Here are my engine numbers

Rob Edwards

Sure, here's a 94 GTS motor showing the hex bolts used for the girdle:



And page 1-3 of the '92 service info tech book RE: the change:

paalw

Thanks. Another thing learned

The inside of that 94 engine looks more bronze coloured than mine. Is it just lightning? Or is it some kind of "pollution" or dirt? Or did they change anything in materials(sounds unlikely to me)?

Rob Edwards

The '94 motor has 165K miles on it- the color is just residual varnish from oil. Yours is immaculate inside, good oil and regular oil changes, clearly!

gbarron

How did your exhaust manifold heat shields look that bolt to the cross member? Was the insulating material on them still intact? This helps keep heat away from your motor mounts so they last longer.

Also, did you get a new o-ring for the dip stick tube?

paalw

They look partly rusty, insulating material also partly done its job.. I haven't thought about replacing them...until now...lol

No dipstick tube o-ring. Is that also something WYAIT inside?

gbarron

You can likely clean them up and re-apply some new heat insulating material, that's what I did to mine. I bought a sheet of the material and traced it out to fit each shield.

Dipstick tube...yes, excellent time to replace the o-ring and eliminate another possible leak point. P/N 900 174 044 40

paalw

Quick question; when you install the new oil suction tube rubber gasket, and dipstick o-ring, do you install them dry or pre-oiled? or doesn't it matter?

Rob Edwards

Dry and dry.

paalw

Thanks Rob.

New question;
I got the rack bellows and tie rods off to replace them. Thankfully the bellows were nice and dry inside. Should I relube the moving rack surface, while I have it open? In that case, what kind of lube should be used?

dr bob

No lube needed or wanted on the sliding part of the rack. It gets oiled when it's inside the seals, wiped dry (hopefully) before it passes outside. The boots keep dirt from fouling the seals and bushings.

paalw

Great, thanks Bob. Makes sense.

Not a lot of progress. Still waiting for more part. Got some of them, will get the rest tomorrow.

I got the tie rod ends off, ended up hurting myself in the process. The ends were stuck to the hub so I removed the ends from the rod not to damage the rack, then I used one of those "ball joint remove tools". It took a lot of force but when it finally came, it was with lightning speed, right into my leg. Well at least the steering rack is fine!

Now I am trying to find a thin 32mm wrench to get the rod off the rack. Not very easy to find..

paalw

Finally I got the last parts, so I could start reassembling things. First I replaced the tie rod ends and the rack bellows. I had the whole tie rods with ends new and was planning to replace it, but I could not get the 32mm (with 22mm counterholding) to move. I didn't give it very much try or thought, the tie rods were fine so I just let them there and only replaced the ends, as they were the ones a bit bad. After that I installed the new rack delrin bushings. They had a nice fit, just needed a few hits with the hammer to seat perfectly.

Then the oil suction tube went back in with a new rubber ring, and I replaced the dipstick o-ring. Very easy and straight forward. The oil level sensor got a new gasket, and I went on to reinstall the oil pan. Some of the bolts were a pain in the .$$ to get to. I torqued the ones I could get to with the t-wrench down to 6+2nm, and took the rest on hand feeling with a flex-head ratchet spanner.

Reinstalled lower bellhouse cover, clutch slave and starter motor.

Then what I have been feared since I removed it - putting the crossmember back up. First I mounted both motor mounts with brackets on the crossmember. After some cursing and sore shoulders I gave up and had another read on some of the threads here on the subject(thanks MrMerlin). So I removed the passenger side mount/bracket from the crossmember and installed it loosely on the engine bracket. With some creativity keeping the lower control arms away, and some wiggling back and forth, I finally managed to squeeze the crossmember with the driver side motor mount more or less in place. And that is where I ended todays session. It looks like it will go fine to attach the PS mount to the crossmember and tighten everything up. I will find out tomorrow...more to follow then.

j.kenzie@sbcglobal.net

Great job! I just did this about a week ago. I still don't know how I wiggled the cross member into place, but I did.
Good luck,
Dave

paalw

Neither do I, it was more challenging than I first thought yesterday, to get it all lined up.

Anyway, the engine is now once again resting on the crossmember! Around one inch or maybe a bit more higher than before.