To those who have completed the motor mount swap. Help!!!!
Things were moving along slowly but surely, when I’ve hit a snag that has stopped me cold. I can’t get the cross member back up. After several hours (over several days) I can’t get both sides under the control arms. I can get either side up but not both at the same time. I don’t want to drop the control arm. I just couldn’t seem to spread the two control arms far enough apart. What am I missing?

 

Do you have an assistant that can pull down on the control arm while you're manuevering the crossmember?

Makes things a lot easier.

 

The front of the control arm, IIRC two 17mm bolts at what looks like a skid plate has to be removed to give some play to the back. It was a bitch.

 

Thanks for your quick responses. My wife has been very helpful (so far) in helping me pull the control arm out of the way. The 17mm bolts from the tow hook are out, but that reminds me, I put a small bolt in the one of the tow hooks to keep it from swinging. That might be what is limiting one of the control arms??? duhhhh I better check that...............

 

That's a good woman. Hold on to that one.

 

It's the little things that kick your butt on these jobs.

 

Greg, I work in Arlington; live in Annandale. I could swing by if you need an extra pair of arms/hands.

 

I second that!! and great offer steve 88

 

Once you get it back up, you will find that the holes for the long long horizontal bolts will not quite line up. You'll need you wife again to hold the crossmember up and some kind of lever to pry the hole into alignment so the bolts can slip in.

 

Another local 928.....
Thanks Steve I really appreciate the offer . I can't bring in a substuitute control arm puller now. She's just starting to ask questions (the 1st sign ofinterest?). You're more then welcome to come over, drink beer and talk 928's, sports or DC traffic once we're done. I have not doubt that we'd get it done , but the couch is not very comfortable.

 

Bill makes a good point.

For this duty I used my trusty rolling floor jack to do the raising on the end of the crossmember. A taoered punch will help with aligning the holes for those end bolts. One thing that I did was to put a small scissors jack under the engine sump, with a couple 2x4 sections to spread the load a little. With that, I could raise the engine to the point where I wasn't fighting the weight of the motor while trying to raise the crossmember. Make sure that your aircleaner box and the two snorkel tubes are removed before pushing the motor up, so they don't get squished. Anyway, using the two jacks together let me wrestle with the lower control arm to get it lined up a little better. I think I also put the front bracket bolts in loosely as soon as the crossmember was on top of the control arm bushing, to help hold the arm.

A lot of the wrestling with the crossmember was eliminated once I got the roller jack into the picture holding it up. I was doing mine single-handed, Karen would come out every once in a while to tell me how I really should just pay someone to do the job... And make sure I was still breathing. As many of us have said, the next one will go a lot more quickly, knowing what we know now. I kinda wish I had run the video camera for the whole MM ordeal. I learned my lesson before I did the TB/WP though. That film is in the can waiting for editing and voiceover time.

Good luck, and be sure to wash your hands before eating after this job...

 

I did a few single-handed, and that part of the job is true bitch-on-wheels. What I did was to use a few tie downs on the hubs to keep the suspension pulled out of the way. I roped it to a car next to the Porsce, and an anchor in the wall. Don't take up too much tension, just enough to hold it back.

Get the cross memeber on your chest, then slide under without the creeper. Angle the crossmember back toward your face about 30 degrees. Now working it from the back of the mount points push it up in with a helper moving the suspension around for you. The helper can work one side at a time. Use a crow bar for the really tricky prying.

If you've already fitted the new mounts to the crossmember, they must be very loose on the nuts, or the mounts will not fit around the lower engine. I used some mallets, crowbars, and a fair assortment of swear words to fit mine. If the heat shields are on the crossmemeber, think about loosening the bolts on those to give them some movement.

Doc

 

All this talk is awakening repressed memories. I think my shoulder is starting to hurt. I sure hope those Anchor 2698's live longer than I do.
I agree with using a tapered punch or other improvised tool to align the logitudinal bolts in the crossmember. I also agree with the use of swear words. You might not want to have your kids or mother-in-law watch this part.
Good luck,
Dave McK.

 

Used combinations of most of all of the above, alone. Used a small sissor jack to manouver the lower control arms, and used it again to line up the crossmember. Used the tapered punch to help align the horizontal bolt holes, but ended up using a pry bar to move the upper part until the bolts slid right in. That was a piece of cake after a while of nothing but cuss words and frustration! :-)

87 928 S4 a/t
87 951

 

Thanks for all of the words of advice & encouragement, The cross member is up & ctl arms bolted up. The rack and lower plate are tomorrow. Raising the engine a few inches and cusin' seemed to help.

Thanks again