Bill Ball

You know, after I wrote that I had a vague recollection that it was one of our more knowledgeable members and not some novice without any sense. And I recalled that the cut was done in a way that there was a fair amount of gluing surface, so it might hold up. Glad to hear it's done well.

Mrmerlin

FWIW there isnt any need to cut the new gasket,
it can be stretched or worked over the outer edge of the pan.
Lift the engine or have new MMs installed.
Remove the starter, the sway bar and the clutch slave cylinder and bell housing.
Lower the pan clean it, though you wont have much room.
Then put the new gasket into place.
NOTE no cutting is needed as it will go on around the outer circumference of the pan.

NOTE use some thin copper wire in a few holes to hold the gasket to the pan ,
as you work it into position .

Lift the pan back into position,
install the cleaned bolts with a drop of blue loctite,
remove the copper wire when you have the bolts adjacent to them installed.

Adamant1971

If trying this I would be worried about crap falling into the pan. Do the seals typically come out in one piece or do they fall apart?

kmascotto

How do you establish the correct ride height of the motor? Does anyone know what that is, in relationship to the cross bar (top of Motor)?? Would this be an accurate measurement to establish the motor mounts condition?

kmascotto

Thanks Merlin, I will try that route if I can establish the motor mount health and they are still in good condition.

Bill Ball

How do you clear the oil pick up? It sits way down in the sump surrounded by 4 interior baffle walls that come pretty close to the side of the pick up cup. I wouldn't think you could drop the pan enough even with the engine hoisted up. That why Erkka cut the gasket. And I can't see how you could effectively clean the pan. It took me almost an hour of scrubbing in a parts cleaner.

Mrmerlin

Bill the gasket doesnt need to clear the oil pickup as it never gets very far towards the inside of the pan.
it simply gets put on from the outside,
does that make sense?

OK I will explain, further,
with the pan loose,
drape the front edge of the gasket over the front of the pan ,

feed the rear edge of the gasket under the pan , and then over the cross member,

then feed the front edge of the gasket onto the top edge of the pan,
gently work the rear edge of the gasket into position,
use a few pieces of wire to hold the gasket in place as you work it.

NOTE the pan will not get the benefit of a full cleaning by following this procedure

dr bob

My luck doing blind sump gasket replacements has been less than great over the several months of wrenching experience I can still remember. If you decide to try to wrap the new gasket onto the sump as Stan describes, the old gasket must come out completely intact first. Grab that assortment of inspection mirrors, maybe even one of those fancy inspection cameras on a stalk, and make darn sure there is absolutely nothing of the old gasket remaining on either the sump or the girdle flanges. The smallest bit of old gasket risks leaving a path past the new gasket, and oil will quickly identify that as an escape route. No good way to remove old gasket debris without risking it dropping into the pan. No way to keep other debris that was external to the engine from becoming internal contamination. My conclusion, obviously, is to pull the crossmember and completely remove and clean the pan.

Wondering if your motor mounts are sagged? Each mount has a pair of safety hooks around it. Purpose is to restrain the engine movement that might stretch the mount to failure. With new factory mounts, those hooks almost touch. As the mount collapses with age, the gap between the hooks grows. If there's room to get a pinky finger in between the hooks, the mount is past done. The WSM probably lists a specific clearance someplace, but the go/no go finger test is a good way the determine how much the old ones have sagged.

With that in mind, the mounts that Roger offers are slightly taller than the factory mounts. Those hooks get assembled with the mounts, so they may need o be reformed slightly to work with the taller mounts. I assembled mine tight to the engine bracket, loose to the cross member, heat shields also loose, prior to putting the cross member back up. Then the engine-side brackets get bolted back to the block, the heat shields tightened, cross member snugged in place, then the bottom motor mount nuts get tightened from under the cross member.

Others may chime in with better guidance, just sharing what worked for me.

martinss

While Mrmerlin's suggestion of copper wire will obviously work well, I found zip ties applied loosely to be a viable alternative:

kmascotto

Thank you, I also found this discussion from a few years back that has some great info about Motor height.
https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...intensive.html

dr bob

From the wayback file cabinet. This is my S4 with new factory mounts. The straightedge barely touches the crossbar when it sits on the intake plenums. This doesn't directly answer the question for earlier cars.

In the link in the immediately previous post, there's a nice close-up of the safety hooks, showing how/where the gap is.

Wisconsin Joe

That thread has some good info.

One that I found to be a good indicator is the pan to crossmember comparo.

If the mounts are good, the bottom of the pan is roughly even with the bottom of the crossmember.
If the pan is hanging down below the crossmember then the mounts are crushed and the pan is at very real risk for damage.

Adamant1971

Mine sits below. I can get my finger between, but tighter on the passenger side. I'm pulling it an doing the mounts.

kmascotto

Bob, that's a great photo and exactly what a 928 buyer would need to establish motor mount condition!! it saves having to go under the engine and checking the other way.

I just ordered and set of MM from Roger, cause mine are at the end of there life too Adam.

Adamant1971

Good luck Kent. I will be dropping my rack tonight and then the cross member on Sunday.