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Arggggg, Lower Balance Shaft Reseal, I have to remove engine mount? Really?
Ok, dumb question but it appears that the engine mount bracket is in the way of removing the lower balance shaft cover, is this correct? I only ask as this seems like a really dumb Porsche engineering move and out(?) of character although the more I work on this dumb car, the more I wish I were working on one of my Alfas instead....
And another question I have is that to support the engine while removing the right side engine mount, can I put a jack and some wood under the oil pan? I replaced the oil pan gasket last year and really don't want to damage that gasket as that was another example of dumb German engineering I had to struggle through. And if not, what is the proper way? When I did the oil pan gasket, I used a steel bar across the engine bay but that sagged and I don't want to have the engine tilt too much since the left mount will still be attached. Maybe a combo of the two....
Any other issues I should be aware of in this mess? The factory manual doesn't really explain much about this process for some reason and even the usual online suspects don't offer much detail about this, i.e. that the engine mount bracket must be removed.
Oh, car is 86 951 with two piece balance shaft covers and I'm only doing the lower.
Ok, so I thought the German engineers had redeemed themselves by allowing removal of the cover but after loosening/removing all the bolts and wiggling the cover, it appears that there is a tang that is catching under the engine mount bracket. It might clear after loosening the bolts holding the mount bracket into the engine block but not sure about that....anyone know for sure?
Also, there is a lot of debris or sediment in the oil cooler & filter housing; is this normal? You can see it at the bottom of the housing right above the green rubber gasket, circled in red on the right. The other red circle is the tang that is interfering with removal.
Support the engine with an engine hanger or block of wood under the oil pan(carful not to bend any cooling tabs, maybe use a rag between the wood and the oil pan). Remove the engine mount bracket and you'll have much more room to work with.
Support the engine with an engine hanger or block of wood under the oil pan(carful not to bend any cooling tabs, maybe use a rag between the wood and the oil pan). Remove the engine mount bracket and you'll have much more room to work with.
Well it's not a question of room, I just didn't want to have to remove the mount if I didn't have to so here's the details for anyone else attempting this: apparently if you have the one piece balance shaft covers (87 and later) there is enough room to get the cover and balance shaft out together. I read how a 968 owner did it but as I don't have this cover, I'm not certain about which cars this will work with. However, with the two piece covers, you have to remove the cover before you can unbolt the bearing shell on the balance shaft and therefore there is not enough room under the engine mount bracket for the balance shaft cover to clear the bearing bracket. With the one piece the bearing bracket is built into the balance shaft cover so the whole thing comes off together.
With my car there is almost enough room except for the tang on the top of the cover although even if that weren't there, I'm not sure if the cover would clear the bearing shell. Anyway, long story short; the engine mount bracket must be removed on the two piece covers.
05-04-2018, 01:25 AM
Arggggg, Lower Balance Shaft Reseal, I have to remove engine mount? Really?
