skene

Hi,
I'm new to rennlist and recently (as in last November) bought an '86 951. I've been poking around the site learning all I can about it as I slowly fixing all the problems with it. I've have finally gotten to the point where I can't really justify putting off fixing my leaky oil pan any longer.
Since I'm going to be taking a good bit of it apart when I change the oil pan gasket, I'm wondering if there is anything else I should look into replacing while I'm at it? The car has 193k miles on it, but was completely rebuilt with an 88 head by the PO around 40k ago.
I also read a couple posts about being able to take the pan off without removing the headers and all the mess up top? If anyone has some suggestions on how to do this, I'd love to hear them. Thanks for help!

turbite

I think there was a new product recently made to combat just this problem.
I can't find the link, anyone have it?

ah, here it is:
https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...hreadid=114722

skene

That post is actually what made me think of tackling my gasket next. I'm most likely going to pick one of those up soon, or see how difficult it would be to make myself. I'll be in a shop fabbing something to hold my engine soon anyways.

turbite

Welcome to rennlist, btw!

Chris Moon

Clark's Garage is where you want to look.

http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/lube-06.htm

Lindsey makes a 3 piece cross-member, but of course you've got to remove the original to install it.

http://www.lindseyracing.com/Merchan...944CROSSMEMBER


CM

Mike S

check out www.clarks-garage.com , he has an excellent write up on it. You can take the pan off while leaving the headers in place, but you will need to remove the cross over pipe. It's a lot of work but not difficult stuff. You'll need new exhaust gaskets.....~$10 each or so and you might want to check the rod bearings while you are in there. Just put some plastigauge in there to check the clearances and do a visual inspection on the #2 rod bearing. If the previous owner replaced it you are in good shape.

B951S

Welcome!
I made my own, its easy. Check out this thread.

https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...e&pagenumber=4

Waterguy

I did this job last winter, and it was long and fiddly, but not impossible. You should plan on pulling the intake manifold to make the job easier, but the headers do not have to be removed. The brake booster heat shield was the most fiddly part to remove imho, but it just took time and some stubby wrenches.

The problems with oil pan gaskets seem to be with rebuilt engines that have blowby before the rings seat. I installed my gasket as per Clarks Garage instructions (gasket surface clean and oil-free, sealant at corners only) and had no problems.

Lots of other stuff you should consider checking or doing "while you are in there." It can add significantly to the parts cost, but you really don't want to go in there twice. At a minimum, rod bearings, new rod bearing nuts and o-ring on the oil pick-up. Measure the height of the motor mounts, and if they have compressed to less than 62 mm between the bearing surfaces with the engine weight on them, or 65 mm decompressed, replace them with new OEM mounts.

While the intake manifold was off, I replaced the heater valve and hoses, some vacuum lines and radiator hoses and cleaned the engine grounds. I also had the injectors cleaned and flow-balanced and replaced the o-rings, pintle caps and screens. Make sure you go with new gaskets and crush washers on everything you disassemble. I ended up having to replace crush washers this year on the turbo oil return line and power steering banjo bolts because they leaked when I reused the crush washers.

People will caution you that there is no end of things you can do "while you are in there", and its true. I only regret the things I didn't do, however, such as replace the oil cooler housing seals. HTH.

Eyal 951

With that kind of milleage, I say since your in there allready, just change the rod bearing, and nuts. It's not terribly difficult. only trying to loosen the nuts is. it will cost about 50 bucks for all four rod bearings, in a set. the job isn't too hard. Good luck and Welcome.
~Eyal

skene

Thanks for the advice guys. It looks like I'll be checking the state of my rod bearings and maybe do that at the same time. The motor mounts were swapped out about 10-15k ago, so I'm not to worried about them. Time permitting I'll like to build my own retaining lip, but for $65 it looks like a good deal. I hope to do this later in the month, so we'll see how it goes.