Techno Duck

There should be nothing inbetween the backside of the bearing and the surface of the rod / end cap. Clean with brake cleaner, then put the bearing shell in place.

Only put assembly lube where the bearing rides on the crank journal.

shortyboy

Thank you, much appreciated

shortyboy

Just used your guide to do my con rod bearings and oil pan gasket. overall job wasn't too bad just a little time consuming. I had a question regarding the balance shaft reseal. do you know all the parts that I would need to reseal both balance shaft housings? I've already got the seals, o-rings, onion seals . I know I need loctite 574, 4 bearings and end cap o-rings. but I can't seem to find the o-rings on paragons website. thanks

Techno Duck

999-701-875-40

2x needed.

Do the engine mounts while your in there...

shortyboy

Thank You!

944hal

Nice write up. I wish I had it before I did it myself the first time. I've now done it 3 times, the last time this past April on my track car. 40 track hours on the rod bearings. They looked good so I'll go 60 hours this time. I use a angle iron bolted bolted to the top of the strut brace mounts to support the engine. I also use tie down straps instead of chains as support. That way I can crank the motor back up if it sags too much. I did one job with a 3 piece cross member and agree it doesn't save much time. I'd do a 3 piece cross over first.

Again, nice write up. Thanks for taking the time to do it and lending a hand to all of us DYI types.

Mach 5

I'm in the process of trying to remove the cross member/steering rack as part of a rod bearing replacement project. I have everything disconnected from the cross member, it's supported with a jack and I'm ready to lower it. However, I noticed that the hard line for the power steering cooler is still attached to the cross member. I don't recall seeing any mention in other write ups of the best way to address this line. It is a LONG single piece of hard line, extending all the way from the steering gears under the engine, and up to the front of the car.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.
Roger

Mach 5

OK. I think I just determined that you have to disconnect the power steering cooler line up front where it connects to the coiled cooler. Now my next challenge is trying to get the crossmember to drop off the motor mounts. i'm guessing you have to remove the two smaller bolts on top of the mount versus the one large one from below.

Any pointers?

Roger

Mach 5

got it out. yes, remove the 4 13mm bolts from on top the motor mounts.

divil

Sorry I missed your questions, I was literally doing the reverse of all this while you were waiting for an answer lol. But yeah there is no use in removing the lower engine mount nut because the mount is secure to the crossmember via lip that seats under an overhanging piece of the crossmember. You have to remove the 2 13mms from the top. But when you're putting it back together, loosen the lower nut and that will help getting everything lined up.

If you have an oil level sensor that must come out before the pan comes down (this is missing from most of the existing write-ups). Just remove the 3 bolts, draw it out carefully until it stops, then turn it upside down and it will come out the rest of the way. It should have a little plastic float on the end...if it doesn't, it's in your oil pan in multiple pieces. They're $300

I'm on the downhill stretch of this so it's all fresh in my mind...feel free to reach out if you want help with anything.

Mach 5

divil,

I learned my lesson last weekend, thinking I had to grind the weld off the nut welded on to the crossover pipe (turns out, by the factory!). If it's not obvious to me, I'll ask!

Mine is an '86, so no oil level sensor. On a different note, what is the torque spec for the rod nuts?

Thanks.
Roger

divil

Oh yeah I remember that

The Turbo manual I have says 54 + 3.6 ft/lbs for the "Verbusrip" rod nuts. There was also a bulletin going around saying you should use new ones. As to the "+3.6" part, you might want to read this thread, it's the only thing I found that sheds any light on it. Note that in that thread, he says the spec is 55+4...that's what's in the non-Turbo manual that I have.

But I'd *highly* recommend that you get a copy of the factory manual and check things like that yourself, just to be safe. You can download them from a few places...do a google search for "Vol6-Turbo.pdf" and you should find a few links.

Mach 5

I understand that it is recommended to use sealant at the corners of the oil pan. I was wondering why you wouldn't want to use the same sealant all the way around? Given the propensity for these gaskets to leak, it would seem that the additional sealant would be a reasonable precaution. What am I missing?

Roger

divil

I put sealant (Yamabond) only on the sharp corners where the flat part transitions to the curved part. That's where I saw the factory sealant so I tried to copy that. My understanding is that the gasket needs to be able to slide around a little and reposition itself as you tighten it down, so that's why you don't want anything sticky anywhere else on the gasket (I even cleaned the new gasket itself with alcohol). Whether I did the right thing or not remains to be seen...

Interestingly, this guy puts oil on the gasket, and nothing else.