2014/10/20 The pan..the pan..the pan PT.III

After seven hours of wrenching my arms are numb but the crossmember is back where it belongs.Unscrewing the bolts of the motor bridge proves that the crossmember is even doing what it’s designed to do.

The last bit of strength is used to put the steering but the pain in my arms and fatigue prevent me from making it to the finish. Nonetheless I’m happy, Oh Yes, we can!

2014/10/19 The pan..the pan..the pan PT.II

This blog entry is my post n°.928 on the Belgian Porsche forum. Is that important, no it’s not, but reason enough to celebrate with a Stella. It takes 30 bolts to get the pan back where it belongs. I’ve done them all and put a fresh gasket in. Was it successful?

We don’t know yet. The crossmember is still in between me and success. I hope it doesn’t act cross when I try to put it back in.

2014/10/17 part shopping

Last week was spend painting. I’m not sure if we can get everything back under the shark without scratching the fresh paint but the result for now looks nice, I may say.

Today I did quite some milage to get some parts. First of to Middelburg where I have picked up a new oil level sender unit. It’s clear that the old one is missing some parts but the funny thing is that I didn’t find all the missing parts in the oil pan. Next stop was at OPC Antwerp where at first I’d thought that Santa came early this year but it soon became evident that the parts weren’t free of charge. Last stop was at the repair shop; my oil pan is oil proof again, at least at the carter plug end. This weekend I hope to start rebuilding it all. My biggest worry is to get the crossmember back in. Nonetheless a fresh crate of Stella is at hand to celebrate success.

2014/10/10 Crossmember

Today there was time for sanding, scrubbing and high pressure cleaning. The crossmember and other parts are ready to get some RX paint. There were 4 resilient bolts on the crossmember but all and all an easy job. I took the pan to a repair shop where at arrival, a nicely restored Targa was parked.

2014/10/08 The pan

Before reading any further it’s best to watch this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug8nHaelWtc

replace with....The pan.....the pan....The pan…..

2014/10/06 Free at last.

A dance of joy today for the pan has been removed. After removing eight more bolts from suspension/crossmember it still didn’t move. A small bolt keeping the wire harness in place kept the crossmember in. After removing this bolt....it still wouldn’t move as the steering rack was an obstacle. After a bit of juggling with crossmember and steering rack it finally came out. The oil pan is kept in place with two bolts now as the pan itself, the reason for al of this juggling, doesn’t come out yet. No therefore U’ll have to remove the clutch slave cylinder. No probs there but I have to get it al back in sometime later. It is clear that the oil level sender is useless, some new parts will be ordered this week and hopefully we can get the puzzle back together during the weekend.

2014/09/28 Last chance.

Since passing vehicle inspection I’d hoped to finally get some milage, unfortunately the shark has a mind of it’s own. I’m stuck with a small leak at the carter plug and I try to solve it. I know there’s a dent at the carter plug opening but on previous oil changes that didn’t cause any problems. Unscrewing the carter plug reveals another problem, there’s some iron coming along with it, the thread is clearly bust. It shouldn’t be to big a problem, tapping new thread will solve the problem but the dedicated fans of my blog will know already that nothing is straightforward. It seems it isn’t the first time thread will be tapped, there’s simply no material left to tap, the plug cannot be tightened. I’m thinking about using a heli-coil but the thread is not the only problem. The small rubber wheel that’s part of the oil level sensor decided to go for a swim and is resting happily on the bottom of the carter. Of course there’s no way to get it out. It becomes evident why the oil level warning light kept lighting up, I’m happy to discover why but I’ve kinda had enough and I’m giving the “body-off” option a serious thought. My “wrenching helping hand” manages to change my mind and give it one more go. Giving up now would be falling off your bike with the finish line in sight or even on the finish line after a mountain stage.

To make it to our happy “swimmer” I have to remove the carter pan. Thirty bolts are keeping it in place and oil proof. There’s 4 (yes four) bolts that are accessible and when you’re done with these, you come the conclusion that the pan doesn’t drop far enough to get it out. The crossmember that supports the engine prevents this from happening so I fear that I’ve gone as far as I can. Some research shows there’s a solution: making you’re own engine support bridge. I’ve found it on Rennlist where it was applied successfully so on saturday I put on my carpenters hat. Constructing the bridge isn’t that hard and as soon as it’s in place I can drop the steering rack. One by one the crossmember bolts are removed until the moment of truth arrives. 

The bridge construction functions and the engine is supported by the bridge, not by the crossmember. I don’t make it to the finish though as the crossmember is still connected to the suspension and I need to figure out why. I’m taking the slow approach, giving it a lot of thought, after all I don’t want to end up flat nosed.

Nonetheless I think the Shark will be supportive this time after I’d warned him that it would be the last chance.