[ike84]

I think the criticism here is a bit pedantic. The size of the oil pan is what, 8"x14"? The motor weight ~450lbs in total. If you support the entire oil pan with a rigid material - thick plywood, for example, that comes out to about 4 lbs/insq. I despise cast aluminum, but even it can tolerate that.

Don't misunderstand me, I would never put a jack directly on the oil pan for ANY reason.

But a lot of people, myself included, have replaced engine mounts or dropped the motor completely without this issue.

JFP, as usual, is correct in pointing out the Porsche recommended technique for manipulation of the engine (the cars were actually braced for transport using that device - I wonder what happened to all those?)

But I don't think its fair to say that you have to use one of these if you manipulate the engine for any reason, even for a second.

Take it with a grain of salt though, everything I do is farm-engineered to some degree...