Rear Cross Member Installation
 

My 01 has been up on a lift for months, over the weekend I installed a used motor with lots of new parts. I'm at the point of trying to bolt up the black rear cross member that runs side to side underneath the the bell housing.

The bolt holes will not line up side to side, they are off by about 1/8".

What is the best way to pull in the attachment points?

Paul,
The cross member is short of lining-up with the holes?

its because it on the lift and the body has flexed.


easy way...... go buy a strong rachet strap tie down.... strap it and rachet it together.

If you just loosen the 2 rear suspension strut to frame bolts per side you can move them to lineup the bolt holes & then push them outward as much as possible to maximize rear track width & negative camber. No matter what you do you will need to check the rear alignment settings afterward.

Have you done this?

Thanks, I was trying to avoid a $200 alignment, but as I looked at it last night, I kinda figured that your solution was probably the best choice.

You are only pulling in 1/8 inch. By using the strap you are reproducing the pull of the crossmember.
If you undo the tower, you need to pay $$ for an alingment.

Great solution it worked great, didn't even have ratchet it very tight.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...1/P7160703.jpg

These 4 bolts took a lot more time.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...1/P7160706.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...1/P7160705.jpg

Got the car done today and took it for a ride! Great to have it back.

Paul,
I'm glad to see you're on the road again! How's the replacement motor running for you?

Put in a 13 hour day today, enjoyed all but the hours it took to remove those pressed in exhaust flange bolts.

No leaks, all levels seem to be holding steady. Only drove the car for about 10 miles so far, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

Great to have it off the lift, now I just have to clean up the garage!

This is great news... Now you have to change your signature block... You have compression now!

How did you get the exhaust flange bolts out, drill?

Changed the signature, good idea, thanks!

I used a air powered cutoff tool to remove the heads of the bolts and the rest of the threads on the other side. Tried a air hammer to knock them out to no avail.

So I drilled them out. They are made of very hard metal that destroyed a couple very good drill bits.

I know you upgraded the IMS bearing but what other, if any, parts did you ugrade on the motor? Did you install a new water pump?

Lots of stuff,

water pump (old one was fine)
RMS
LN IMS bearing (old one was fine, but the IMS tube was full of oil)
Flywheel (old one was shot)
pilot bearing
clutch set
AOS
Belt
Oil fill tube
Coolant tank and cap
Porsche antifreeze ($28 a gallon, ouch)
Lots of new bolts and nuts and gaskets.
engine mount (old one still intact after 89000 miles)
Royal purple tranny fluid (dealer wanted $39 a quart for Porsche gear lube!)

Have you used Royal Purple befiore? I am using it now and have found that it is a little stiff when it's cold but after it warms-up it is very smooth. In colder climate you might find it too stiff??

Drove a little over 100 miles on twisty back roads today, had to top off the coolant. No drips.

Tranny is shifting fine so far, but it's 95 degrees today.

Just got back from a 1,200 mile round trip to the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. Car survived monsoon rains on Friday in Ohio and 95 degrees temps all weekend.

Oil and coolant levels unchanged averaged about 28 MPG. :cheers:

Did you see any scraping on the water pump blades?

http://986forum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29542

Nope.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...g?t=1311632767

Paul, I enjoyed this thread. Us upstarts find these threads very informative and help with our confidence to take on projects. A 3.6 wow...she must pull hard!