Is the engine supported safely?

[dyerkes]

I have had my engine out of my car for about the last 4 months to take care of some oil leaks on the top side of the engine. The engine has been sitting on large 4 x 4 blocks on the bottom side of the heat exchangers during this time, and I happened to notice a small puddle (2 - 3 inches in diameter) under #6 cylinder. I haven't yet tried to track down the exact source of the leak, but wanted to here from others as to whether or not there was a possiblity of having damaged the threads of the head studs by supporting the weight of the engine/transmission on the heat exchangers. I did re-torque the head studs when I adjusted the valves, and did not run across any pulled studs. Is it acceptable that you can have a minor oil leak from the jugs because the engine is resting on the exhaust, and that once the engine is supported by the engine mounts this leak will dissappear (yes would be nice).

Thank,
David
1986 911 Turbo Black/black

[rcwaldo]

Unless you have many broken cylinder studs, you are fine. The weight of the engine isn't close to the stress-point of all the studs and fasteners.

Dont worry.

Chris

[Rick Lee]

You'll find that, once you have all those hoses off the engine for the removal, that small drips will work their way down. You can almost never get all the oil out of one of these engines. And from what I've heard, resting the engine on the heat exchangers is totally safe and normal. Since you're in Fairfax, come on by Sat. and watch us all play with my engines. We're doing a 3.2 swap and rear spring plates at Marcesq's house.

[KTL]

Hey Rick,

Try to take a few pics of the rear spring plate R&R. This question seems to come up alot and i'm sure would be helpful to many. It'd definitely show those who aren't aware just how worn & deformed the original rear rubber bushings can get.

Sorry, I should have done this when I did mine. Alas, i'm forgetful, didn't have a dig.-cam readily available, and kinda lazy.

Thanks

[dyerkes]

Rick,

Thanks for your response. I actually spent a little bit more time trying to track down the exact source of the leak, only to find that it appeared to be coming from the oil drain plug (located on left side of the crankcase on a 930, unlike the 911 which has the plug in the sump plate). Sure enough when I attempted to loosen the nut by hand and it came right off and oil began to run out. Although I had drained the crankcase of oil before I started working on the engine, some 4 months ago, apparently enough oil had settled back into the crankcase that it began to leak.

David

[Rick Lee]

Well, let that be a lesson. When I drain my oil (Carreras don't have sump plates and the case drain is on the left side of the seam), I get the car hot first, drain filler tank, then the case, then I jack up passenger side just a hair to get more oil out.