Sway bar bolt will not start 1986 911 3.2
 

After finishing a fuel pump job and so removing the belly pan, the 8mm allen bolt that attaches the belly pan and the front sway bar brackets to the bottom of floor pan will not align and start on the passenger side. The other side took by turning it in with my fingers. I have tried various combinations of jacking, but this side's sway bar brackets will not line up enough to get this bolt started. I can't imagine trying to get is a back in with the actual belly pan in play to, but would be happy just to get the bolt back in for the moment. Any advice greatly appreciated as always.

I would suggest that you only start each bolt leaving the bracket loose at both ends until all bolts are started. So if the other bolt is already tightened, loosen it enough to allow some movement of the bracket for alignment with the threaded mount. You probably already know this but just wanted to offer my experience. Also it sometimes helps to have the Allen wrench inserted in the bolt to provide some extra leverage to push the bolt into place while leveraging to the proper angle/position for thread engagement. Using a bit of muscle to get it aligned. I’m probably not describing this well. Good luck. I’m sure you’ll get it done.

Are both front wheels off the ground? You may have hinted at this with the comment about various combinations of jacking ... Relieving all tension on the swaybar may allow things to move more freely.

Whichever way the car was when you undid the bolts is how you want it when putting them back in. Easiest way I've found is to have the car on ramps the whole time.

At this point you're basically starting over, so it's time to loosen everything up and try to realign. It sucks. There's no trick to it once things have shifted.

This may not be your problem (yet*), but...

Are the threads intact? I've seen plenty that have been cross-threaded. Running a thread chasing tap into the body and a thread chasing die on to the fastener (or just sourcing a new fastener) may be required.

*Sometimes, after you've lined up the swaybar bushing mount and the pan, you still can't thread the fastener in due to someone previously buggering up the threads.

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In addition to Frank's suggestion, first see if the bolt threads into the body without the sway bar mount in the way. If it does, then you don't need to clean up the threads. If it doesn't, then you know what to do next.

If threads are ok , you have to loosen the other side , then both sides evenly go up , slowly tighten , go back up alternating sides. I just did mine , had the same problem , i thought i messed something up ..

When I did it I used a small hydraulic cylinder jack and a piece of wood to press up against the mount (bracket and pan) and had no problem putting the bolts back in. Both wheels were removed and the front was on jack stands.

Same as my favorite procedure……
 

Aside from making sure that the threads for the fasteners and receivers are not compromised, I used the above procedure to install back the brackets and skid plate specially when you are working alone. There are several ways to get them back together and decide which one you prefer and do it safely.

Tony

Do some reading here:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/1057339-stupid-belly-pan.html