Search has been down for several days now and I have to button up the rest of my engine before my day off this weekend so I can attempt to drop it in. Should I leave both front and rear covers loose, tighten the pan down, then tighten the covers? And it's my understanding to bolt the bell housing on and look for .25mm to flush clearance between the pan and housing. Also seems like a bitch to hang the motor from an engine hoist to do all this but I guess its the only way. I would hate to have dumped all this cash into this engine and have it leak oil everytime i stop....

 

id like the answer to.

 

Bolt on the bell housing, then bolt the oil pan to the bell housing. Then tighten all of the pan bolts in a criss-cross pattern. Remove the bell housing and bolt on your front and rear covers.

 

anything special to align the front and rear covers?

 

i was told to leave the front cover a little loose then install damper so it centers the seal then torque the cover down,hope thats right.

 

Yes, for the front, you want to put the pulley on before you tighten down the bolts. Sometimes you can get the pulley on far enough without pressing it on, so you can remove it right afterwards. Tighten the cover bolts in a criss-cross pattern also. Make sure to use RTV in the bottom corners to prevent leaks.

 

I didn't do it the "smart" way when I put all this stuff back together. I put the rear cover on first, and I used feeler gauges to make sure the clearance on the left and right sides of the crank were the same. This told me it was center left-to-right. I then checked that it was flush with the bottom of the block. No leaks.