About Dave Ward Expertise I`ve been restoring and driving my own 356`s for over 35 years. I`m not a professional mechanic but after all these years can pretty much put a 356 together with my eyes closed. I find there is very little help out there for the 356 hobbiest, so I decided to sign up and share my knowledge. I`ll do my darndest to help out with your questions and if I don`t know the answer, I`ll search as hard as I can to find it for you.
Like I said, I`m not a professional but can certainly relate to your frustrations and problems that sometimes come with restoring one of these little beauties.
Question Dave,
I have a 924 with a failed seals on the internal oil cooler. I've taken it out and reinstalled it with a new seal kit and it failed again. It looks as if there is a pressure release that may have a ring on it that the kit did not come with. Are you aware of this release valve?
bob
Answer Hi Bob,
I'm going by a 944 reference manual I have as I don't have anything strictly for the 924...but for the moment I'll consioder the two equal when it comes to oil cooler installations.
From what I see, there are a couple things you didn't mention. Either the 924 doesn't have them or the kit you have didn't give you enough parts. This will be a bit hard to describe, but here goes...besides the o-rings on the oil cooler that need renewing, there are at least two other o-rings that mount on the block, as well as a gasket (looks like a rectangular shaped o-ring) and these three accept the oil cooler housing. One critical piece you didn't mention is what's referred to as a "mount", essentially looking like another o-ring but more rigid and three times as tall. This goes into a recess on the block and the cooler mounts (is pressed into) this recess.
Also, you do have a relief valve that's in the block very, very near the cooler itself...it's located under a "plug" looks like an allen head bolt with a built in washer. This valve is basically a spring and a plunger and all you really need to do is clean out the shaft the valve rides in, clean up the plunger and spring, and reinsert them...plunger first, then spring and then use the closing plug to compress the spring. The deal with the relief valve is it will usually only fail if the oil in the shaft is gunky and cruddy and looks more like mud.
