There should be no clearance.  My Bentley says, "CAUTION Oil pan must be flush
with end face of engine block.  If it protrudes or there is a gap, clutch
housing will be stressed and could break."

It also says:

Oil pan, installing (engine installed)
    --align oil pan to engine block with straightedge
    --tighten bolts

(engine removed)
    --start all bolts including those in clutch housing
    --press oil pan by hand against clutch housing so that there is no gap
between
      oil pan and clutch housing
    --lightly tighten all bolts
    --fully tighten all bolts
        M6 to 10 Nm (7 ft lb)
        M10 to 45 Nm (33 ft lb)

Paul A. Cianciolo wrote:

> Hello Folks,
>
> First a public thanks to all who have helped me with my 1.9TD conversion.
> Well the transmission is on and I have a question. There are 2 bolts in the
> bell housing that
> go into the oil pan.   I noticed that there is a little clearance between
> the bell housing
> and the oil pan.. it is flush against teh block though.  This cleanance is
> small maybe .020"or so.
>
> Before I go ahead and torque down the bell housing do I need to loosen the
> pan? and let the pan slide toward the
> the bell housing? or do I need to shim this area.  I di not want to torque
> iot for fear of
> breaking something.  I will measure the gap with a feeler guage to be sure
> but I think it around .020"
>
> Thank you all for the help.   BTW I will need to clean my keyboard after
> this conversion is done!!!
> Paulc
> W1VLF
> Cloudbounce Webpage  http://www.qsl.net/w1vlf/
>
> 1986 Vanagon Gas
> 1982 Vanagon Diesel  Soon to be Turbo Diesel 1.9