alright, just got done with a head, cam, and intake swap. got everything all ready to go and runs awsome BUT. didnt realize the bottum of the timing cover didnt go into the oil pan! BIG leak. well i realize i need to pull the pan down a little and the cover should just slide right in? well there is like no room at all under there. exhaust is almost touching the pan! so do i need to lift the motor? if so how do i do this? do i need a cherry picker or can i use a jack?im hoping to just pull the pan down enough to not mess up the gasket but i have an extra incase it does get messed up. im dyin to drive this thing so any advice would be greatly appreciated about this. im open to anything. thanks alot!

 

If its one of the older style pans it should go in. Although you dont have to cut it, youll have to mess around with the cover to squish the seal down enough to get the dowel pins to line up. Despite what it seems like, itll go back on w/o dropping the pan. Add a couple of dabs of rtv at the corners of the pan where it meets up as well to prevent it from leaking since the gasket most likely pulled away with the TC cover.

 

pull off the timing cover and grind a 45 deg. angle on the ends of the sealing lip. Then put it pack on.

 

when i have done it in the past we allways pulled the first three bolts on each side of the pan completely out then just loosened the rest all the way back and pulled the front of the pan down enough to get the timing cover in and new gasket thats always worked for me never had a problem with it but if you want you can pull both motor mount bolts and then lift the engine with a hoist enough to make more room but you shouldnt have to we never have ...

 

well got all the bolts out, but i left the last 3 just loosend them alot. but im afraid to pry on the pan because i dont want to mess up teh gasket and have to pull the pan completely! any suggestions or ideas? thanks

 

is it possible to drop the pan as much as i can, clean the surfaces adn put a new gasket in? without lifting the engine or anything like that? that would probably be my best bet. i pretty much changed all the gaskets so i might as well change that one? but i really dont want to lift the motor and i would like to get it done in a few hours.

 

well on this situation there are some cars you can and some you cant your best bet is to have some way of jacking the engine up with a jack on the motor mount clamshell when you unbolt the mount on the driverside its the easiest but you might get lucky and be able to change it the way you described but on most cars your gonna have a tuff time cleaning all the surface for the new gasket to seal to .....

 

Have you tried to get it on w/o dropping the pan? It would probably be alot easier if the pan isnt leaking and there isnt a need to change the gasket. On mine, I took the lower seal and put it in boiling water to soften it up. After that I lubed it up and jammed the cover down against the pan to line up dowel pins and it went on. This was on one of the older pans with the older syle multipiece gaskets. If its a newer one then youll have to jack the motor up and drop the pan or hack up the cover to get it to go on.

 

the block is a 79, i have no idea about the pan. the timing cover is a 85. all i know is i tried everything to get that thing in there. even a hammer and a punch. but it wont budge. i have all the bolts out of the pan but the last 2 on each side and they are loosend to the last thread! and i cant get that stupid pan to even budge. i got one corner pryed up a little bit but the other is just impossible! any advice, tips, tools to use. im desperate!

 

A hammer and a block of wood would probably work. Gonna be hard to get around with the motor still in the car, though.

 

You have one of the older style pans. Since you got part of it undone you might as well just change out teh gaskets with new high quality ones rather then the cork garbage they probably have on there.