My oil pan on my '86 iroc 305 tpi is dented pretty bad. I am restoring the car and just noticed this, it looks like someone tried to jack it up on the oil pan. It's still to the point where it holds oil and *looks* like it should function just fine. BUT, I've been told my oil pump could be damaged. Is it neccessary to unmount the motor to get the oil pan off or is there any easier way that doesn't require a whole damn week?

 

Do you have good oil pressure? You should be able to get the pan off with just taking off the y-pipe, taking out your 2 motor mount bolts and lifting the engine a couple inches, take the distributor cap off too. If you have good oil pressure and its not leaking leave it alone until you have to lift the motor to do other mods and do it all at once. Should definitely not take a week.

 

Thanks for the reply. The car does not run yet, I am nearly finished rebuilding the entire top half and just installed hedman headers. Once I install the new starter solenoid and bolt on the top intake plenum, I'm gonna try and turn it over (hopefully this week). I was just concerned about the dented pan and have no way of checking the pressure yet.

 

There is a chance there is not a problem, a concern would be oil starvation at high RPMs when the pump is pushing some volume...thats if the pickup is blocked. Another issue could be the pickup is pressed in, so it may have just rotated, so MAYBE it could be bad (as to loosen the pickup tube from the pump housing), or it may not even matter since it is pressed in pretty good.

If you have pressure at all RPMs, I think you'll be alright.

A picture would be helpful to see how bad it is though.

 

I will post a pic tomorrow when there is day light, as it is dark now. Thanks.

 

You don't have any car info in your sidebar, so I can't give you any useful information. Think you could take the time to fill that out?

With an auto trans, you can do as mentioned, jack up the engine, put some blocks of wood below the motor mounts to hold it up, and remove the pan.
With a manual trans the BH is in the way, and there is absolutely no way you can remove the pan without pulling the engine.

I thought most pans had a nice dent in them, adds character.

 

 

ooh, yep, just like mine, but a bit more severe.
Summit has a basic chrome or orange painted pan for ~$30. Hard to beat that price.
There is a very good chance the oil pump pickup is damaged, or broken off. A new pick up is about $15 or so. You can even throw on a steel drive rod for it while you're there. Heck, a new pump is also about $30... But then you get into the "might as well do this...." and before you know it you've got a second mortgage on your house....

But yea, you can put a piece of 2x8 (or whatever wood you've got lying around) under the pan, and jack up the engine. Undo the single tranny mount nut, and the remove the engine mount bolts first.
Jack it up, put something (more blocks of wood) above the engine mount clam shells, and let the motor rest on those blocks of wood. Remove the jack and you should be able to drop the pan.
A 1 piece rubber oil pan seal can help you prevent leaks as well.