Hey guys, I'm getting ready to do my first oil change and while I was at it I wanted to ditch the POS rusted out stock pan and add something nice.

I bought a stock 4 quart style polished aluminum pan for 2 piece rear seal and pass side dipstick.

Everything seems pretty straightforward. Let car cool, drain oil, remove old pan (Inspect Internals), Install new pan, swap filter, dump in new oil and start.

But as with any seemingly easy job I've tackled I'm sure there are surprises.

Anything I should keep in mind during this job? Do the pan bolts have to be installed/torqued a certain way just like other components or do I just tighten them all up? Someone mentioned I should use RTV on the bolt holes but I thought all I needed was a simple pan gasket.

 

Not sure if this is your first oil change or not but, make sure you put some oil on the top of the oil filter for a good seal and fill the oil filter up with new oil.

Not sure but I think it goes with anything with gaskets, make sure you star bolt the pan.

 

If you turn the crank to the right position you can get all the counterweights out of the way and not have to lift the engine as high to get the pan out and dont use any RTV on the pan gasket, just get the reusable gasket from fel-pro. When you take the filter off make sure the o-ring isn't stuck on the engine it will cause a leak

 

its your first oil change?, you need a Haynes Manual pronto.. to change the pan You have to lift the engine 3 inches and disconnect the transmission cross-member mount to transmission. remove the dizzy and disconnect the exhaust system at the cat. you have to remove the crank-pulley, harmonic balancer, and timing chain cover because the other seal is there. its one of those might as well cuz youre here. i havnt done it, but im planning to. need a hoist. i say leave the pan if it aint leaking. sand the rust off and prime. you'll feel good. and if im wrong about changing the pan, someone correct me, because i havnt performed it, just read about it a while back

 

I'm reading in my Haynes manual right now and all it says is to drop the exhaust, remove the starter (I have heard of many people getting by without doing this), remove the motor mount through-bolts and jack the engine up. Doesn't make any mention of the timing chain cover, transmission or harmonic balancer.

In fact, I thought you were supposed to jack the engine up by the harmonic balancer?

 

im not sure about what you may have to pull besides the pan, but keep in mind that oil pans are often extremely difficult to get off. the factory seal is sometimes better bonded than you would expect.
this job may get a lot bigger than you are planning

 

nope, harmonic balancer jacking is the worst. you "could" put a block of would under the pan and jack it from there. but its better to hoist it and drop it back down on 3inch wood blocks where the motor mounts are. and if you have a two piece rear main seal, replace that also!!. if its old, id recommend a new oil pump too. theres lots of wires that break easily.

 

Engine is a rebuilt 305.

Maybe about 8k on the whole longblock.

 

I see no reason why the timing chain cover needs to be removed. Unless more clearance is needed for snaking the pan out.

 

One question I did have: Can the engine be raised without messing with the trans or does the transmount have to be loosened?

 

I've done this engine in and engine out. Much prefer engine out.

The only reason to replace the pan is if it's leaking or the rear main is leaking.

If that thing's not clean take it by a car wash with a can of engine degreaser and spray the snot out of it. Nothing worse than fighting grease and grime under there with crap dripping into your face.

You'll have to remove the starter and disconnect exhaust. Remove the dizzy cap to keep from breaking it jacking up the motor. Keep an eye on the dizzy itself so it's not broken (I will always pull it). You may get by with leaving the trans mount bolted or you may need to loosen it, see how it goes. No need to pull timing cover/balancer-unless something's leaking there.

Getting the pan out is the easy part. Once you're under there trying to clean the gasket mating surface with all that oil dripping everywhere you'll see why I prefer to just pull the motor.

If you're not certain the rear main is fresh, replace it. If it's fresh, though, the pan seal should be too.

 

You dont have to and probably shouldnt do anything to the trans mount, its the only thing keeping the engine in its place while jacking and the rubber can easily bend the 1 or 2 degrees needed. If you have the big starter you have to remove it if you have one of the newer smaller ones you can leave it in place. If you have the small cap distributor you dont have to remove anything. The y-pipe needs to be unbolted for clearence if it is the stock under pan configuration. ou only need to lift the engine about 1.5 inches at max if you have the crank in the right position ( after the pan is completely unbolted you can see the crank, adjust as necessary. Last and final only raise the engine when removing the pan, set it down for bolting it up and scraping the old gasket because thats when accidents happen.

 

There is only 8k on the motor. Should be no need to replace the rear mains.

Also, my trans mount is a polyurethane. Not sure if that makes a difference.

Also, I don't want to spend like $50 on a pan gasket. Would running a bead of RTV on the inside perimeter of the bolt holes work alright?

 

Probably not, you're asking for failure. The new gasket should also include little plastic clips that hold it in place while you set the pan, a must IMO if you're trying to do this upside down.

 

first off a few things ide like to recommend. First on the oil change fill the oil filter before reinstalling it to prevent a dry start. Second on the oil pan i would undo the trans mount especially since its polyurethane and dosnt have flexability like rubber mounts. For the pan gasket itself i use the standard cork ones with RVT sealer. not only will it give a getter seal but it keeps the gasket in place while you work.

 

The thing about cork gaskets is that no matter matter what overtime they will leak and thats why someone took the time to invent something better. Plaving with rtv upside down for someone who has never did an oil change will end in a big mess and having to do the job over once you see the oil coming out as fast as you pour it in. The part number for the gasket i recommend is os345005 its 23 bucks and comes with clips to hold the gasket and pan up so you can easily tighten it and its fool proof, you can get it dirty with grease dirt and oil and it will still seal perfect. As far as the trans mount maybe loosen the center nut a turn or 2 but thats it, that one stud is where the entire load of your drivetrain will go. Imagine doing a pushup without your feet. Im not trying to be a ****, im just making this as easy as possible for a first timer.

 

I'm a couple steps ahead of you.

Already bought the big blue felpro gasket with the clips on the way home.

I was also concerned about removing the trans mount. Once that's gone, there is nothing stopping the transmission from exiting out from under the side of the vehicle and the engine finding It's way down the transmission tunnel.

 

Except the driveshaft, torque arm, crossmember and fire wall.

 

True. But still wouldn't removing the trans mount permit a lot of undesirable movement?

 

The stud through the mount will still be in place in the hole in the crossmember. That's all you should need to loosen, the bolt that holds it tight.

 

Well guys, we did the job Thursday and the results are in:

EPIC FAILURE!


This was by FAR, THE MOST botched job I have ever done on this car.

11AM I grab a dozen donuts from DD/BR and head to a friends house down the street where all car work can be done from oil changes to blowing the car up out of frustration. A third friend meets us there, we pig out on donuts then drive the front tires up on ramps.

I get under the car with a 2 1/2 ton hydraulic floor jack, unload the front suspension and place jackstands under the A-Arms, the front tires still making contact with the ramps. I get out from under the car, smoke a cig and BS with friends and go remove the coil and distributor cap. Then I crawl under to begin my epic journey. First thing is first. I remove the air dam so I can move around easier underneath. I take one of the bolts out of the starter, and loosen the second bolt (The one blocked by the exhaust). This way I can swing the starter out of the way without actually removing it. I then remove the motor mount through-bolts and loosen the transmount as a friend pops of the drain plug and drains the oil. He removes the pan bolts, but we made sure to leave the 4 main corner bolts in until I inspected everything and made absolutely sure we had clearance before breaking the pan gasket loose. I figure with the way my aftermarket exhaust is configured, after I jack the engine up we can get the pan off no problem. Wrong...

Well, I place this jack (Which BTW has a big dish as the jacking point perfect for the pan) underneath the oil pan and place 2x4's between the pan and the jack to evenly distribute the weight. I then raise the engine about 4 inches, place 2x4 blocks between the motor mounts (which BTW are shot, gonna do that in the spring), and let off the jack. I crawl back under the car and to my horror realize the exhaust is STILL in the way because it raised with the engine due to the fact the headers are still bolted on. DUH!!!

I grab a ratchet and extension and begin to unbolt the driver side header flange from the exhaust. First bolt out, no problem. Second bolt...hey wtf? To access the second bolt I need to slide an extension between the exhaust pipe and crossmember, but I can't correctly angle the extension to get the socket on the bolt head. I begin scanning the exhaust for other options. BTW by now It's about 4PM. We figured we'd be done by about 8 or 9 and still be able to catch the local ***** meet at 9. I notice that the pipe coming off the driver side header (The one that is blocking the pan) attaches to the Y pipe separately via a slip joint. OMG I'M SAVED! Wrong...

I unbolt the drivers side header from the head, crawl under the car and notice that the exhaust clamp holding this slip joint together has had one of the nuts practically ground into one piece of metal with the rest of the clamp from bottoming out on the road. No problem I get a hacksaw and cut that **** off. Now, I try to remove the slip joint. Won't budge... Get out my rubber mallet and begin pounding the hell out of it, won't budge... Coming to the realization that there is no way we can get the pan off without dropping everything from the Y-pipe forward, I decided we were not going to be able to do the pan. WAAAAAAAAAAAAANK...

I get back uptop, and attempt to reconnect this header. Not only are the stupid *** AIR injection tubes getting in the way of everything possible, but the brake booster is blocking any decent torque capable socket from getting at the back two bolts. I understand now why people like to strip emissions equipment and convert to non power accessories. I get all the bolts into the header except the very back one by the firewall. Me and another friend spend 2 hours wrestling with it trying everything possible. Loosen all the bolts and try to get it in. Tighten all the bolts and try to get it in. Raise the header 1/4 inch by jacking at the exhaust pipe which made every other bolt easier but we are STILL unable to get this stupid firewall bolt in. I postpone the header for later, get under the car and reverse disassembly of everything. I install the new oil filter, put the pan bolts back in and dump 4 quarts of fresh Amsoil into the engine. By now, It's midnight, and we've missed the ***** meet. We are all cold in the sub freezing temps and getting irritable. Two friends wrestle with the header while I put the distributor back together. By this time, I am EXTREMELY tired, cold, pissed off and hungry and thinking very irrationally.

After another hour messing with this stupid header, I finally say F it, decide to put in all the bolts I can and drive around with a badass exhaust leak. Not thinking straight, I put the Accel cap-coil back on BEFORE the wires, making the spark plug wire that hugs the firewall extremely difficult to put back in. And again, not thinking right instead of taking 60 seconds to unscrew and lift the coil, I spend 20 minutes trying to get this spark plug boot on the tower. Get pissed off and start man handling the distributor. Finally got the stupid thing on, put back the rest of the wires and cheer because now I can finally go home. Reconnect the battery, get in the car and prime the fuel pump. Turn the key and...not a damn thing. It just cranks and cranks and cranks. By now It's 2AM and one of the friends has gone home for the night. I remove one of the wires from the dizzy and crank while the remaining friend watches and discover we are not getting spark (Yes the wires were hooked up correctly). At 3AM I finally threw in the towel and had the friend drive me home, leaving the car at his place.

I'm going back today to kick that car's ***.

Now that I think about it after some much needed food, sleep and a shower, I bet that while man handling the dizzy I managed to yank a connector off the ignition module underneath the rotor. Also for the header, I'm thinking in order to get all the bolts in, I'm going to remove them all tomorrow and try to put the two very end ones in first since they are both open bolt holes and this may allow me to position the header just enough to give me the room I need.




Morals of the story:

#1 - Always have good friends to back you up when the going gets tough.

#2 - When doing a major job, if your sketchy on something, don't rush into it with the, "Cross that bridge when we get there", philosophy.

#3 - Never, EVER work on a car when you are in an altered state of mind. This is how things get FUBAR.

 

how did it turn out, if you're still around here.

 

LOL that was a pretty amusing read

 

Oh forgot to post the end results.

Went back two days later and tore the distributor cap down again. Sure enough, a ground wire had gotten knocked off the ignition module. As for the header, I did manage to get all the bolts AND gaskets back in. What I did was grab the header and pull as hard as i could forward and just barely managed to slip the back bolt in. I then did the same procedure for the front bolt then put in all the bolts in between.

 

Congrats on getting the job done, my thoughts are, it is that much more that you will enjoy driving it

 

I think you mean: os34500R