got an 87 iroc with a carb'd 350 and 700r4. oil pans been leaking for a while now and recently got worse so im gunna change the oil pan gasket finally. i kno theres a few ways to do this but what do u guys think is easyer. Pulling the motor completely, jacking the motor up a little (which ive heard works but sometimes can be a pain in the butt) or just dropping the crossmember?

 

I would just hoist the engine up slightly enough to drop the pan if it was me.

 

be sure to remove the bolt on the tranny mount when you hoist the engine.

are you absolutely sure it's the oil pan gasket or is it wishful thinking that's the cause of the leak?

When I've had oil leaks on any of my cars, including those of friends and family, the oil pan gasket has rarely been the culprit. And that anecdotal information is over a few decades of messing with many makes of vehicles.

But, since you are of the mindset to fix the leak, that's the best time to carefully hunt down the leak.

 

I just remove motor mount bolts, remove distributor cap/rotor, remove the tranny crossmember bolts, and lift engine a few inches to work pan in/out.

 

ya im sure its the oil pan gasket i looked awhile ago for it, that and the buddy i bought it from put a new gasket it in it but he changed it the lazy way by cutting the gasket and sliding it thru so i know its leaking. its never leaked that bad maybe every month or month an a half i would have to put a half quart of oil in it but here lately its been leakin more oil than normal so im deffenintly gunna look for another leak this weekend. so if the rear main is leaking too ill just pul the motor but my garage isnt that big and my drive way is a good incline so id rather not have to pull the motor

 

you won't have to pull the motor. If you take the dist cap off, unbolt motor mounts, unbolt tranny mount then you should be able to hoist it enough.

Oh, and with respect to the "lazy method" of oil pan gaskets, I've done that several times and put rtv where I made the incision and never ever had a leak.

 

no hoist, put wide 2in planks of wood across the fenders and use a hydrolic jack to lift engine a few inches.

wide board spread out weight n won't hurt fenders, very old trick.

 

ya i was there when he did it he put rtv where he cut it we both thought it would be alright but we got unlucky lol

 

I am in the middle of doing this job too

I finally got the old oilpan out

Now to put the new one in!
I got this one http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MOR-20170/

Now, I cant get it back in! The front of the pan hits the front main bearing caps and the back of the pan hits the flexplate

I have taken out the y-pipe, both headers, starter, dizzy capa and rotor, oil filter and trans crossmember nut.

I have a fabbed LT1 intake (altho that shouldnt matter)

I may be left with lifting out the engine.

Any other tips someone could tell me to help me?

 

lol i havent attempted it yet, havent had the spare time lately but one of these days ill get it done...but from what ive read if u got the crank positiond at 6 oClock it makes for better clearence....but from what u say it sounds like the pan just dont fit...is it a 383 stroker? the link u gave said it doesnt have stroker clearance (not sure if that matters or not tho) anyways good luck with it! everytime i go to do it i look at it and tell my self ill do it next week haha

 

what did u end up doin to get it out? lol im curious sry

 

The pan i got says
Stroker Clearanced - No
Maximum Stroke with OE Rod - 3.800 in.

I have a 3.75 stroke with oe rods, so I should be ok

Yes, I did set the balancer to six o'clock too.

BTW, I have a 400sbc

The stocker pan came out with everything I mentioned above.
The new pan needs another inch of space between the engine cradle and the bottom of the engine

 

idk i wish i could help more but i havent attempted it yet...just a thought tho, i kno the crossmember is held in with those suspension parts....but maybe it could drop for enough clearence if u loosen the crossmember bolts? i kno it wont come out but maybe it will drop a bit?