Alright this is what i had to do to drop my oil pan, just a quick write up for what i did with the help of a friend, when i had to replace my oil pump, This quick write up is on my carbed 83 berly, your car may be a little different on what you got to take apart. This is also for the AUTO TRANS, i dont have a manual trans car so it WILL be different. also make sure you have some baggies or something to put your bolts in so you dont lose them



Step one: Put the car on ramps, or jackstands, raiseing the front end only will suffice, MAKE SURE YOU SET THE PARKING BREAK AND PUT CHOCKS BEHIND THE REAR WHEELS! AFTER YOU GET THE CAR ON THE RAMPS Drain the oil! go have a snack or find your favorite cd/radio station so you can listen to music while you work.

step two: Dissconnect the battery and Take off the dizzy cap, your air fiter housing, I also found that if you take off your window wiper motor it clears alot of room in the engine bay so you can dissconnect anything that is in your way. Also dissconect the air system, At least on my stock motor, the Air tubes got in my way, i could be different on your motor.

Step 3: get under the car and dissconnect the motor from the motor mounts, Now the fun starts

step 4: Disconnect the exaust, Drop it all the way down, so that they exaust is laying down. Also take out your Radiator shroud, I found out that it was easier to take both the top and bottum parts of it off so its out of the way.

Step 5: if you have New struts/shocks and spring on the car, weigh down the body of the car, so that the body will not raise up as you
Now, depending on if you have an engine hoist or not, it will be different, Since i didnt have an engine hoist, i used what i called the "JACK method" BE VERY ALERT because if the you have a leaky jack, this method will be VERY VERY DANGOROUS! NEVER EVER TRUST A JACK, i had to use this method because i did not have the cash to tow the car to a shop. Depending on how high your jack can go up, you might have to raise the jack up off the floor useing wood or something simmiar. Before you raise the engine, Look for anything underneith the engine (coolent lines, ect) that will be twisted if they are not dissconnected to the engine as it is raised up. Put the jack under the pullys (if you have the V-belt system) get the engine raised up as high as you can.

Step 6: Start dissconnecting everything that attaches to the Tourqe converter housing, and put the bolts in a baggy labled with where they came out from, after all those bolts are out, take the houseing out. also you will notice that there is 2 "rods" that connect from the Houseing to the engine block, dissconect those from the houseing and loosen them up at the bock so that you can move them out of the way.

Step 6: (WARNING: DANGEROUS!) Before you begin to take out the oil pan Bolts, if you have New struts/shocks and spring on the car, weigh down the body of the car
now start taking out the oil pan bolts, put each of them in the same baggy, labled something like "OIL PAN BOLTS" now depending on if the pan was droped before or not, (mine was and who ever did it just rtved it on with out a gaskit) You may have to use a hammer and a flat head screwdriver to get the pan to dissconnect from the engine. however Use the hammer and screwdriver as a last resort. IT could damage your oil pan. Now depending on if the engine is high enough , the pan should be able to drop out, You did remeber to drain the oil first right? okay good

Step 7: Depending on why you had to drop your oil pan, do what you need to do under there while you have it down

Step 8: Clean the mating surfaces of the oil pan and the block where the oil pan mates up, make sure you get all the RTV off or you wont get a good seal

Step 9: I used the Red RTV, the high temp kind, Im sure its over kill, but i always want to be safer then sorry , And apply a thin bead of the RTV all the way around the oil pan then use your fingers with a little bit of water/spit what ever you want on them(so the RTV wont stick to your finger) and spread the rtv out, Make sure the rtv goes around each bolt hole, make sure the gaskit surface is free of oil and old RTV before you do this! then put your gaskit on after the RTV cures (i put the gaskit on after around 5 min of the RTV sitting) then put RTV on top of the gaskit, I RECOMEND that if you just have a 12 bolt Oil pan, get the rubber gaskit and not the cork, the depending on who makes it, the rubber one MAY or MAY not need RTV. since i had 14 bolt oil pan(forgot the exact #) I had to use cork, This is also a good time to make sure your Jack hasnt gone down at all.

Step 10: put the oil pan back to on to the engine, this is where a buddy will help you alot, have your buddy hold the oil pan up while you start puting the bolts in, I recromend you put the bolts in a Loop pattern (ie: put the first bolt in hand tight, and go either clockwise or counter clockwise and put each bolt in hand tight until you get all the bolts in) Then use a 1/4 rachet and get the bolts down tight enough to where the gasket just starts to compress.

step 11: putting the rest of the bottum of the car together, save the Exaust for when the motor is all the way down on the motor mounts, it will save time and effort. also more then likely your exaust pipes will be covered in oil, No worries, it will burn right off.

Step 12: Put the rest of the car back togther. and thats it!

if you got any oil on the cat, the cat will smoke for a few weeks

I hope this helps some of the fellow memebers out, this method is by no means safe, but if you dont have a engine hoist and cannot rent one, or use a buddies, and cant afford for a shop to do it (and have the car towed there) then this another method you can use.

Have fun droping the oil pan!