Any way possible to just hoist the engine a bit and not pull the whole motor to get the pan off? Anyone done this?

 

I did it with my 2.8 when i replaced my oil pump.. and it is a PITA, i would recomend at least lifting the engine up with an engine hoiste.. i had to "rely" on a Bottle jack so that i can lift the engine up, i also had to drop the exaust, and take off the flywheel dust cover,

If you have the space, do it the right way and take the engine out of the car, much easier then doing it in the car.

 

How far did you have to lift the engine to get this to work?

I have a garage, and plenty of tools (minus engine hoist).

 

I had a carbed engine so it might be a bit eaiser for me, but i had to remove the disbuter(cant spell today ) and take off my window wiper motor, all in all i mostlikely raised it around 3-5 inches, maybe a little more or a little less, the pan litterly droped out after a bit of tugging , and droping the exaust, the hardest part was to make sure the oil pan gasket was going to stay sealed, i had to drop the pan twice just to seal up the oil pan gasket.

a little bit more info so you know how i did it, I had to put some weight over the stut towers so that when i raised the engine the body didnt go up any higher, the reason is every time i would jack the engine up, (after i got it about 2 or 3 inches up off the k-member) the hole front end would raise up..

make sure you have a 2x4 ready (not sure on the length, i know i just had my father grab a piece of 2x4 and cut it until i could support the oil pump shaft off the disturber with the piece of 2x4) have a helper cut it until you can fit the wood so it can support that shaft, you dont want that to fall out.

If this is the first time the oil pain has been droped, It could possably be held on with just RTV, i know mine was (did this at around 8400 miles, car now has about 8500 miles on it and still running strong) also if you can get it i suggest the rubber gaskets, cork sucks, had mine blow out on me the first time . only reason i couldnt use the rubber gasket is because it was for i blieve the later style of the 2.8l engine (85 up?)

make sure you wear coveralls and either a full face sheild or saftey glasses.. oil in the eyes while your scrapeing off the RTV or the remander of the gasket on the engine side of the sealing surfaces is not fun, i learned that the hard way.

 

doward did it too i think.