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Oil pan/crossmember clearance question

6K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  Nicc21 
#1 ·
Hi. About 18 years ago i built and installed a 383 stroker in my 68 camaro. I have an small oil leak from the pan gasket and the pan itself is dented. So i am thinking of changing out both the pan and the gasket. I have a th350 transmission with the original powerglide crossmember in the car. My question is when i change the oil pan will it clear the crossmember or will i have to lift the engine to get the old pan out and new one in? Thanks for your help.
 
#5 ·
I've done it with the small block engine and transmission still in the car. Crank the crankshaft until the TDC mark on the vibration damper at the 5 o'clock position to get the front crank weights out of the way. Disconnect negative battery cable, pull your distributor or at least the cap, drain cooling system and disconnect/remove your radiator hoses. Probably a good idea to remove the exhaust system pipes from the engine as well. Put a 2"x4" across the flat bottom of the oil pan and put a jack in place with enough pressure that the engine starts to relax the suspension as you jack it up. Remove the nuts from your motor mount hinge bolts (the bolts that hold the two halves of the motor mounts together) and then remove the bolts.

At this point the only thing holding the engine and transmission in place is the transmission cross member mount and the jack under the oil pan. Jack the engine up as high as you can, the higher the better and at least until you can slide the 1.5" thick portion of a small 2"x4" stud blocks in between the mount halves. If you can slide an extra piece of plywood in there as well even better. Now you can lower the jack as the engine is supported by the wood blocks between the mount halves. Might be helpful to remove the starter as well, and finally remove the oil pan.

I think that's everything.
 
#6 ·
I took the oil pan off a small block in my 67. I just loosened the exhaust and removed the starter, Jacked the engine up with a bottle jack positioned on the block where the starter was and then removed the engine mount bolts and the oil pan bolts. Rotated the crank until the pan can be removed.

There was a brief moment when I thought I'd be better off pulling the engine but, it really wasn't that bad. I'd do it that way again if I had to.
 
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