Can the oil Pan be removed w/ engine in car?

[imusa76]

can the oil pan be removed with the engine still in the car?

its my stock 302, I was thinking of removing the pan and cleaning it up and painting it.

and maybe while I'm at it, clean up or replace the oil pump.

 

[Mister 4x4]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say 'No.' You'll [at the very least] need to raise and support the engine to gain enough space between the bottom of the engine and cross-member to slip the oil pan out/in - that might involve disconnecting the exhaust, some wiring, fuel lines, and unhooking the engine mounts.. The transmission tunnel may not provide enough room for the engine/transmission to pivot up high enough to make that happen - which you might need to separate the engine from the tranny. But at that point, you're pretty much halfway there to pulling it out anyway.

That's a WAG based on my observations in dropping in the engine and transmission over a year-and-a-half ago.

 

[Paul of MO]

302's are easy, 351's are not so fun but still doable.

Drain the oil

unbolt and pull the dipstick tube

Unbolt the 22 oil pan bolts

Pop the pan loose and slide it forward.

You may have to rotate the crank to get a counter weight out of the way.

Fish it down and out the front

351's you have to take the motor mounts loose and lift the engine as high as it will go.

Drop the pan onto the cross member.

Reach around/over/into the pan and take take the oil pump off.

Slide the pan with the oil pump laying it forward and out.

Have fun with this and I hope it is warm were you are at.

Paul

 

[imusa76]

so,

I will try to pull the pan off with out taking the engine out, and see how it goes.

but first off, I need it to warm up a little outside, its in the teens.

 

[Mister 4x4]

302's are easy, 351's are not so fun but still doable.

Drain the oil

unbolt and pull the dipstick tube

Unbolt the 22 oil pan bolts

Pop the pan loose and slide it forward.

You may have to rotate the crank to get a counter weight out of the way.

Fish it down and out the front

351's you have to take the motor mounts loose and lift the engine as high as it will go.

Drop the pan onto the cross member.

Reach around/over/into the pan and take take the oil pump off.

Slide the pan with the oil pump laying it forward and out.

Have fun with this and I hope it is warm were you are at.

Paul

Thanks for that! ::thumb::

I wasn't sure about the 302 - mine's a 351C.

Good luck with it, Iyman!

 

[midlife]

I just did this on my 66. Put it up on the lift, drained oil. Removed cross-member, removed starter motor. Dropped idler arm where it attaches to the side rails, and dropped the steering stuff. Removed all of the bolts, and the oil pan dropped right down without any problems.

I had to replace the oil pan seal and fix a rear main seal issue. The car had leaked a bit of oil since I got it (1998) on the inspection cover. When we removed the bottom main rear bearing, the seal was not off-set with the bearing blocks and wasn't sealed with RTV at the block. No wonder it leaked. When we removed the seal, we found it had been glued to the bottom bearing block.

Did the reverse to install...took about 2 hours with 2 people.

 

[rutkak]

This is not easy unless you have a hoist. You have to raise the engine up at least 3 inches to get the pan out. I did this about 4 months ago. On my 70 Mustang it was easy because the crossmember unbolts but on the 72 it does not.

You have to remove the engine mount bolts and figure out a way to raise her up. I don't have an engine hoist so I loosened the trans mount bolts, put 2x4 under the pan to raise her up, then I braced the engine with wood. I had to do the reverse to get her back down. I'm theoretically against raising an engine by the pan but I was in a pinch at the time and had to do it.

Again, unless you have a hoist this is a huge pain.

 

[Totalled]

I'm at the point in my life now, after having done the lift and space thing.. I'll just yard the motor out. It's more work up front, but far less frustration at re-assembly.

 

[mdan575]

I'm at the point in my life now, after having done the lift and space thing.. I'll just yard the motor out. It's more work up front, but far less frustration at re-assembly.

Sounds all to familiar. I have been asked by multiple people why I am pulling and replacing my whole engine when I could just pull the heads and fix the problems with my motor. Many don't seemt o understand how much of a pain in the ass it can be to pull cast heads off a car like ours. Then possibly find out that the motor needs to come out anyway which is amazingly easy compared to modern vehicles.

 

[turtle5353]

I'm at the point in my life now, after having done the lift and space thing.. I'll just yard the motor out. It's more work up front, but far less frustration at re-assembly.

+1 I can have my motor and trans out in less than 2hrs. I have become VERY good at it over the last couple years. I have had my 351c out atleast 8-10 times in the past 4 years. Please don't ask why.... long story

 

[TommyK]

I just did this on my 66. Put it up on the lift, drained oil. Removed cross-member, removed starter motor. Dropped idler arm where it attaches to the side rails, and dropped the steering stuff. Removed all of the bolts, and the oil pan dropped right down without any problems.

I had to replace the oil pan seal and fix a rear main seal issue. The car had leaked a bit of oil since I got it (1998) on the inspection cover. When we removed the bottom main rear bearing, the seal was not off-set with the bearing blocks and wasn't sealed with RTV at the block. No wonder it leaked. When we removed the seal, we found it had been glued to the bottom bearing block.

Did the reverse to install...took about 2 hours with 2 people.

The 71-73's do not have a removable cross member.

I tried doing it years ago on a 351C and I came to the conclusion it is easier to pull the engine out rather than lying on the ground doing the contortionist act. I can't imagine a 302 would be much easier.

 

[midlife]

Wow...I did not know you didn't have removable cross members.

Who says you can't teach an old goat new tricks?

 

[MechEng]

So a question along the lines of this thread, I've got the 351c in my car. When I replaced the Timing Cover, I didn't quite get the front pan seal in right, and I need to replace it. I had intended to just drop the pan and redo the whole gasket, but it sounds like that's no an "easy" task. Should I just try and replace the front seal by dropping the pan the little bit that it will go down while still in the car, or suck it up and try to get the whole pan out?

I don't have the means to remove the engine from the car, so I'd have to just jack it up in place.

 

[TommyK]

So a question along the lines of this thread, I've got the 351c in my car. When I replaced the Timing Cover, I didn't quite get the front pan seal in right, and I need to replace it. I had intended to just drop the pan and redo the whole gasket, but it sounds like that's no an "easy" task. Should I just try and replace the front seal by dropping the pan the little bit that it will go down while still in the car, or suck it up and try to get the whole pan out?

I don't have the means to remove the engine from the car, so I'd have to just jack it up in place.

You can loosen the pan bolts to drop it down enough to reseal the timing cover to the pan. Just like doing a cam swap. I guess it would depend on how much of the pan gasket needs attention.