difficult turns disasterous

[hvychve]

Thought I could fix rear main seal and oil pan leak in a day.
What a mistake I made, can I just vent for a while, I got so darn frustrated the other day. I ordered a new pan, (my old one had a rust spot, fixed with temporary jb weld) I decided to tackle the project .

I got me an engine hoist , thinking I NEEDED to raise engine, got engine up, mount bolts out, fan off, low and behold , not enough clearance.

out comes the transmission and flywheel, now I got plenty of room. bought a pan from Jegs, they indicated direct stock replacement, I think ok, cool. ordered one piece felpro gasket, $40 , pan $110. rear main at local vendor. and off to work I went. Down comes old pan, now the comparrison time. old pan is about inch and a half deeper, gettn pretty T'd off by now, I install anyway, I get it fully bolted up and decided to check my pickup tube to pan clearance witha hanger bent ....... I got no clearance between the pan and pickup, I have to really shove the wire in..... whata bummer... I decided to see what LMC had for stock replacement pan, according to their part #'s on the big block pan, it covers many years, including the 454, I got the stock 402 w/about 8000 miles on it, leaked from the get go, when eng. installed. but just now gett'n around to fixin the leaks, ( nothing I hate more exhaust and oil leaks) .
Well, I will see how the LMC pan fits and size, I just had issues with taking a bigger stock pan off and putting a smaller one on, along with no clearance between pickup tube......
thanks for lett'n me yell for a while.... I just moved from midwest, and why is it , I could find a descent parts store , but now, I find nothing but know it all's , I am living in so cali. and cant find one worth a sh@*.?
Next weekend will be sucked up with finishing my job. hopefully I will have a clearer head and more tolerance for incompitence......

[Longhorn Man]

Kinda sucks to find pit falls like this... hope it isn't your daily driver, or your ONLY driver... been there, done that. TOTALY sucks too.

[hvychve]

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

Kinda sucks to find pit falls like this... hope it isn't your daily driver, or your ONLY driver... been there, done that. TOTALY sucks too.

I guess you got a good point, that is a positive , it not being my daily driver, its just waying on my head that It has to still be done , I hate having to wait, I guess you call that impatience, by the way , if you got a big block, dont go with a Miloden pan part # 30710, the sump is tiny and requires a different pickup, this I found out after more research, of course after I already purchased and mounted .........really sucks to find out the hard way.
well, anyway, I will use today to clean parts and organize for the install of hopefuly the correct parts.......its just I was lookn forward to head'n to Havasu for a week vacation next weekend, not working on it.....

[Husker]

That seems to be the things go for me when I do something, Nothing goes as planned.
Ron

[WorkinLonghorn]

Hvychve,I don't know what part of SoCal you're at but in the San Fernando Valley area (ie. North Hollywood,Chatsworth) there is North Hollywood Auto Parts who supplies parts to a lot of shops and have never steered me wrong. Also for price it's hard to beat PAW although they closed the NH one last month,they still have the main one out in Chatsworth.(Just for future referrence,if you are in these parts).

[AuggieStyle]

well the plus is if you were still in the midwest you couldnt have done the work right now unless you had a shop, the weather is still hit and miss.
socal weather is hard to beat......

[hvychve]

Originally Posted by AuggieStyle

well the plus is if you were still in the midwest you couldnt have done the work right now unless you had a shop, the weather is still hit and miss.
socal weather is hard to beat......

This is why I dig this sight, you guys know how to bring out the positives, you deffinately got that right, I am just now rapping it it, all bolts , flywheel cover , starter , block, all spiffed up and ready for correct parts, and yes, I totaly enjoyed doing it , for the fact it was beautiful out today, I just moved here from Nebraska, Plattsmouth, and I keep up with whats going on, its darn cold there, so that was a good valid point, thanks for keeping me on the straight and narrow...

[Smitty]

I live in the San Diego are and I know there are more parts outlets nearby than in throo counties in Nebr. Left there in '67 and never went back. At least any time there was a chance of getting involved with that white stuff when it is cold.

[1968SWBBigBlock]

HvyCvy = I have that same pan (milodon), I ran it with my old stock pick up without issue. I have since changed to the correct unit for my last motor.
I did not have to jack up the engine or move the tranny in my truck to pull the pan.
Oil filter has to come off and you may have to rotate the crank to get the forward most throws out of your way.
They need to be up in the block to allow removal of the pan.
I would spend the extra time and throw on a new oil pump and get the correct pick up spot welded on.
Make sure you set your pan to pick up gap at around 3/8"
Most machine shops will set the depth and weld it for around 25 bucks

[odog]

Hey man smile, at least you don't have to go through this crap to get to your parts.


I got stuck trying to get to my parts truck.

[hvychve]

[QUOTE=1968SWBBigBlock;2573426]HvyCvy =I did not have to jack up the engine or move the tranny in my truck to pull the pan.
Oil filter has to come off and you may have to rotate the crank to get the forward most throws out of your way.
I am not sure what engine you have but , I had to remove or atleast pull back trans back to get flywheel off, I couldnt go up anyfurther, my trans would hit the bottom of cab and needed four more inches upwards before pan would budge, I mentioned I raised engine , but than found out I didnt need to in the first place,
I wouldnt think the 700R4 trans would be any different, It was the flywheel that held me up, not counter weights on the crank, maybe the trans. itself is thicker and can only be raised so far???? who knows. I also mentioned that I had a bigger pan, why would I want to fix a leak and go smaller , regardless of it working with a different pickup, I want more oi.

[1968SWBBigBlock]

hvychve - I did it with 2 different pans and motors.
402 with chrome pan and the milodon and a 454 with the Milodon pan.
I am running a T350 tranny
On my truck the flywheel is not in the way at all
Don;t blame you for wanting to go with a deeper pan but the Milodon seems to work fine for me.

[hvychve]

1968SWBBigBlock, that makes me wonder, why there is so much differences between the two? hmmm.
Like I said, I tried raising eng. to remove pan, no luck, tranny HAD to come out , pan would just not clear. as far as removing oil filter, I never did. has anyone else had a pan come out on these trucks without going through taking off trans? please tell me I am not alone on this.....