Fel pro one piece oil pan gasket

[moreHP]

Has anyone used the one piece oil pan gasket for a small block chevy? My engine is the late model with the one piece rear seal and the gasket kit from felpro has the one piece oil pan gasket.

My question is that it seems a bit thick on the front and rear seals where it goes over the timing cover and rear gasket housing. Just setting the pan on there and its a good 1/8 off the rails of the block. By putting the four corner bolts in and tightening them up, I can get the gap to close but I am not sure it is right and am a bit worried about getting it to seal. The gasket has the little steel sleeves around the bolt holes to keep you from over tightening it but it will take more than the 8-10 ft lbs of torque I usually use on the bolts to get it to sit down.

Any thoughts or input from anyone who has used these gaskets would be appreciated. I looked around for instructions on the felpro website but there was not any good info.

[Johnny Blaze]

Greatest invention since the SBC! They are think, but you should be fine. Make sure it is for late model engines, and you are using the correct pan and timing cover for the engine.

[moreHP]

I know it is indeed for the late model and I know the oil pan is correct. The wildcard would be the timing cover but I was thinking they are all alike other than the early small blocks (pre 1975) used a thin front seal on the oil pan and everthing later had the thicker seal.

[anthonys 69]

The gasket should fit snug and will look like it fits. They do make several gaskets so you may have the wrong one. Good luck.

[sr73bu]

Mine seemed too thick as well.... I actually had to buy longer bolts for the four corners. I can tell you that after a track day and a few hundred miles it hasn't leaked. For some reason I thought the later SBC used a thinner front and rear seal.. i believe the difference was about 1/8" thickness. You may have the wrong seal, but if you bought the right part based on your motor ( I believe there are only 2 sizes) you should be fine. Again mine seemed pretty thick but seals just fine.

-Sean

[BonzoHansen]

Iirc mine came with all new pan bolts

[moreHP]

Thanks for the replies guys. I have found out for the most part that the gasket will indeed squeeze down quite a bit from what I have read. I didnt get new bolts but I bought the whole gasket set for the engine instead of just the pan gasket on its own which seems to come with the hardware needed. Why they dont include it in the whole set, I dont know!

I talked to a local shop about it and was told that the pan bolts need to be torqued to 20 ft/lbs instead of the usual 8-10 ft/lbs with the factory style gaskets. He claimed this info was from Felpro but it makes sense since there is steel sleeves in the gasket to keep it from crushing down too far. I am pretty confident at this point that it will indeed squeeze down and work.

[moreHP]

Mine seemed too thick as well.... I actually had to buy longer bolts for the four corners. I can tell you that after a track day and a few hundred miles it hasn't leaked. For some reason I thought the later SBC used a thinner front and rear seal.. i believe the difference was about 1/8" thickness. You may have the wrong seal, but if you bought the right part based on your motor ( I believe there are only 2 sizes) you should be fine. Again mine seemed pretty thick but seals just fine.

-Sean

Sean,

My engine is a 1986 and later style with the one piece rear main seal. The oil pans are different that the earlier small blocks with the two piece seal and from what I have read and heard, there is no different front seal thickness on these later engines. I believe it was about 1975 when the front seal thickness was changed. I have yet to ever find any info on the front timing covers to see if any of them are different. I know the LT1 and LT4 had different front covers since the cam drove the water pump but I have yet to find anything different about the "traditional" small block front cover. If anybody knows about any front cover difference, please post up!

Bob

[anthonys 69]

I check with summit racing for you .they have a fel pro one peace oil pan gasket with a THIN front seal Part # fel pro Q1885 and a one peace oil pan gasket with a THICK front seal part # Q1880. So be careful and make sure you have the write one. Its much easer to change it now rather than later when the engine is in the car. Good luck.

[rocketrod]

Here are a few posts from another site that I found helpful.
http://www.stevesnovasite.com/forums...ad.php?t=17384
Post #62
The oil pan determines which one you need. To check you need to hold a straight edge across the flat portion of the pan and measure how deep the radius is. 2 1/4= thin seal and 2 3/8=thick seal. This information comes on the installation instructions for the standard felpro oil pan gasket. Good luck !!!

Post # 17
...they show 5 SBC one piece gasket part numbers:

PN1881 1980-85 thick front seal RH dipstick; side rails trimmed for strokers
PN1880 1975-79 thick front seal LH dipstick; side rails trimmed for strokers
PN1885 1957-74 thin front seal LH dipstick
PN1882 Thick front seal straight side rails; side rails trimmed for strokers
PN1886 1986-97 thick front seal, one 1pc rear main seal GM bowtie short deck block

[anthonys 69]

Hi Rod. This isn’t my thread but one of the things I like about pro touring .com is the willingness of it fellow car guys to help each other out. Good job on the research.

[rocketrod]

Hi Rod. This isn’t my thread but one of the things I like about pro touring .com is the willingness of it fellow car guys to help each other out. Good job on the research.

Hi Anthony. I am just paying it orward as many on this site have went above and beyond when I have had questions.

[moreHP]

Rod,

That is great info! I feel much better now being able to measure the oil pan and know what is needed. I measured mine and it is actually slightly more than the 2 3/8" listed so I know it indeed needs the thick gasket and have the right one. Thank you!!!

[bigblocktech]

I'm building a 1993 5.7L to put in my '67 El Camino. I bought the gasket set listed for the 1993 Chevrolet G10 van donor vehicle. My engine is the roller-cam style block, but uses a flat tappet cam and lifters and was originally equipped with a TBI setup. Anyways, I just installed a new oil pump and pan gasket, and I must say, that bugger surely is THICK ! One cool thing was that the pan gasket came with a set of plastic retainers that install in place of the four corner bolts. After cleaning the mating surfaces, you install the plastic retainers in the four corner locations and you slip the gasket up and over the collapsible tabs and the tabs hold the gasket in place. Then you install the oil pan the same way, by just pushing it up and over the four plastic retainers. You then install the rails and side bolts and snug up each side a little at a time until it starts to mate to the block. I then removed the plastic retainers and installed the corner bolts and tightened them all up by hand. I don't have a torque wrench for the smaller range, so I just tightened them up by hand. Like previously mentioned, the metal spacers built into the gasket prevent you from squeezing the gasket out. The front and back portions of the gasket fit right up into place. Can't wait to get it running!

[Johnny Blaze]

Those retainers are nice, esp if you are replaing the pan with the engine still in the vehicle.

[JARHEAD355]

Thanks,

More info than the fel-pro web site.

JARHEAD355

[MonzaRacer]

all one piece rear main sbc ran one piece gaskets. Used to work at dealer and never saw anything but.