What would you do?

[Boulder69]

Little mishap with the jack left a dent in the oilpan that now interferes with the crank: major racket!

Would you spend the $ to pull the 96 LT1 to swap the pan and reinstall to a 700r4 I wish was a T-56, or just cut your losses and sell the motor/trans and start saving for an LSx/T56 combo?

Since I don't have the skills and space to pull the stuff myself, I'm looking at a grand or so in $ to fix including new pan and gasket.

Whatcha think? I'm pretty bummed at this point - haven't driven the car in 6 months and likely won't for another year if I go LSx route.

[zbugger]

Don't do what I did. I pulled my motor and went overboard. I say swap the pan and be done. You can still save money for the LSx. I haven't driven my car in two years, and I've kept geting distracted fixing other things up.

[MrQuick]

yep, you don't want to open that can of worms with a car down. Fix it up and drive away. Hell get a shop to do it if you can't getter done.

[ProdigyCustoms]

If you were able to dent it with the jack, you can probably get to it with a dent puller. The quick and dirty way to fix it would be to find a body shop with a Fitz a Dent or Uni Spoter stud gun and see if it can be pulled away from the crank. The crank / rod that is hitting already clearanced the majority of the dent, you probably only need a few 1/1000ths now to shut it up. I bet a body shop would do it for $100. I would then change the oil in case you goudged up anything from the pan, and get driving.

[Bigblue73]

Swap the pan. It ends up being a good days work on your back, under the car, sweating, cussing and gettin' dirty. That's why we like these cars. I wouldn't have it any other way. Good Luck. Great idea with the dent puller.

[Steve1968LS2]

Don't do what I did. I pulled my motor and went overboard. I say swap the pan and be done. You can still save money for the LSx. I haven't driven my car in two years, and I've kept geting distracted fixing other things up.

Funny.. I was just going to do a motor swap as well.. both times..

lol

Fix the pan, enjoy the car and save up for the LS1..

[Steve1968LS2]

If you were able to dent it with the jack, you can probably get to it with a dent puller. The quick and dirty way to fix it would be to find a body shop with a Fitz a Dent or Uni Spoter stud gun and see if it can be pulled away from the crank. The crank / rod that is hitting already clearanced the majority of the dent, you probably only need a few 1/1000ths now to shut it up. I bet a body shop would do it for $100. I would then change the oil in case you goudged up anything from the pan, and get driving.

I thought of the same thing but I didn't wanna sound cheap.. lol..

[BonzoHansen]

Don't do what I did. I pulled my motor and went overboard. I say swap the pan and be done. You can still save money for the LSx. I haven't driven my car in two years, and I've kept geting distracted fixing other things up.
What he said.

[CarlC]

What's to lose by trying to pull the dent out? My first reaction was the spot-weld dent puller. Cheaper, faster, and easier. Unless the dent is in an area of the pan that is critical for oil control (not likely on a stock pan) I say go for it.

Mine's a three day job to R&R the pan so creative repairs are normal.

[WS6]

pull the dent out or drop the pan. no reason to jump into a swap due to something so simple.

[MrQuick]

naw Steve, cheap would be pull the dern 710 cap off and fil er up wit da propane then put a first strike in the dip stick tube. giter done


i'd just pull the pan and clean out all them metal scrappings out of the pick up tube.

[Boulder69]

I hear all of you. But at this point I have replaced the water pump, opti, timing cover and WP drive assembly (damn LT1), along with paying to have the oil pan gasket replaced via engine pulling once already. I've got $1500 into what started out as a "water pump replacement", and now this.

I'm not really feeling the LT love right now, but get where you all are coming from: $1K to drive now and install all of the cool DSE and ATS stuff I have sitting around vs. ditching the LT and risking projy burnout.

Stupid LT1.

[datsbad]

I hear all of you. But at this point I have replaced the water pump, opti, timing cover and WP drive assembly (damn LT1), along with paying to have the oil pan gasket replaced via engine pulling once already. I've got $1500 into what started out as a "water pump replacement", and now this.

I'm not really feeling the LT love right now, but get where you all are coming from: $1K to drive now and install all of the cool DSE and ATS stuff I have sitting around vs. ditching the LT and risking projy burnout.

Stupid LT1.

where are you located? I would be willing to help a fellow PT'er out .

[RaceMan]

Six years ago I took my engine out it was making some noises I didn't like and 2 years later thats were I was .

[THX 138]

you shouldn't need to pull the engine to swap the pan. Its design is part of normal maintenance

[Boulder69]

Yeah, the tranny has to come out and motor has to come up at least 6-8 inches to get the pan out of a 1st gen. The cross-member for the front subframe is a mere inch or so below the pan. I thought the same thing but was informed by many folks much more knowledgable than I that the pan does not come out without major hassles.

I'm gonna see if the dent-puller stud thing will work before I start yanking stuff apart again. -eric

[jeff s]

Blew an engine that way in 1980 on my 78 TA 6.6 WS6 Trans Am. The dent pushed the oil pick-up upward. After the dent was pulled, the pick up was now a couple inches off the bottom of the pan instead of the 1/4" it should have been.
One high speed run starved it for oil, spinning the bearings. Really pissed off the girl I had just picked up and was taking home to my place for some action.

[Larry Callahan]

Pull a PCV valve and hook an air compressor to a valve cover. 175 psi just might pop it out. LOL!!! Just kidding. Please don't try this at home.

We now return you to your previous thread.