Oil pan question

DKblue98GT · Mar 15, 2017

My oil pan gasket has a leak. My question is do I have enough room to replace it without pulling the K member? I just had the K member off in the fall to replace my fronts suspension and do not want to take it apart if I can avoid it.

Right now I have the trans out for clutch and rear main seal replacement. I am thinking I can bolt the trans back in, Remove the nuts from the motor mounts and make some 1" or so spacers for the motor mounts to give me room to get the pan out.

Any help is appreciated

mcglsr2 · Mar 15, 2017

From what I have read/seen in the past, there are basically three ways to skin this cat, one of which answers your question. Note: what I've seen was specific to the 302 pushrods, I don't know if it's applicable to your situation but it may be.

It has been done: unbolt the engine, loosen anything that might hold it tight (like a ground strap or hoses, etc.), and jack it up about an inch or two. Supposedly, this gives *just* enough clearance to be about to unbolt the pan, sort of slide it aside, replace gaskets, etc. and then bolt it back up. With wiggling, you may even be able to remove the oil pan.
Suspend the engine from the top, and drop the k-member. However, it sounds like you don't want to do this.
Remove the engine from the car. No k-member drop necessary, but a lot of other work required.

Good luck!

DKblue98GT · Mar 15, 2017

I'm going to try lifting the motor first. I'm definitely not pulling it right now. If worse comes to worse I will drop the k.

It all started with a leak that I thought was the rear main seal.
Since I was doing the main seal I decided to upgrade the clutch.

As long as I was upgrading the clutch I might as well do a lightened 11" flywheel and on and on...

I will attempt to update my lame build thread as I get things done.

Thanks for the help!
Robb

Mustanger · Mar 15, 2017

I am in the same boat myself with a leaky pan gasket....I hate messy cars! LOL...I will be watching this thread to see how you do it & may follow your example. I need to check my motor mounts anyway getting a vibration ...good Luck!

96blak54 · Mar 15, 2017

Pull the engine or drop the kmember. There simply isnt any room. The pan still needs to clear the oil pick up tube.

DKblue98GT · Mar 15, 2017

Mustanger said:
I am in the same boat myself with a leaky pan gasket....I hate messy cars! LOL...I will be watching this thread to see how you do it & may follow your example. I need to check my motor mounts anyway getting a vibration ...good Luck!

I would definitely check the motor mounts if they are original. When I rebuilt my suspension last year I replaced all of the original 130,000 mile Cobra stuff with all of the good stuff from my GT. My motor mounts had no rubber left holding them together and there was a pretty good vibration on the highway when I got on it.

Mustanger · Mar 15, 2017

Maybe I'll just buy an MM Kmember & get that put in while changing the pan gasket!

DKblue98GT · Mar 15, 2017

96blak54 said:
Pull the engine or drop the kmember. There simply isnt any room. The pan still needs to clear the oil pick up tube.

That's pretty much what I figured. At least everything under the car is clean and after I made sure the K was indexed I drilled some alignment holes on both sides of the K so I could realign it easily.

DKblue98GT · Mar 15, 2017

Mustanger said:
Maybe I'll just buy an MM Kmember & get that put in while changing the pan gasket!

Don't I wish...

DKblue98GT · Mar 19, 2017

96blak54 said:
Pull the engine or drop the kmember. There simply isnt any room. The pan still needs to clear the oil pick up tube.

As usual you were right. I got the trans in yesterday and sucked it up and pulled the K member off today.

I changed the leaking pan gasket and put it all back together.

It was a long day. ..

No leaks now and I learned that a trans jack works really well for removing and reinstalling the K member.

96blak54 · Mar 20, 2017

One area I wished I wasnt right. These engines are just to dang big!

DKblue98GT · Mar 20, 2017

Luckily everything was really clean under the car since I had it apart last year. I used Tall jack stands to support the motor by the motor mounts because I didn't want to buy a support bar.

I wish I had waited on to reconnect the starter and exhaust until I had the K off, it would have been easier.

If I had planned ahead far enough I would have done headers but they will have to wait until next time...