Hello,

I have been searching this forum and have not been able to find answers to a few specific questions I have.

Vehicle - 1997 Camaro with T56 6-speed and stock dual cat exhaust.

1. I have the transmission, bellhousing and clutch removed from the the car. Even with all of this removed do I still need to lift the engine a few inches to get the oilpan off?

2. Can I slide the oilpan off without taking off the stock Y-pipe?

PLEASE: If you have done this and know for 100% the anwsers to these questions please let me know. Thank you guy's!

 

Exhaust shouldn't need to come off, but yes, you must raise the engine off of the mounts quite high for the pan to clear the oil pick-up/crank.

 

I am going to make a suggestion, but you will get several people telling you to do this and not to do this so it's up to you. I have done this several times and the method I find easiest is place a jack or bottle jack under the crank pully (with a block of wood to protect the pully) and slowly jack the motor up to take tension off the mounts. Then remove the mount bolts on both sides and pulling the starter will make the PS much easier. Since you have a 97 you might have clearance issues with dual cat setup as I didn't have to worry about that on my 95' (single cat). Once the bolts are out continue to jack the motor up several inches and then start removing the op bolts and drop the pan down on the kmember. Test how much room you need by trying to pull the pan out the rear and raising the motor just enough. Once it's out clean the pan and block mating surfaces real good with some brake cleaner and reinstall the new gasket onto the pan. You will also need to remove the dipstick tube as well to get it to line up with the hole in the gasket, just push it out an then back in once you have the pan bolted up. Make sure to use some gasket maker (use TheRight Stuff - best stuff out there and you can find it at Advance or AutoZone) on the corners and I like to use it on the lip (front and rear) as well - both sides of the gasket. Once you have it on the pan, reinstall the pan and reverse the process. Don't over torque the pan and just snug those bolts down good. I know they have metal gromets in the gasket to keep you from over torqing the pan, but trust me those don't help too much if you really crank on it as I have learned this lesson before. Good luck and let me know if you need any more help.

PS: Some guys will recc to follow the same procedure, with jacking the motor up with a block of wood under the pan to spread the load (so jacking up by the pan). I don't like this as as in my op you can warp the pan a little and it will never seal right and the crank is plenty stronk to support the motor. It's up to you.

 

Drop pan down a few inches. Cut old gasket out. Stretch new gasket around oil pan and flip up onto pan rails.

 

I've done this on a '95 single cat car so I can't tell you about the y-pipe. I removed it on the '95 and felt I needed too.

You will have to lift the engine and you can't simply drop the pan a few inches to do this job. The dipstick tube blocks you from doing it that simply. Here's what I recommend doing:

1) remove the y-pipe
2) remove the oil level sensor.
3) turn the crank so the cast in arrow on the hub/damper is pointing up. This moves the crank throws out of the way of the front of the pan.
4) Remove the motor mount through bolts.
5) remove the air intake from the TB.
6) lift the engine clear of the mounts about 4 inches and keep the front higher than the back. Don't lift at the damper, use a hoist. Without the tranny attached jacking at the hub will cause the engine to shift and could damage you or the car.
7) Pull the dip stick tube up about 2-1/2 inches. Don't pull it out as it's a pain to put back in.
8) Unbolt the pan and drop it straight down to clear the crank and dipstick tube...slide the pan out from between the cross member and the engine.
9) remove the old gasket and install the new using RTV black on the curved areas front andback.
10) after the RTV cures you can simply put it back together by reversing the steps above.

That's it...good luck!

 

Thanks for the replys. ALthough some of the suggestions would work they wont work for me...

1. I can not lift the engine from the front hub b/c I have the transmission, bell housing and clutch out. If I did that the whole engine would tilt and fall backwards.

2. I HAVE to remove the oil pan all the way. I know for 100% a part of the RTV and oil pan gasket fell down into the pan. Plus, I will change the oil pump while I have it taken this far apart.


* I was more or less just looking to see if I HAD to remove the Y-pipe b/c I know the bolts connecting it to the manifold are going to snap and then I will be trying to remove the manifold from the heads hoping those bolts dont' break...errrr...and about raising the engine b/c I have much more room to move the oil pan around without the bell housing and flywheel in the way.

For those who have used a cherry picker where did you lift the engine from? And, did you use a brace bar or anything similar to do it?

 

Am I wrong but don't you to do it correctly have the remove the timing chain cover??

 

You don't believe you have to remove the timing cover to replace the oilpan gasket but my is off, hence why I said part of the oil pan gasket and RTV fell into the oil pan which is why I need to totally remove the oilpan.

 

We removed my oil pan with out having to drop the trans. I remember taking the timing chain cover off though. Because the oil pan gasket is one piece. Unless your using rtv up front. We didnt use a cherry picker, we jacked the motor up.

 

You don't have to take off the timing cover to change the oil pan gaaket. The oil pan gasket runs along the bottom of the cover. If you are removing the timing cover you have to loosen the oil pan.

There are several places to attach a chain. Since the engine is free of the tranny, I'd put the chain on the back of the passenger sode head and the front of the drivers side head. Use a spreader bar and lift straight up until the inytake manifold just about touches the cowl. The pan will be easy to take off at this point.

Good luck!

 

I did what bw_hunter stated. In my app, I did not remove my pan due to it being a larger than stock Canton. I manipulated the oil pan gasket thru the pan/ block opening and around the crank throws and oil pick-up. Was not that bad. I did not remove the front cover. The starter, exhaust cross-over, oil cooler, front vib_pulley (not hub) was also removed. I used Permatex grey in the corners. No visable leaks (but I run and external VAC pump). B.