I am cleaning the goo out of my engine and am wondering if anyone has been able to take apart the "round baffle" underneath the valley pan that exhausts to the atmosphere.I have given it a few taps hoping it would slide apart with no luck.It sure is black and tarry and would like to clean it. Ant thoughts...pete

To the best of my knowledge, they do not come apart! The early chevys have the same baffle, mounted differently. The one I just finished doing wasn't too dirty, so I just stuck in in a cleaning tank with the nozzel stuck in the side. I left it for a few hours.
I know some can get really bad. A lot of miles with poor maintenance.
Clean them as best you can, get most of the crud off, and then soak it in carb cleaner for a few hours. That will clean the baffel, but ruin the carb cleaner!!! Carb cleaner hates oil..!!
I remember when I was a pup, and all cars had blow-by tubes that would plug up, the down and dirty, shade tree trick, was to fill em with gasoline and light em on fire!!! they would burn for hours, and get all of the guck out.
Frowned on my todays enviromentally conscience world, but it worked!

If you know an engine rebuilder have him throw it in the boil out tank for you. It will come out like new...Bob

I am intriqued by the use of fire-it never dawned on me.

Now don't go getting me in trouble with the EPA!!! Like Bob says, if you are having any machine work done, let the shop boil it out for you. When I took my heads in for a valve job, I took the Valve covers, valley pan, oil pan, all of the tin in and had them boil it out. they come back grease and paint free, ready for a nice paint job.
Even that costs now. I used to send all that stuff in and they would boil it for free, with the price of the machine work. Last time it cost $50.00 extra, but worth it to have everything clean and neat, ready for a nice paint job.
The fire trick, the old hard grease in the baffle,once saturated with a little gas, will burn away to nothing. But, I would really rather see you have it boiled out. Like I said, that's the old back yard trick, not approved for todays standards. That was just a little tail of the good old days, not something I'm recommending! I don't want to pay your fine, or buy you a new house.
I should be more careful with what I say, people might be listening..!!

The old gas and match trick works to a point. There is still some gritty residue and ash left. That might be fine on an enternal type filter but i really don't think you want that kind of crud living inside your engine.

It was my attempt at humor.
Yeah I probably will get it boiled but I could throw it in the wood stove-it would be safe there.I've been cleaning everything by hand so far-the less stuff I have to carry when I visit the machine shop the happier I'll be.By the way-do you have to drop the crankshaft to install one of those new type rubber main seals? pete

Good news! No, you don't have to drop the crank to put in a new seal. Just drop the rear main cap, and you can easily change the one in the cap. For some reason, you have to use a thin paper shim under the seal, which comes with the seal kit. I can only guess the reason for the shim is, they found a seal designed for something else, and with the use of the shim, it works on the early Olds.
When I was building engines for an Olds dealer in the mid 80's, someone discovered that a neoprene rear main seal from a 460" Ford worked perfectly on the Olds, which came with a rope seal. All of the line guys had a stack of 460 seals in their boxes! I sure made life easier..!
Got off the subject there.... Back to changing the upper seal. I have a "sneaky Pete", which is designed to pull the rope seal out. You can make one, just a small diameter rod with a course threaded end, like the threads on a dry wall screw. In fact, you could probably use a long drywall screw, and grab it with pliers. Screw the threaded end into the rope seal as far as you can. You need to turn the engine as you pull the seal out. If you have a flywheel turner, turn and pull and it will slide right out. Pulling the seal without turning the engine will get you nowhere!
It's a little tricky getting the seal in with the paper shim. Just grease it up good, and go slowly. Lay the seal on the bottom of the crank with the end in the slot, and push it in as you again turn the engine. I had to do it a couple of times to get the paper to go around with the seal. The paper is longer than the seal, so when installed, cut off the ends flush with the block.
Make sure you replace the little square cork seals that sit along side the main cap.
Important!! Make sure you put the seals in facing the right direction..!!
Go for it, it's easy and no more puddles on your garage floor..!! Good luck

Thanks for the info.I'm not sure how bad it is leaking but oil is tracking from somewhere and the backside of the plate on the bottom of the bellhousing is pretty messy-I assume thats where it ends up at.Last time I looked at that seal it was about 50 bucks...does that sound right? Seems a lot and may unfortunately sway my decision and hate myself for it later.The oil has kept the underside from rusting-a benefit.I was going to say oil is cheap...
but people with paved driveways aren't always so happy to see you.

There is no doubt about the leak you see is from the rear main. Why Oldsmobile remained stubborn for so long after all other mfgs had converted to the neoprene seal, only R.E. Olds himself knows the answer to.
I'll have to go through my vast stack of bills to check for sure, but I believe I paid about $35.00 for the good seal. There are several vendors that sell them, price around.
For the next two weeks, leave your girlfriend at home. The money you'll save will buy you a good seal. And the seal will be around a lot longer than the girlfriend! If you're married, please disregard the last sentence.
Now is the time to change the seal. It's a long ways back in, when you decide you should have done it, after the engine is back together. You will definitely hate yourself if you don't.
You're right about parts being expensive. I gave up even keeping tract a long time ago. Parts for newer cars are much cheaper than the old ones. It's all about supply and demand. "We got it, you don't, how bad do you want it?"
Keep the faith.........

Hey RocketDude

Are you saying that you only have to help the new seal through by pushing it into the space and not pull it through with anything? Also, is there a need to losen the crank up at all?

Thanks
Ron

There is no need to loosen the crank up, at all. The only main cap bolts I touched, was the rear main.
The seal goes right in with nothing to pull it through. Just grease it up good, lay it on the bottom of the crank, line it up straight with the groove. Slowly push it through with your fingers, as you slowly turn the engine. The seal back is stiff, so you have to keep it aligned as it goes. The stiff back is also why you can just push it through, and not need to pull it. Rope seals are "floppy", making it necessary to pull them through.
It's really pretty simple, and well worth the effort, to eliminate the always leaky rope seal.
Good luck

Well it took awhile but I got my baffle real clean! You see I was barbequing some hamburgers over a charcoal fire and when I was finished,seeing so much heat left,I put the baffle right over the coals.It made quite a stink in the neighborhood for a bit but when the fire burned down,all the crap had burned out of the baffle.I tried some strong soap to get the residue out but it wasn't too effective so I dropped it in some muriatic acid. Took only a few minutes but you'd swear it was a brand new baffle. Job Done! And the burgers were good too!

I applaud your ingenuity. I picture the neighbors chasing you down the street with pichforks and rakes, their torches held high, and the tar pot waiting your capture. I'd be really careful when you answer the door for a while.
Now with that project complete, how is the new rear main seal doing? You better get on the stick, couple more months, and the snow flies again.... Pleasant thought, huh?

Give your nice clean filter a nice LOng bath in a strong baking soda solution changing the solution a couple of times. If you don't neutralize all the acid residue your filter will quickly rust to dust.......Bob.

thanks for the replies...yes I washed the acid off with a strong alkaline soap-same idea.I was debating whether to paint it but I figure that the thing will soon be coated with oil anyways and I wonder how long paint would last anyways inside an engine.I use Bill Hirsh engine enamel on the outside,which is tough as nails-if the surface was super clean,wouldn't it handle an inside job? It would make the oil less likely to stick where you didn't want it I suppose.Just a thought-except for the horror that it might come off and plug things up-this is where experience comes in...pete