Pulling oil pan on straight eight

[Rusty Heaps]

I need to pull the oil pan on a ‘53 Special. Can this be done without pulling the engine from the car? I know it’s nearly impossible to do on the ‘52, I’m hoping the factory made some modifications to the frame just for this purpose.

[Aaron65]

It's no problem!  The factory gave you four holes in the undercarriage to access the front four bolts; you will probably have to rotate the crank as you remove the pan to get all the counterweights to clear, but you can probably have the pan out in 15 minutes if you have an air ratchet.  Good luck!

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

It helps if the drag link is dropped as well. If your motor mounts are "crushed" you can gain a little by inserting a wood block in there.

  I just did the drop/install on my '50.

 

  Ben

[Rusty Heaps]

Thanks guys. A previous owner of the ‘52 had enlarged the holes with a torch to the chassis to access the bolts. I have no desire to do that to the ‘53. I have no air ratchet and a gravel driveway! Fortunately the engine is still a runner, so I can rotate the crank. Also thanks for the tips on the drag link and mounts. I said nearly impossible because the engine in the ‘52 was a boat anchor with the crank rusted solidly in place. I had to take a sledgehammer to the crank to retrieve the flywheel and clutch assembly from the engine after we pulled it!

Edited July 31, 2021 by Rusty Heaps (see edit history)

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

On my '50, the four are easy . the next on on each side not so much.

 

  Ben

[Aaron65]

That's true!  I forgot that I had to use the "1/8 turn of a wrench" technique on those two. 

[Rusty Heaps]

I’m hoping that replacing the gasket and pan won’t be terribly difficult. I plan to replace the oil pan, side cover, and rocker cover gaskets. There’s a bit of sludge on top of the head and I thought I could clean out most of it easily. It’s not heavy, but it looks as though someone may have used a little Quaker State in it a couple of times. I would hate for some of it to come loose and ruin a running engine. I also intend to clean the oil pump screen. Let’s keep some fingers crossed. 

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

I would go ahead and disassemble and clean the pump.  Easy to do.

 

 Ben

[gdmn852]

Hello I have 49 Super and it sounds like the same setup, the two bolts under the cross member are the worst,found that it is easier to drop the steering drag link , and as mentioned crank will need rotated to clear pan. Good idea to drop and clean it had a 41 Packard the the pan probably was never dropped since new , the screen on oil pump was collapsed and sucking unfiltered oil into the engine.