Interesting story. Thanks ----- Original Message ----- From: William Piper To: 'The Chevelle Mailing List' Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2007 8:47 AM Subject: Re: [Chevelle-list] Oil pan removal
I can't speak for the 66 but I have done such a thing in a 64 Elky with a small block. Wouldn't be much that there would be much difference other then maybe a different or pan. This is a My First Car story - Not showing my age but back in the early 70's I purchased a 1964 that had been abused in every way. As a young novice and looking to get some college credit I took a number of automotive courses using the El Camino as my patient. To make a long story short the Elky was transformed from a junk yard dog to a relatively nice driver, new engine, trans, paint, interior etc. Well anyway I was in the military at the time and decided to take the car on a road trip to visit Mom & Dad to show off my handy work. About 6 hours into the road trip (somewhere in Kentucky) my idiot light came on. I put a couple quarts of oil in the motor and proceeded on or so I thought. The light didn't go out. I pulled over again to confirm sufficient oil and no short in the wiring only to determine that now the engine was about two quarts over full and I didn't have a wiring problem. To confirm I had a oil pressure problem I pulled the sending unit from the rear of the block and had the wife turn the motor over to determine if we were getting any oil. No oil! I failed to mention that I'm miles from anywhere about ¾ ways up a mountain. Again thinking I was smart and knowing what was behind me I figured the best shot of resolving the problem was the drive the car to the top and drift down the other side to the nearest "service station" (they existed in those days). Anyway guess what - the first place I come to is an early version of 7-11 or a mom/pop store with no maintenance capabilities. It turns out I could not have found a better location. I explained my dilemma to the store owner (in those days you ran your own store). He crossed his arms, put his chin on his hand and said "hmmm its 25 miles to town and the mechanic is closed on Sunday. If I needed to work on the car in his drive I could and he let me borrow a jack. I couldn't ask for a better host, he gave me the keys to his truck, told me about a motel the other side of the hwy to bed the wife down and sent one of his sons into town to fetch an oil pump while I pulled the old one. Finally the answer to your question and my first encounter as a shade tree mechanic: Between the old man's jack a small hydraulic jack I carried with me and a small bag of sockets and hand tools we managed to gether done! While under a shade tree we used the spare tire, soda crates and what ever we could find to jack up the car (I have pictures somewhere). After getting the pan bolts loose and the cover off the torque converter I realized that the oil pump and pickup was preventing the pan from being removed. I removed the distributor cap and engine mount bolts. Used the small hydraulic jack set between the frame and the alternator bracket and managed to get the motor high enough to pull the pan. When I got the oil pump off I was expecting the shaft to be busted or the gears to be destroyed but I was and still am to find the pump in good working order and not fowled in any way except one of the ears where the pump connects to the bottom of the distributor was broken off. To this day I haven't figured why that happened. Well everything went back together pretty smoothly except I busted the alternator bracket (guess it wasn't designed to hold the weight of the engine and trans). I have met the nicest people in Kentucky. I worked on the car until the batteries went dead; I stayed with the car that night since all our stuff was in the back. The old man who owned the store showed up about midnight with a six pack to make sure I was doing OK! He offered to buy the car and take us where we were going. He was the right person at the right time. To this day I try and return the favor to stranded motorist. The rest of the trip was uneventful except the run-in with the motorcycle gang on the way home but that's another story. Thanks for letting me reminisce. I wouldn't recommend attempting to duplicate this practice; I'm amazed that the car and or engine didn't fall on me. Good Luck! -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Malibu Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 2:59 PM To: The Chevelle Mailing List Subject: [Chevelle-list] Oil pan removal Can the oil pan be pulled on a '66 Malibu with just raising the front of the engine? I need to change the high volume oil pump. It's sending the needle off the gage. Thanks
