new oil pan needed?

[Jack O.]

I removed my oil pan and had some questions. It's off a '69 427/435.

The area around the bolt holes are no longer level with the rim of the pan as if it has been over torqued. Should I replace it or attempt to level out the mating surface?
The pan has a "trap door" in the sump area. I assume this is the original pan. What's the purpose of the trap door and is it something I should try to retain if I replace the pan? Can I expect a replacement pan to have this feature?

Thanks in advance,

Jack Ottofaro

[Stephen L.]

Re: new oil pan needed?

You can use this pan. Just take a hammer and carefully flatten the hole areas. I believe there should have been a piece of flat stock material that had the same hole pattern as the pan that acted as a stiffner in this area along the entire edge. I have this on my 67 L36. You may want to see if you can locate a set. Someone in the past probably thought they were useless and threw them away. That flat stock prevented what you are seeing around the pan holes. This stiffner was on the "bolt side" of the pan lip; not the engine block side.

[Craig S.]

Re: new oil pan needed?

Steve - the reinforcement strips you mention work very well, and I have a set on a crate LS6 engine I plan to use in my 74 in the future. As far as I know, the original pans in the 60's had the reinforcements only in the 4 corners, not the entire length like the strips you mention. I don't know when they introducted this, but I believe it was in the crate engine era. Perhaps someone has improved this on your L36...it is a most worthwhile mod to improve sealing and prevent pan damage....Craig

[Lonnie Johnson]

Re: new oil pan needed?

Jack,
Use an old mechanics trick on the oil pan and it will be fine. The trick is to take a ball peen hammer, turn it with the rounded side down in the top side of each pan bolt retaining hole, and hit it with another hammer on the opposite end of the rounded one. This will effectively push the pan metal back down to near it's original shape or even reverse it a little. Reversing it slightly doesn't matter since when you tighten the bolts upon reassembly, it will generally pull up flat again. Be sure to support the underside of the pan flange that the bolt holes are in, on the edge of a work bench or something similar so that you don't damage it further.
Upon reassembly, don't do what so many guys do and overtighten the bolts. That's how they get pulled out of shape to began with.