Mystery Oil Pan

[Jimmy G.]

Anyone have any idea what this oil pan fits ??? Three step - No baffle - Plug on the bottom - reinforced corners


oil pan.jpg

[Joe L.]

Re: Mystery Oil Pan

Anyone have any idea what this oil pan fits ??? Three step - No baffle - Plug on the bottom - reinforced corners


[ATTACH=CONFIG]61010[/ATTACH]

Jimmy------


My guess would be some early small block passenger car.

[Loren L.]

Re: Mystery Oil Pan

Picture of the inside, please

[David L.]

Re: Mystery Oil Pan

Does it look like the two 57 Chevrolet oil pans on Ebay? My 1957 Chevrolet Parts Catalog lists GM # 3735640 as the part number for the 56-57 Chevrolet V8 oil pan.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1957-CHEVY-283-327-ORIG-GM-OIL-PAN-DRAIN-PLUG-57-BELAIR-2X4-FUEL-INJECTION-/171357970053?hash=item27e5bb1e85&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/57-CHEVY-V8-OIL-PAN-WITH-SPECIAL-A-DRAIN-PLUG-/221487012887?hash=item3391a79c17&vxp=mtr

[Jim L.]

Re: Mystery Oil Pan

It looks like the oil pan from a '57 Chebby.

[David L.]

Re: Mystery Oil Pan

The link below might help.

http://www.earlycorvettes.com/corvettesite/SACE/articleswebpages/Mechanical/v4n1oilpans.pdf

[David B.]

Re: Mystery Oil Pan

Nice attempt by Roy on his oil pan article unfortunately he was off target. 56 Corvette or early 57 never used passenger car oil pan. The article probably created more confusion then enlightenment. Based on single pan photo shown it appears to be a truck pan that was common and sold over parts counter. The fact it has no baffle and indents in the bottom should be a dead giveaway. Although it does not have the exact 3 step configuration the 3 step truck pan was listed in parts manual as correct replacement for 56-57 Corvette. I believe one of the reasons 56-57 Corvette oil pans are so tough to find is the fact it seems the actual production oil pan was never offered for sale over the parts counter.

[David L.]

Re: Mystery Oil Pan

Nice attempt by Roy on his oil pan article unfortunately he was off target. 56 Corvette or early 57 never used passenger car oil pan. The article probably created more confusion then enlightenment. Based on single pan photo shown it appears to be a truck pan that was common and sold over parts counter. The fact it has no baffle and indents in the bottom should be a dead giveaway. Although it does not have the exact 3 step configuration the 3 step truck pan was listed in parts manual as correct replacement for 56-57 Corvette. I believe one of the reasons 56-57 Corvette oil pans are so tough to find is the fact it seems the actual production oil pan was never offered for sale over the parts counter.

David,

My 1957 Chevrolet Parts Catalog (Mar. 1957) lists the following in Gr. 1.426 (oil pan):

56 CORV., 56 UTIL. (8 cyl.)..............(18 holes-with baffle)(5 qt. cap.)..........3727732
57 CORV., 57 Ser 6 (8 cyl.)...............w/pin (18 holes, 4 marked B)...............3736615

So what you are saying is that the 3727732 & 3736615 oil pans sold over the counter were original 56 & 57 truck oil pans and replacement oil pans for 56 & 57 Corvettes with the differences only being the baffles inside the pans. Do you agree?
This would make sense as Chevrolet probably made a lot more trucks than Corvettes and this would mean less service oil pans to stock in the warehouses.

Dave

[David B.]

Re: Mystery Oil Pan

David,
There always seemed to be some confusion about 56-57 Corvette oil pans. Years ago, to try and clear up any misunderstanding I obtained a handful of oil pan blueprints and attempted to trace it's progression. Without going into a long history lesson the drawings started out with a drawing of prototype pan #0-132403 which ultimately was revised on 1-21-55 into a multitude of various designed pans over the years for a number of Chevrolet built vehicles/trucks. As I am sure you are aware the low volume Corvette in '55 was a clean 3 step with dip stick attached on the side and no baffles inside. Roy's article is correct on the '55 version which continued in use on the early 56 Corvette until about vin#1650. The baffle actually was a result of testing done at Sebring in 56. It appears from the date of some of the blueprint drawings engineering designed the baffle into the pan right before the March race date. Neither part # you list in the 57 parts catalog is correct for production 56 or 57 pan. I have the revised page (Nov. 1, 1957) from the 57 master parts catalog and it lists only 3736615. This is the common truck pan version with large indentations located in the second step. The latest 56-57 Judging Manual has some very good photos of correct versions.

[John C.]

Re: Mystery Oil Pan

Looks like the one off of my '56 Chevy passenger car.

IMG_0561.jpg

[David B.]

Re: Mystery Oil Pan

John,
The pan you show also appears to be the truck pan version not pass car. The normal pass car pan did not have 3 steps and had a 4 qt capacity. Only you or the original owner would know how it got on your engine. Anything is possible but is this case improbable!

[John C.]

Re: Mystery Oil Pan

Hi Dave.....mine is definitely is a 4 quart pan. My 56 Corvette 5 quart pan is physically larger. Here is a photo of both of them sitting next to each other.

IMG0186.jpg

I have personally never seen a '56 265 passenger car pan that does not look like mine.

What does this 4 quart pan you speak of look like?

John

[David B.]

Re: Mystery Oil Pan

John,
My reference was to the sloping 2 step pan. Your pass pan shows the configuration to clear steering tie rod etc.. Since Chevrolet built 918,918 V-8 engines in 1956 of which 656,470 were 2-Bbl. and 257,004 were 4-Bbl. I would not disagree with anyone on what came with what.