My oil pan had lost one to many speed bump battles.

The bottom was severely dented and the drain plug had taken several pretty good shots. What looks like gum under the plug is an old brass brazing repair. There is a lso a large crease with a small tear to the left of the plug.

I searched for a replacement for several months, and I was not satisfied with the stock replacement pans (I believe the majority are camaro or chevelle pans), and the used pans on E-bay were more than I wanted to spend on pans that I would have to refurbish anyway. I also thought that a drag pan was overkill for a stock 454 plus I would rather spend the money elsewhere. So I decided to try and fix the pan I had. It would be a cheaper alternative and good practice for the valve covers that were badly dented and also in need of resurrection.

I started by hammering the bottom as flat as I could (the pan baffle was a real pain to work around). After quite a bit of hammering it still wasn't acceptable and nearly impossible to truely flatten with tools at hand, so I fabricated this skid plate from a 6" x 12" 16 gauge steel sheet that I bought at the Lowes.


I'm not a welder and don't have any welding tools so I used J.B. Weld to fasten the skid plate to the oil pan. I used a whole tube of J.B.Weld and spread it over the entire surface of the skid plate. Then I weighted it down until it fully cured (btw when they say 15 hours to cure they mean it). Next, I used J.B.Weld like body filler to fill in small dents, repair the small crack and build up the dented shoulder around the drain plug. I also used J.B.Weld to reinforced the inside around the crack and drain plug. Here is what it looked like after 5 fill-sand cycles (remember 15 hours to cure before sanding):


You can't use heat to initially speed up curing, especially on thick applications, it only makes it runny. For building up the drain plug shoulder I put the tubes in the refrigerator for an hour to thicken them up and let it set for about 10 minutes after mixing before applying it to the oil pan.

Finally I sprayed on 3 coats of Plasti-cote engine enamel.


I bought a Fram quick drain plug, but it extends about 1/4" below the bottom of the pan, and since history will probably repeat itself I will probably go back to a regular drain bolt.

Next up for resurrection, these impossible to find big block valve covers. I really like all the clips.


David

 

:cheers: WoW! That is some dedication. Nice job! Can't wait to see the valve covers.

 

:eek: :eek: :eek:

I saw the first pic and thought lost cause and thought JB weld :rolleyes:

But when i saw the results man you are GOD!!!!

THAT'S AMAZING!!

:thumbs:

 

nice work :cheers:

 

Really :cool: ..Is it a LS7 pan? :cheers:

 

I'm not sure what a LS7 pan looks like. It is off of my LS4 engine. I have found 4 on E-bay since November and they have gone for $65 to $125. It cost me $15 plus about 10 hours to repair mine. Plus mine now has a double thick laminated steel bottom. Once it looses the next round of speed bump wars I should be far enough away from the cost of this initial restoration to afford one of these.
http://www.cantonracingproducts.com/...bc_street.html
I'll just have to carry a pick ax with me in the car to carve a slot in every speed bump I encounter.


I have seen a listing for a LS6 pan at Sallee Chevrolet's website, but they don't have any photo's. Does anyone know what a LS6 pan looks like?

 

Nice work, I wish I had the patients to spend 10 hours on something like that, a few minutes on Summit's website is how I prolly would have done it. :)