I am going to attempt to tackle my Canton 15-240T oil pan installation this weekend. I have read numerous threads on the topic but every thread seems to have different information, so I'm trying to nail it all down so I know exactly what I might run into during the process.

My car is a 1992 LT1. Engine is completely stock. I have the pan, Melling M155HV oil pump (per Canton's recommendation), and the Canton pick-up. Here are my questions:

How best to lift the engine up enough to have clearance to remove and install the pan?

Remove the left catalytic convertor per instructions on Mitchell and All-Data or leave the exhaust alone? It doesn't really look necessary to me.

Bolt the pick-up to the new pump or tack weld it?

Use RTV or The Right Stuff across whole pan per Canton instructions or just around the crankshaft ends as per OE instructions?

Use factory type gasket?

Will I need to worry about any interference from any other parts of the engine or surrounding area?

Anything else I might need to know?

Thanks for any and all advice.

 

Its been awhile since I did my canton oil pan install....and, since time dims memory, don't consider my experience all inclusive, but....

definitely use the canton recommended pump and pick up; a canton pan is not a one size fits all type pan designed to accommodate a variety of pumps and pickups (as can a stock "open sump" style pan). Plus the canton pan/ recommended pump and pickup eliminates the need to adjust the pickup height inside the pan.

The canton pickup is quite short and is designed to be bolted to the oil pump; use some red locktite on the cap screws and there is no need to tack weld as there is with the stock pressed in oil pickup.

Get a main cap stud kit, at least three of the stock studs in the engine are extra long to mount the oem flat style oil baffle which is not used with the canton pan.

The canton pan is heavier than the stocker....do yourself a big favor, throw away the 1/4 cap screws the factory uses on the pan rails and the four 5/16 th caps screws used at the four corners of the pan. Replace them with longer studs and nuts...screw the studs into the block first and it will be much much easier to lift and fit the gasket and pan onto the bottom of the engine.

I like to use rtv on the entire pan gasket (both sides) but experience has taught me to apply it along the mid to outside edges of the gasket only, this pretty much eliminates the chance that excess rtv will ooze out and into of the inner (crankcase side) of the gasket.

either I already had the starter out, or I needed to remove it to install the canton pan, but the catalytic converters stay in place (?).

In the past I have always unbolted the two nuts from the stud mounting th motor mounts (one one each side) and jacked the engine up an inch or so, then placed a small piece of 3/4" or 1' thick wood between the motor mount and the crossmember it attaches to. HOWEVER reading numerous threads, apparently, if the crankshaft is rotated so the front crankshaft throw is up inside the engine, there is enough clearance to allow the pan removal / installation without raising the engine.

Lastly, recalibrate your dipstick to eliminate future confusion.

Good luck, a very nice upgrade to your engine

 

I wouldn't do this unless you plan on tearing down the engine and having it line-bored.

Use the Canton gasket and just use some dabs of RTV in the corners where it goes around the rear main and timing cover, and also where the rear main "housing" meets the block.

I just installed mine a couple months ago and it's bone dry.

 

and why not ?

 

I fail to see any reason at all to have the engine line bored, nothing is being changed such as a bearing cap. All I did was get some regular main cap bolts to replace the ones with baffle studs on them. Some guys have even just cut the studs off & put the bolts back in.
If you do have the bolt on pickup then Loctite is all you need as mtwoolford already said. If it is a press fit, (I can't remember) then what I do is make a small strap that goes from a pump cover screw to the pickup tube, then I tack weld the strap to the pickup. If this needed, be REAL careful of the tack weld, too much and you will either have a booger on the inside of the tube which could break off or you will blow a hole in the tube. RTV in the 4 corners only and use the Fel Pro blue one piece gasket. It's a bit more money but well worth it.

 

The only part that really worried me about this job was the main stud interference. I really don't like messing with mains if I don't have to because I would think you would have to measure the bearing clearances. This isn't necessarily hard to do, but failure to do it correctly will cost me an engine. Maybe I'm overthinking it. I don't actually know what it looks like under there so I have no idea how to imagine it.

What I do know is that I have one day to tackle this at the shop. After that the car has to be gone to prepare for the shop to open the following day, and no one wants to have to push my dead car around in the meantime.

 

Just replace one bolt at a time so the cap stays put.

 

Main caps won't/shouldn't just "fall out" if you remove the bolts. Also, no reason at all to line-bore an engine if you change bolts. If that were the case you could never assemble the engine - you'd be line boring, removing the caps, line boring, removing the caps........

 

I've always been taught that this is a really bad thing to do. Mains should be torqued down little by little bolt after bolt until you reach the recommended torque. Tightening one bolt down all the way and then doing the other can result in breaking the main cap off on one side. I've seen it done before. Then you will be replacing mains and line boring the block.

Someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on this.

 

You are putting more into this than needed. If it makes you feel better remove one main bolt & replace but just snug it down good , then do the other one. Once they're both in then torque them again.

 

Yeah, I overthink everything. That's why I usually end up paying someone else to do it for me when it comes to stuff like this. I might end up doing that anyway, but then I don't learn anything.

 

Every machine shop and engine builder I've ever met has said that changing from bolts to studs can distort the cap just a little bit, but enough to make a difference in the bearing fit.

 

Well the job is done... at least I hope it is. It didn't end up being quite as difficult as it originally sounded. The hardest part was getting the starter back in, which we accomplished by unbolting the front of the converters and scooting them over a bit. We just pulled the main studs out and cut them to make clearance for the new pan.

It turns out this wasn't done a moment too soon! The original purpose of doing the pan was due to some moron before me stripping the drain plug hole out. Well, when we got the pan off, there was a bunch of gasket material stuck in the pick up screen. Turns out the inside of the (what I believe to be original) pan gasket was deteriorating and falling into the pan.

But yet now that it's done, I'm still hoping there isn't a problem, as now my oil pressure gauge reads near max at idle, and when revving it will completely peg itself. Hopefully this is the gauge itself and not anything else. My oil temperature gauge isn't accurate at all, but when you go to the digital read out it will tell you what the temperature actually is. Unfortunately there is no digital read out for the pressure. My check gauges light hasn't come on when the pressure pegs out like I think it should if the pressure is indeed high. The car has not yet been taken out for a test drive. I wanted to see if anyone else has run into that problem.

Prior to the install, the pressure seemed to be a bit on the high side at idle (around 60-70 psi) but would not peg itself. When I saw the pickup screen partially plugged up with old gasket, I figured this might be the reason for the high pressure. When I bought the car a year ago, the pressure gauge seemed to read normally.

Remember that I installed the high volume, but not high pressure, oil pump.

UPDATE: After driving it for a short while the gauge will go down to the halfway mark and go up and down like normal. I'm not sure if my gauge is off or what, but the engine seems to run good and there are no abnormal noises.

 

Hope it dont leak, mine leaked after two attempts, took it specialty garage let them re do it for $300, leaked worse, let Automasters of Bowling Green do it, seems to be right now. Its a hard job to get "right"