Someone posted a while back on this forum that they dropped one. And the best I remember they fished it out through the hole in the front of the pan without removing or lowering the pan. If I'm remembering correctly they then fished it back down the cam bore and back up into the lifter bore without removing the head! I'm thinking it may have been someone from A&A but I can't remember.

Can't the bottom half of these oil pans be removed without moving the engine? Can you get above the windage tray from down there with a magnet? If the lifters didn't make it all the way to the oil pan, I bet turning the crank a tad will bring then to the bottom. I would definitely be fishing a long time through the hole in the front before I tried to pull the entire pan!

Good Luck!

BTW: This is the perfect time to upgrade to some AFR heads! I used the "fear of dropping a lifter" excuse to pull my heads while swapping my cam. Then I used the "while the heads are off" excuse to upgrade the heads to AFR heads!

 

Ha! I'm definitely going to take the opportunity to add a set of headers

As far as retrieving the lifters, I went ahead and removed the valley cover. Looking down one of the openings with the cam out, I can see one of the lifters directly below. It will be easy to get with a strong magnet. If there's nothing to obstruct my fishing, then tomorrow I should be able to fish out the other one. I couldn't get it done today because of evening plans, but tomorrow I'll give it a try. If this works, then whitecamaross is da man!

 

good luck man. it will all be worth it after you start that baby up for the first time with the new cam and headers.

 

i dont know why people waste time with the oil pan..it is soo stupid to do that. if both heads are off your car as well as your valley pan then all u need is a 2 dollar pen magnet from autozone. they work wonderful at fishing the lifters out and if you cant see it then pull your cam out and then you will have alllll the space you need to fish it out. if all your lifters fall while the cam is out then f*ck it..let them fall and fish them the hell out, put the cam back in and then put the lifters back in the engine. slap both heads back on the car, torque each and every head bolt to specs and in the correct sequence, put the valley pan cover back on, tighten the knock sensors, put the intake on, put the fuel rails on, bolt the headers to the engine, put new plugs in, put the spark plug wires, now connect all egr related hoses and put the ignitions coils on. do one final check on all connections, hoses, etc..once everything is rechecked then start it up and let it warm up.
one last thing, while you have both heads off the car please make sure all lifters are accounted for. make sure they are indeed where they belong. You do not want to miss one that fell and you didnt notice it fell and then you put everything back together and you start the car.. you would tear that engine up if you leave a lifter where it doesnt belong..
did i miss anything else? ......

 

Well, it's not quite as easy as he says, but whitecamaross is da man! whitecamaross is da man! whitecamaross is da man!

I dropped two lifters when I pulled the cam out and, idiot that I am, one more while taking the heads off. I didn't put the cam back in before rattling the block around removing the heads. I purchased a flexible magnet pickup and a mini maglite from the hardware store. I took the valley cover off and there are the two openings pictured in an earlier post. That third lifter was straight down from the front opening and I got it out easily. The original two that fell were more toward the rear of the engine, cyls 5 & 6, so I switched to the rear valley opening. I couldn't see crap, but I sent the magnet down and snagged a lifter almost immediately! Pulled it on out and started fishing for the last one. The crank was in the way, and I spent a lot of time trying to get around it, trying through the lifter holes themselves, etc. Finally, I decided to turn the crank to see if I could get better access. After a quarter turn, I heard the lifter fall down to the tray. It had been on top of the crank all this time! I rotated the crank a little more to move the counterbalance out of the way and sent the magnet down the rear valley opening again. I snagged the lifter and pulled it out! No dropping the oil pan! No removing motor mounts! No jacking the engine up! I am ecstatic (can you tell?).

Yeehaw! I'm going shopping for some headers!

whitecamaross, thanks so much for helping out an LS1 brother!

 

so you gettin the cam in now? where are you at in Arlington.... Id love if you let me come by and check out ur vette. - Darren

 

Nice save.

 

this thread took an interesting turn

my $80 dowels

recent C6 LS2 cam install, 420rwhp w/ .588/228 comp cam/918 springs

 

This actually is good to know. At some point I'll be doing this too - with help. So it's better to get a heads up, so to speak, before I jump into the water! Good work.

- Wisdom

 

people do some stupid things and i spent countless hrs in my camaro fishing a freaking lifter. i must have loosen up that oil pan about four times and still couldnt even see the lifter.
You guys must remember that when a lifter falls it is very hard for it to go all the way down to the oil pan. yes, it does happen, but FIRST CHECK AND TRY DOING IT THROUGH THE VALLEY PAN COVER!!
yes, you are going to have to literally climb on top of the engine for you to be confortable enough and to be able to see inside the engine, but damn it beats unbolting your oil pan.
99 percent of the time you will be able to fish it out through the top of the engine. how can you go wrong trying to fish it out through the top? yes, you have to try to do it during the daytime and have alot of light, but you will get them out trust me. Your oil pan should be the last resort and your last breath. that should be done after you have spent alot of time trying and trying to fish it out through the top.