302 oil pan gasket replace : engine-in-place

[jakester888]

Need tips and best practices for replacing the 5.0L Mustang (Ford 302) oil pan gasket without removing the engine.

Starting limiters:
1) Floor jacks in the garage, not on a lift.
2) Leaving engine in place.

I have a one-piece rubber gasket. I'll use silicon at the edges.

Question : do I need to remove the T5 tranny to get the pan out? Any other clearance concerns? There is no K-member as there is in a Mustang.

Thanks.

[edwardb]

I assume you will have it on jack stands, only lifted in place with the floor jacks... It's really not a big deal. No the T5 doesn't need to be touched. Actually the oil pan doesn't go near the tranny. It stops at the bell housing. On cars like these, the pan is completely open to the bottom. So other than dealing with gravity it's an easy job. First drain all the oil. Remove all the bolts and the pan should be easy enough to remove. You may have to move it back and forth a bit as it's dropping to clear the oil pickup or windage tray (if you have one), depending on the pan and how it's baffled. Clean up the pan and block surfaces. Make sure all traces of the gasket are removed including around the front and rear bearing caps and in the little groove and triangular hole where the front and rear caps meet the block.

You say you have a one-piece rubber gasket. I highly recommend the blue silicone Fel-Pro OS13260T. I've used it several times and it's the best IMO. Never had one leak a drop. If that's not the one you have, I would recommend you get one. In addition to being a very high quality gasket, it comes with little blue clips that hold the gasket in place making it way easier to install from the bottom. The Fel-Pro instructions say to install it dry, and that's what I've always done. The only exception is I usually put a light smear of silicone around the front and rear bearing caps, and a little in the holes where the caps meet the block.

With the gasket held in place by the clips, lift the pan back in place guided by the clips and bolt it in. Small bolts along the edges, large ones in the corners by the bearing caps. Go around the bolts a number of times, a little tighter as you go. The large bolts should be about 15 ft lbs, the smaller ones 10 - 12 ft lbs.

[Jeff Kleiner]

I'll second edwardb's recommendation of the FelPro. Nothing else needs to be removed. Easy peasey; about an hour from wheels up to back on the ground.

Jeff

[michael everson]

What about the starter? If I remember right you need to remove that to access a couple of the bolts.
Mike

[edwardb]

What about the starter? If I remember right you need to remove that to access a couple of the bolts. Mike

Yea, just peeking under the hood of my Mk4 (and refreshing my memory...) I think you're right. The starter is in the way. OK, two more bolts to remove.

[jakester888]

Thx guys - this is my 4th of July project.

[phileas_fogg]

I'm installing the Champ Road Race pan (https://www.champpans.com/products/p/cp302lt-rr/) and associated oil pickup today. I've got the FelPro gasket, and a new paper gasket for where the pickup meets the oil pump, and I'll be working under the car. But I have a few questions about some of the details.

- Do I use loc-tite on the oil pickup bolts? Red or blue? (NOTE: Ford Tech Support said to use red loc-tite on the nut that secures the pickup support bracket to the main cap stud).
- Do I use loc-tite on the oil pan bolts? Red or blue? I'm assuming none.
- If no loc-tite on the oil pan bolts, do I run the bolts hand tight and let the silicone cure overnight, or do I torque the oil pan bolts straightaway?
- I'm assuming the OEM dip stick won't work with this pan due to interference with the windage tray. I'm pretty sure I'll find out when I drop the old pan, but can anyone confirm? After I remove the OEM dip stick tube, I plan to slip a bolt into the hole in the block & secure it with The Right Stuff; any problems with that approach?

Thanks,


John

[mike223]

John,

The single most critical thing you should do is to use clay or aluminum under the pickup (to test fit) and make sure you get the pickup to around 1/4" to 5/16" off the bottom of the pan - It doesn't really matter what you have to bend or rework - just do it.

I don't use loc-tite on any of those bolts or nuts - I just torque them to spec.

On the oil pan bolts / gasket / silicone - I skim the gasket (both sides - opinions will vary) with rtv and torque the bolts to about 50 inch pounds. Let cure overnight, torque to spec (I'm thinking around 120-150 inch pounds). Retorque after a few warmup cycles.


Good luck and get your pickup where it needs to be (that's what's most important when installing a new pan / pickup)...

[phileas_fogg]

Thanks very much Mike. As I'm taking the old pan & pickup off, it's pretty obvious there was no loc-tite used. So I won't either.

[phileas_fogg]

One more detail: how do you remove the old silicone from the corners & the large oil pan bolt holes? There's just enough silicone in the threads that I can't get the bolt started with the pan in place (bolt only will go in just fine).

Acetone didn't work, or if it does, I didn't wait long enough. I don't want to use WD-40 (though it will dissolve silicone rather quickly) because the residue persists and will cause the new silicone not to stick.


John

[turbonut48]

Try to run a flat bottom tap into the holes to clear the silicone from the threaded holes.

Tom