Hey Everyone,

I was able to drop the oil pan and ohh man so glad I did.. WOW there was so much sludge. Not surprisingly with a 66 year old car… The bright side is that I didn’t see any metal flakes or anything of the sort… next step is to clean with some degreaser and try my best to remove small dents on the bottom of the pan… I’m not going to lie, it took me two day’s just to remove the damm cross over exhaust haha. Had to get a new breaker bar with ratchet and made a world of difference. At this point I almost want to see if there is a way to convert to dual exhaust… has anyone had luck converting a single to dual with these 371’s? I worry about the clearance from steering box…

 

My god, I can only guess what’s underneath the valve covers and under the intake.

 

What led you to drop the pan?

 

Main reason, had the car for just about a month now and from my understanding the car was sitting for over 30 years, instead of just doing an oil change, wanted to clean pan for obvious reasons… a rebuild is not in the budget but if we can get her running as best as I can possibly do is the main reason

all the best

 

While you have the pan off, you might consider replacing the rear main bearing seal.
Check with Waldon on dual exhaust. They make a kit with the prebent pripes and you can get it with or without mufflers. I used their kit on my 54 with power steering and it fit like a glove. Not cheap and they have a pretty good lead time. Good luck with you car.

 

Good that you removed the oil pan since the engine was filled with sludge.

Did you have to raise the engine at all to get the oil pan out?

 

@redoldsman thanks for the lead on the dual exhaust and ya I’ll have to look at what all it takes to replace rear main seal…

@Olds64 actually did not have to raise engine, I searched here on forum how others suggested and also followed the steps from shop manual. The biggest hurdle was the exhaust crossover, also unbolted the idler support bracket, loosened starter, turn wheels to let pan drop… did have to pry off because it was just gunked on… which is probably why there was no leaks under the pan…lol Overall not to bad of a job.

 

Not much progress during the week but finally got a chance to start prying the years of dirt and oil… will be letting this pan sit in some degreaser for the next couple days…

 

Quick update, pan is looking much better, I was able to hammer out most of the major dents. Definitely not perfect but happy with it being a 66 year old oil pan. Below are a few before and after… only a first light coat of paint.

 

You did a great job !

 

IIRC the factory color was green, in case your looking to stay original. Someone please chime in to confirm or correct me. TIA.

Super nice work on the cleanup.

 

Consider soaking the rings with something like Marvel Mystery Oil while it is apart, the oil control rings are probably loaded with the same sludge.

 

1957-1958 Olds is Gold. Its a different gold than later year (1965 and later) gold.