I cant speak for the 66 but I have done such a thing in a 64 Elky with
a small block. Wouldnt be much that there would be much difference
other then maybe a different or pan.
This is a My First Car story Not showing my age but back in the early
70s I purchased a 1964 that had been abused in every way. As a young
novice and looking to get some college credit I took a number of
automotive courses using the El Camino as my patient. To make a long
story short the Elky was transformed from a junk yard dog to a
relatively nice driver, new engine, trans, paint, interior etc.
Well anyway I was in the military at the time and decided to take the
car on a road trip to visit Mom & Dad to show off my handy work. About 6
hours into the road trip (somewhere in Kentucky) my idiot light came on.
I put a couple quarts of oil in the motor and proceeded on or so I
thought. The light didnt go out. I pulled over again to confirm
sufficient oil and no short in the wiring only to determine that now the
engine was about two quarts over full and I didnt have a wiring
problem. To confirm I had a oil pressure problem I pulled the sending
unit from the rear of the block and had the wife turn the motor over to
determine if we were getting any oil. No oil!
I failed to mention that Im miles from anywhere about ¾ ways up a
mountain. Again thinking I was smart and knowing what was behind me I
figured the best shot of resolving the problem was the drive the car to
the top and drift down the other side to the nearest service station
(they existed in those days). Anyway guess what the first place I
come to is an early version of 7-11 or a mom/pop store with no
maintenance capabilities. It turns out I could not have found a better
location.
I explained my dilemma to the store owner (in those days you ran your
own store). He crossed his arms, put his chin on his hand and said hmmm
its 25 miles to town and the mechanic is closed on Sunday. If I needed
to work on the car in his drive I could and he let me borrow a jack. I
couldnt ask for a better host, he gave me the keys to his truck, told
me about a motel the other side of the hwy to bed the wife down and sent
one of his sons into town to fetch an oil pump while I pulled the old
one.
Finally the answer to your question and my first encounter as a shade
tree mechanic: Between the old mans jack a small hydraulic jack I
carried with me and a small bag of sockets and hand tools we managed to
gether done! While under a shade tree we used the spare tire, soda
crates and what ever we could find to jack up the car (I have pictures
somewhere). After getting the pan bolts loose and the cover off the
torque converter I realized that the oil pump and pickup was preventing
the pan from being removed.
I removed the distributor cap and engine mount bolts. Used the small
hydraulic jack set between the frame and the alternator bracket and
managed to get the motor high enough to pull the pan. When I got the oil
pump off I was expecting the shaft to be busted or the gears to be
destroyed but I was and still am to find the pump in good working order
and not fowled in any way except one of the ears where the pump connects
to the bottom of the distributor was broken off. To this day I havent
figured why that happened.
Well everything went back together pretty smoothly except I busted the
alternator bracket (guess it wasnt designed to hold the weight of the
engine and trans). I have met the nicest people in Kentucky. I worked
on the car until the batteries went dead; I stayed with the car that
night since all our stuff was in the back. The old man who owned the
store showed up about midnight with a six pack to make sure I was doing
OK! He offered to buy the car and take us where we were going. He was
the right person at the right time. To this day I try and return the
favor to stranded motorist.
The rest of the trip was uneventful except the run-in with the
motorcycle gang on the way home but thats another story. Thanks for
letting me reminisce. I wouldnt recommend attempting to duplicate this
practice; Im amazed that the car and or engine didnt fall on me.
Good Luck!
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Malibu
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 2:59 PM
To: The Chevelle Mailing List
Subject: [Chevelle-list] Oil pan removal
Can the oil pan be pulled on a '66 Malibu with just raising the front of
the engine? I need to change the high volume oil pump. It's sending the
needle off the gage.
Thanks
