57 Fairlane oil pan removal

[chapingo17]

I have a leak on my oil pan. There's a cross member underneath oil pan and a small clearance between oil pan and crossmember. If I need to replaced the oil pan gasket can I do it with such a small clearance? Or is there any other way to repair this? Any suggestion would help.

[59meteor]

Is it still a Y block? I have pulled the oil pan off the FE in my 57 Sedan Delivery years ago, I seem to recall I jacked the engine up high enough to stick a pair of pieces of 2x4 between the motor mounts and the crossmember, I also removed the sway bar for added room. That would allow the oil pan to drop down far enough to unbolt the oil pump, and drop it down inside the sump. I also believe that I had to rotate the crank so that the rear counterweights were up inside the crankcase, to allow the pan rail to slide out.
If you dou have a Y block, the external oil pump will spare you that part, but you will have to contend with the oil pickup tube that runs thru the side of the pan, and into the oil pump. You will need to remove the nut that seals the tube to the pump, and you may also need to loosen the nut that secures the tube to the side of the pan, and maybe even loosen the oil pump itself , to avoid damaging the seal inside the oil pump, that the tube end fits into.

[hiball3985]

Over the last 40 years I have done a few of them. Clearance is tight and you will more then likely have to rotate the crankshaft to a position where the rear counter weights will let the pan slide forward enough to remove it. One member here said that is the TDC for #1 cylinder, I can't confirm that as I never paid attention to it, I would just turn the crank until things cleared.

[chapingo17]

Ok thanks for the advise I will try to seal it with rtv if not I will pull it out.

[chapingo17]

Yes, it's a y block.

[clusterbuster]

I just had mine off for the third time. You have to remove the sway bar first and then proceed to most of the advice here. You definitely have to put a socket on the front balancer nut and turn the engine over so the counter weights and connecting rods clear. It is a tight fit. What I did was put a sealer on the new pan gasket when putting it on the pan, and then let it set up over night so it would stay put on the pan during installation. You also can use sewing thread to tie the gasket in place in a few spots. Make sure you don't push the gasket off the far end of the pan before buttoning it up.

[Ecode70D]

Chapingo17
    I have done it also.   I did it like Jim said by just turning the crank enough so that it clears the pan.

    Personally I would not use RTV to seal the new gasket because I heard that it has a tendency to slide the gaskets.

    Also, keep your eyes on your radiator hoses that they don't slip and leak .     

[clusterbuster]

You let the RTV set overnight after it is applied and the gasket and it is firm on the pan.

[chapingo17]

Great advise. Thank you.

[petew]

Just had the pan off of my 57 Country Sedan Wagon 2 weeks ago . I have an aftermarket sway bar so I can't say if the factory sway bar is in the way but I can tell you it is a simple job.

Put the timing mark on TDC which will put the crank counter weights up into the block ,

pull the oil dipstick,

disconnect the big collar nut that hold the oil pick up into the oil pump,

remove the oil pan bolts

get the oil pan loose from the block

guide the oil pan forward and down

It was just that easy for mine.

[chapingo17]

Ok I will try it.