Everything is going fine except for the rear of the oil pan. On the driver side of the pan it is perfectly lined up. On the passenger side is where the issues are. I know the oil pan clearance is a big thing. Might I also add I do not have the converter cover that goes under the transmission that bolts into the pan. Don’t know if that matters. What do I do? Is this normal? The last time I tried lining it up it did the exact same thing.

 

Your over thinking. Tighten the bolts and let it ride

 

gotcha, I’ve read in a couple other threads that it is extremely important for clearance etc. also found out that part of the reason the pan won’t line up is because of the rings in the gasket that won’t let it move. Thanks.

 

Oil pan alignment is critical. The correct way to do this I with either a 2” long straight edge, or simply snug a bellhousing to the block and use the bottom bellhousing flange to ensure oil pan alignment. Since you don’t have that bottom bellhousing cover, use the straight edge. Use the upper half of the block just below the heads for your straight edge and slide the pan until it just ouches the straight edge. Do this on both sides of the pan to ensure it’s square. Don’t snug the pan bolts until it’s right.
This step is important because the pan is a structural a ember of the engine assembly, AND thepan being square and correct will ensure the trans assembly is straight and square. Input shaft misalignment will put stress on the converter and the input shaft bearing. It’s a 5 minute step that’s CRITICAL for doing this correct.

 

the pan won’t line up after it’s bolted down. I tried loosening the bolts and hitting the pan with a rubber mallet, re aligning it, etc. I used the straight edge and as seen in the pictures it’s lined up on one side but the other side is misaligned. Not certain how to fix it.

I have the bottom bellhousing cover, I don’t use it so I didn’t know if it mattered. Also how can the oil pan alignment affect the converter and the input shaft?

 

Loosen all the pan bolts. The pan will move around a lot. If it won’t come back to where it’s supposed to be, the pickup in the pan is hitting a baffle or something. Something is mis-matched maybe…wrong pickup or different pan?
If the pan is miss aligned, the transmission won’t be in alignment once the bottom bellhousing is tightened against the oil pan. Converter bolts to flexplate, so it’s square with engine, but trans is not…you see where this is going…that’s where the wear comes from. This step is so critical, that we check bellhousing runout (misalignment) with a magnetic base (manual transmission here, but the principal is the same) and a micrometer to see how close we can get it to zero. A few thousandths matters for longevity AND power.
Im gonna move this to external engine…

 

I've never done such a thing and never had it cause me problems. Tranny and block bolt and seal together not tranny and pan, so im not understanding how that could affect that process.

 

@Che70velle This is an aftermarket pan with a aftermarket pick up. Pan part number is 12624621. It’s a GM LH8 muscle car oil pan off of BRP hotrods. I don’t know what to do. As said before the pan moves back after tightening. If it is the pick up tube hitting the baffle in the sump could I trim it with a carbide bit? I don't want to redneck engineer this but aside from possibly getting a new pan I don't see a lot of options here. By the way I'm not 100% but I think this is the way the oil pan was before I pulled the motor, of which didn't cause a lot of issues. also, with the lower bellhousing bolts.

I'll use the bellhousing to center the pan. do I need the lower bellhousing to properly center the transmission or can I get away with the top bell housing bolts when I reinstall the trans? Could the pan alignment be screwy because of the rear cover alignment? when I installed the rear cover I put the centering jig around the crank flange and had the pan on so the two rear bolts would pull the cover into place, and tightened the cover plate, then installed the seal with the same centering tool.

also noticed when I was cleaning the sludge out that there are cracks in the pan. You can see the right before the sump.

 

Them cracks aren't anything to worry about, they all do that. That's just on the surface

 

Id put clay around the pickup and under the pickup, and mock it back up. The clay will have witness marks if there’s contact somewhere. The clay under the pickup will show you your pan to pickup clearance, which is good data to have in case there’s an oiling issue later. Let us know what you find.
Tommy is correct about the cracks. Just surface cracking and practically all aftermarket pans do that. Every Holley pan I’ve ever bought had them.

 

gotcha, I’ll do that this weekend. I’ll let y’all know what I find. If the baffle is in the way of proper pan alignment, what do I do then?

 

Then you bend or cut as necessary.

 

Just as DixieBandit said, Dremel the baffle opening a fuzz. Your a smidge away from being aligned, so it won’t take much grinding. Remove the baffle assembly from the pan when grinding, and wash everything good when doing final assembly.

 

I don't even want to know how much those ARP Cover Bolts were that go in at a whole 22ft-lbs..

 

got em at speedway motors. $20 ish. Just wanted to do a little dress up, I’ve got arp all over, I know it’s an issue.

 

found the issue, lucked out in this situation. It’s not the pickup, the baffle or the pan. But the damned gasket. @Che70velle not certain if you’ve seen it but a few months ago I made a thread about my gaskets being bent, some said don’t worry about it. Some said it’ll reshape when you install it. So I rode it out and it came back to bite me in the rear. When the gasket got deformed it pulled in on itself. So the bolt holes aren’t lining up.


as seen here, the pan is in the right position, but the gasket is not.

You can see what I mean by the holes don’t line up when the gasket got deformed.

And a better view from above. Should just need a new non deformed gasket and I should be good.

 

I saw the gasket thread. I’m fairly busy these days modding (hearding cats) so I don’t post as much as I used to…but I wanted to post up and tell you to toss it. I’ll say this about that gasket, and any other LS/LT gasket…once they are bent to a deformation, not only will they not line up usually…sometimes they will…but they will always leak. This alignment issue saved you from having to do a pan gasket after startup….so there’s that.

 

I can tell you from my experience that thin aluminum gasket can be straightened and it works fine. Those holes have rubber around them for a reason it's not precision stuff to the thou of an inch here.

You installed the Rear Cover wrong that is why you have a gap there.

This is the process for installing front and rear Covers and the Oil Pan:

Install front & Rear Covers with bolts hand tight snug with a ratchet
Drop of RTV at each corner of the Covers where the Gasket seam is that will meet the Oil Pan
Install Oil Pan with all bolts hand tight same as above, starting in the middle and cross pattern going out to ends
Torque front & rear Cover Bolts to Block zig zag pattern bottom to top and back to bottom 22ft-lbs
Torque Oil Pan Bolts 18ft-lbs starting middle out in a cross pattern to the ends
Long skinny Oil Pan Bolts into Rear Cover are last two torqued at 106in-lbs

I've done that method on 50+ LS Engines over the years with no issues. Your issue is not that gasket.

 

gotcha, I’ll pop the rear cover off and start over. I use an alignment tool for the front cover that pulls it into place instead of using the pan. Will I have to pull the rear seal out or do I just pull the rear plate bolts and redo it properly with the pan? Can I reuse the rear cover gasket?

 

Leave the Rear Main Seal in, it'll flex to fit. These are not one time use Gaskets like a Head Gasket, just loosen the Bolts and do it the way I posted.