Lifter fell into engine!
Lifter fell into engine! Help me out guys, please. I am doing a head cam swap and Lt's. While i was removeing the cam i left a lifter in the block by accident and it fell down into the windage tray. I am stuck on how the get the oil pan off the car with out removeing the whole engine(which i dont want to do). I took out all the bolts in the oil pan and it just hangs on the k member. What do i need to do to get the pan off?
FormerVendor
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 531
Likes: 0
From: Decatur IN.
we sling the engine from the top side(using a snap on cradle)cherry picker would do fine,disconect the strearing linkage at the rack and pinion,take out all six K-member bolts,leaving the top strut plate attached to the car,slowly let k-member down with a jack (about 6 inches) untill it hangs from the struts only.pan should come of.I have gotten one out before using a magnet and taking of all oil pan bolts,without dropping k-member.....
cheers...
cheers...
I JUST got done getting the lifters out of my engine!
Heres what you do ... Remove: AC condensor, AC condensor Bracket, Alternator, and Starter. Then put a jack under the Bellhousing, jack up the engine via the bellhousing just enough to take the weight of the engine off the mounts. Remove the cradle bolts from the motor mounts. Then jack the car up as far as you can. You will be able to look back into your engine from the front of your engine bay. If the lifters are sitting on the windage tray you'll be able to see them. You'll also be able to see anything sitting on the top of the oil pan. If its not there, put your crank bolt in and turn the engine over. I was almost positive that I had lost my lifters into the deep part of the oil pan, but it was actually sitting in the windage tray and up ontop of the crank.
Just check those out before you go thru lowering your kmember and dropping the oil pan.
I'm gonna get back to putting my engine back together so I can hopefully have it running tom. But if you have any questions just PM me or post up. I'll help ya out, its all still VERY fresh in my mind.
Heres what you do ... Remove: AC condensor, AC condensor Bracket, Alternator, and Starter. Then put a jack under the Bellhousing, jack up the engine via the bellhousing just enough to take the weight of the engine off the mounts. Remove the cradle bolts from the motor mounts. Then jack the car up as far as you can. You will be able to look back into your engine from the front of your engine bay. If the lifters are sitting on the windage tray you'll be able to see them. You'll also be able to see anything sitting on the top of the oil pan. If its not there, put your crank bolt in and turn the engine over. I was almost positive that I had lost my lifters into the deep part of the oil pan, but it was actually sitting in the windage tray and up ontop of the crank.
Just check those out before you go thru lowering your kmember and dropping the oil pan.
I'm gonna get back to putting my engine back together so I can hopefully have it running tom. But if you have any questions just PM me or post up. I'll help ya out, its all still VERY fresh in my mind.
A stitch in time saves nine. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If you see a fork in the road take it. Why not use some of the tried and true suggestions you read on LS1 Tech and save yourself a lot of time and headache instead of taking shortcuts. A dowel rod from Home Depot costing less than a 5 spot would have prevented this problem. Famous last words: "I'll bet I can get this cam out and shove the new one back in before a lifter falls".
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Thanks for all the good suggestion, I will keep everyone updated on the progress. I am going to try FstBlkz28 suggest first before completely lifting up the engine.
Originally Posted by FIREHAWK#608
Forget wood! Use 1/4" aluminum rod. You can bend it and it won't break off in the engine.
Originally Posted by LOnSLO
It's also not as flexible as the wood. On some motrs, the oil galley angles from where they were drilled in the front and rear, are way off. The wood will flex easier around the "bump".
Originally Posted by robertbartsch
dOES ANYONE USE THE 16 PEN MAGNETS TRICK or is the 1/4 inch aluminum rod trick better?
Where exactly do you shove the rod into ??? the from of the block?
Where exactly do you shove the rod into ??? the from of the block?
GM designed two holes at the front of the block to stick the "lifter retention tool" in.... so you could spend $40 to buy a nice looking alum rod, or buy a couple rods from a hardware store..
i think the 16pen magnet trick is lame, but im sure it probably works... lol
Originally Posted by FstBlkz28
I JUST got done getting the lifters out of my engine!
Heres what you do ... Remove: AC condensor, AC condensor Bracket, Alternator, and Starter. Then put a jack under the Bellhousing, jack up the engine via the bellhousing just enough to take the weight of the engine off the mounts. Remove the cradle bolts from the motor mounts. Then jack the car up as far as you can. You will be able to look back into your engine from the front of your engine bay. If the lifters are sitting on the windage tray you'll be able to see them. You'll also be able to see anything sitting on the top of the oil pan. If its not there, put your crank bolt in and turn the engine over. I was almost positive that I had lost my lifters into the deep part of the oil pan, but it was actually sitting in the windage tray and up ontop of the crank.
Just check those out before you go thru lowering your kmember and dropping the oil pan.
I'm gonna get back to putting my engine back together so I can hopefully have it running tom. But if you have any questions just PM me or post up. I'll help ya out, its all still VERY fresh in my mind.
Heres what you do ... Remove: AC condensor, AC condensor Bracket, Alternator, and Starter. Then put a jack under the Bellhousing, jack up the engine via the bellhousing just enough to take the weight of the engine off the mounts. Remove the cradle bolts from the motor mounts. Then jack the car up as far as you can. You will be able to look back into your engine from the front of your engine bay. If the lifters are sitting on the windage tray you'll be able to see them. You'll also be able to see anything sitting on the top of the oil pan. If its not there, put your crank bolt in and turn the engine over. I was almost positive that I had lost my lifters into the deep part of the oil pan, but it was actually sitting in the windage tray and up ontop of the crank.
Just check those out before you go thru lowering your kmember and dropping the oil pan.
I'm gonna get back to putting my engine back together so I can hopefully have it running tom. But if you have any questions just PM me or post up. I'll help ya out, its all still VERY fresh in my mind.
