Part has been obtained. Thank you everyone for the advice too with doing this job.

I posted in the parts needed section but im not sure how many lt1 eyes hit that section often. My water pump bearings completely blew out and caused my drive shift to round all the way down. I know and read about electric water pumps but that's not something i want to do at this time. Im hoping someone here may have done a EP conversion and has an extra drive gear laying around that they would let go. I attached a photo of the part in case of any confusion. Please PM if so. Much appreciated.

 

I might have one off my 93, I can look. What are they worth these days? Don't even know

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/92-97-CHEVY-...-/232347182857

 

On the low end 45 with 7 shipping. On the high end 70 to 75 depending on condition. I think 50 is fair for a good condition one.

 

I was looking at that one. Just looking on here to see of anyone had one as well. Give back to the community kinda thing. Maybe someone has an extra part and would like to sell it for project money.

 

going to have to pull TC to get to it.

or go EWP and just leave your existing one on the motor.

My EWP going on 18 years now and about 90k mi.....has lasted way longer than any AC Delco mechanical I had....YMMV

 

Yep, Im gathering everything I need to remove the cover. The gaskets have been needing to be replaced for a while so it would have had to been done at some point. Because of this I don't want to go EW yet. I'm just not looking forward to dropping the oil pan. It's "looks" tight like it will be a pain to slide out but I don't know for sure.

 

you don't need to "pull" the pan...just drop the front about 1". You can likely keep the rear bolts in and remove the rest so the front can be pulled down enough to clear TC

 

Iv read mixed views on that. Those who say you can and others say it's too risky you will end up with a leak and have to change it anyways. So I'm just goin to drop it. I know it's 10x more steps and a major headache but I got time and would rather see a new gasket then a leaky one.

 

I just removed the timing cover and only dropped the front of the pan. Cleaned it well to remove oil residue and used some gasket maker. No leaks. Also that gear is pressed into the block pretty well and in my experience requires removing the intake to change it. I had done this debate just a few weeks ago as my water pump coupler stripped on the pump side and the gear side splines show that it may have slipped on that end a few times also. I ended up replacing the pump with a parts store one and have a few lt1s laying around to rob a coupler from. Didn't change my drive gear though.

 

Nothing wrong with replacing the pan gasket.....but certainly a more involved job getting the pan "off". Rotate motor to #6 TDC...more rod clearance

FWIW the LT1 pan gaskets are "re-useable" which is why, as posted, people do clean them well and apply new RTV.

I also had to tap the drive gear out from behind when I sent my block out so removing the intake will likely be needed

not a small job replacing that gear drive so for a stripped spline many decide to go EWP

 

If you still need this part I have one eith 80k on it I'll sell you for 30 dollars shipped. On a cruise currently. Can have it shipped by Monday.

 

Dang I should of went with my gut and waited abit longer. I picked one up this morning and cost me abit more then 30. I'm going to update the post to reflect I have obtained one.

 

Now did you have to tap it from the back side because the bolts broke or stripped off? It should just be 2 bolts holding it on. Then the gear should slide right out.

For the oil pan, after looking the bottom of the car over. I should be able to just drop the Y pipe / starter and inspection plate. I have enough of an oil leak from the intake that the bottom of the car is pretty nasty. I want to clean everything up best I can and I'm sure I can't avoid dirt getting onto the gasket with how the underside is. I'm really better off dropping it completely and cleaning both surfaces then sliding it back up once I'm done.

 

yes the gear drive should come right out after you remove the two bolts holding it in. "If" it wont budge for some reason and since the gear spline is trashed you could just use a pair of vice grips to coax it out

When I was tearing a motor down to send block out the drive didn't want to come out. Since I had the intake off I just "tapped" it from behind and it came out

Yeah if you can drop the pan do and clean everything up that is better. Wipe mating surfaces with acetone. The FelPro pan gasket comes with 4 plastic studs you use on each corber to hold gasket in place and then slide pan on over those. I use Permatex Black "ultra" RTV across the front and back "curve" part of pan

remember to remove your oil level sensor first before dropping pan

 

Thank you for that last tip. That was something i saw only once before when reading up on this oil pan job. I came across 2 methods of removing the pan COMPLETELY vs just letting it hang. First one (and probably safest) is to lift the engine with a cherry picker. The 2nd is the lift the motor from the bell housing. I have an M6 and since its much larger then the A4 there is goin to be clearance issues with a jack being right there. Not to mention just all around safety. Im goin to get a friend to bring over his cherry picker when i get this job set and ready to go so its as painless as possible for me ( and my help).