Oil pan removal

[outcrydrummer]

So i need to drop the oil pan on my 300zx.......

It was very obvious to me its not going to be as simple as I thought. So if anyone has any insight i would really appreciate it.

I have the z on jackstands and plenty of room underneath to get in there and do whatever I need to. It looks like I'm going to either have to lift the motor or drop that crossmember. I don't really want to pull the motor if I can avoid it..... If I drop that crossmember is the whole front end going to come down with it ??? Thats the way it looks from what I saw. And I think if I take the nut off of the motor mount and lift the motor I think that crossmember is going to in the way anyways lol.

I plan on borrowing a cherry picker from my friend to hold tension on the motor if I have to drop the crossmember.....only thing that concerns me is that the whole front end is going to come down with and I'm not going to be able to get it back in since I only have a few jackstands and a jack.

[evildky]

I'd pull the motor, you can drop the crossmember but unless you want to take the lca's etc with it you'll want to detatch them but they are gonna want nt to swing in the way. Why are you removing the oil pan? If you have a spun bearing you are far better off pulling the motor, tearing it down and cleaning and going through it on a bench.

[outcrydrummer]

I went ahead and tore into it.

I've now got everything out of the way.... just need to actually drop the oil pan now.
I would have liked to pulled the motor but I really don't have time. I've got a freshly spun rod bearing on the 89. My wife starts work in a week and I need to make a quick decision on whether or not its a quick fix or if the crank needs to come out and have the whole bottom end rebuilt.

I'm hoping that the crank is ok and I can just install a new set of bearings. I don't expect this to be the end all be all and it last another 100k miles. But I do hope its a fix that will get me easily into summer when I can do the whole short block.

Anyways, I will know tomorrow whats going on and if its going to be something I can tackle with the motor in. Took me probably 4 hours to get everything off of this sucker to get to the point of actually dropping the oil pan............what a PITA.

[jcesp]

Can you tell us your procedures .............DID you take out the Cross Member,, the Rack and Pinion...; any TIPS,., etc

[G-E]

When I last put my 87T engine back together, I had the new exhaust and trans already bolted up, fired it up, noticed the oil pan didn't seal properly... after 5min of searching for the leak, it was clear it was a wide section of the flange leaking behind the turbo

I wasn't going to fart around, took approximately 45min to yank the engine back out

Of course I let it drain overnight, so it wasn't a 4hr operation, but if everything isn't seized, getting to it from below is not any easier