ok so in attempt to getting my distributor in and set properly the oil pump shaft fell into the oil pan. What a joy this is going to be. Anyone ever had to take off their oil pan with the engine still in? Advice? Thanks!

 

that sucks good luck man

 

it can be done.
its hard, but it can be done.

your going to need to lift the motor up as far as you can get it, while it is still in.
remove all the pan bolts.
after the pan has dropped a couple inches, you need to remove the oil pump pickup tube. it's bolted to the pump with 2 bolts, and there is 1 bolt holding the tube to the #3 main cap on the crank.
you do not need to unbolt the pump itself.

after those 3 bolts are removed, the pickup tube will drop into the pan.
after that, you should be able to wiggle and manuever the pan out.

 

thanks all. i know it's gonna suck but o well. Better than rippin the engine out again haha

 

Did you not have that clip on the oil pump shaft that prevents it from falling?

 

?? im sorry i don't know what you mean by that. The distributor would not set in properly. The shaft would line up but it wasnt down far enough for the teeth to grab. Had about an inch to go. So we pulled up the shaft with a magnet to make sure it wasnt bent or anything and dropped it back in and it was no where to be found when we took out the distributor. My *** up so yea.

 

i think that was more my fukk up than yours bryan i was the one messing with everything. but yes the shaft wasnt seated properly. i grabbed a racheting screw driver and got it on the end of the shaft and it was spinning but there was no pressure behind it. i went to pull the driver off and found out it was magnetic. so we checked out the shaft to make sure it wasnt bent and got the idea of sticking the dizzy on the shaft and then dropping it in that worked great. cranked the car but we were 180* off took the dizzy back out the shaft was there and sitting where it was supposed to then dropped the dizzy back in and went to crank it and nothing it was quite weird

 

It's all good Hack. Im used to looking at the car rather than driving it anyways so yea

 

good luck

 

lol like i said you need help with the oil pan let me knwo ill come over but not wednesday or thursday ill be with my woman for her prom