i took the stang out for a spin thisevening, and on the way home i just glanced down at the oil pressure gauge and it had shot way down to zero, n by the time i came to my senses n shut the car off it started knockin a lil bit. So anyways im guessing its an oil pump, or the screen on the pick up. First question is, did i too alot of damage by not catching the problem till it ran for prolly 5-10 secs?. Second question is, im pulling the oil pan off and im having all kinds of problems. First of all i had to remove the starter to get to two bolts. All bolts are off, but it seems like one of the bars surrounding the pan, need to come off. There is a stabilizer bar that connects to the top of the lower control arms, do i need to take this off. Or do i need to take off the large curved bar mid-pan that bolts on both sides of the frame? Thanks guys.

 

the knocking is likely to be a spun crank bearing...not good, but crank can be reground if you didnt keep racing it after you heard the knock.

im not 100% on68, but i think you will have to take the engine cross member off to get the pan off but
you wont see the damage to the crank from there. I'd be pulling the engine altogether.

good luck

 

Yeah, to get the pan off, you gotta take off the cross member. Also remove the two bolts holding in the idler arm to let the center link drop down to give you more room. (I can't remember which way I ended up turning the wheels to get a tiny bit more space.) Then, wiggle the pan a little, maybe even cuss a little, but don't lose your patience. It'll look like it should fall right down, but it won't. You'll have to sort of jiggle it and pull on it. ...At least that's what I had to do to get mine off a few months back.

As for the knocking, you may or may not be able to see what's wrong by taking off the pan. When you get it off, check for play in the rod bearings and it can't hurt to look at the pistons and cylinders themselves. If you were having an oiling problem, it may've been your cam bearings frying.

When my motor blew, the cam bearings started spinning first, then rod bearings and a few mains. 'Course I was in BFE and had no choice but to drive the car as far as she'd go in order to knock down the 5 hour rescue. Got almost 50 miles from where the trouble started, listening to all the various knocks and pings as she gradually slowed to 45 and would go no faster. I gave up when she slowed to 40.

You're lucky you noticed your gauge. I was utterly oblivious at 4:30AM that fine morning that turned into a finer afternoon and even better week and a half...