Tapping the oil pan
 

I searched around and couldnt find exactly what I was lookin for. Tomorrow Im gonn install my oil return line. My question is, do I need to unbolt the steering rack to get clear access to tap the pan?

Thanx
Phil
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No. The drill should fit in there without removing anything except the bellypan. You can find what you need in Braineack's FAQ or the FM installation instructions. 23/32" drillbit, 1/2NPT tap. Go slow, use grease, flush with a quart of mineral spirits afterwards. It's a lot easier than it sounds.

When I did mine I used a light weight cutting oil and used the breather line to connect a blow gun and pressurize the crankcase. The chips were blown out thru the tap.

I thought it wasn't necessary to flush the oil pan after tapping. Isnt there a magnet in there that picks up metal flakes in the oil and the oil pickup has some sort of filter on the end?

There is a screen on the pickup, but that only catches small chunks or larger, and the pan is aluminum so no magnet will do any good. If you take your time and use alot of grease, you wont have a problem. I took my time, spent over an hour and a half drilling and tapping, so I was confident that no metal got in. There were a few peices right on the inside of the hole stuck to the wall of the pan, but you can run your finger around the inside and feel any of them and get them out usually. Not a bad idea to drain the pan afterwards if you aren't sure, or maby flush a quart of something down the return line while draining the pan if you really want to be safe.. but I found that unnecessary.

grease the bits, pump 5-10psi of air into the breather port.

that will get 95% of it.

attach you fitting and run 1qt of mineral spirits throught he lne and drain...that will get the rest.

Except the oil pan is made of aluminum.
Keep the bit coated with grease, and remove/clean it several times once you break through the pan.
Flush mineral spirits in the whole when complete.
Fill first oil change with cheap shit and run for about 15 mintutes to operating temp (no need to drive)... then change oil to good synthetic.

:crx:Tell you what sam even if 90% of the people here told me it was safe to drill a hole in my oil pan slap in a fitting and beat on the car. You know what i would do? I would still flush the pan it's what 30$ of oil at most ( this is even at outragues for royal purple prices) Flush it and forget it then if you are a stingy bastard filter the oil and reinsert it. I seriusly don't believe i read that statement geez.:vash:

It helps to unbolt the ac compressor if you have one.

$30? a can of spirits is like $3....

oil drain plug should be off, and you should be draining into the new fitting.....

Richard, I hope you aren't tapping pans with the oil still in it!

I did last time yeah i figured it would help flush out the pan, it is not like there where any sparks :bigtu: :eek5:. So to recap drill hole drain pan run oil etc through there repeat add fitting's lines replace oil enjoy turbo.

Well, I did it. Drilled and tapped the pan today. Then flushed it with the mineral spirits. It was waaaaayyy easier than I thought it was. I removed the A/C lines (didnt work anyway) and that made it much easier.

Thanx Guys
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Couldn't you use the old oil (assuming you drained and strained it) as a pre-flush before running the spirits through and then add the new oil?

90 minutes to tap the pan? I did it in like 10. Mabye I went too fast and got shavings all over the place. My motor still runs, though, so :gay:

Yeah, I did mine in about 10 minutes. Started with a small bit , just to prevent the larger bit from walking. Drilled it, taped it and installed the fitting.
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Took me about 30, and then 2 days fixing the hole i tapped in the pick up. Be careful with the tap

I did mine with a 11/16 hole saw and it worked wonderfully. Compared to a 23/32 bit, a hole saw is cheaper, easier to find, and has a shorter length so it's easier to work with. It also creates less chips (you get a big ring left in the middle).

The slightly smaller size of the hole saw isn't a problem with the thin soft aluminum of the pan. If anything I felt better removing more material with the tap to be sure I got a good complete thread.