fazdaboy4ever

Hey guys, judging by my name you were safe to assume that my following question is simply me dabbling in an area I am unfamiliar with... Chevrolet. I am a student and working towards my Chrysler certification so I do work on cars but for how popular the 350 is I am absolutely as new as they come. as for the fazdaboy... my first car was a 92 escort lxe (with a mazda dohc motor/ drivetrain/ brake) that I put a turbo on. The fun I had in that car permanently stained my skin a slight ford blue... plus its just the name I use everywhere so ill remember it.

Background: My parents have a 2000 Chevy 3500 express van. On a road trip recently their motor decided to give up its ghost about 107 miles from home. after a couple hour ride home with the rig on a flatbed they dropped it off at my house for me to replace the motor for them. I purchased a freshly rebuilt "motor crate" motor the same "R" vin, 4 bolt main that I pulled out. with the money they are saving with me putting it in for them they are getting new EVERYTHING, oil cooler lines, radiator (stupid oil cooler in the end tank), exhaust manifolds (they were both cracked), water pump, all new hoses, gaskets, seals, pulley, tensioner, dampener (because I stripped my puller and figured I could buy another puller set or a new balancer for the same cost), thermostat, pcv valve, sparking plugs, wires... basically EVERYTHING that we wont want to touch after I wrap the rest of the van back around the motor.

THE PROBLEM: I cannot find an oil pan gasket to save my life... I mean I can find them no problem but the way they fit on the block there is NO way they are the right one. I am at a loss! I got one in the engine gasket kit i got with the motor from the re-builder, and the ends that drop down around the front and rear crankshaft seal housings hang WAY too far down, I cannot get the pan to even get close to snugging up, and the gasket looks like its not even close to sealing with the way it smashes up in the corners... not only this but there is the little landing where it looks like the gasket should run and when i put the installer studs in the gasket sits too far forward :EDIT: Backward, it is closer to the flex plate than it should be and the bolt holes barely line up :END EDIT: and regardless of that it is too thick to seat in the grove.

according to the local chevy dealer the pan gasket part number is the same for all the 350's like 97-00 or 01 so I am at a loss... I have the motor hooked up on the cherry picker waiting on an oil pan gasket that works to put the motor in the car... I cannot put the motor down because of the pickup tube... ANY help is GREATLY appreciated! (sorry for the novel)

-Andrew

PS. If pictures will help, let me know and Ill snap some but I am assuming there is an easy answer the non Chevy people I have been dealing with must be overlooking or just not know.

jeffs_62

Does it look like this?
Autozone online.

fazdaboy4ever

yes and no... I got the fel-pro one, from Autozone.

I think I figured out my problem... I destroyed my first one by putting rtv on it and trying to get it up then giving up and setting the mess down... with the ends being so fat its almost impossible for one man to do UNLESS they come with the stud clips that my fel-pro gasket came with... one screws into each corner and they allow you to stick the oil pan gasket up, then the oil pan then the steel flange supports and they hold everything in a nice neat sandwich.


SO back to what I was saying about my problem, I didn't want to commit to slathering rtv onto this gasket till I was comfortable getting it up. when I finally dove in and put the rtv on i think it acted as a bit of a lubricant and helped the sharp corners of the gasket slide into place instead of bind up (what was happening).

I appreciate your help, now I just have to go to the hardware store tomorrow to get studs to replace the ones I left in the core motor for the front of the oil pan

therewolf

Be sure to take a stud with you, and match the threads up carefully, or you may wind up with the "metric surprise".

fazdaboy4ever

yeah I did, got it all taken care of... I looked around the local parts stores w/ no luck and found my new favorite store, Parkrose Hardware. they have the BIGGEST selection of nuts, bolts, fasteners, and other misc odds and ends that no one else has... at least as easily accessable.

thanks for the help and pointers guys, the motor is "in" not running yet, but I just got to tighten everything up and wrap the van back around the motor.

jeffs_62

Glad to hear it all worked out.

tm4hammer

Ya buy em books, ya send em ta school ,and they run with a bunch that paints there engines blue ! Whats a father to do !

Gwampa

Hammer, ya think that once he got his hands into GM stuff we'd have a convert. We can only hope. Welcome Fazd.....

fazdaboy4ever

its funny you speak of converting... I still have my eye on a srt8 300c some day but I work with an ex-caddi tech of 10 years or so whom single handedly changed my opinion on them. Up until my conversation with him I didnt have good feelings for chevy and their sub-par interiors. BUT a man that is considered one of the best at my shop now saying that chevy-chrysler chevy had a better product hands down, it opened my eyes. there is some room in my heart for chevy, maybe as time goes on that space will grow.

thanks again guys!

therewolf

Strangely enough fazdaboy4ever, I've had to use the local hardware store for many metric fastener replacements for my Chevy Pickup also. (Westmont Hardware ROCKS!!!)