VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 1931 oil pump screen

I just dropped the oil pan on my 31 sport coupe (it has been sitting for over 30 + years) just wanted to see how much sludge etc. was there before starting. It appears that this is not the first time that the pan has been removed. Some of the oil splash galleys have been repaired with some solder, (I'm guessing that there was some rust hole repair done ???). There is some old rust on the bottom of the pan. When I first started working on the car, the first thing I did was to change the oil and did notice a little bit of water that drained out, maybe 1/4 cup or so.
The oil screen was fairly clean but was bent up a little bit. Is there any advantage to change the oil screen to a newer model offered by the FS? Has anyone painted the bottom of the oil pan and the oil gallies with epoxy paint to prevent rusting? I have read other forums on how to change the gaskets and opinions on the differences in oil pumps etc., which have been very helpful. Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Harry

Hello 1931Harlet,
It is always worth a try to repair assemblies if possible. Those replacement oil pick-up screens are pricey for my thought. Disassemble your screen and evaluate a repair. Clean the ever living' guts out of your oil pan and evaluate it. Power wash, degrease degrease degrease, repair as needed then degrease. Sand, clean, dry. Pick an engine primer and paint that are compatible. Take your time and enjoy the task step by step. If it all works, you're golden. If it fails, use some of the gold to get what you need. Harry

on the inside of my 1929 pan, it has pin holes in some of the troughs. i had a local radiator shop strip and dip the pan then braze the holes. looked great and works great. I personally would NOT coat or paint the inside the oil pan because if that coat/paint comes off ?? it can get sucked up into the engine !! the rust inside the pan comes from moisture !!

I would clean it and degrease it, then you could soak it with evaporust to clean up the rust areas, do not worry that stuff is friendly and will not harm the engine, tons of antique guys use it to clean their engines inside and out. shoot may run it in place of the coolant to clean the rust out the head and block... then spray it with some light oil and put it back together. did that on my 1929 and very happy with it. i also primed and painted the outside :)

Thanks for the help. Taking your advice, I cleaned and sandblasted the outside of the oil and used some scotch brite to clean the rust that was on the bottom of the pan. I did find some holes (did not expected to find that) that had rusted through and soldered them. I cleaned the block and am preparing to reinstall the pan. While I was cleaning the screen the spring that holds the screen on came loose and the screen came off the tube. I must admit that I do not understand the engineering of why there is the need for the screen to move up and down. Has anyone determined the optimal location of the screen and braze the tube to the top of the screen?
Thanks in advance.
Harry