These are the tools I have to check the oil pan: J 969-2 (trough tool), J 969-3 (oil nozzle depth gauge), oil stream targeting tool ( no obvious P/N can be seen)
I am using the trough tool to check a replacement pan for my '37 MD.
The oil pan I removed is weeping oil thru rough repairs made sometime in its past when the original engine was ventilated by a connecting rod. The pan also showed evidence of the crank/connecting rod possibly rubbing the trough edge under all six connecting rods.
I don't see the picture I attached as I write this, but it shows the tool checking the replacement oil pan. The trough tool, that I borrowed, has a chamfer on the end used to check the trough edge height. If I try to slide it along the oil pan flange, it bumps the side of the trough, all six equally at the middle of the chamfer. My Motors Repair Manual says to make adjustments as needed, but not how to accomplish this.
The same tool is used to check the dipper drop as the crank is turned. When the dipper approaches the flat part of the bar stock it will make contact and then move the tool @ 0.030 off the engine block which is checked without the gasket in place. Is this acceptable or do I try to "flatten" the dipper to gain clearance? The oil pan gasket is cork and maybe 1/32 thick.
Any info or help would be greatly appreciated.
Dave old cars are meant to be driven !! VCCA # 047832
I would not worry about those slight variations. Despite what we like to think, the rod oiling in these engines is not a precision system.
You are looking at 1/32" or at the most 1/16" difference from the gauge. When the car is bouncing down the road at 35 mph and the crank is spinning at 2000 rpm how relevant is that? The dippers have splashed all the oil out of the troughs at that engine speed. The nozzles are lubricating the rods.
I made my own gauge based on dimensions in Chat to set the nozzle and dipper height. Another Chat member sent me a cardboard template to check height of the trough sides. I aimed the nozzles so the stream hit inline with the center of the trough and about 1" below the top edge of the pan.
I expect that if I was wrong the rods would have failed in the 6500 miles I drove the car.
Splash and dip kind of says it all, but I have enough common sense ask to those that know more than me about cars of this age. I did use the targeting tool and made minor adjustments, which, if nothing else I feel good about. Again, thank you.
Dave old cars are meant to be driven !! VCCA # 047832
I had similar concerns at first with my '37. Uncle Jimmy with his failing eyesight had lifted the front of the car using the front portion of the oil pan.
It deformed the pan so much that the #2 trough was pushed up against the dipper on that rod. The dipper also broke off the end of that nozzle. Thankfully the engine had been run very little if any under those conditions.
I was able to form the pan back into shape and reform/reposition the front troughs. A fellow VCCA member in Minnesota sent me a used set of oil tubes. A member in my local chapter had a set of dippers. A forum member in Canada sent me a cardboard nozzle height gauge. I made a second generation dipper and trough gauge with the 1/16" clearance relief for the dipper based on dimensions here in Chat.
My friends in the Cedar Valley chapter assured me that aiming was not a precision process.
You are taking the right approach. I know you will have good results.
