<p>Bill (ND) disabled his PM capability... I tagged him and maybe he'll get an e-mail message inviting him to this thread... and maybe he'll read it... and maybe he'll act on it... it depends on how grouchy he is at the time....</p><p>I also did the same with Mark Kovalsky I hope he shows up... my brother's E40D has that same tab on his 1996 Bronco, the firewall has a notch in it to allow that tab (and the transmission) to raise upwards some... It was just last weekend he &amp; I mated up a 351W to an E40D (basically a C6 with an extra gear and computer controls) so it is from that recent experience I warn you about separating the engine &amp; tranny... it goes LOTS faster with two people, one underneath and one above... but, still, getting everything lined up takes some time...</p>

 

That tab is to precisely position the case when it is being machined in the transmission plant. Once the trans has left the plant that tab has no further use.

 

Thanks, Mark! I'll grind it if I have to.

Thought of another option: get one of those extending button magnets to hold the oil pump rod in place and slide pan/pump in together and get it in that way. The big PITA was that rod. Maybe I can get the rod to stick up there while I work my mojo on the pump.

 

<p>Are you talking about the rod that drives the distributor? IIRC there's a little clippy thing on them that is supposed to keep it centered... or from falling out when the engine is turned upside down... or something like that, I think it depends on which engine series you're looking at. I know on my brother's 351W we could rotate the engine any which way with the distributor &amp; oil pan removed and that rod never went anywhere.</p><p>Might be able to rig something up using bailing wire to kinda hold the pump upright in the pan while you work it up towards the engine.... I dunno, it's been more than 30 years since I did that job in that manner, and I don't remember how I ended up getting it done....</p>

 

Yah, that's the rod. It has the clip, which keeps the rod from coming out of the oil pump when you remove the distributor. The rod doesn't stick when I put it up in there. I could use a thick grease and it might stay. I'd rather try lowering a telescoping magnet from the distributor area to hold it, which I think should work. Two person job so it'll wait until my parents come down in a week or so.

 

All right, we were able to get it on! Just needed some time to plan out what I needed to do and how I was going to do it. Big props to the ol' man, couldn't have done it without him.

The studs in the transmission were already as forward as they could go in their adjustment slots so we used a car jack in line with axle (so it could roll forward if needed) to jack the transmission up enough that the studs cleared the cross member.

After that, we pulled the entire engine/transmission assembly forward about 2-3 inches. This cleared the exhaust manifold and that tab I mentioned previously which allowed the engine to rise another 2 inches or so. With the extra height, it wasn't too hard to get the oil pan on with the oil pump installed.

Felt dumb for getting the multipiece gasket set instead of the single piece gasket (I'm poor ) but didn't seem to have the same issues that others ran in to. We made sure to clean the engine-side sealing surface very well with brake cleaner and brillo pads. After applying a very thin layer of gasket maker on the cork gaskets, they stuck right to the engine no problem. Having clean metal surfaces, with higher surface energy, made that part easy. We pre-aligned the bolt holes in the gasket with a mildly sharpened pencil which fit perfectly. More RTV at the corners where the gasket pieces met, put the plastic seals in, and put the oil pan in place. No muss, no fuss.

A little tip for anyone else in the future that may do this, you can use the cherry picker to pull the engine fore and aft. For example, to pull engine/transmission forward, I had the chain from picker to engine tilted forward slightly. To push it back, I did the reverse.

Thanks again for all of your help.