COMET CENTRAL

All,

I need to remove the oil pan on my 66 comet. I was changing my distributor with an electric one and the oil pump rod fell into the oil pan. Can I remove the oil pan without removing or jacking up the front of the engine?

Thank you for all the advice

Brian

Probably need to drop the centerlink at least.
Im not familiar with the engine bay on that generation,, but looking at Google images of the undercarriage it appears the cross member is welded in so ya I think the motor is going to need to be shuffled around.
Fred

Did the drive gear come off the distributor, just curious. You should be able to shine a light and see what’s going on. Remember everything spins counter clockwise with your engine.
If you have to drop the pan, I believe you can loosen your motor mounts (I’d pull the long bolt out) and lift the engine up enough to get the pan off. I’ve always had my engine out so never had to drop it that way. Just my thoughts.

Thank you for all the replies. I did look with the flashlight and the shaft is no longer in the oil pump. Ugh. Well I will make time to lift the engine so I can remove the pan.

You may be able to squirrel out the pan after you unbolt it and drop it onto the crossmember w/o jacking the engine. After it falls, you should be able to unbolt the pickup tube off the pump and drop it into the pan to rock the pan forward. If it still hangs up, unbolt the pump and drop it into the pan as well. Don't know about '66 Cyclone but have done this on a couple of small-block Mustangs.

Joe

If the drive came out of the oil pump and fell into the oil pan the retainer must not have been in place. All oil drives come with a retainer installed to prevent the shaft from disengaging from the oil pump. When you retrieve the drive from the pan it would be a good idea to install a retainer on it so this does not happen in the future. OR someone installed the drive up side down, that would place the retainer just below the distributor gear, which makes it ineffective.
This my help explain what I am saying: https://youtu.be/9g5As8Vg-og
(Not my video)
Jim

Thanks for the relies and information. Yes, we were thinking the clip came off or was not installed. We will find out when we remove the oil pan. I will be installing a new drive into the oil pump and will make sure the clip is in place I hope the oil pump is still ok.

Think I'd drop the oil and fish around with a wire and whatever else came to mind for while. A magnet inside a nonmagnetic tube down the distributor hole,,
Ya never know till ya try,,
Fred

SASSY wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 11, 2021 10:02 pm

Think I'd drop the oil and fish around with a wire and whatever else came to mind for while. A magnet inside a nonmagnetic tube down the distributor hole,,
Ya never know till ya try,,
Fred

Exactly what I was thinking. I have a borescope that has a magnet & a little hook with it. Getting it started out the drain hole would be tricky,but I'd have to try before pulling the pan . or fishing it back up thru the dist hole might work too if it didnt bounce too far away. You can get a borescope to attach to a smartphone now pretty cheap on line.

poboyjo65 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 11, 2021 10:34 pm

You can get a borescope to attach to a smartphone now pretty cheap on line.

I bought one of those off Amazon. Paid like $12 for it. Has a 5M (~16ft) cable on it. Works pretty good.

Jim