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BJ8 Dented oil pan

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N

NIB

Senior Member
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Can you fix an oil pan like this or is the only option to replace it, or accept its looks?


IMG_0512.JPG
 
The damage does not seem excessive from the picture and I would definitely give the repair a shot.

Back in 1967, while driving at night on a road in the process of being paved, I saw a black area and assumed it was a hole. Being too close, I tried to straddle an area that turned out to be a raised manhole cover. The bottom sheared almost totally off the pan and I was left with no oil and a mangled pan.

After having the car towed to my home, I removed and straightened the pan as best I could before bringing it to a local shop. After welding the original pan pieces, the shop nicely applied another piece of metal covering the front and bottom. Very few indications of the accident were desirable once the pan was repainted,.

Good luck,
Ray 64BJ8P1
 
I have seen much worse, Your pan is in better condition then most i have seen! As long as there are no leaks or stress cracks i would leave it alone and enjoy driving your healey! They do sell pan guards or you can make one yourself one. Another option is a low profile after market pan i have seen on the market but they are much to expensive. If you decide to go with a aluminum pan from one of the big supplyers remember alumimum won't be as forgiving when impacted as a steel pan would, Alumimum cracks! Steel dent's.
 
It has no leaks or cracks, its just the looks that annoyed me abit. I think i will remove it and try to make it look a little bit better. Then i can also inspect the bottom end of the engine.
 
Be EXTRA sure it doesn't leak after hammering out the dents. Oil floats on water
so they tend to rust on the inside at the lowest area (where your dents are).
 
Hello,

I agree with drambuie the oil pan status is better than usual, but without hard reasonI never would repair the oil pan with inserting a new patch. Because imho the risk is to high, if you touch in the future again the street you get a big crack...and your oil is flowing on the street.. :cryin:(The border of weld seams are brittel)
If I had a cosmetic problem like you, I would repair the
oil pan with a hammer and a litte bit heat. For final finishing you can use tin.
After painting with filler, it should good enough for an under-floor view.

Bye michel-who has repaired his cracked oil pan like this and weld the cracks with gas welding.
 
NIB said:
Can you fix an oil pan like this or is the only option to replace it, or accept its looks?


IMG_0512.JPG
Click to expand...

Off topic, but do you still own this car?

I'm curious because the underside of mine looks the same. meaning, most everything has green paint but with to same hints of reddish orange paint.
Is this a common thing?
 
Best way to bang out dents is to rest the pan on a sandbag or the like that will provide back up, then use wooden blocks of various sizes and shapes, etc. to spread the force out over a relatively large area so as to avoid creating uneven bulges, etc. and/or damaging the metal.
 
NIB said:
It has no leaks or cracks, its just the looks that annoyed me abit. I think i will remove it and try to make it look a little bit better. Then i can also inspect the bottom end of the engine.
Click to expand...

Then clean up the rust , repaint to remove your annoyance and leave it alone,

If the bottom end of the engine is in serious trouble it will let you Know.
 
I'm not sure how an original Healey oil pan is set up but if there are baffles it might be tough to access some of the dents.
 
aero3113 said:
I'm not sure how an original Healey oil pan is set up but if there are baffles it might be tough to access some of the dents.
Click to expand...


You are absolutely correct
 
aero3113 said:
I'm not sure how an original Healey oil pan is set up but if there are baffles it might be tough to access some of the dents.
Click to expand...
If you look at the photo, you will see three dots in a vertical line. Those are spot welds. There is a vertical baffle located there which extends across the bottom. There are also two braces across the shallow part of the pan.
 
1966 C.A.R. said:
Off topic, but do you still own this car?

I'm curious because the underside of mine looks the same. meaning, most everything has green paint but with to same hints of reddish orange paint.
Is this a common thing?
Click to expand...
That reddish orange color is the primer.
 
re: "I've only seen one (1) that didn't have any dents in it; NOS from Jon Peter's Sports & Classics"

Wow ... That must have cost a fortune. I got a used one off eBay that was almost as straight for $300. Could that be some surface rust on the inside bottom that was painted over?

No one has yet given an answer for what the little bent piece in front of the baffle is for.
 
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Given how common it is to see dented sumps in Healeys I always assumed that they came that way from the factory.
 
Bob_Spidell said:
re:
No one has yet given an answer for what the little bent piece in front of the baffle is for.
Click to expand...

I’ll hazard a guess and say maybe it was to hide a small magnet to attract metal particles ??
 
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