389 oil pan problem

I've seen this a hundred times... Weak springs, the car bottoms out once and you've got a dented pan. Unless it's a huge dent, it probably isn't a problem. If you have pressure your pickup is working. Could you use a suction devive to fix it? I doubt it - it's not sheet metal. You'd probably have to pull the pan (not necessary to pull the whole engine) and bang it out.

I would try an electric stud welder. This will weld a copper stud(s) to the pan, which can then be pulled with a special slide hammer. Quite common in the body work industry. They aren't cheap, but still under $300 from eastwood.com. Or find a friend that has one! Steve

Having had the engine out 3 times since I owned it, (I am the original owner), I know that getting the oil pan off without engine removal and putting it back on is just about impossible. I remember one time while the car was under warrenty, the rear main seal (rope) was leaking, and the dealer said that no problem, we can change it without removing the engine. Apparently they had a new support device that would prop up the engine enough to just barely remove the pan. On the third day, they gave up and removed the engine. One other thing that makes this difficult is that I have headers on it, and the brand that I have makes it impossible to remove the starter with the headers on and I cannot remove the headers with the starter installed. I had to remove/install the selinoid with the starter in place, not an easy job. Knowing all this, I am looking for a method to bypass all these headaches. If removing the engine is the only answer so be it. Once before, I removed the engine using my kids swing set and a chain hoist in a little over an hour, but that was 20+ years ago. Mike

Amen Mike... the engine has to come out enough to remove the pan..

I may add, if you are going to that much trouble, ensure you're not leaking from the RMS, if you are, change while the engine is somewhat "out" of the cradle.

I suggest BOP Eng. for a RMS..