6-qt. oil pan question for Joe Lucia or anyone

[Mark B.]

Joe,

I am rebuilding a 62 327/340HP engine and have obtained the "6-qt. oil pan from a vendor in Ohio. I believe it to be a GM #3820001 pan. It has the long forward sump, internal trap door and baffling and rear drain plug. I have performed a search of related articles in the archives and I believe that you say a standard oil pump and pick-up that was used on most 5-qt. Corvettes is the same one I should use. Is this true. If so, then I'm home free and can button the engine up and install. If not, what should I use? Thanks in advance.

[Clem Z.]

Re: 6-qt. oil pan question for Joe Lucia or anyone

if you have the engine on a engine stand and with the engine in the upright position try and install the pan and if it goes up and touches the block you are good to go. always have the engine right side up when you install any oil pan with the trap doors because with the engine upside down on the engine stand the trap doors can be caught in a open position and will not close because they hit on the oil pump pickup. use some modeling clay to make sure the pickup is 3/8" to 1/2" off of the bottom of the pan

[Jerry S.]

Re: 6-qt. oil pan oil pump location

The engine with 6 quart pan uses a little longer extension to the pickup screen. You might need to buy the special pickup or modify your old one.

[Chris H.]

6-qt. oil pan in a 62?

Can someone explain what pans were used in 62? I thought I had the original oil pan but am wondering what qt. size it is. How do I tell what size it is? I do have a 359937 NOS pan that looks very identical to mine except for some added stuctural ribbing.

thanks

[Duke W.]

Re: 6-qt. oil pan question for Joe Lucia or anyone

It sounds like you are talking about a C2 oil pan, and I believe the C1 oil pan configuration is completely different.

Duke

[Chris H.]

Re: 6-qt. oil pan in a 62?

I found the following on ebay. It is from a base engine and looks different from my original? 340hp pan and my NOS pan. It has a different type of raised ribbing on the sides of the step and does not have the trap door. Is this a base pan from C1's?

thanks

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=4535436900&category=34202&sspagename=WDVW

[Mike E.]

Re: 6-qt. oil pan in a 62?

The ebay oil pan is not even close to be a 58-62 pan!!!!!!!!

[Joe L.]

Re: 6-qt. oil pan question for Joe Lucia or anyone

Mark-----

The GM #3820001 is NOT the correct oil pan for a 1962 340 hp; it's correct for a 1963 340 hp, though. C1 and C2 Corvettes used different series of oil pans, even though for 1962 and 1963 the engines were otherwise pretty much the same.

The GM #3820001 "6 quart" oil pan DOES use the same oil pump and pick-up as the "5 quart" GM #3820000 oil pan. The oil pump is a standard pressure small block pump originally of GM #3764547, current-day pump GM #12555284 and equivalent to Melling M-55. The pickup used with either pan is GM #3830080.

Now, the above is all well and good for someone with a 1963-74 Corvette small block. For a 1962 340 hp, things are different.

Your oil pan was originally of GM #3789269. It had internal baffling and a "trap door" (like the 3820001), but it was of a completely different external configuration. This is a "3 step" pan as all 1955-62 Corvettes used; the 63-74 pans were "2-step".

The 3789269 pan is long-since GM-discontinued. However, there is a replacement available under GM #359937. This pan is still available from GM for about $186, list and is the only 1953-74 small block Corvette pan still available. It is very close to the original pan in external configuration with the exception of the front oil pan seal radius and a few other very minor features. Use this pan with the 75+ style gasket. It's virtually impossible to tell this difference with the pan installed on the engine.

The 1958-62 C1 oil pans, including those mentioned above, require oil pump pick-up GM #3764113 which is still available. ALL 1958-62 C1 oil pans use this pick-up.

The oil pump used with the 1962 C1 engines and oil pan is the same as described above for the 1963 application. No high pressure oil pump was ever used for any C1 application.

[Chris H.]

Re: 6-qt. oil pan question for Joe Lucia or anyone

Joe, are you sure the 62 pan is still available? Last I checked there were none stocked and no indication they were going to be restocked.

Thanks, Chris

[Joe L.]

Re: 6-qt. oil pan question for Joe Lucia or anyone

Chris-----

GM still shows it as being available. However, there is sometimes a lag between the time that stock is exhausted and the time that the "discontinued" sign goes up. This thing was "living on borrowed time" for many years. It's hard to imagine that GM could sell enough of these to continue them in inventory. I imagine that the last manufacturing run was quite a few years ago and they've been slowly drawing down that stock ever since. Eventually, they get to the "bottom of the barrel". That time could well have arrived.

Sometimes, folks will look at the date on the box and figure that they were making a part until, at least, that date. When present, the date on the box does give useful information. However, it does not necessarily tell you anything about when a part was actually manufactured. You see, GMSPO receives many parts in BINS or RACKS (just like they were often received at the assembly plants). For many parts, especially the bulky ones, the parts are boxed AS-REQUIRED. So, the date on the box tells you, for sure, when the box was made, but it doesn't necessarily tell you when the part was made.

[Page C.]

Re: 6-qt. oil pan question for Joe Lucia or anyone

Hi Chris,
A friend purchased the oil pan Joe referred to for his 1962 Corvette about 2 weeks ago. It came from the Martinsburg W. Va. warehouse or whatever they call them now. I would get your parts guy to do a search on their computer.
Hope this helps.
Page Campbell