I am in the middle of replacing the timing cover housing on my 97 which was killed by the KDP. I had all of the dowel rods in place holding the lifters and the LP out. I even cut a length of 1 1/2 inch PVC to put in place of the camshaft just for a little piece of mind while the cam is out. As I was slowly and gently pulling the cam out, splash went one of the lifters into the oil pan. I have a son with hands small enough to reach in through the camshaft alley to put the lifter back into place. My question is, can I get the lifter out through the drain plug or will I have to drop the pan?

 

You will have to drop the pan. If the front cover is still off, go fishing with a long magnet.

 

Do I have to jack the motor up to remove the oil pan?

 

Yes , you will have to raise the engine enough to get in and unbolt the oil pickup tube, but once you have it up far enough to do that , you might as well just have your son reach in and grab that lifter for you.


P.S. give that young fella some milk and cookies , i have been in his shoes

 

And wash his black little arm before Mom sees him.

 

Well I was able to unbolt the oil pickup and slide the back of the pan to the side enough to get the lifter out and put it back in place, while my son slid the piece of PVC pipe back into place to hold the lifter in its spot. I then went back up top and put my wooden dowel rod into the lifter and pulled it back up and put my zip tie in place to hold the 2 lifters from falling down again. I learned something....I found that the sharp tip of the wooden dowel was smashed at least 1/4 of an inch. So it seems that cutting the last 1/4 inch of the tapered end allows the dowel to go into the lifter and hold it more firmly than leaving the full 1 inch of taper there.

 

I know its to late now but I used pencil magnets instead of the dowels and they worked great. Just another option for those poor fools like us that have to tackle this project.

Ben