Have had a leak for a while now and I could never find it. I replaced the distributer gasket and the o-rings for the oil filter adapter. And no luck! And today I found this. And of course I can't upload the photo. It a hair line crack about an inch long outside the pan next to a bolt right next to the oil pump. Sorry if that's confusing that the best way I can describe it. So my question is, can I just clean it with dawn soap and silicone it? Or do I absolutely have to replace it?

 

Okay I guess I was able to upload the photo

 

You can pull the pan and braze it up. That would be cheaper than replacing the pan. Just slapping some sillycone on there won't fix it.

 

Thanks I will look into it. It wasn't the money it's the pain in the rear that worried me

 

as long as it's clean and dry before you applied permatex or whatever, it would be fine. I did this to an sbc I had after dukes of hazarding a roadroad crossing. I had to beat the pan back out and it put a crack in it. if you wanted to get fancy you could use jb weld.


brazing it certainly is the best option, but kind of a pita if you can't do it yourself.

 

I'm gonna get fancy, if the jb weld doesn't work I'll just buy a new one, the threading for the drain plug is crap anyways.

 

I mean, all it has to do is not leak. mine held for 3+ years and I sold it not leaking in that condition.

 

Agreed. I would JB Weld it. Just clean the snot out of it with something like carb or brake cleaner before applying. You can probably sand it out nicely afterwards so it even looks pretty clean.

Good luck!