^^^ One and the same.... :|

OK, so far I've managed to get the magnet out from the top by pulling the valve cover and fishing around with a magnet on a flexible shaft. The magnet had an LED on the end. Best tool ever!

After that I decided to pull off the oil pump before I removed the oil pan in hopes that I could find the drill bit near that opening. No luck. I could see all of one side with the LED lit magnet from the top and the other I could feel around with my finger up through the hole for the oil pump. It must have dropped down into the pan after all.

I got all of the bolts off the pan and the driver side came free easily but the passenger side is not separating from the bottom of the block. I can't tell if it is being held on by the gasket or if it is caught on something in the bottom of the engine.

How do I find TDC on a '75 280 engine? I've lined the single notch on the crank pulley up with the 0 mark on the timing plate on the engine. I'm assuming this is wrong, so what mark should I line it up with?

Best way is to pull the number one sparkplug and look inside the piston to find TDC. Distributor rotor should be on #1 cylinder. Now, the question is, did you mark everything before pulling out the oil pump and turning the crank? If not, you're going to need to line everything up again.

I turned the crank before pulling the oil pump. I'm thinking I'll put the oil pump back in before moving the crank.

Is there also a mark to line up with or only look through the spark plug hole?

if the oil pump is on the right tooth, piston is at TDC and the rotor in the dizzy is pointing at the #1 spark plug wire, and the mark on the pulley is on 0 or 10 degrees depending on your dizzy adjustment. then your got everything right with the oil pump. if its not pointing at #1 with the rotor while the mark is there and its at TDC then the oil pump is off a tooth or more.

Thanks for the tips. I might be a hair off since I haven't checked through the spark plug hold.

I'm just wondering if there would be something mechanically locking the oil pan in place if I'm so close to TDC or if I should just put more force on the non-drive side of the pan to pop it loose from the block.

Someone mentioned not to pry too much on the oil pan so that's what I'm trying to avoid.

You don't want to pry too much since you don't want to distort the pan. Could make it harder to seal up later. Have you tried a wood chisel to ease it apart?

The angle of the point will help to lever it apart. The wider, the better to distribute the stress on the pan flange. Just take it easy with gentle taps, don't force.

Best and safest way to remove oil pan with motor in is to remove the two bolts from the passenger side motor mount rubber. Raise the mount arm with jack approx 1" and slide a 3/4" block of wood in the gap. Lower and remove jack. This is all the space you need to remove oil pan.

One concern I would have is that you removed the oil pump...did you remove the shaft that goes to the distributor? If you did, you will now face some timing issues. Get's tricky there.

For the pan, first, double check all bolts are out. then I would tap the sides with a rubber mallet

Edited July 29, 201014 yr by motorman7

Ya, as soon as I took out the oil pump and the shaft dropped out I knew I was in trouble. So far I haven't cranked the engine with it out so my plan was to try to put it back together before I turn the engine.

I just wanted to make sure the drill bit end wasn't in the oil pump since I would think that would quickly kill the engine.

If you're pretty sure the drill bit isn't under the timing cover have you tried draining the oil? Wouldn't it be your day if the drill bit just happened to slide out with the oil? Sounds like you maybe too far down the road for this option, but good luck anyways!

Ya, as soon as I took out the oil pump and the shaft dropped out I knew I was in trouble. So far I haven't cranked the engine with it out so my plan was to try to put it back together before I turn the engine.

I just wanted to make sure the drill bit end wasn't in the oil pump since I would think that would quickly kill the engine.

if your harmonic ballancer showed the mark at the right timing degree, and your rotor in your dizzy was showing on #1 spark plug wire, then use that as a reference when putting the oil pump rod back in. keep taking it out and putting it in until you get the dizzy to say #1 again. if not you will have to put it all together, time it with a timing light and if you cant get that mark to show up on the pulley, your one or more teeth off.

I had a friend come over and he held the distributor to make sure it was pointing to cylinder 1 while I carefully guided the timing rod up into place and then put the oil pump back in. I'll need his help again when the new gasket comes but for now everything should be lined up (I hope). If the timing was off by one tooth, how far off would the distributor point? Right now it's pointing straight to the front of the car where the radiator would be.

After that, I removed the oil pan and clink, clank, there was the end of the drill bit!!

Now after the oil pump and oil pan gaskets show up and I heli-coil the hole to hold on the timing chain inspection plate, I'll be back where I started last Sunday:stupid:

In the end I didn't have to raise the engine to get the pan off. I guess I'll see if I have issues getting it back on but there seemed to be just enought space. The only thing I unbolted was the sway bar frame mounts so I could get enough clearance to remove the oil pump.

The drill bit was about 2 inches long so it might have dropped to the bottom of the pan and stayed there out of harms way, but who knows. Now I don't have to worry about it.

Thanks for everyone's help. I'm sure I'll have more questions when I get closer to starting up the engine.