My E34 oil pan doesn't fit... have any of you ever had to modify yours?

[BigD]

So I tried mounting my pan before and it kinda worked but it bothered me so I pulled it today and started double checking. A new oil pan gasket is worth the peace of mind.

So upon closer inspection, my oil pan baffle doesn't fit this engine. The cutouts for the oil drains are too small. The pan sits fine if it's like a quarter inch to the intake side but it won't line up. To line it up, forces the cutouts to sit on the oil drains.

Here's my baffle:



Here's the one pictured on the ORCA:



Notice how the cutouts on the bottom of the baffle line up with the rivets. Their cutouts are MUCH deeper, to the point where it doesn't even have that little lip on the right side. I've analyzed my pan and it looks exactly the same except for the baffle... I really don't think I have the wrong pan but... do I? Could this be an M20 oil pan or something? Well then again the M20 pan has a separate aluminum chunk on the transmission side... fuck I dunno. I guess it's grinder time.

[vr4boy]

i'll try to take a shot at this but,is your engine off an e36? if i remember and i maybe wrong-the e36 engine has the baffle mounted to the underside of the block and the e34 engine has the baffles on the pan-i think you have to remove the baffles on the e36 engine to mount the e34 oil pan....i hope this helps...

[DEV0 E30]

You cut parts off the baffle off that interfer, or bend it off so you have zero metal shavings to clean up.

The oil pans seem to vary some, even though they are all E34 pans, they are physically different on the baffle from what orca says many a time. Doesn't orca say to cut it above the rivets on both sides? Thought it did.

When I replaced mine I eyeballed it from the old one and then took off more after that.

If this sounds crazy, search this subforum, I promise it's nothing too scary.

[PiercedE30]

or remove the baffles on the pan to fit it on the e36 engine.........

[325Projectz]

Drill out the rivits and remove the baffle or cut out half the baffle so it clears.

[Mtriple]

Strange... I didnt have any issues.

[tonytony]

Strange... I didnt have any issues.

me niether, lucky us, HIGH FIVE!!!!

[Addissimo]

If your motor has a windage tray, take that off first before you go tearing up your oil pan. I bet you're trying to do a double windage tray (like others before me said.)

-Addis

[e30_kid89]

just shave the baffle.....mine had the same problem too so i took a bit of it of that was closest to the outside of the block.

[BigD]

just shave the baffle.....mine had the same problem too so i took a bit of it of that was closest to the outside of the block.

You think it's the outside lips that are touching, not the cutouts? Maybe it's both... when I push it against the block (like when it's sitting crooked and I try to slide it in place) it does kinda feel like whatever is resisting is kinda springloaded so that would make it the outside lips. Just looking at the picture, my cutouts are much shallower. I'm just happy to hear that others have had this problem, because the the rest of the pan looks right so I'm not insane.

[325Projectz]

I've had this same problem on 3 different motors & pans...

[e30_kid89]

You think it's the outside lips that are touching, not the cutouts? Maybe it's both... when I push it against the block (like when it's sitting crooked and I try to slide it in place) it does kinda feel like whatever is resisting is kinda springloaded so that would make it the outside lips. Just looking at the picture, my cutouts are much shallower. I'm just happy to hear that others have had this problem, because the the rest of the pan looks right so I'm not insane.

trust me, i spent a whole afternoon/evening trying to figure out wtf was preventing the oil pan from sitting down. first i thought it was the sump, but that was okay. i kept on fiddling with it and trying to peek to see where was rubbing and it turned out to be the outside fins of the baffle that were rubbing.......shaved it down a bit and it fit perfect. its the fins that are rubbing.

[e30_kid89]

in case that last post was a bit confusing, here is a pic showing where i shaved off the baffle

[BigD]

trust me, i spent a whole afternoon/evening trying to figure out wtf was preventing the oil pan from sitting down. first i thought it was the sump, but that was okay. i kept on fiddling with it and trying to peek to see where was rubbing and it turned out to be the outside fins of the baffle that were rubbing.......shaved it down a bit and it fit perfect. its the fins that are rubbing.

Awesome, thanks dude! I also felt like I was going insane because no one ever mentioned this except one dude who had cross braces on his mains. And it's damn near impossible to figure out exactly what's touching without just trying to cut stuff off. At first I thought I bent the fins while cleaning the pan, so I tried to bend one back and broke it off (you can see one corner on the bottom left missing), and finally just forced the fucking pan in place. I finally removed it last night because it just didn't sit well to leave it half assed. Good thing I did too because you can see on my pan it didn't seat properly on that side.

Thanks again, I'm gonna cut the fins down tonight.

[Mr.SWISS]

Post pic of yer naked engine and so we can make sure you removed all that you needed to.