tapping the oil pan

[Kilo_SME]

I'm almost done with my tt conversion, just have to find a way to tap the oil return lines to the oil pan. How did some of you go about this ? I want to try to get it done without having to get it welded. Any advice is welcomed.

Thanks

[blindmist]

Figure out the bolt size. It is the same size as the 10mm on the valve cover. M6 I believe. Then figure out the thread pitch of said bolt. Get a 6mm drill bit, drill the bolt holes through the flange taped to the pan so you know you have proper bolt position. Then get your M6x?? tap and tap the bitch.

[RL7]

Welding really will be less of a headache. I did not weld mine because that part of my oil pan is cast aluminum. The oil pan itself is not thick enough to tap, so you will have to add material or use a nut on the other side. To make sure my tapped holes would have enough thread, I added some thickness to the outside of my oil pan with jb-weld (not really recommending that), but the aluminum pan was like 1/8th inch to start while the steel pan is only something like 22gauge. I cut the stock oil returns and used pcv hose to attach them to npt barbs that I threaded into the tapped holes on the pan. You could probably use some sort of npt nut on the inside to do something similar on the steel pan. I had previously used nuts and bolts and some tapped holes/grinding/rtv/etc to try to get the stock returns to work unmodified, but I could never get that leak-free. You may have better luck on a steel pan and if you want to do that just drill the bolt holes and the middle hole and run nuts and bolts to mount it. A gasket of some sort is a must with that method. Before you do that though- remember that, with no welding, you will (at a minimum) have to drop the pan to remove the returns. You will have difficulty removing them at all if you put the nuts on the inside and don't weld them. I can't say I recommend doing that. With the npt barbs, I haven't had any leaks at all.

[blindmist]

Hmmm, good point. I didn't really think about the thickness of the pan, You could drill a hole, and then tack weld nuts on the inside of the pan, just as mitsubishi did.

[Kilo_SME]

I've decided to go with this I'm going to just cut the ends of the oil lines off and just use this high temp hose to clamp it together. What do you think ?

[RL7]

I can't really tell what that is, but it looks threaded. If it's some sort of bulkhead fitting, it should work, as long as you're careful with the size of the hole you drill. Clamping the lines will work fine, but you will need to figure out a leak-free connection to the pan and that is difficult without welding.

[blindmist]

I can't really tell what that is, but it looks threaded. If it's some sort of bulkhead fitting, it should work, as long as you're careful with the size of the hole you drill. Clamping the lines will work fine, but you will need to figure out a leak-free connection to the pan and that is difficult without welding.

Most of your taps don't have the thread pitch required for a liquid behind it without a gasket to make the seal either. A regular bolt can't always seal. Thats why the drain bolts on the engine and tranny are different pitch bolts than your normal 1.25 1.5 1.75

I think this is correct, although I may be wrong and just have some dumb idea in my head.'

What about teflon tape?

[green-lantern]

Weld flanges on it or you could do it like I did but I wished I would have welded it instead.

http://www.3sgto.org/showthread.php?...-TT-conversion

[Broomfield Racing]

Figure out the bolt size. It is the same size as the 10mm on the valve cover. M6 I believe. Then figure out the thread pitch of said bolt. Get a 6mm drill bit, drill the bolt holes through the flange taped to the pan so you know you have proper bolt position. Then get your M6x?? tap and tap the bitch.

Please dont do this. The drill for an M6x1 tap is a 5mm drill. When I did my first tt conversion I cut flanges off a tt pan and welded them on the na pan.

[Kilo_SME]

here is a better pic. Yes it is threaded and yes I'm going to use some teflon tape. I would weld some flanges on, but I don't have a welder. green lantern, I was going to do your method but this just seemed easier. Now I just have to find a 45 66 drill bit I think or something to make the whole with.