[Rosaa]

Amazing thread ! Gasket replacement went smooth !

[Tali]

Originally Posted by cbrider73

... This is not a hard job. Just time consuming. Don't be afraid. Spend that $1,000-$2,000 shop fee on more parts because you are going to need them...

You are 1,000,000,000,000,00% right about the time consuming part. If you are lazy, make sure you have a back-up car to drive while you work on this project. I am ashamed to admit that my car was down for approximately 2 months while working on this job.
It wasn't because the job was too difficult, it was just because I was being too lazy since I had another car to drive

That being said, I wish I removed the transmission lines from the transmission like you and replaced the O-rings. I had a ton of oil to clean off of every surface too, which took a few days worth of my time (spending 1-1.5 hours a day) until I got the idea of pressure washing everything. This helped, but I had to go back and use engine degreaser to agitate most of the oily spots first.

It was worth it though, now my subframe, PS rack, oil pan, and engine mounts are clean and everytime I look at my engine bay I check the subframe under where the headers are and it's so satisfying to see the shiny metal subframe instead of black sludge.

We do deserve to give ourselves a pat on the back for doing this job. You're right it's not that difficult at the end of the day, but doing it on jack stands is still worthy of respect.

Finally, I am just like you OP, I prefer to work on my own car not just to save money, because there are many times I prefer to pay someone, but because no one will do the work to the extent I would. and I know when I work on it, I never have to deal with some BS like the shop losing my keys and then I have to chase them for a month and jump through hoola-hoops and threaten to sue until I finally get it fixed.

So keep on wrenching guys!!! Some of the benefits are hard to see until it's too late! : : : :

EDIT: I used a very thin layer of Reinzosil (RTV) on the oil pan and on the gasket itself. I placed a small bead (maybe 2mm in diameter or less in some spots?) and I tried to place the bead so that it would be just inside of the inner rubber of the oil pan gasket. My thinking was it wouldn't interfere with the oil pan gasket sealing ,but there's something there right behind the rubber to hopefully stop a future leak. BE WARNED THOUGH: Reinzosil has a very fast setup time of 10-15 minutes. So you have to work really fast or else use a different RTV. Follow the directions thoroughly for whatever you use. Last thing, is to wait at least 24 hours, or longer if you can before adding engine oil. This way the RTV has ample time to fully cure (not just skin over - also cure time depends on climate and will take longer if it is too cold and humidity affects it too). ALLOWING RTV to fully cure ensures that if you did get some in the pan somehow, that it will fully cure before you start the motor/add engine oil so that it won't get to the oil pickup screen and then spread and cover it completely - AND THEN CURE - which would starve the engine of oil at least at high RPM's.

Now I need to decide if I want to put a new(to me - a used unit) GM transmission, or pull the transmission and install zip-kit parts and potentially a torque convertor too.