tmcolegr
It's All About the Build
The finish line is in sight but not until a few more obstacles are overcome...
Take a look at this picture of the 4.6L 3V S197 OEM oil pan. Notice the location of the relief in the oil pan for the steering rack. Roughly 4.5" from the front of the sump
Now look at the location of the relief in the Canton oil pan. Roughly 3.5" from the front of the sump
With the relief in the Canton oil pan in this location on our 4.6L 3V S197s and using a BMR K-Member with 1/2" lowered mounts, clearance between the pan and steering rack is reduced to about .1875". Enough not to be a problem, but not nearly what the clearance should have been if the relief was in the correct location - thank you Canton
By now it is clear the OEM pan that Canton starts out with is not a 4.6L 3V pan for our S197s - too many issues. Rather I believe it to be a generic 4.6L/5.4L 2V, 3V, 4V one size fits all - who knows the exact application
Next issue, notice the tabs (red arrows) on the RH side of the pan for securing the wiring harness for the starter switch terminal and engine oil temp sensor
The Canton pan does not have these tabs, so there is nothing to secure the wiring harness. This too can be overcome by carefully opening up the OEM harness and installing new loom and wrapping with electrical tape - same as the OEM harness was. None of these wires were cut or spliced. Here's how I secured the rerouted harness
Sometimes a picture's worth a 1,000 words. These 2 pictures were taken by shining mini LED flash light through the oil drain plug hole and sighting the camera through the 1/2" NPT hole for the oil temp sensor. Look closely, I know it's dark, but you can clearly see the clearance between the oil pump pickup tube and the oil pan - seeing is believing.
another one...
I installed a temperature recorder on the RH side of the oil pan sump. This temperature recorder will turn black at the highest temp the engine oil has reached. Temperature recorder was $3.
This picture was taken out of shear frustration
Lastly I torqued the oil pan magnetic drain plug to 30 lb. ft.
PS: as Dysan mentioned in a previous post, you won't be removing the torque converter bolts/nuts through the flex plate cover on the transmission bell housing anymore as the oil pan sump completely obscures the opening. The access hole in the LH side of the block will be the opening that will have to be used.
I'll post several pictures of the completed install tomorrow.
Take a look at this picture of the 4.6L 3V S197 OEM oil pan. Notice the location of the relief in the oil pan for the steering rack. Roughly 4.5" from the front of the sump
Now look at the location of the relief in the Canton oil pan. Roughly 3.5" from the front of the sump
With the relief in the Canton oil pan in this location on our 4.6L 3V S197s and using a BMR K-Member with 1/2" lowered mounts, clearance between the pan and steering rack is reduced to about .1875". Enough not to be a problem, but not nearly what the clearance should have been if the relief was in the correct location - thank you Canton
By now it is clear the OEM pan that Canton starts out with is not a 4.6L 3V pan for our S197s - too many issues. Rather I believe it to be a generic 4.6L/5.4L 2V, 3V, 4V one size fits all - who knows the exact application
Next issue, notice the tabs (red arrows) on the RH side of the pan for securing the wiring harness for the starter switch terminal and engine oil temp sensor
The Canton pan does not have these tabs, so there is nothing to secure the wiring harness. This too can be overcome by carefully opening up the OEM harness and installing new loom and wrapping with electrical tape - same as the OEM harness was. None of these wires were cut or spliced. Here's how I secured the rerouted harness
Sometimes a picture's worth a 1,000 words. These 2 pictures were taken by shining mini LED flash light through the oil drain plug hole and sighting the camera through the 1/2" NPT hole for the oil temp sensor. Look closely, I know it's dark, but you can clearly see the clearance between the oil pump pickup tube and the oil pan - seeing is believing.
another one...
I installed a temperature recorder on the RH side of the oil pan sump. This temperature recorder will turn black at the highest temp the engine oil has reached. Temperature recorder was $3.
This picture was taken out of shear frustration
Lastly I torqued the oil pan magnetic drain plug to 30 lb. ft.
PS: as Dysan mentioned in a previous post, you won't be removing the torque converter bolts/nuts through the flex plate cover on the transmission bell housing anymore as the oil pan sump completely obscures the opening. The access hole in the LH side of the block will be the opening that will have to be used.
I'll post several pictures of the completed install tomorrow.
Last edited: