I have had this annoying
oil drip under my engine for some time. I finally found a tiny hairline crack in the middle of the bottom of the aluminum Canton 427 Cobra pan. It was so small that it would take about 5 minutes for a drop of
oil to form but over time, a large amount of
oil would end up on the floor.
Pulling the pan would be a very big deal and I was trying to get ready for the Tulsa meet in less than a month, so here is what I did:
1. Cleaned the area well with rapid dry solvent (Electrical Clean).
2. Sanded the area around the crack to roughen the surface of the metal.
3. The key step was to come up with a way to stop the leak long enough for any substance to cure and seal. I used Superglue Gel and it worked perfectly, completely dry as of 6 hours later.
4. I used a tube of Permatex High Temp Epoxy Putty and made a patty 1/4 inch thick and about 2 inches larger than the crack area (an inch long).
5 I pressed the patty of putty centered over the crack, then placed a flat piece of 1x6 board covered with wax paper over the repair and used a floor jack to press the wood against the putty and flatten it out some and left that rig in place for an hour.
6. The epoxy harded to like steel, I sanded it smooth and made sure the edges were tapered well.
7. I then covered the entire repair with a thick layer of Permatex High Temp (up to 700 degrees) silicon gasket maker and smooth that over the entire patch and extended it another inch in every direction.
8. Finally, I covered the entire repair with the silver, self adhesive AC/Heat duct tape and smoothed out the silicone thru the tape.
9 Not a drop in 72 hours.
Not ideal but if I have to do this every 2 years till I get up the nerve to tackle pulling the pan, so be it!
Alan Sorkey
Shreveport, LA
CSX4083