Can someone tell me the torque specs for a 396 oil pan bolts. I will be using a 1 piece gasket for a new oil pan.

Thanks
HovsSS

If its a stock gm pan on a 396/bbc i contacted felpro and they said to use 60"lbs for small bolts and 100" lbs for the larger pan bolts when using their 1 pc blue colored bbc pan gasket which is considerabley less then the trq for the std/stock 4 pc gasket set.

Scott

Scott, you mean 60 inch pound and 100 inch pounds, right? :)

H/P Oil Pan GasketPermaDryPlus 1965-90 BBC 396: This is the oil pan gasket I purchased from JEGS. Is 60 inch and 100inch pounds correct for this particular Gasket. If not, how does one go about contacting Fel-Pro, I looked for a number, but I didn't find one anywhere.

Thanks
HovsSS

Yes,inch Lbs On Both.

Scott

I contacted Felpro a yr or so back to get the info and had to dig way deep into their website/Federal Mougal to get an email contact then by emailing them got an actual phone # to call,want easy but unfotunately i lost track of that info due to moving ,sorry about that.

Some say there are trq limiting sleeves in the felpro 1 pc gaskets but i didnt see any in my blue colored felpro 1 pc bbc oil pan gasket. All it had was a flat steel core that the gasket was molded arround but no trq limiting sleeves and no info in the box ,on the box,or with the gasket as to what to trq pan bolts too.

When i finally got the 60" sml bolt/100" lbs lrg bolt info from Felpro i said gee thats approx 1/2 what trq is for std 4 pc gasket and dont you think its important to at least include a little slip of paper with the gasket (like Felpro does with other gaskets) stating proper trq value and it fell on deaf ears. I even tried through other chanels in customer support etc to get that fixed and nobody cared.

I feel some of the posts i have seen here in t/chevelle recently about 1 pc felpro gaskets leaking and 1 even said it split is due to over trq because people are not aware that the blue color 1 pc bbc 1 pc felpro pan gasket req uiresonly 1/2 trq of std pan gasket and its simply being over trq'd to stock gm spec for the std/stock 4 pc gasket set.

Scott

Hov'sSS,if your reffering to the std 4 pc pan gasket with 2 rubber ends and the 2 side rail cork/rubber gasket mix thaqt are 4 seperate pcs then thats the stock typs gasket application. That should get the higher stock trq value for bbc oil pan gasket then the 1pc felpro gasket gets. Sorry i dont have that trq spec on hand at this time but google it,I know its there becausee i have used google to get trq valuse in a pinch.

Scott

I just got of the phone with Fel-Pro and they said that the torque doesn't change between the 1 piece gasket and the 4 piece gasket. Now I am really confused. The gentleman from Fel-Pro said just go with the torque specs that are in the owners manual, and from what I can tell that is about 12 ft. lbs

HovsSS

Hov ss,1st off lrg/sml bolts on pn get different trq,that should tell you somthing is wrong right there from what you got from the tech person becasue they could not even get that right from a stock application perspective.

2nd, the felpro 1 pc gasket is a totally different design/material gasket thats 4x thicker on the end rails then the stock type gaskets thuse requires different trq values then the flat type stock end rail gasksets require.

3rd ,you dont state if your running a std 4 pcs set or the blue coloedd 1 pc felpro gasket pt#1884R.

So its simple,the felpro tech you got doesn'st know they were talking about,end of story there.I had talked directly to the gasket eng dept when i got the trq spec for 1 pc blue felpro gasket so if your running that gasket your good to go with 60sm/100lrg bolt inch lb specs felpro gave me a yr ago and if your running the std/stock 4pc pan gasket set get the gm specs for small/lrg bolts go with that ,its that simple. Now if thew gasket eng dept at felpro gave me the wrong trq spec for the 1884r 1pc gasket i cant help you out there. But what they told me form the gasket eng dept made a lot more sence then what someone else from Felpro just told you taking into consideration the big difference in design/material/thickness/and ability to crush that the 1 pc gasket has as compaired to the std thin cork/rubber end fail gaskets.

But use some commone sence too and ensure the pan pulls down/seats fully esp on the front/rear of block where gasket goes oner the rear main and lower end of timing cover esp if running anaftermarket pan. I have read hear in t/chevelle some people have had to run a little more trq on the pan due to it not pulling down/seating enough in thoses areas esp with non stock pan application or with the re-pop new gm pans mfg these days,just something different with thoses pans so be watching out for that when tightening things down.

Afterthought,some guys even test out the pan gaskets by sealing up the motor then intorducing a regulated 15lbs compressed air to the motor via the dipsticktube or v/cover pcv gomet to see if that can feel/hear any leaks in pan/timing chain area or rear of motor too,not a bad idea to try it. Maybe try a few searches here in t/chevelle to locate the info on correct proceedure to do that test if you feel like trying it because that where i had seen it a while back.

scott

Ok thanks I will let it go and use 60 and 100 inch lbs

Thanks
HovsSS

Interesting thread here. I am going to have to read it again to make sure I understand all the versions... :)

Afterthought,some guys even test out the pan gaskets by sealing up the motor then intorducing a regulated 15lbs compressed air to the motor via the dipsticktube or v/cover pcv gomet to see if that can feel/hear any leaks in pan/timing chain area or rear of motor too,not a bad idea to try it.

Also interesting. Just a word of caution to others reading this - pressurizing something with air pressure can be extremely dangerous. The stored potential energy of compressed air is significant, and if something fails the potential for a grenade explosion is very real, even at low pressures. A box that is 12" x 12" x12" pressurized at 15psi has about 13,000lbs of force inside it! (each of the 6 sides of the box has 144 sq.in of surface area times the 15psi). The stored energy of a compressed gas makes this much more dangerous compared to something like water which is essentially not compressable. Please take great care.....

sorry off topic but the 4pc sucks

Ron,i suggested he do a search to get the proper proceedure to do the 15psi compressed air test which doesn't require you to close up the motor for a long period of time with compressed air,its just small timeframe hit of low regulated 15psi air which isnt an issue in that application.

I had seen the proceedure for doing it properly posted here in t/chevelle a while back and thought he could use it if he was worried about the 1 pc pan gasket sealing properly.

But like anything if you abuse or over do it anything can happen.

Scott