Cleaning Up the Oil Pan for Paint

[Tom Wesenberg]

After finding out how well oven cleaner worked on my block I used it on my oil pan. I sprayed the pan and dipper tray inside and out, then stuck them into a large garbage bag and twisted the end closed. I left them in for a couple weeks, then today I spray them again with a light coat of oven cleaner and brushed it around. I then rinsed them in hot water and dried them off. I then used my orange grit brush in my electric drill to finish cleaning the pan. The oven cleaner did most of the work.

Once I got a shine on the pan all the small bumps really stood out, so I used a hammer and punch to flatten them. For some reason one part of the pan had a lot of rust, and some pits that I'll have to sandblast. Normally you can find at least a few acid pits inside the pan, but this one was nice inside. There are two deep pits that I'll have to use my wire welder on. They don't go all the way through, but they are too deep for comfort.

There are two spots of brass on the inside corner of the lip where a broken rod hit the pan years ago, and someone brazed the small holes shut.