After a few good long soakings and several rinsing sessions the valley pan came out pretty clean, probably 95% of the accumulated crud was cleaned out of it.
Going to put the intake back on so I can use my lifting plate to put it on the engine stand. I want to remove the oil pan to clean it out and check on the condition of the bottom end.
First the valley pan.
Now the intake.
Lifting plate installed, ready for the engine hoist.
Warming up the sump a bit with a heat gun to help the cold oil drain a little better.
Dirty old oil - it looked like 4 or 5 quarts drained out, a good sign.
Pulled off the auto trans flex plate and bellhousing. A bit of a strange arrangement compared to the later Pontiac design, first you must remove the flex plate and drop it straight down out of the bellhousing. Next there is a rear sheet metal shield that attaches to the bellhousing with two bolts as well as the two rearmost oil pan bolts, the shield also serves to support the rear oil pan sealing area. After all that you can finally remove the cast iron bellhousing.
Up on the engine stand, ready for oil pan removal as soon as I get some time.
