MTFCA Forum

Has anyone ever removed this and left it off? It’s impossible to clean under.

I’ve cut the rivets from the inside, punched them out and cleaned the plate and pan. I have not left the plate off. You got to fill the holes anyway, it’s easy to rivet it back and put a little brass on the outside.

Just take out the plug and take something like a bent screwdriver to get in behind it and scrape it out. No need to remove it. Anything which gets down there is not going back into the engine anyway. You just need to be able to drain the oil.
Norm

Yeah I needed to pull it out to get the shape back. It looked like it was dropped on the plug and pushed it in pretty bad. I’ll braze it back in.

After you get the plate off, screw the plug in from the inside, it gives a good surface to strike to restore the pan. A one inch diameter dowel about a foot long, makes a good drift for the job.

What is the purpose of the baffle? is it to trap metal bits and carbon fragments?

My 1915 pan had been dropped and dragged on concrete. So that was what I did. Removed the baffle, repaired the sump, then brazed the baffle back in.
Leaving the baffle out might be sort of okay? But I wouldn't recommend it. It acts as a catch filter for debris in the oil. I have have found several items in a few pans over the years. Small bolts, lock washers, cotter pins. All sorts of junk that gets dropped inside and forgotten, or breaks loose unknown, can end up in there. Without the baffle, those things would get churned up and circulate around again and again. And if they find their way into just the wrong spot? Your entire transmission could "hand grenade" itself!

I once changed the oil in an engine I had rebuilt a few years before. I know for a FACT that there was nothing inside that drain when I assembled the engine. I know for a FACT that I did NOT drop or lose anything in that engine. I was always very careful about such things. I don't know where in the engine it had hidden, or how I missed it when I rebuilt it the first time, but it shook loose from somewhere. And if not for that baffle? Who knows where it might have ended up?

My lazy way is to use about 120 psi from a small nozzle while introducing solvent or gasoline into the spray. This cleans old gunk out to my low standards but if the drain area is bent up, I’d follow Bob’s advice.