I recently replaced the oil pan on my Formula: here's the story.
How a pan full of oil can rust I don't know, but I've seen a lot of rusty ones. When I cleaned my up and painted it to stop the rust I found that I was too late: it started to leak.
It took three calls to the dealership to find the old timer who knew how to use the crossreference list to get the correct current part number. He said it was on a limited availability list, so if you are about to need one, better hurry up. The pan was about $60, the gasket around $30.
Research with the Net|List suggested it was a 'no problem' project, although Jerry Isbell had a scary story from a dealership that had charged him a lot for the job. I figured they got one past him, but I was wrong.
This was a BIG job. The right engine mount and exhaust pipe were both issues. The sequence was as follows:
Removed right rear wheel
Detached right engine mount frame from block (working through wheel well)
Lifted engine
Removed right engine mount from cradle (twisted off one bolt)
Removed starter, flywheel cover, all pan bolts.
Removed half the exhaust system springs and both rear mounts.
Detached exhaust from crossover pipe (twisted off one bolt)
Pulled exhaust to side and removed oil pan.
Of course I had to fab a new engine mount bolt and remove the crossover pipe to fix that twisted off bolt, so the entire project took me about 8 hours, and that's with the car up on the lift.
So now I'm holding oil, but it was NOT an easy job.
From: Keith Peterson