Oil, pan, front seal retainer
 

I’m calling it a retainer only because I do not know what it would be called but my question is why is it lined with solder?

Re: Oil, pan, front seal retainer
 

I have thought that the seal outer surface beds into the rough surface which prevents the seal from being spun in the retainer, especially on initial start-up when there is a lot radial torque applied to the seal by the crankshaft. Ford did most everything for a reason.

Re: Oil, pan, front seal retainer
 

I imagine that piece is soldered to the pan.

Re: Oil, pan, front seal retainer
 

Ford did a lot of fixing of parts that were initially rejected. You see a lot of brazing on a Model T crankcase. Although I would have expected brazing instead of soldering.

Re: Oil, pan, front seal retainer
 

I think the solder was to smooth out the transition between the two pieces of the retainer and keep oil from getting in under the seal so it won't try to rotate.

Re: Oil, pan, front seal retainer
 

Side note; some oil pans have been seen with a hole in the bottom of the rope seal trough.

Re: Oil, pan, front seal retainer
 

Yes, mine does have the whole at the bottom of the trough. I tried to repair the solder because a chunk of it was missing, but ended up heating it up too much so I scraped it all out. Should I replace the solder or not?

Re: Oil, pan, front seal retainer
 

It looks like Ford used Body Solder to fill that area. It will have to be well cleaned and tinned to get the stuff to stick. Ford likely had tools to shape it and insure it was sized properly. It might be easier to find another pan but the job is doable.

Re: Oil, pan, front seal retainer
 

Different solders have different ratios of the components, normally lead and tin. The ratios determine if the solder melts all together or has a slushy stage where it can be worked like putty. I don't know the ratios for body solder, called body lead, but it has a slushy stage during heating. The body lead was worked with a wood paddle. The steel was tinned with a steel wool that was saturated with a tin compound. I don't know the chemistry of the compound but it put a bright tin on the steel so that the body lead could stick. The solder used for joining wires has a ratio of components so that it all melts at a certain temperature and does not have a slushy stage. It is called eutectic solder. It is not a good choice for filling in voids such as on the oil pan in question.

I hope there is an old body man (or woman) out there who can add some information to this.

Re: Oil, pan, front seal retainer
 

The best tinning solution or powder was Dutch Boy but they banned the use of mercury additives due to almost certain exposure problems if no gloves were used. The EPA did away with all that stuff. The modern tinning materials can work but a person has to experiment with them for a while.

The solder is generally 30 tin and 70 lead or Sn30/Pb70. There were others with more or less tin. Fortunately, it is still available. The tinning butter is funky stuff. I miss the old Dutch Boy products.

It might be better to use something modern that you can work with. PC7 epoxy or one of the other putty type epoxies might be easier to get in there and smooth out. A person would need a disk that would help form the radius. Something like that would be a lot easier than going back to the dark ages with lead/tin solder.

Re: Oil, pan, front seal retainer
 

Rotorwrench has good point. Besides the question of why there is solder there, if someone is fixing a gap in a pan or other part, JB Weld or similar product would be a good choice. All oil and foreign material has to be removed with a final clean with acetone. A rough surface is best.

As far as I know, no one uses body lead anymore. Bondo is the material of choice now.