I’m confused because there seem to be engine mounting bolts that bolt into the engine through the pan. I haven’t been able to find straight answers on this anywhere, but I feel like that is probably the only place the engine is mounted or at least a very significant one (and I don’t trust my own eyes alone, but I haven’t found anything else that look like engine mounting bolts anywhere else). So when I remove them, I am kind of like… okay, so is this engine going to fall out of the vehicle on me now?

Thank you very much. My other worry was about like… bugs, or mice, but the other comment here says those probably won’t have gotten far…?

Oh this is fantastic news I was panicking. Thank you very much. You don’t think I have to worry about… insects, even? I’ve pulled an engine apart before (just… not one that was ever going to go back into a car, so I didn’t have to be too careful putting it back together), so I know a bit of what I’m looking at w the crankshaft and pushrods once I get the oil pan off. I guess I felt like there would be bugs living up in there now, though I suppose they’d have died the second oil got on them, huh.

Well, I may have answered my own follow-up question. Thank you very much.

I don’t wanna take too much of your time today, but can I ask what kind of cleaning process you’d do for this before putting the new pan on? (Or just what to look up on YouTube to find that from someone else, if you’d rather.)