K10 350 Oil Pan replacement, what fits?

[KeyBlazer]

I am thinking about replacing the oil pan on my '73 K10.
I'm building a Wilderness camper rig, so I need good reliability and bulletproof...
Itsa stock 4 bolt 350 with front sump, drivers side dipstick.

The original is kinda scuzzy, and stock tin unit.
Ive looked at these cast aluminum ones...

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But I'm a little concerned about it fracturing if it takes a hit...

Id prefer a larger capacity pan like this one... but I'm concerned about clearances

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Advice?

Also, anyone bought or make a skid plate for the engine for these?

 

[6872xtc]

For offroad, I would stick with a steel pan, not cast. I have seen tin take a hit from a rock, shot out from under a tire, and then you just have a dent, not a fracture.
If you are stock height or close to it I would stay with a stock replacement, skip the extra wide pan, just in case the front differential got pushed up hard by a surprise bump or dip.
You may still be able to get a 2 quart oil filter, but they won't work well if you have headers.

 

[Wes Harden]

Front sump? You mean rear.
The aftermarket big pans interfere with the bellhousing support rods to the motor mounts, if your an automatic.

 

[KeyBlazer]

My bad!
Yes, rear sump.
Dana 44, 4” lift, and 35s.
Yes, 350, Th350 auto.
I don’t see any bellhousing to engine mount support rods… maybe I’m looking at it wrong.
My headers seem to be clear of oil filter…
Pics.

 

[Wes Harden]

Well 2 things I see, that doesn't appear to be a "K" case trans mission, and the brackets under the motor mount buckets are missing.
Unfortunately this is a common over site by people who think they know better than gm.
Difficult place to be in. My k20 burb came with a car th350 and missing those pieces. I have remidied about 3/4 of this on my truck. I still need left side bracket, oil cooler was in the way

 

[Wes Harden]

If that that pan is factory gm and doesn't have any dents or bent rails I would reuse it.

 

[Wes Harden]

I thought I had some pictures of the trans bell housing cover and the brackets, must be on an older phone. If you look close at flex plate cover you can see that it has 3 blots on ea side and they are 8mm x 1.25 thread instead of 1/4" 20 or 6mm x1.0 and only 4 on car trans.
The cover is thick cast aluminum with bosses for 10mm bolts to anchor the braces from engine mounts.

 

[KeyBlazer]

Ok.
Old pan is ok…
Just for the time it takes to strip, clean and paint I could get a new pan.

Truck came as it is.
One family owned it before me but I’m told the motor was rebuilt.
My concern is living in CA and I previously used to go out to the desert.
Slow and off-road with my camper and all the stuff I’m adding is demanding in the heat.
As per my build thread, I’m upgrading the radiator with a BBC unit, bigger trans cooler, and now I’m wondering if I should add oil cooler and maybe PS cooler.



Thoughts?

 

[Wes Harden]

I have all of the above, and the biggest Derale remote trans cooler, 62000 btu. My trans does pretty good, except up the back way to big bear towing up that 10% grade on 18. will get to 240 for a few minutes with only about 2800 trailer load. I did discover my trans temp gauge is bo, have flick it to get a reading new 1 otw.

A stacked plate cooler are more efficient than the tube and fin. But the tube and fin are better than nothing. I didn't go through my radiator at all.

 

[dyeager535]

I will have to dig and see if I did any oil pan measurements. From what I could tell when I did my Vortec crate motor, there is no depth difference between the four and five quart GM oil pans, at least in regards to ground clearance. What they did was make more of the pan deeper. I don't think it was the sump that was lengthened, but the step before the sump. Yours may already be the higher capacity pan. FWIW, IMO/in my limited experience, the aftermarket, cheap pans are pretty rough. Mine worked, but lots of jagged edges and pretty crinkled metal where it was formed. Nowhere near as finished as the stock pans.

Here's my oil temp after pulling a ~2000lb trailer at 65MPH up a mountain pass for about 15 minutes. Ambient temp 40-33* from bottom to top. Factory oil cooler, one quart filter, 5qt pan, high pressure/high volume oil pump, 10-w30 non-synthetic. About 2200RPM:

I enjoy learning things like this, I'm curious what others experiences have been in regards to oil temp.

 

[KeyBlazer]

Good info.
I bought this kit…
Weil and is a good make but let’s see what it’s like and if it fits… Amazon, so if I don’t like anything I can return.

Weiand 5001WND Oil Pan Kit- Fabricated https://a.co/d/4A52Hk3

This is an original AC truck, but I’m revamping everything on that system too. Bigger parallel flow condenser, etc.
My thought was to build a frame that mounts the trans, oil, and power steering coolers together as an assembly, with a large electric condenser fan in front of that. I don’t like these plastic zip tire mounts that they supply with cooler kits, even tho the ones I took off had been on there forever!

 

[6872xtc]

I have witnessed the zip tie mounts for an electric fan rubbing holes in radiator tubes, so I won't use them either.

I agree that you would benefit from oil and power steering coolers.

 

[KeyBlazer]

Got it.
I’m trying to build in reliability and bulletproof-ness from the outset.
Plan to use this more for fire roads and trails than serious off-road, so in my mind it’s going to be subject to vibration and lots of shocks, so I want them mounted properly.
This is my main thread if anyone has input I’d welcome it!

My '73 K10 Build

Its been a long time since I posted here! I bought a one family owned '73 K10 in 2007 I think... California Truck, 350/350/205, with AC. She had been sitting for a while, but had a Rancho 4" lift and 33s... This is what I bought... for $500...

ck5.com

 

[Wes Harden]

That pan will interfere with the support braces from motor mounts if you ever intend on installing them

 

[KeyBlazer]

Ok.
I don’t have these parts, and no idea how important they are.
Let’s see if it fits and i’ll go from there.

 

[Wes Harden]

W/o the braces, with big tires aired downed, good traction, heavy truck, low range, could result in a torn bellhousing.

 

[KeyBlazer]

Not disagreeing.
Just don’t know if there is a solution.
Maybe I can tie a fabricated oil pan skid plate from engine to bellhousing…

 

[Wes Harden]

I would be on the look out for a "K" case for your truck. Those cases have stronger bellhousing and with the much stronger cast aluminum flex plate cover. Then try and fab something

 

[1-ton]

I do not know about that drag racing oil pan you bought working real well with an off-road truck. Your going to have fun dealing with that oil pan pick-up tube that have to use with that drag racing oil pan. When I bought a new small block crate engine for my square body I just bought a simple Chines made 5-quart oil pan made by Dorman from Summitracing.com. It has been on my new crate engine for about 15,000 miles now with no brace bar fitment problems or leaking. It works with the stock oil pump pick-up tube and everything.

 

[1-ton]

I also bought one of these oil pump pick-up tube retainers as well for cheap insurance.