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Modifying the oil pan?

sled_dog

sled_dog

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Any done this or thought about modifying their oil pan? I'm thinking about adding a baffle at the back of the pan to try and keep oil from climbing the back of the pan away from the pickup. Anyone have some other thoughts on pan modification? Building a nice 383 and don't want any clearance issues of a big pan but don't want to be burn up my motor at high angles.
 
Pretty easy to do if you have access to a decent welder and sheetmetal fab tools. Moroso sells a prefab crank scraper that can be added to a pan in addition to maincap stud mounted windage tray.
 
Has anyone ever increased pan capacity? Namely cut the bottom of the pan off and extend it down for more oil capacity? Thinking about this plus some added baffling for a little more oil control. Car Craft does have an article but its mostly an ad for a Moroso Pan. It just shows how much the stocker sucks. They lean it to 45* all different directions and you see how uncovered the pickup becomes. Scary when you think of the angles our motors face. I bought a high volume pump, might be good, might have been a mistake... I goofed, meant to get a high pressure, not high volume, DOH. A little baffling work + maybe an oil accumulator(notice a drop in pressure, open that thing up) might help the 383 live.
 
I think you did right in getting the high volume pump. If you've got at least 10 psi per 1000 rpm you're good to go in a Chev engine. Any more and you're just wasting HP uselessly moving oil around.

There used to be a baffle that you could buy that fit btwn the pump and the rear main cap. I think they came stock in Vette engines. Idea was to keep the oil from climbing up the back of the pan and block under acceleration.

One of my frequent jobs when I worked for Ken's Automotive Engineering was to build one-off oil pans for drag and oval track race engines. I installed the oval track pan kit for Speedway Motors on quite a few non GM engine oil pans. Last pan I worked on I built from scratch except for the gasket rail. Allowed a front sump KA engine to fit into a Datsun 510 by moving the sump and the pick-up to the rear. The owner of car cut out all the pieces of my design and then I welded it all together. Search COG for the fuel tank baffles thread as I posted a drawing of the baffle design I used in that pan.

If you are going to weld on an oil pan I HIGHLY recommend that you do it when bolted to a spare block. It really sucks to have to break out the shims and smoke wrench to convince the gasket rail flat again. Can tack it off the block, but finish weld it bolted down tight.
 
If you build your own pan, weld a thick plate on the bottom for protection from rocks. I dented the pee outta mine on Indy in Colorado.
 
There are multiple stock pan capacities, off the top of my head 4, 5 and 6 quarts. 6 quart I *think* was a Vette application.

My dads got a big Vette pan laying around, I think they are baffled too. I have to check the truck one in my garage, I believe the stock baffle runs around the back end of the pan, but isn't much more than a 1" lip or so.

Here's the 4/5 quart stock external diff.

1569oilpans.jpg
http://coloradok5.com/photos/data/500/1569oilpans.jpg
 
I saw those baffles that bolt between the main cap and the oil pump, I am going to get one of those. I can see heat being a real issue here so thanks for that advice. Of course I have a junk block waiting if needed :D
 
FWIW I use Mineral Spirits for leak checking. If the MS will go thru the hole, so eventually will oil. Glyptal paint works well for sealing the inside of the oil pan should you have pin holes that can't be fixed.

I use a TIG for welding oil pans, but a pulsed MIG should work equally well.
 
mig welder and creativity and a way to cut sheetmetal is all that is required to customize a stock pan, add quarts, change shape, etc, it aint that hard to do,, :D


good luck
 
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