Has anyone cut the wings off a Batwing pan?
11-02-2008, 10:16 PM
#1
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Has anyone cut the wings off a Batwing pan? I'm looking for an oil pan on my 3rd gen Camaro project and it looks like the Corvette batwing pans are pretty cheap. I was thinking about trimming the wings for header clearance. Has anyone done that? I modified a 6.0 truck pan for my 71 Vette last year so the welding is not a problem.
12-08-2009, 07:56 PM
#5
I'm looking for an oil pan on my 3rd gen Camaro project and it looks like the Corvette batwing pans are pretty cheap. I was thinking about trimming the wings for header clearance. Has anyone done that? I modified a 6.0 truck pan for my 71 Vette last year so the welding is not a problem.
Sorry to hijack this thread, but do you have any pics or info related to your modified truck pan?
I would like to take some depth off of my truck pan to gain some ground clearance, but have had mixed advice from welders related to welding to the cast aluminum.
12-09-2009, 08:41 AM
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Here's a truck pan with about 1.75" taken out of it. Sorry I didn't mean to contribute to the thread hijacking, but you might find it useful if you are welding on to any cast aluminum pan.
This is the pan cut with a 6061 Al plate cut out sitting on top ready to weld in. The pan had already been through the dishwasher four or five times to get as much oil out as possible. I cut the bung out of the bottom of the pan to weld onto the aluminum plate
This is the pan without the bottom. You will have to modify the pickup too. This isn't the final version of the pickup tube
This is the modified oil pickup tube. It rides about 3/16" off the floor of the pan.
Here is a picture of the pan installed. Oil capacity is within about a half a quart of an f-body pan. I plan to overfill it by half a quart to get to the f-body capacity (this is a Jag XJS so it probably isn't applicable to you but I wanted to show the drain and the weld)
It is pretty tedious to weld. Mine was done on a Lincoln 195 TIG. It was done without constraining the pan and it didn't warp. The trick is to get the tightest joint possible and clamp the bottom to the pan with lots of clamps.
The plate I welded on was .25". If I was to do it again I'd use something closer in thickness to the pan wall. It was a bitch to control the heat between the thicker and thinner parts.
Total cost was $30 for the pan and about $10 for the aluminum.
This is the pan cut with a 6061 Al plate cut out sitting on top ready to weld in. The pan had already been through the dishwasher four or five times to get as much oil out as possible. I cut the bung out of the bottom of the pan to weld onto the aluminum plate
This is the pan without the bottom. You will have to modify the pickup too. This isn't the final version of the pickup tube
This is the modified oil pickup tube. It rides about 3/16" off the floor of the pan.
Here is a picture of the pan installed. Oil capacity is within about a half a quart of an f-body pan. I plan to overfill it by half a quart to get to the f-body capacity (this is a Jag XJS so it probably isn't applicable to you but I wanted to show the drain and the weld)
It is pretty tedious to weld. Mine was done on a Lincoln 195 TIG. It was done without constraining the pan and it didn't warp. The trick is to get the tightest joint possible and clamp the bottom to the pan with lots of clamps.
The plate I welded on was .25". If I was to do it again I'd use something closer in thickness to the pan wall. It was a bitch to control the heat between the thicker and thinner parts.
Total cost was $30 for the pan and about $10 for the aluminum.
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12-09-2009, 10:14 AM
#9
That's exactly what I need to do.
My pan just hangs down WAY WAY too low. I can't move my engine up any higher because of transmission tunnel/hood/firewall issues, and I can't switch to a different pan because I need the front to back clearance of the Hummer pan (AKA GM Muscle Car Swap Pan) to clear my drag link.
If I could take off the amount you did, I think it will be okay. The angle of the picture makes it look like it hangs a little lower than it really does.
I'll build a skid plate downwards from my crossmember.
Unfortunately I don't have any TIG experience so it's not available for me as a DIY project, and I can't find a welder willing to tackle the project. Well, one guy said he would do it. But he wanted $600.
What oil dipstick are you using? Did you have to modify it?
Is there a reason why you put the drain directly on the bottom of the plate? Is that where it was originally? on my pan, the drain is on the left side.
My pan just hangs down WAY WAY too low. I can't move my engine up any higher because of transmission tunnel/hood/firewall issues, and I can't switch to a different pan because I need the front to back clearance of the Hummer pan (AKA GM Muscle Car Swap Pan) to clear my drag link.
If I could take off the amount you did, I think it will be okay. The angle of the picture makes it look like it hangs a little lower than it really does.
I'll build a skid plate downwards from my crossmember.
Unfortunately I don't have any TIG experience so it's not available for me as a DIY project, and I can't find a welder willing to tackle the project. Well, one guy said he would do it. But he wanted $600.
What oil dipstick are you using? Did you have to modify it?
Is there a reason why you put the drain directly on the bottom of the plate? Is that where it was originally? on my pan, the drain is on the left side.
12-09-2009, 02:44 PM
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The drain is on the bottom because that's the only place I could figure to put it and still get the pan to drain. The truck pan comes out the side but it has a little ramp down to the plug that I couldn't duplicate easily in the welded up pan. Even if I scrape the plug, it isn't likely to rip out.
A lot of people worry about too low a pan, but maybe they are worried about nothing. The pan shown is for an XJS Jaguar that's going to get driven around town. My wife has a little BMW 330Ci and I will drive all the same type of places she drives. I measured the pan to ground distance on the BMW and it wasn't very much - less than 5", and there was no indication i'td ever been struck. The shortened Jag pan has like 9" of ground clearance.
Yes I shortened the dipstick and the dipstick tube. Those rat-basterds at GM dealer wanted $50 for an F-body tube and stick.
A lot of people worry about too low a pan, but maybe they are worried about nothing. The pan shown is for an XJS Jaguar that's going to get driven around town. My wife has a little BMW 330Ci and I will drive all the same type of places she drives. I measured the pan to ground distance on the BMW and it wasn't very much - less than 5", and there was no indication i'td ever been struck. The shortened Jag pan has like 9" of ground clearance.
Yes I shortened the dipstick and the dipstick tube. Those rat-basterds at GM dealer wanted $50 for an F-body tube and stick.
12-09-2009, 06:17 PM
#11
DPB069,
What are the factory LSx pan to pickup dimension? 3/16 sounds kinda tight. ( I am used to BBCs & SBCs )
What are the factory LSx pan to pickup dimension? 3/16 sounds kinda tight. ( I am used to BBCs & SBCs )
