cruisin'73

iTrader: (8)

Note* After typing this all out I realized I am coming off as a bit of a ***** and that is not my intent. I guess I am hoping to act as a grounding rod to help remind you to not sweat every little detail. That said, here ya go.

I am not normally one to question a man's motives, but this just seems a little out of control to me!

Pouring all this energy into a fixing an oil pan that:
A) is USED
B) Can be replaced with another used oil pan for < $200
C) Can be replaced with a new GMPP oil pan for $230
D) Can be replaced with a Holley/MAST/Modine pan for < $400 (that requires NO effort to fit properly)
E) You are not even sure IF the warpage would cause any negative effects. (and a majority of the posters seem to agree it would not)

Now before you think I am just another rich ***** with piles of money. And I enjoy rub everyone's noses in it by telling them to buy the same awe inspiring billet CNC, carbon fiber designed for John Force racing and touched by the hand of God part that he bought. I am afraid that is not the case. I am a low-buck garage built boy running a chopped truck pan under my carb'd 5.3 swap that I funded with my beer budget. I am all about pinching pennies, and sticking it to the rich guy with a cheap solution. But I also try to strike a balance as I am aware my time is valuable.

So why all the effort? Measuring, cutting, heating, stress relieving, re-welding, fixturing, re-measuring, brazing and milling. When there are other less time consuming options? It seems like you jumped right to the more complex solutions first. Why not attempt the simple options first? Bolting it to the junk block with a gasket and check it. Sand the high corner with a flat block. Face milling an R.C.H. off the entire gasket surface? Then, if none of those options succeed, move onto the "high effort" options.

I think you may have fallen victim to "Analysis Paralysis" and are over thinking something that is far more simple then you have worked it up to be. Don't feel bad, we have all been there, and we have all gotten over it. Pride bruise and lesson learned.

Take my words for what they are, MY words. Above everything, I hope you are learning and having fun! That is what this whole car building hobby is about IMO. So whatever solution you choose, I hope you are having fun and wish you the best of luck!

usdmholden

edit - The warpage is not just a high spot. The warpage starts at the rear most section of the weld, and pulls the front of the oil pan off the bottom of the block .060". To remove material I would have to cut down the entire back section of the oil pan about .060", that's about 14 inches down each side of the pan, and about 11 inches along the back of the pan. To add material I add about 6 inches down each side and 11 inches on the front. If none of this works, I'm really not out anything more than just time, and I can still buy another pan.

Understood, but:

A) I already own it, so not sure how it being "used" really makes a difference.
B) Another oil pan will still need to be notched since the engine/trans are lowered (about 1.450") and moved back (about .660") as far as they are.
C) An OEM fbody oil pan interferes with the steering rack given the lowering of the engine. The fbody oil pan is the shortest pan available, unless I convert to dry sump, which I/m not going to do. All other oil pans are very tall in comparison. A truck pan is much taller than an fbody pan and won't fit without much more notching than the fbody pan requires.
D) Maybe there is an aftermarket pan, but frankly I doubt it, and I don't see the need to spend money on one which is unknown and prove whether my hunch is wrong or right. The Mast oil pan is the only one that comes even close, but it is 1.71" tall at the front, and the fbody pan is only 1.375" tall, and I add .125" for 1.5" total. The Holley pan is 2.4" tall. I have never seen a Modine pan. So in fact, there are no pans that work without modification to either the pan or the motor mounts.
E) I have clamped it down to completely flatten it out, and frankly, it requires so much torque to flatten out, I don't see how it would NOT fail long term. Maybe I'm wrong, but if I'm right, then I lose oil out the bottom of the pan in some random location. Or I could just make it work before I put it all together.

Setting the engine as low as it is both lowers the mass center and allows me to install an Edelbrock 7140 under the stock hood. The stock hood can't be used with the 7140 intake if I raise the engine to fit a different pan. Setting it as far back as it is helps mass center longitudinally. I'm not building a drag car. If I was building a drag car I would have just slapped it together with an AJE swap kit. Honestly, I have owned fox Mustangs since 1989, and I have always thought the cowl hoods were ugly. I've never actually owned a cowl hood, even on my former fox race cars, and I still do not want one.

If I modeled the entire chassis in SolidWorks and placed the engine in the chassis within the CAD system, and designed a set of equal length 29" long tubes for my specific application, and then built them, would I also be crazy for not using the Kooks or Dynatechs which are made for some other application, which also will not fit just like the other oil pans won't fit? If I fired up Solidworks and designed my own short throw shifter which relocates the handle to same location as an OEM Mustang shifter and results in 4.5" longitudinal throws instead of the 10" throws that the OEM shifter and extended handle produced, would I be crazy for not buying an aftermarket shifter that is not specific to my application, and therefore would not work a whole lot better than the OEM shifter?

This is a hobby, people do it to entertain themselves. There are many ways to entertain ones self other than by just driving the car. I enjoy design and fabrication just as much.

cruisin'73

iTrader: (8)

You hit the nail on the head. If you are enjoying it, you are doing it right!