Did a search and read thru the stickies, but came up empty. I need to get an LQ-4 oil pan modified to clear the stock steering linkage on my 1955 Chevy. I know S&P provides this service, does anyone know if one of our sponsors can do this work?

 

its just aluminium right? take it to a local welding shop, show them what you want to clearence, and they should be able to cut out the section and weld in plate.

 

Just be carefull.. some of the pans can not be welded.. I ended up with one of them. I call S&P and they also stated that some of the earlier pan have junk metal in them and that oil gets in the pores and cause problem.. S&P seem to be the most successful at doing them.

I had two very good professional welder try it.. both came up with the same results.. black burns and poping during the Tig Welding.. due to the bad metal and oil... both do know what they are doing, we tried may thing, pre heading, cleaning with various methods.

One of these days.. I will find someone to try it again.

Good luck.

 

This pan is from a 2005 6.0. S&P also modifies the pickup tube. I have had bad luck with some local welders regarding aluminum and even though they werent completely successful, they had no problem charging those extra high New York prices. Starting to look like S&P is the right place. Just wanted to make sure I couldnt find one of the sponsors to do the work.

 

you could also try the vette batwing pan, alot more low profile, but alot wider. My dads got a 55 chevy pickup, we front cliped it with a camaro subframe, but I think it had some funny drag link behind the crossmemeber, is that what your running into?

 

Exactly. The steering linkage ( draglink) is behind the front cross member , by about 8 inches. The linkage hits the oil pan. The truck pan isnt too bad, but it still hits. The car has the original factory power steering so it looks like the only easy solution is the oil pan mod ( well known problem). If I had non-power steering, there is a dropped drag link available to clear the pan.

 

I ran into that one time and stick welded it after trying to TIG it. Wasn't the prettiest, but it worked. If I were you, I would probably call up Canton and have them custom make one.

 

You can try the Caddy's CTS-V pan. it is shorter from front to rear in the lower slump, but about 1"+ lower than a F-Body but way shorter than Truck pan.

What about coverting to a front Rack and Pinon. Seem to be a few kits out there.?

 

if your putting an ls1 in a 55 I dont think your worried about stock anymore. Maybe look into one of them aftermarket mustangII setups that go right over your frame rails? Indy front suspension and some nice disk brakes would help handle the power your going to be throwing at it. just a thought

 

Actually, this project started out, several years ago, as a true restoration. The car is a convertible and there just arent too many left. As the project evolved, I found I had the wrong engine and transmission for the car, so instead of searching for a correct setup and not wanting another 350, I decided to go with an LS type of engine with a 200-4r tranny. So far the only real change to the frame has been some holes for the S&P motor mounts and some more for the rear tranny mount. It needed brakes, so I went with a bolt on front disc setup, again, no major mods. A while back I had completely rebuilt the stock power steering so all that "stuff" is working fine and the money has been spent. The Mustang front end setup is starting to look interesting, but I would like to take advantage of my investments to date. We will see. I think a pan mod is about $200-250, so it is getting close to decision time. The Mustang front end kits are in the $600 range and I will have to add for the steering column change. Plan is to keep the car looking as original as possible and make it just a nice street cruiser, I have a new repro interior and the body will maintain the original look.

 

Has anyone tried steam cleaning the aluminum pans before trying to weld them?

A good welder told me to get the heavy stuff of and actually put the pan in the dishwasher with dishwasher detergent just like I was running a load of dishes. He said that would be the best way to clean it.

 

I considered modifying a used pan when I was working on my swap.

Every welder I talked to said I was asking for trouble.

Cast aluminum has some level of porosity. Oil works its way into the aluminum and its nearly impossible to get it out. But when you start welding on the pan, it causes all kinds of problems (inclusions, sputtering, etc).


Here is my view of your available options:
1.) Buy a brand spanking new pan from GM, and modify it. No oil = no welding problems.

2.) Have a custom made pan fabricated (they're really not that hard, especially with the flat pan rail) or buy one (there are a couple of vendors coming out with them). Material isn't all that critical, steel or aluminum will work.

3.) Modify a used aluminum pan and try your best to get the oil out. I like the dishwasher approach. I'd add one more step: Bake it in an oven at 400 degrees (or higher if you dare) to burn the oil that remains in the casting off. Eliminate the oil and you fix the welding problem. But the heat required to burn off the oil may cause the casting to distort (not sure where aluminum starts to get plastic) so that would be a concern.

You may be concerned when you read the GM literature that the pan is a "Structural Member". It is, but only slightly. There are 2 bolt holes that the 4L60E and 80E bellhousing can bolt to. GM added them looking to reduce NVH issues. The 80E and TH400, both ran the same bellhousing patterns without the bottom 2 bolt holes behind big blocks without issues. And your 200R4 doesn't have those bolt holes anyway, so why worry.

For my project, I ended up fabricating my own pan out of steel. A reasonably easy project, all things considered. Just cut a bunch of pieces of 16ga CRS sheet and some 3/8" x 2" CRS barstock.

'JustDreamin'