Front sump aftermarket oil pan and other suggestions?

[NUTNDUN]

Hey gang,
I already have an aftermarket rear sump oil pan on the motor but I was having issues with the oil getting away from the pickup. I am pretty sure the pan is an older canton pan. I am not sure of it's capacity. It was on the motor when I bought it. It was painted black but has the gold iridite finish under the paint. I am think about switching pans to a moroso kicked out front sump 7 qt pan. I don't know if there is enough room though. The motor is out of the truck right now because I had trouble with 4 valve springs breaking which is a whole nother post if anyone wants me to elaborate LOL.

I wouldn't mind switching pans because then i know what I have and can go from there, but then part of me doesn't understand why a different pan would do me any better. The old pan has a crank wiper on it and I don't think there are any baffles in the sump. I think part of my problem before is just not having enough oil in the pan with not knowing how much it would hold. The oil pressure never dropped lower then 30 psi but it would randomly drop 5 - 10 psi and then I seemed to notice it did it more so when braking or going around a corner but it wasn't all the time. Since I have the motor back apart I want to make sure it is right. I am putting a new M83HV oil pump in it.

If I use my old pan I want to fill it and make my marks on the dipstick of where it should be. If I do this how high should the oil level be? I don't know what the capacity is of the pan. This is the closest pan I can find that resembles the one thats on there now http://www.cantonracingproducts.com/cgi ... key=15-644

I am all ears on suggestions.

[BobbyFord]

Sounds to me like the oil pan and oil pick-up are not matched.

[NUTNDUN]

That's why I almost want to go with a new pan and pickup so it is a known thing. The thing that sucks is now the motor is out and I can't measure the clearances to see if a front sump would fit. I would like to go with a front sump so the pick up is shorter and I won't have to worry about making the bracket work for a rear pickup with the main girdle. The one thing I don't like about a front sump is it will put the drain plug right over top of the crossmember and make a mess.

I guess the question is does anyone know if a aftermarket front sump pan will clear the crossmember? From what I remember when the motor was in it seemed like there would be room. I know it would give me more room for the start and the headers.

[robroy]

Hello George!

I just got done choosing an oil pan for my new FE engine in my 1972 4x2 F250--you may wish to check out the thread for that:

http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... &sk=t&sd=a

Like you, I had to measure the clearance between the under side of the engine block and the crossmember. It was around 6" or 6.5" on my truck. It's not super easy to measure because, as you know, the crossmember is kind of lumpy; it's not a perfectly flat, uniform surface.

With 6" or 6.5" of clearance there, I don't think many extra capacity front sump pans will fit.

By the way, the two pans that I finally had to choose between where the Milodon 30740 and the Dooley Enterprises 9 quart, full sump pan. I chose the Milodon because it seemed like more of a "sure thing" and was a lot less expensive, but you may wish to go with the Dooley if you're up for investing some cash in a high capacity pan.

Robroy

[NUTNDUN]

Looking at your pictures, my motor seemed to sit a little higher but I think you might be right about probably only about 7" clearance max. I like the canton 15-694 which is almost identical to the one I have now but it has extra baffling and i know it would fit. I still wouldn't mind reusing my current pan but I don't think it has the baffles needed for street us. That and I kind of forgot what the inside looks like, it is at a friends house where the truck is right now till we get moved. Before I originally put the motor together and in the truck I measured the distance from bottom of block to bottom of pick up and I also measured the height of the sump of the pan including the thickness of the gasket and it was within 3/8". I know 3/8" is all the further you want it to be away. It sucks right now having the truck 40 minutes away from me until we move.

[robroy]

Hey George, yeah I know how that is having the truck a ways away. Mine is an hour away and has been all along, which means I can only visit with it on the weekends. During the week, with rush traffic and all, it's actually about 90 minutes each way for me. There's nothing like being able to walk out in the yard and take a look at something whenever you want!

Robroy

[NUTNDUN]

It will be back in my garage once I get it back together and we move in two weeks. I am just too anxious to have it back together again. I am going to go down tomorrow and evaluate the old pan and decide if I should get a new one or not. I never did check the old one for baffling. I know it has a scraper and a sort of windage/slosh baffle. The rear sump is like 13" wide so the oil has alot of room to move if there isn't any baffling.

When I first got the truck together I put in 6 qt's plus what the filter holds and then we added another quart about 2 weeks later once I got it on the road and noticed the random drops in psi. I am guessing the pan is an 8 qt pan but I am going to measure it tomorrow also. If it is an 8qt pan that would mean I was a quart low and could be the cause of the random drops. I can always add a washer or spacer to the pick up to lower it into the pan a little lower or tweak it.

[BobbyFord]

Put a straight edge across the gasket surface on the oil pan and measure the depth of the pan at the oil pick up area, then with the oil pump mounted on the block measure from the pan gasket surface of the block to the depth of the pick up. The pick up should not be more than 3/4" (at the most) from the bottom of the pan. I like mine about 1/2".

[NUTNDUN]

I did measure it and it was right around 3/8" clearance. I am going to double check it when I go down today or tomorrow. I am also going to check to see if it has baffles in the sump. If it does then I am going to reuse the old pan and check to see how much oil it should hold before I put it on the truck and also get the dipstick marked for the correct oil level.