FE Power Forums
FE Power Forums => FE Technical Forum => Topic started by: fairlaniac on November 21, 2019, 05:49:13 PM
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I picked up a Moroso 8 qt. pan. On my Fairlane currently the stock 390 pan is 2-1/4 inches shorter than this Moroso. Stock pan is about 6" off the ground, the Moroso would be 3-3/4" off the ground. This is a street car mainly. Building a new 427 (484) for it. I see potential issues should I encounter road kill but does anyone run a similar pan or have similar ground clearance? Thoughts? Any pictures of your ground clearance?
Thanks,
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I have the original 8 qt pan I think it’s cx8 something and never had a problem
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I have a Milodon deep sump pan. Never had an issue. Only thing I had with my pan on the '67 Fairlane was the pan slightly hit the lip on the front of the crossmember right where the pan dives to the sump. The engine would not sit on the mounts. I installed the pan with a factory-type windage tray and wasn't about to take everything back apart, so I shielded the pan and whipped out the plasma cutter and just trimmed off the crossmember lip. Again, this was a Milodon pan, so a Moroso pan could be different.
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Doug,
Perhaps a happy medium would be a Canton 7 qt set-up. The Pan holds six plus one in the filter. Hangs down the same amount as Crites 2” tubes, ( Mad Dog). If I recall your car is not above average ride height. The Canton would be less scary than the Moroso. JMHO
JB
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I had the Moroso pan on my 427 and it hung down too low. It bottomed out after a small rise and dip at an intersection in Spokane and dumped 8 quarts on the streets of downtown. I shortened it up so I could run the stock pickup and it still holds more than 7 quarts.
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I've got a 8 qt Moroso pan from the 70's and it does hang low but no lower than my headers. Fortunately my car sits high as as was the style in the late sixties and seventies.
If you have concerns, you may want to go to a Tee pan.
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I'm putting an FE in a '66 Mustang. I'm using the Canton road race pan and as I'm trying to locate the engine I was also wondering what an acceptable ground clearance would be. Regardless of which pan is used, what is a good worry free clearance 4"?
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Doug here is what I am running on my 66 with a 520 Fe in it. It sits about flush with the crossmember.
https://kevkoracing.com/collections/fe/products/fe102-br-t-style-front-sump
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Sweet looking engine.
I don't know what Doug is going to run for tubes but some T pans will have interference with number 5,6 or number 1,2 as they make the turn to go under the crossmember.
Obviously not a problem with FPAs.
JB
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My 64 Fairlane had the pan less than 3" off the ground, this worked fine for drag racing but the front springs are way too soft to allow that little clearance on the street. After squashing the pan on a wheelie I made a shorter height pan with a longer sump to retain the volume and now the headers are the lowest spot.
On street cars i've run the pan 3" off the ground with no problems, that is with stiff enough front springs that it won't bottom hard all the time and watching for raised man hole covers on repaved roads.
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My Crites headers hang down lower than my deep sump Moroso oil pan. So they get banged up before the oil pan. This is on a '67 Cougar.
The worst situation is speed bumps, in my experience. As you go over the speed bump my car drops right on the lowest point of the headers. I drive VERY slow over speed bumps now.
paulie
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I've got a 8 qt Moroso pan from the 70's and it does hang low but no lower than my headers. Fortunately my car sits high as as was the style in the late sixties and seventies.
If you have concerns, you may want to go to a Tee pan.
Within a couple of months of getting my brand new '64 Custom/427, I was told by DST guys that I needed a pan that would hold a couple of extra quarts. I went to the bone yard and bought an FE pan. I cut the sump off of it straightened out the edges on the cut, and welded the extra sump to my factory pan. I cut a hole large enough to be able to put the pick-up through, and added a piece of electrical thin-wall in the center of the pick-up tube as an extension.
The pan was then, for all practical purposes, two sumps deep, but I was also, using the then-best-thinking, running spring jacks in the front coils, so the pan was probably three inches further toward the ground at rest. I never had a problem with ground-contact, but the raised front end made the handling very light when, with a 3.50 gear, I got up above 130 MPH or so out on the interstate, On the other hand, third gear in the Top-Loader was good to about 125 and made an EXCELLENT passing gear when some pesky 409 thought he wanted to play. :)
KS
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I may need to consider a shorter pan? My car sits lower due to a slightly shorter front spring and running 215/60/15 tires.
(http://www.fairlanet.com/images/fairlane_ocmd_2014.jpg)
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What is the consensus on minimum ground clearance (either oil pan or headers) for a street-driven car with stock springs? Is 4 inches enough? 5 inches? No less than the sidewall height of your front tires to prevent scraping in the event of flat tires?
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No less than the sidewall height of your front tires to prevent scraping in the event of flat tires?
That is what I was thinking a minimum would be. Awareness of road debris and other obstacles just need to be dealt with.
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Minimum ground clearance is 1/4" higher than your average raccoon.
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Raccoons around here get pretty big, I'll have to install a lift-kit and I really don't want to do that!
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Since your pan sits basically over the front wheels I would think at least the distance of a compressed shock or to the snubber, plus a margin of safety, to clear any speed bumps.....JMO