Oil pan dilemma

[r-ceram2]

Trying to figure out an oil pan on a 66 Fairlane.427 S/O, flaming river manual R&P, the kicker is an aftermarket crossmember and front suspension think its Chris Alston.Trying to use a Canton rear sump pan, but needs about 3 more inches of clearance at the front.I see Aviad's dry sump set-up will work but ouch, thousands just for the parts, and then I am assuming you have to go with an electric water pump? Mocking things up with an FE block the machine shop let me use until mine is done ( a few weeks), to see what will or wont work. I would appreciate any ideas or advice.Thanks.

[jayb]

My advice is to buy an inexpensive steel pan and cut and weld to fit.  Some of the 4X4 truck pans might work well for that.  I faced the same situation when I put a strut front suspension in my 69 Shelby clone.  Just had to get to work with the saws and the welder.  If you end up with two sumps, one front and one rear, you can weld on a #12 AN fitting to each sump and connect the sumps together with a #12 AN line, to keep the oil balanced in both sumps.

[r-ceram2]

Jay-thanks for the idea.Its that or cut into the front subframe and move the r&p back also-we dropped the engine in to see exactly where we were at and the rack is also in the way.Moving the rack also means changing the steering shaft.One project leads to another.Oh well.

[cjshaker]

All the Canton rear sump FE pans that I've seen have the shallow front sump as well. That's probably were you're having problems I'm guessing? Like Jay said, the truck rear sump pan is the way to go. Flat on the front, sump on the rear. But if you look for one, try to find one with the stock pickup tube and special tapped main bolt for the tube bracing. If you want it deeper just lop off the bottom of the sump and put in an extra 2"-3"-4" or whatever you want...just like the factory deep sump pans and modify the pickup tube. You could probably get a Canton rear sump tube, available separately, and modify it for use if need be. Might be the better choice anyway if you're using ARP main studs or something similar.

[Barry_R]

The small front sump in the Canton is there to clear the oil pump.  Any oil that lives in there never gets circulated since the pickup is extended to the rear.  If you use a remote oil pump - a belt driven external pump will work without the expense of a full dry sump system - you could take that entire front sump off.