Moroso Oil Pan on 7 Bolt

[acemas99]

What I'm Looking For:
Pictures of your 2g bottom of engine/oil pan area with all components installed. Anywhere there is tight clearance to the oil pan, more detailed pictures would be appreciated.


The Plan:
I'm thinking of modifying a Moroso Oil pan to fit my 6-bolt block with a 7-bolt front case attached. I could just redrill the bolt pattern of my setup onto a 7 bolt oil pan, but I got this Moroso cheap on the forums here and I love it's baffling and increased capacity for my RR/limited street build. I have 2 basic concepts on how I want to modify the pan:

Option A) Cut the Moroso pan where the 7-bolt front case "hump" is and bolting a machined aluminum block there to create the curvature needed to mate to the front case.

Option B) waterjet a 3/8" thick aluminum spacer and machine the "hump" into it. This would allow me to leave the Moroso oil pan unmodified, but would move the pan downward 3/8". This downward shift is nice from an engine internal standpoint because it should relieve the 2.3 stroker interference issues I'm having with the pan in the stock position. This is my primary option, but I don't know if it will create clearance issues to the components around the oil pan, namely the exhaust. My car is in absolute pieces right now, so I have no means of mocking it up. If anyone could provide pictures of their 2g under engine especially in the oil pan / exhaust area, it will help me make a decision on how to move forward with this pan.

How did I get into this predicament?
I have modified the 7-bolt front case to fit for a variety of reasons, but in short I wanted to keep my balance shafts on my 2.3 stroker AND I wanted to maintain the crank trigger sensor for more accurate use of the 2g ECU, no random misfires, and maintaining the ability to adjust my cam gears without resetting the base timing. I would have loved to be able to run the Kiggly Crank Trigger sensor adapter, but I can't with my balance shafts. Also, now that the block has been modified to fit the 7 bolt front case, there is no turning back. This is all just FYI, and I'd like to keep the discussion based on the oil pan modification.

Picture Labels:

1) Over Simplified Moroso Oil Pan
2) Option A - Pan Cut and Drilled
3) Option A - Machined aluminum insert installed
4) Option B - CNC Waterjet Cut / Machined Flange
5) Option B - Close Up

 

[greengoblin]

You also have the engine cradle to worry about. I say cough up the money and move to a dry sump.

 

[greengoblin]

I would just have a CNC flange cut out that then would be welded to the pan. Then spacing is no problem. You could also have a channel cut into the mounting flange that would help keep the silicon from squeezing out when you bolt on the pan. That is what I would do anyway.

Andrew at Frontline Fab could do this for you.

Kevin

 

[acemas99]

Believe me the thought has crossed my mind. But being that my budget is stretched from this current 2.3 build and the dry sump is $5000, that is not going to happen....

Someday!

I agree completely on the flange being the better option for stroker clearance and simplicity. I was trying to avoid welding unless the flange will be machined after the weld, to avoid any heat induced warping. My thoughts were either an adhesive of some kind, bolting the flange on through additional fastners from the pan, or running it purely sandwiched in there.

Anyhow, all of these ideas are useless if the pan will be pushed down into the exhaust or any other component in the lower engine bay...hence the need for pictures!

 

[rhtwng2]

Man If you can make this work for the 7bolt by all means post up the fix. That Moroso Oil Pan is totally tuff looking, not to mention the added oil and baffling system.

 

[acemas99]

I've been moving forward with the design of this, and have settled on a laser cut aluminum spacer. I like Kevin's idea to put a RTV relief groove in the ring, and I'll try to incorporate that in the machining if it's not a big cost driver.

The only remaining question is whether or not I will have clearance to the exhaust and other under engine components.

I'm counting on you lucky ones with completely assembled 2g DSM's here! Any photos out there?