Going back to original oil pan coz of clearance, w/abt 550 HP ~ Good or Bad ??

[Chryslerdude]

Hey Mopar-Guys

I need a little advise, before deciding if I am going with a stock oil pan. I have a 440 in a 68' with a Milodon Street and Strip, and while the thing might be fantastic for racing, with the obvious extra oil capacity, I find it equally impractical, for regular driving.

Ever since I inspected my 68' from below, I hated that thing. It sticks so much deeper than the K-member. As soon as the Charger is in the air, it stares at me, and as I like to keep my Charger as low as possible, I see this pan as just waiting to hit "something roadish". The previous owner who installed it, apparently also knew it was bad, as he made a little (pretty decent shape and gauge), shielding plate with nice rubber mounts in the rear, but the damn thing scraped on the uneven roads, and turned out to be  annoying. Twice, I tore the shield off, while backing up.. and the damn thing folded forward like tin foil, resulting in me having to drive carefully back to my garage / lift, and bang the thing back in shape, and swap the mounts.. It SUCKED, and had to go.. a few weeks later, I scraped the pan itself, and the poor thing had to be welded.

My car was born 318, and still has the 318 bars, so it probably does dive more now, than it will when I get the "HD torsion bars" mounted, which I already ordered / received for it. BUT, as I see it, I don't think that will ever achieve the original clearance, which is minimum before I will feel safe with with this pan, so the question is...  Can I go stock pan? I kmow the stock pans come in different depths / capacities too, but I just hope to be able to use one, that don't stick deeper than he K-member. 

The engine has been "lovingly transformed", to produce abt 550HP, and it runs lovely. Also, a separate oil cooler (Radiator mounted), has been installed.

An "clearance saving alternative" to a stock pan, could be the Milodon "ROAD RACE or PRO TOURING STREET CAR" pan, but I am not sure, if this one will also eat into my beloved ground clearance. I read that the "Street and Strip" which I got now, is 7½" deep, and that the "ROAD RACE or PRO TOURING STREET CAR", is 5½", so I think it's a lot of money AND trouble, for 2 inches, but then again.. it might just be enough. I don't "race" very often, and when I do, it's not for more than maybe a few min, but I do have a a bad habit of smoking tires..   


I guess that it all boils down to something like: "will my 440, in it's current state, survive running with a stock pan, and pick up, or should I get the "ROAD RACE or PRO TOURING STREET CAR", which will cost me an arm, three legs, and half my pancreas (550 USD), and probably double before it has been ordered, and shipped across, taxed, and delivered and installed.. all just for 2" ?

Any thoughts or comments on this, input will be appreciated !  Will be happy to provide pictures, and more info if needed !  440 Thnx'es in advance ! 

:-)K

[heyoldguy]

http://www.manciniracing.com/ststheoilpa61.html

[Troy]

http://www.manciniracing.com/ststheoilpa61.html

Troy

[Chargerguy74]

I have the same pan on my 440. It hangs way too low for comfort. I installed an oil pressure switch to kill my fuel pump for when I rip my pan open driving these Alberta roads. I plan on swapping pans when it's convenient...but I'm sure I know what'll happen first.

[HPP]

The special pan above wouldn't be bad as it has some ledges for oil control. It won't have additional capacity, but if you aren't racing, that may not be an issue.

The road race pan is probably the ultimate for clearance, oil control, and oil capacity, but it is spendy.

[69wannabe]

http://www.manciniracing.com/ststheoilpa61.html

I have this oil pan on my 493 and it works great!!! Great ground clearance.....

[PRH]

I ran that pan for years...... Never an issue.
But...... I had pretty tall front tires, the car sat fairly high in the front, it had 6cyl bars, 90/10 shocks, and no away bar......so I didn't drive it very aggressively.

I'd probably replace that with a Milodon Hemi pan(30761) and the matching 3/8" pick up(18660) if I wanted some more clearance.

[68pplcharger]

I run the Milidon road race pan on mine and it doesn't stick lower than the k-frame. Don't have a picture in the car from underneath, but you can see the type of pan from the picture. Street/strip pan wouldn't hurt the pocketbook as much though and provide the same clearance. My car only sits 24 1/2" from the ground to the front wheel opening. pan is great

[birdsandbees]

Never had an issue running the stock 402 pan.  

[Chryslerdude]

http://www.manciniracing.com/ststheoilpa61.html

Troy

Thnx a lot Troy, and Heyoldguy, and everybody else who has taken time to comment..   

I think that the Mancini HEMI pan looks like a winner.. Could any of you "Mancini-pan-recommender's" tell me, if the this pan sitcks deeper than the K-Frame ? 

I even like the color (NOT a big fan of gold parts on my Mopar)..  AND the fact that it comes with a pick-up included does'nt hurt either... :-D

The previous owner spent a FORTUNE on the engine.. but not a single dime on the rest, so I am balancing that now.. ;-) He also did other modifications to the engine, of which I'd like to swap the most VISIBLE ones, back to a more original look.. This means "bye bye" to the aluminum valve covers, and Hooker headers, and I'll look into painting the alu heads, and I might try to hide the MSD somewhere if possible.

Thnx again..!  :-)K

[Chryslerdude]

I run the Milidon road race pan on mine and it doesn't stick lower than the k-frame. Don't have a picture in the car from underneath, but you can see the type of pan from the picture. Street/strip pan wouldn't hurt the pocketbook as much though and provide the same clearance. My car only sits 24 1/2" from the ground to the front wheel opening. pan is great

Thanks man.. I also like this pan a lot, and if I recall correctly, it even has a nice windage tray welded into it.. but I'd have to paint it, as my whole block has had some sort of chemical treatment, silver-chromish and the fact that I just don't race that much, makes me wonder if the close to 600 USD is wasted on my Charger.. but it sure looks fine.

Still not 100% if this is the one to go for..   

[Chryslerdude]

I have the same pan on my 440. It hangs way too low for comfort. I installed an oil pressure switch to kill my fuel pump for when I rip my pan open driving these Alberta roads. I plan on swapping pans when it's convenient...but I'm sure I know what'll happen first.

Ha ha, that was just my feeling, until the day i decided to overtake some (unfortunate non-Mopar) friends down hill, end when the road evened out to vertical, it happened. I heard a very moderate volume sound "Xchrrrt", abt 50 ms duration. As I had not heard the aforementioned shield for months, I knew right away what it was.. and turned off the ignition, but what I did NOT anticipate, was the HUGE smoke cloud that followed, OR the fact, that the oil drained as fast as it did, through that relatively small hole.. There was oil spray everywhere under the car, and the "Government Road service Crew" came within 5 minuttes on a saturday EVEN :-D, with something like 7-8 trucks and cars, to inspect, and spread half a ton of cat litter...  what an excellent show it was.. and they never even charged me..   :-D