Looking to add a windage tray and aftermarket oil Pan. Looking at the Tomahawk Windage tray, not usre on aftermarket oil pan. I wanted to find out from anyone here who has added an aftermarket pan what your experience has been as far as fitment, especially wiht headers and any other clearance or ground clearance issues???
Looking for comments and advice!!!
Thank you all again!!!
86 Pontiac 2+2 69 Firebird Coupe(Under Construction) 69 Firebird 4 speed Vert Driveable but Under Construction 64 1/2 Mustang (Under Construction) 86 Z28 Convertible Weekend driver
Howdy. FWIW, I recently rebuilt my 67" Firebird 400/4-speed. Stock manifold exhausts, no headers. I discovered that aftermarket pan that I ordered from Butler Performance, which was supposedly was a stock replacement, has too gradual of a slope from the front to the back of the pan and as a result the inner right tie rod (with zerk at end) rubs against the front passenger side corner of the pan when I make hard right turns. This rubbing caused a crack in my pan and I lost 2 to 3 quarts of oil within a few minutes! Measure the clearance you have between your suspension and tie rod and ensure that you have sufficient clearance. I am still looking for a stock replacement pan that can fit. y clearance issue could be due to a combination of factors such as change in position of the block due to new motor mounts, or a tie rod joint and zerk that is pointing in the wrong direction, but I have read other customers reviews of oil pan replacements and the clearance issues.
I restored my stock windage tray. Should you need a stock replacement I found a few used trays on www.firebirdcentral.com, saw that Ames Performance carries one and that Butler Performance has an option. I recall that there are short and long versions so you should confirm the dimensions of tray that you need. As for the oil pan, I've researched the pan dimensions issue and discovered that many of the aftermarket pans have clearance issues and people sometimes just dent in the corner where the inner steer arm impacts the pan to create clearance. I have also seen aftermarket pans which have the drain plug on the driver side where it is obstructed by the starter. I'll probably end up getting a zinc plated pan from Butler (the one I have now) and just dent in the corner to create the clearance between pan and the inner steering arm when making hard right turns. Three year drivetrain rebuild project and I am an oil pan away from completing the project. This clearance issue almost caused me to destroy my rebuilt engine.
Thank you for the great information! Sounds like you’ve really done a lot of work on this. I was looking at the tomahawk windage tray at Butler sells as well. Just haven’t been able to get straight answers about the oil pan so again thank you for the information about that!
86 Pontiac 2+2 69 Firebird Coupe(Under Construction) 69 Firebird 4 speed Vert Driveable but Under Construction 64 1/2 Mustang (Under Construction) 86 Z28 Convertible Weekend driver
Does you engine have the bosses on the main bearing caps to mount a windage tray? Because the stock Pontiac tray is mounted to those bosses and will fit perfectly. They are getting scarce but are available. The stock Pontiac 301 oil pan fits all bodies perfectly and has a baffle in the pan that the oil pump pickup fits into. I built a 1970 400 with those parts and I never experienced oil starvation no matter what I put the car through. Canton makes a copy of the OEM oil pan and to cover the 301 application it has the baffle inside. Baffled pan
