Technical ground clearance for oil pan

what's a safe ground clearance for the oil pan?

 

Define "safe".
You will get a lot of different opinions for a question like that.
My mind says 5 inches.....

 

There's 4" on my roadster.

 

So, I'm @ 3" inches now, and I'm not comfortable with that. I just put a 502 in it, and I'd like to keep the oil in the pan where it belongs. It's got a 5" drop axle and I put a pretty chrome spring with reversed eyelets on it. I really don't want to buy another axle, or spring, but It's a lot cheaper than another bullet. I would like another inch. Any suggestions?

 

More than if your car was on the wheels with no tires.

Lynn

 

Well above the scrub line. Speed bumps with the suspension going up and down can ruin your day.

 

Mine is stand a hard cigarette box on its side , clearance . Don’t smoke , no idea what the measurement is . Lowest point is right behind the front axle . Front sump Ford engine

 

All you really need, is 1/8 inch to be safe! Impact with road surface is no good at all.

 

Depending on the vehicle, add some arch or extra spring if it's a leaf spring front end. Probably the cheapest and easiest way to go.

.

 

As much as you can get.....

 

Depends on a few things - condition of the roads you plan to drive on, location of your sump plug, firm or soft suspension. Here in Australia we have to have a minimum of 4" clearance for everything to get full or street rod rego. I've got 4" on my coupe and no paint on the bottom of my sump from driving up country driveways so I'd say 4" minimum. Oh and my sump plugs at the back of the pan.

 

I wonder if I let the air out of the tires on 1 side, to get a general idea? I know it's a stationary measurement without the car bouncing, but it beats running over a set of spike strips and finding out the hard way! I gotta quit watching Cops...

Thanks! I thought 4" would be about the right #. After all, It's kept my wife happy for the last 20 years...

 

Taller front tires

 

Thanks, 56don, but i've got the tallest tire I can find for my 15" rim. Maybe I could find a taller front in a 16"?

 

What do you have for an oil pan now?

Could you use a dragster or low-clearamce circle track pan?

 

I'm at 3in.,but that's fairly close to front wheels* an front sump pan,, plus there is a 1/8 inch steel skid plate welded to bottom of oil pan.
Been this way for years,did ding it a few times.
Your Q,is a lot about what type roads you drive,an looking out well,also 4in. to 5in. would be much better.

 

5" & I've still scraped it a few times , can you put a spacer between your spring & mount ?

 

Could you add a skid plate ,when you have raised it some?

 

I too was uncomfortable at 3". I got to 4" by raising the motor another inch.
Motor mount at 3".........



Added a 1" length of pipe to the mount, raising the motor.......

 

Swap out the bottom leaf of the front spring for a standard one. Or put a spacer, or extra short leafs between the spring and crossmember.

Another option is a Milodon low profile oil pan.

Depending on how stiff your spring is and available stroke on the shocks you could get 2-2.5" of bump travel.

 

Yuppers. Busted the pan on my T bucket on a speed bump and a raised man hole cover the next time. Left and oil streak down the street on that one and my buddy had to tow me to the shop we worked at and he made a couple of phone calls and got me another pan.


Wheel base may have had something to do with it,

 

Wives' will lie a lot to get credit cards!

 

A picture would help, but hard to imagine just 3" of pan clearance and it being above the scrub line. But as been mentioned, you've got a number of options, chrome issues aside: axle with less drop, different spring, spacer above the spring, motor mount shim, lo profile oil pan. Depending on your front X-member depth, the spring shim and maybe a motor mount shim are the cheaper, easier, quickest fixes if they get you enough clearance. Good luck and let us know what you solution you use.

 

I have a buddy that built his car the way he liked it, pretty aluminum oil pan on a dual quad SBC. He tore the bolt out of that pan on his car trailer loading it up to go to the muffler shop. Too low can really harsh your mellow, man.

 

a lot depends on suspension travel - just jumping on frontend does not equate real world road travels - areas that have a lot of up and down rolling hills can create a momentum that will cause suspension to drop more than on a flat road. even the covers for the refueling points in ground at gas stations can cause plenty of problems

 

..... and then there are the dangers that have nothing at all to do with suspension travel. Speed bumps, raised driveway entrances, debris on the road, etc can scrape the barnacles off your oil pan no matter how slow you go.

 

Roads are horrible here in Pa. , yours may be better and that should be a condition too evaluate. My rule here is 4 to 5 inches providing your suspension can handle it , and on the stiffer side.

 

My pan sump is just over 4" above the ground. About the same as the center of the I beam axle. Sixty thousand miles without a scratch on either one.

 

Awww, man, you know you shouldn't have said that...... That Karma gal has big ears.....

 

Only if four inches is not enough.

On another note, someone above referenced a cast aluminum pan. This is much less forgiving then a stamped pan, if slight ground contact is made.