One of my main concerns when I was planning this car was the height of the engine. I didn't want to have to use a body lift for the hood to clear. I took lots of measurements before and during the build but I would never fully know until I had all the main parts together. Because of this I decided to mount the engine as low as possible. This included modifying the oil pan and it's pickup.

I started by lowering the motor close to the diff with the oil pan removed. Then I lined up the pan and scribed some marks. Once I had the pan in the vise I could cut out the area that had to be removed. because the drain plug was in the area I was removing, I had to weld it in another place. The new location further back will make it easier to drain the oil when the engine is in the Toyota frame. I filled in the hole with some 16 ga. steel. I calculated the loss of oil space to be around 200ml. I think with the added capacity from the bypass oil system I plan on running, I'm hoping there'll be no oil starvation problems.

After I had completed the primary work on the pan, I noticed that the pickup was hitting the piece I welded in. To fix this problem I simply cut most of the way thru the pickup tube, bent it, and then welded it back together.

I've tested both the pan and the tube for leaks with water and found none. But I've got a feeling once there's oil in the the motor I'll find a leak or two in the pan.