I'm looking at potentially making an oil pan (both upper and lower pieces) for a 2GRFE- it would essentially be a lower profile version of the IS350 pan, with a remote filter rather than the weird built in cartridge thing on the stock upper pan. Standard IS upper pan for reference:
As far as I can tell, I just need to keep the mounting surface flat (probably mill after welding), get the oil to drain to the sump, make sure the sump has enough capacity, and put some bungs on the oil ports for the filter. Probably add some baffles for good measure while I'm at it.
Are there other secret oil pan considerations I'm missing here, or is getting that stuff right and keeping it from leaking all there is to it?
I did something similar for both a rotary and Honda F20C. I was able to keep everything flat/square by building it and welding it on the actual engine block. All of the mass of the block acts as a heat sink and keeps your work piece from warping. There is some final sanding/flattening that was needed but only sandpaper on a steel table to make the gasket surface very flat. Having a "junk" and empty block around helps immensely for building an oil pan.
I do have a junk test fit motor laying around so it's good to know it can also work as a jig.
On some engines with the 2 piece pan, the upper is used to stiffen the block. That pan you posted looks pretty ridged. Is this possibly an issue on the GR engines?
Certainly could be, although the rest of the block is a lot thicker than the walls on this thing are. I see dry sump kits for this engine out there that are basically an aluminum sheet under the engine, so I think mine would be a bit stiffer than that at least.
investment cast, 3d print the model and have a job shop cast and machine it to spec for you.
Super fast matt on YouTube recently had an episode about making a pan for his viper.
Lots of good considerations he "learned" while doing it. Like don't use stainless steel.
Plus he's pretty funny too so worth the watch.
Definitely don't skimp on the baffling for the 2GR:
https://wilhelmraceworks.com/blog/2gr-oil-pressure
As for the stiffness issue, it does look like the stock upper pan is stiffening the block on this engine whether that's really required or not, if you want to avoid making the block less stiff than stock maybe you could use an extra-thick steel plate for the upper mating surface and give it some internal triangulation if convenient.
3D printing and casting could be a good option too if you don't mind an aluminum pan, I know those are more risky on a rally stage...
Edit: Or maybe a cast aluminum upper + fabricated steel lower as a compromise?
So, this stuff has been helpful, but now that I've been doodling around in CAD on the thing, the obvious questions start appearing as I try to get the engine as low as possible. How much slope is needed to get the oil to drain to the sump? How much gap from the windage tray to the nearest parts of the pan? I can find reasonable numbers for the pickup height from the bottom of the sump, but not these other things.
If I can't find more information, my gut says it's safest to keep things close to the minimum angles and clearances in the factory pan, but there must be more data out there.
I did a caddy 500 pan once. I was having trouble sourcing a rear-sump, so I cut the sump off a front-sump pan and spun it 180.
Didn't go well. I'm not the best welder, but even with it bolted to the block, it warped badly. When I took the bolts out it sprung into a very odd shape.
