First off I would like to say that I have been a supporter of the GRM since the mid '80s. EastcoastMojo, no problem, I appreciate the apology but I know how much effort and time that it takes to support GRM, no worries. I will try to replicate the response that I submitted a couple of days.
Yes I do work for Moroso and I have for almost 6.5 years, before that I worked at Canton Racing Products for almost 10 years. There is a reason why the Moroso oil pan with the black finish was designed the way it was. This oil pan design can accommodate Ford Racing engine blocks that have 4 Bolt main caps. The front of the oil pan is moved out so that there is enough room for the Front 4 Bolt Main Cap, this is reason the two corner mounting holes disappear. Going to the rear of the oil pan an inverted oil pan rail needs to be used to that there is enough clearance for the Rear 4 Bolt Main Cap to clear the oil pan.
There are a couple of different ways to build a racing/high performance oil pan. The first way is to base the oil pan on a new oil pan core stamping (such as the one in the image with the text under it that says "anybody know the reasoning behind this?"), a manufacturer would not want to base their product on a used oil pan core that would need to stripped, de-greased, checked for rust, etc.
These oil pan core stamping are available from a limited amount of suppliers, so the different Racing/High Performance Oil Pan Companies base their product on all pretty much the same oil pan cores.
Second way to produce an oil pan is too fabricate it from scratch, without using a oil pan core.
Without sounding like I am calling TeamEvil Reader out, I am just giving everyone information on the point brought up in his (her's) post. Unlike the typical SBC or BBC, Ford Racing/High Performance Oil Pans historically have been harder to get an end result that is perfect. This is due to a couple of reasons;
A. Variances in the oil pan core stampings that are available to the Racing/High Performance Oil Pan manufacturers
B. The oil pan core stampings that are available to the Racing/High Performance Oil Pan manufacturers that are best to base Racing/High Performance designs off of were originally designed off a front sump Ford application instead of a rear sump Ford application. Front Sump Oil Pan cores use the "older Style" oil pan gasket, the core itself has dimples along oil pan rails (rear sump oil cores don't have these dimples)and the radius of the front and rear seals is different than the rear sump oil pan cores. That is why we are very specific in our product information in regards to which gasket should be used for which oil pan. If the wrong gasket is used then there is the potential for leaks.
On Moroso fabricated Oil Pans in the past have had strips of punched out material for the side rails, the end seals are created by bending straps of material to follow the radius of the front timing cover and the engine block’s rear main seal. Welding sheet metal to these side rails and straps to build the rest of the oil pan. As you know welding creates heat so these side rails and straps were getting pulled in different directions, even when using jigs to build the oil pans on. The trick was to have proper distance between the oil pan, front timing cover and the engine block rear main seal, taking into consideration variances in gasket thickness(s) and gasket squish when tightened down. Our competitors produce their fabricated oil pans like above to this day but in some cases the side rails of their oil pans are not even strips of material, but is the folded-over material that is used to form the sump of the oil pan off of.
Realizing that there is a better way to build a Fabricated Ford Oil Pan, recently Moroso has gone away from using the straps for the seal areas, now our fabricated oil pans have front and rear seal areas that are machined out of bars of steel or aluminum depending what material is used for the rest of the oil pan. The end result is no leakage if installed correctly and better engine vacuum numbers. Toyman01 fixed(Thank You), my original post's image of a Moroso oil pan with billet seals
In regards to edizzle89, if you would like to contact me about your oil pan, we can add bungs, notches, block fit, and pressure leak test for you at no charge.
Sincerely,
Thor Schroeder
