suggestions: oil pump hitting pan baffle

69machmike

Member
Sep 13, 2009
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7
Colorado
I am installing my new oil pan (reproduction) on the 351C and the baffle seems to be hitting my oil pump. Of course this makes installation of the pan impossible.

It appears It is about 1/4"->1/2" before I could seal the pan.

Should I cut the baffle
Bend the Baffle

or should I investigate whether the pump itself is too deep? No telling if once this problem is addressed the pickup may be close to bottoming out as well.

My measurements show it (the pump to baffle) to be very close to 1/8 to 1/4 to shallow.


Pictures:

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It could be a manufacture error or it could be the oil pump itself. Maybe your pump doesnt match up with your pan or something like that. Is it a stock pump. i wouldnt bend or mess with the pan. that could mess with the flow of oil.
 
I am thinking of just drilling four holes for the pump body screws into the baffle. All my measurements show the pickup is fine with clearance.

This won't disturb the baffle functionality as something will be there, just not the baffle.

Mike.
 
I think if you are running a certain oil pan you need to have the matching pan. You probably need a melling high volume pan.

There's no such thing as a Melling High Volume pan. There are deep pans, but Melling doesn't make em. There's also no problem with modifying the baffle in the pan he's got to make it work. It's only function is to limit the motion of the oil under hard braking or accelleration.
 
You could just use a stock style pump. The HV means high volume, which is done by using wider gears in the pump. Since they can't go up without causing drive shaft problems, they go down, which interferes with the baffle in your Cobra Jet style pan. Unless you have a compelling reason for using the big pump, just get a stock one. What, maybe $30-$40? Or you could just give the baffle a few whacks with a BFH. Should be able to bend it 1/4 without much effort. Nice looking pan, though, seems a shame.
 
I measured the stock Melling pump and it is 1/4 inch shorter than the HV. I purchased one to compare them. I will probably just use it. This will save me some time and I can button up the engine until installation.

Thanks
Mike
 
I'd modify the pan before going with a std volume on a Cleveland. They need all the help they can get.

agreed. you can either cut the baffle to clear the pump, or you can dimple the baffle to clear the pump. if you dimple the baffle, drill a 1/4" hole at the lowest point of the dimple to allow oil to escape when you change the oil, that way you eliminate as much junk as possible. personally i would cut the baffle to fit the pump.
 
I used my brain for once and called Melling. I verified the pickup hangs at the same hight regardless of HV or normal. The gears in the HV are longer so it hangs lower as dhearn and 2+2 mentioned. So I am just going to cut the baffle as I originally planned.

Thanks
Mike