Bell Housing to road clearnace

[PNW 1]

I'm still searching for my first buy. As I've searched, I've run into two Cobras I that I was ready to pick up except for concern on the clearance from the road to the bellhousing & oil pan. Both parts stuck well below the frame & were between 2 1/2" to 3" of clearance? Hear is a picture of the last, which already had some road rush on the bottom of the bell housing and a slight bend.

First, what is a safe clearance? The car I buy will be driven & I do not want to be concerned every time I take it out.

Second, what kind of fixes are there besides raising the front coil overs some & changing out the engine/trans?

And as always, any additional comments/suggestions would be welcome.


Eric

[letsboogie351]

To get my car registered I had to have 100mm (4 inches) of ground clearance. I have never had a problem. If the cars that you are looking at are ok. You could always raise their ride height.

[Unique427]

You will do fine with 2-1/2 to 3" bellhousing clearance.
Just don't challenge speed bumps and when you see
a yellow BUMP sign on the road, reduce speed accordingly.

From the photo it looks like your oil pan sump is even lower.
If so, this would be of greater concern then the bellhousing.

[1795]

If that oil pan sump is lower, then it has been replaced and you have to wonder what was damaged. Whatever that bell housing hit, it hit hard inorder to tear the steel and bend it back like that. That is not light steel. Is there any other sigh of damage to the undercarriage?

Jim

[SBSerpent]

Rule #1 - slow down on the speed bumps and any other obvious dips in the road like at intersections. 3" of ground clearance is enough at the bell housing (but obviously not in the case that is shown in the photo). It looks like the driver hit a significant dip (or bump) at speed to cause that kind of damage.

With regards to the oil pan. I had a 9 quart oil pan on my 392 Ford Racing Motor that I had scraped twice in the first two months of ownership. Resulted in small leaks in the pan that I had to repair. I would estimate that I had 2" to 2 1/2" of ground clearance on that pan. It was ridiculous - protruded way below the frame rails of the car. Finally opted to swap it out with an Aviaid 7 qt oil pan that gave me an additional 1" of ground clearance. Now the bottom of the pan sits at the same level of the frame rails and have not scraped it since. Nice looking pan too. Its a relatively easy swap. I did have to change the pick up as well since the new pan was shallower but that was provided with the pan. Would highly recommend Aviaid pans -well designed and look great.

Don't lift the front of the car by adjusting the coilovers just to get additional ground clearance for the pan. You'll start distorting the stance of the car and before you know it, you'll end up with large gaps between the top of the front tire and the fender. Will look very stupid.

One other piece of advice. If you do decide to swap the pan, then ditch the pan bolts and replace with studs. Makes re-installation alot easier when all you have to do is install the pan over the studs and then screw on the nuts.

[PNW 1]

No other damage on the underside. Car was square & ran good.

[34fords]

Read up on scrub line, google it (vehicle scrub line). You don't want an oil pan that hangs down so low if you have a flat tire you won't be able to steer the car. I really don't think this will be an issue with these cars but its better to be safe than sorry. Street rodders deal a lot with scrub line with very low hot rods.

[Tommy]

If I bought a car with a scatter shield like that, and if it looked like the lowest part of the oil pan was as low or lower, I'd be very concerned. My thinking is that the impact on the scatter shield looks to have been very strong (well above idle speed). If the oil pan was struck similarly (and subsequently replaced with a new pan) the impact may have driven it to strike the oil pump and/or crankshaft. If the oil pan was damaged, I'd like to know what all was inspected and by whom.

BTW, the scatter shield is the lowest part of the drivetrain on my Cheetah. Consequently I welded steel runners on the frame rails on either side around that low point. As I expect to be moving slowly over any obstacles, they are there more to give an early warning of low clearance than to actually protect anything. I just don't want an abrupt leading edge of the drivetrain to provide that warning.

[PNW 1]

I think the oil pan is close enough to the tires that going over a bump may have provided some lift to the pan & cleared the obstacle. If not, it was clearly replaced.

[Alfa02]

Thank you, Eric, for posting this before I got a chance. This is the issue, both cars Eric has looked at (B&B, Unique) had deep sump pans (FE 428) motors, and SAI Blow proof bell housing, and both had those pieces 3-3 1/2" below the frame (Pan&Housing), with maybe 2 1/2" ground clearance. We walked away from both because of these issues. Other than putting a stock pan (Money & Time), and removing the SAI bell housing (Which I wouldn't do) any other ideas?? I had the problem with my SAI bell housing on my CR which was fixed by cutting the bottom 2" off, seems like more than one of us have done that, but with these cars that already been done. I have a feeling the bell housing on this car (Unique) wasn't the only piece damaged, as this is the second 428 in 5000miles, I believe the first one had it pan ripped off and destroyed the motor as well. I would never drive any car that has major pieces lower than the frame, and both of these, if the front tire went flat those pieces would touch before the rim. Any more ideas? Cheers TommyRot.

[t walgamuth]

I would not drive a car which has the oil pan and or bell housing flange lower than the main frame. IOW if I wanted to buy such a car I would have a plan to correct the deficiency and the money to do it.

I know a lot of Cobra guys seem to feel this idea is for wusses, but why have a car that requires thought all the time to avoid damaging the pan. I recommend finding a car that has it all tucked up inside the frame where it belongs.

[PNW 1]

I agree with not spending so much money on a car that can easily run into some major issues. Just not sound logic for the $$. I would also agree with having a plan in place vs. hoping things work out for the best.

Thanks for all the input.

[cycleguy55]

Originally Posted by PNW 1

I agree with not spending so much money on a car that can easily run into some major issues. Just not sound logic for the $$. I would also agree with having a plan in place vs. hoping things work out for the best.

Thanks for all the input.

I bought a car with similar issues. The bellhousing wasn't quite that low, and certainly not damaged like that - though it did show signs of some incidental ground contact. Like this car, my oil pan was too low, though not that low.

Regardless, it didn't take me long to have a custom oil pan built that sits much higher. It has kickouts on both sides and the bottom of the pan is 1/4" above the bottom of the frame rails. In spite of the raised sump height, it has significantly increased capacity over the original pan. It was built as a road racing pan, so has baffles, trap doors and a crank scraper to manage the oil flow within the pan. I also had an oil temperature bung installed. Some of the best money I've spent.

[redvettx2]

Same issue on the car I bought. Pan is about 1/2" lower than the bellhousing. Pin holed on test drive. Been rubbed before and a little on BH. Current Pan is 7qrt 9" deep. Just ordered a Canton 15-680S which is a road race pan 8 qrts and 8" deep. Gets it well above the BH.

[Gtr_garner]

Good lord thats concerningly impressive to ding the bellhousing like that.
As many have mentioned, i'd never have a sump lower that the frame in any car. The way some roads and bumps are it isnt worth the potential hassle and expense.

I bought an engine with a dry sump setup so atleast i know i wont have to worry about the sump hitting the ground! haha

[novasscnc]

Nothing can be lower than your lowest part of you wheel rim