OIL PANS-Aviaid, Canton, Moroso ect. ?

[patrickt]

I have the heavy steel Canton Road Race pan. With all the weight my car is carrying, I just say wtf....

[jwd]

I've had Canton pans on 5 different engines. Perfect fit and never a leak. Best pan on the market.

Jim

[dcdoug]

So if it wasn't the money, which pan, Canton RR, or the smaller Aviaid T-Pan? Canton is the gold iridite, which I don't love, nor do I love pounding the pan rails flat. However, it holds 7qts vs only 6 for the Aviaid, which I like.

If Aviaid, where is the best place to get it? For Canton, Summit seems best.

EDIT: Anyone know if it is just as easy to change out the smaller Aviaid T-Pan as it is the Canton T-Pan (without pulling the engine like you have to on a CSX car with the big Aviaid pans)? They seem to be similar dimensions so seems like it should be.

[601HP]

Originally Posted by PANAVIA

Silverline is incorrect. - the AVIAID pan is aluminum and very light weight. this is the same as RodKnocks car.

FE specialties uses them a lot, I have one on my 428, and I have not seen a steel one.

My Aviaid was purchased in the '90's. A magnet will jump right to it.

Have they changed materials over the years?

David

[RodKnock]

Some time ago I accidentally ran over a large rock in my old Corvette, which had a steel Canton pan. While I can't stand the gold color, the Canton withstood the blow. So whether it's a steel Canton or a steel Aviaid, get a steel pan. You never know what you might run over.

Nonetheless, I think the Aviaid looks prettier and it's looks original.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by RodKnock

Nonetheless, I think the Aviaid looks prettier and it's looks original.

Aww c'mon, who looks at your oil pan anyway?

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Aww c'mon, who looks at your oil pan anyway?

Well, I do. When I go to shows or the races or just see a car on the lift at the shop, I always look underneath to see what oil pan they're running.

Aviaid. Nothing but the best...baby.

[dcdoug]

I called Aviaid. The smaller pans were for the Shelby mustangs. That was all they had room for. Despite being RR pans, he didn't feel they were really sufficient for road racing. Not enough oil in them.

Not that anyone was asking, but there you go.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by dcdoug

I called Aviaid. The smaller pans were for the Shelby mustangs. That was all they had room for. Despite being RR pans, he didn't feel they were really sufficient for road racing. Not enough oil in them.

Not that anyone was asking, but there you go.

Now are we really expected to believe the manufacturer when you call them up and they say "don't you use our product for that, it's just not up to the task?"

[Jerry Clayton]

And why not? They built a pan for the Shelby Mustangs and there wasn't any room because of the crossmember----the result was a pan with marginal capacity for racing and they tell you up front----In a real race car the crossmember would be modified for more oil pan cap or they would use a dry sump----

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Jerry Clayton

And why not? They built a pan for the Shelby Mustangs and there wasn't any room because of the crossmember----the result was a pan with marginal capacity for racing and they tell you up front----In a real race car the crossmember would be modified for more oil pan cap or they would use a dry sump----

Dang, I guess I have to make my humor a little less subtle....

[ERA Chas]

Originally Posted by patrickt

I have the heavy steel Canton Road Race pan. With all the weight my car is carrying, I just say wtf....

Thirteen pounds is less weight than the padding and electrical tape on the roll bars...

[Foghorn]

I have a Kirkham 427 (just picked it up!). I am getting organized to install the engine/transmission - I finally have everything in the same place.

My engine is a Keith Craft FE crate engine which has a Canton oil pan installed at the time of the build.

I have a brand new Armando Pan ready to install on the block. I bought the Armando because the gouge was that the Canton pan was too deep and wouldn't leave much room (approx. 3.5") for ground clearance.

The tape measure puts both pans at 5.75" deep in the front, right behind the harmonic balancer, measured from the pan rail to the lowest point of the pan. That tells me that the gouge was wrong. Both oil pans will have the same ground clearance, unless I am missing something. The Canton pan is a bit wider than the Armando, as it is a T-style pan, but I still have plenty of room between the frame rails (> 1" on each side).

My question is why change oil pans? I can't see from a clearance point of view (ground or frame) that I NEED to change the pans.

Keep in mind that Keith did a fantastic job of RTV/caulking the Canton pan on during the build.

Any and all advice is appreciated.

[FUNFER2]

Don- that pan looks great.

Ok, some other baffling questions. (sorry, just had to)

The differences between a road race pan and the drag pan.

How are they built differently for each purpose ?

Do you like the scraper ?

Do you like the windage tray ?

Out of the three pans we seen to be chatting about, is there one that has better accessories locations, including the dipstick tube and ect.... ?

Since I don't road race, is the drag pan necessarily better suited for my needs of occasional drag racing 1/8 & 1/4 mile, and hard street launches. If so, why ?

What's the pro's & con's about each ?

Do any pans have a automatic "critter squasher",..... for highway use ?

I've had several of my "Group Buy's" here on CC for various products at a lower price, is their enough interest here with you guys that would want a new pan, from one of the oil pan company's ?

If so, I can check into it with each company.

We can have a vote on which pan is preferred.

Kev

[FUNFER2]

I would not change it if you don't have any issues and return the other.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[dcdoug]

Which canton pan is it? The part number will be scratched onto the side of the pan. 15-820 or something like that, depending on which one. The canton pans are either the same or shorter than the Aviaids of which I think the Armando is a copy. I guess you have both right there to measure, but if you look at the specs online, it sounds like it tells a slightly different story.

If you have the canton road race pan on the engine already that Keith has installed and tested and it is leak-free, I wouldn't touch it. Leaking oil pans are a PITA. Ask me how I know.

On the other hand, if you are going to change it at some point, do it now. One of the nice things about the Canton pan is you can remove it with the engine in the car. If the Armando is a copy of the Aviaid, then you have to pull the engine or jack it up quite a bit to get it off. If you have a stroked engine, it might mean that you can't get the Canton pan off either. Someone else will have to answer that as I have a standard stroke and still need to bump the crank around until the rods are out of the way at the rear of the pan.

Anyway, my $.02.

[FUNFER2]

Why does the Aviaid require removal of the engine ?

[dcdoug]

Originally Posted by FUNFER2

Why does the Aviaid require removal of the engine ?

Someone will surely correct me since I have a Canton and haven't had an Aviaid, but several of my local CACC members have confirmed that this is the case. I believe the reason is that since the Aviaid pans are effectively square and are at full depth for 18" you can't angle them enough to clear the pick-up and get them off because the pan hits the frame cross member. This is true for CSX and Kirkham cars, not sure about others. Patrickt tells me his ERA has no cross member issues.

Since the Canton pan is only at full depth for 10" and then tapers up, you can angle it enough to clear the pick-up. I have done it a bunch of times, so I know this is the case.

The trade off is that the Aviaid pans hold 2 more qts of oil and are the original pan on these cars. I like this a lot, but am not willing to lose the convenience of being able to pull the pan with the engine in the car.

If I got any of this wrong, please correct me.