My wife and I took my 70 442 our today and we hit a dip in the road coming off a bridge. We lost the front tire and knocked a hole in the oil pan. Thankfully we got it shut down before the oil ran out and it was at 30 psi when I shut it off.

I have a deep sump 7 quart Milodon pan (I think). It hangs pretty low and I have scraped it before the incident today

i am thinking about going back with a stock type pan

is there any reason that I should not use a stock capacity pan and regain some ground clearance?

also.

do I just need the pan gasket set, or do I need to do the timing cover at the same time?

i also assume if I go with a stock type pan I would need a different oil pump and pickup... Is there a pan that has its own dipstick provision?

I currently have no dipstick because because I cannot get anything to work with the longtube headers

Canton 6qt only way to go imo.

Thanks for info guys.

Im out now getting everything pulled off the motor so I can pull it out. I’ve learned my lesson about trying to do a pan gasket with the motor in the car.

I just finished installing a vintage air system and had an appointment to get it charged this week

im going to get the canton pan ordered I think.

In thier pictures I just see a relief in the top of then pan rail for a dipstick, but thier website keeps referring to a 1/4” npt fitting for a separate dipstick. I’m going to call them Tuesday to confirm. And if so use thier flexible dipstick (looks like a lokar in the pictures)

thanks again

Hey thanks. Makes me feel better for sure. It was a vinyl top car and had a little rust under the top. We pulled the top at home and de-glued everything then a local restoration shop color matched the roof and rear quarters to the rest of the car. They had a time dealing with the laquer paint that’s on the rest of the car but they did a bang up job getting it looking good

I don’t think I drive it any harder than anyone else does really. Out of driving around for an hour I only ever really get into it two or three times

I guess I’ve read stories and heard everyone talk about olds motors having oil starvation issues. As I don’t want to pay for a rebuild I try to be fairly cautious and I pay attention to my gauge. I have heard that high volume oil pumps can make the oil issues worse from pumping all the oil up to the top end and letting the sump get dry. I didn’t build the motor in my car so I don’t know what pump is in it. I know it doesn’t have and oil restrictors that I have seen in the valley or any thing like that.

Im hopefully going to finish getting the motor out tomorrow morning before it gets hot and I’d like to measure the depth of my current pan and compare it to the specs on the canton pan

I’m also curious to see how the current pan failed. I think the corners are welded and it split open.

I like the idea of fancy pans, but I like the size and clearance of the stock one. I’d really like to not have to drain the oil to check it. Currently it gets drained into a clear bucket marked in quarts with a sharpie
then poured back in.

The Canton pan isn’t a whole lot deeper than a stock one, certainly less than a Moroso or Milodon. Plus the Canton has trap doors to hold the oil in the center and seems to be a bit heavier construction. I’m batting a 1000 with the Cantons so far. Can’t say that for the other two.