Bought a deep front sump pan off ebay. Seller is "cokenlord" auction number was 230113932854 (sorry I ain't smart enough to post a link ) Got the pan in today, fits perfectly nothing contacting the main girdle on my 331 stroker. Cost me $90-something with shipping.
The front deep sump is a double-edged sword on our cars. When installing the motor, maneuvering it around is a curse word as the oil pan is wider at the bottom than the two lower control arm mounts, so we only have about an inch of vertical movement. It becomes a tad frustrating when trying to wrestle long tube headers and/or motor supports into place. I also had to undo the front, inner sway bar mounts so I could get the pan in between the LCA mounts. Necessary evil.
Yea I was thinking about that after putting the pan on and inverting it on the stand. I'll just have to work around that. There was a couple other stock type pans that looked like they had the kicked out section in the rear for the studs and girdle but the sellers never answered my requests for better pics.
Now, I haven't put it on and run the engine with it, but just from looking at it first hand, I didn't see anything wrong, quality or otherwise. I'm perpetually on a budget so I just can't see shelling out $300 for a Canton pan. I'm going to get it bolted in place this weekend, it'll be another few weeks before I get the engine and trans in the car and running.
The last Canton that I bought had a warped pan rail as well as having the crank hit it, so quality and price do not always go hand-in-hand.
