It’s easy to overlook the oil pan.
For many enthusiasts, it’s little more than the thing that keeps oil from spilling all over your garage floor. But as horsepower climbs, cornering loads increase, or a car starts seeing regular track duty, the oil pan becomes one of the most important components in the entire lubrication system.
That’s because an oil pan does far more than simply store oil. It also has to control where it all goes under acceleration, braking, and cornering. And it has to keep that oil around the pickup — nice and unaerated — so the oil pump can pull it up and provide your engine with a steady stream of lubricant. It has to survive encounters with speed bumps, road debris, and, if you’re a drag racer, the occasional hard landing after your excellent suspension tuning allowed you to pull your first wheelstand. It also has to fit around crossmembers, the steering linkage, suspension components, and make room for stroker crankshafts without creating installation headaches.
Then there’s the question too few of us actually spend any time thinking about: steel or aluminum?
