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In early 2020 we stumbled upon this trap door / kick out wet sump oil pan for the LS engine family. It is sold by both Summit and Jeggs, and looks to be a knockoff of some other company's road race style LS oil pan.
On paper and in person it looked like it had a lot of nice features that could benefit a road raced LS engine, with an enlarged sump, trap doors around the pickup, and the ability to run a stock filter or to quickly swap that out for a remote oil filter setup.
WHERE DOES IT FIT?
This pan should fit anywhere that the 1998-2002 Camaro LS oil pan fits. We have personally test fit this Summit pan into three chassis so far: LS swapped E46 chassis, LS swapped '67 Mustang, and LS swapped S550 2015 Mustang.
The two pictures above are where we test fit an LS engine with this Summit pan into one of our E46 LS swaps. It should easily fit the E36 LS swap with our mounts as well.
The pictures above are with this pan in an "S550" Mustang (2015+) using our LS engine mounts. Clears by a huge margin.
Last but not least, this is the Summit pan in a 67 Mustang using the AJE crossmember and their LS mounts with an LS wet sump engine. It sits above the lowest part of the subframe.
WHAT IS THE ISSUE?
These Summit pans looked good in person, but after installing two of these on new LS V8 engine builds at HPR, we have noted the following potential issues that affected both:
See the images below for the fixes we had to perform on both pans. PLEASE don't just stick the pickup tube on your block and slap the pan on, as these issues could lead to complete engine failure in minutes. The pickup tube should always be checked (with clay) to assure it is .250-.300" off the bottom of the pan.
UNSTICKING THE TRAP DOORS
This fix is pretty easy - we just worked the doors open and closed many times to get the powder coating out of the hinges. Sometimes the springs were put on wrong, so work them open and closed until they work smoothly.
OIL PASSAGE PORT MATCHING
This takes a bit of work with a die grinder and some patience. We took the OEM style pan gasket and put in onto the block to make sure the oil passage holes were lined up. Then placed it onto the oil pan and marked where the holes needed to go.
Remove the oil filter adapter (if you order that version) otherwise you could ruin it. We've decided to replace the oil filter adapter with a Canton piece that allows for AN lines here instead, and we will mount the oil filter remotely using another part.
After you are done grinding the pan must be very thoroughly cleaned! All of that debris should be out of there before the oil pan EVER goes near the engine.
EXTENDING THE OIL PICKUP BRACKET
Checking and setting the height of the oil pickup is necessary for almost LS engine build. This is SUPER critical and we have seen people just slap the oil pickup on and end up with .750" to 1" or more of clearance to the bottom of the pan. It doesn't take much cornering to suck the oil pump dry, then the engine is toast.
The guys at Horsepower Research measured the clearance on our first LS engine (Gen IV) and this pickup needed to be lowered .300". We marked the bracket, cut it, added a section of flat steel, welded it back together, and they fine tuned the spacing with a washer at the bracket on the windage tray.
The second engine they added this pan to was a Gen III LS and it needed .265" extension on the same bracket. They check these with clay on the pan near the pickup, and are always looking for .250 - .300" distance.
CLEARANCING THE CORNER OF THE PAN FOR PICKUP TUBE
Once the oil pickup bracket was extended then the tube was running into the corner of the pan both times.
We had to mark this corner, grind away some of the overhanging sheet metal, then debur the corner and clean the pan. It was then checked on the final engine before installing the gasket and bolts.
SHOULD YOU BUY ONE?
We think that this pan is still better than any OEM cast aluminum LS oil pan and baffle kit, and it is quite a bit less costly. The added capacity & the trap doors around the pickup add up to some features we think you have to look at if you are staying wet sump.
Long story short - these pans are cheap because somebody is cutting corners. You can make them work if you check and FIX these four things. Also, use an Accusump in road race cars - just in case.
Cheers,
On paper and in person it looked like it had a lot of nice features that could benefit a road raced LS engine, with an enlarged sump, trap doors around the pickup, and the ability to run a stock filter or to quickly swap that out for a remote oil filter setup.
WHERE DOES IT FIT?
This pan should fit anywhere that the 1998-2002 Camaro LS oil pan fits. We have personally test fit this Summit pan into three chassis so far: LS swapped E46 chassis, LS swapped '67 Mustang, and LS swapped S550 2015 Mustang.
The two pictures above are where we test fit an LS engine with this Summit pan into one of our E46 LS swaps. It should easily fit the E36 LS swap with our mounts as well.
The pictures above are with this pan in an "S550" Mustang (2015+) using our LS engine mounts. Clears by a huge margin.
Last but not least, this is the Summit pan in a 67 Mustang using the AJE crossmember and their LS mounts with an LS wet sump engine. It sits above the lowest part of the subframe.
WHAT IS THE ISSUE?
These Summit pans looked good in person, but after installing two of these on new LS V8 engine builds at HPR, we have noted the following potential issues that affected both:
- The "trap doors" often stick. The hinges need adjustment, as do the springs. Make sure to actuate these and check to see if they open/close freely
- The two oil passages on the main block flange of this pan do not line up with the oil filter adapter or the LS block. We had to port match these on both pans
- The oil pickup tube is made wrong and often has .650-.800" of clearance off the bottom of the pan, when bolted to a Gen III or Gen IV LS block. We had to cut & extend the bracket on both
- The oil pickup tube often runs into the oil pan "shelf" as shown below. We had to clearance this shelf on both pans.
See the images below for the fixes we had to perform on both pans. PLEASE don't just stick the pickup tube on your block and slap the pan on, as these issues could lead to complete engine failure in minutes. The pickup tube should always be checked (with clay) to assure it is .250-.300" off the bottom of the pan.
UNSTICKING THE TRAP DOORS
This fix is pretty easy - we just worked the doors open and closed many times to get the powder coating out of the hinges. Sometimes the springs were put on wrong, so work them open and closed until they work smoothly.
OIL PASSAGE PORT MATCHING
This takes a bit of work with a die grinder and some patience. We took the OEM style pan gasket and put in onto the block to make sure the oil passage holes were lined up. Then placed it onto the oil pan and marked where the holes needed to go.
Remove the oil filter adapter (if you order that version) otherwise you could ruin it. We've decided to replace the oil filter adapter with a Canton piece that allows for AN lines here instead, and we will mount the oil filter remotely using another part.
After you are done grinding the pan must be very thoroughly cleaned! All of that debris should be out of there before the oil pan EVER goes near the engine.
EXTENDING THE OIL PICKUP BRACKET
Checking and setting the height of the oil pickup is necessary for almost LS engine build. This is SUPER critical and we have seen people just slap the oil pickup on and end up with .750" to 1" or more of clearance to the bottom of the pan. It doesn't take much cornering to suck the oil pump dry, then the engine is toast.
The guys at Horsepower Research measured the clearance on our first LS engine (Gen IV) and this pickup needed to be lowered .300". We marked the bracket, cut it, added a section of flat steel, welded it back together, and they fine tuned the spacing with a washer at the bracket on the windage tray.
The second engine they added this pan to was a Gen III LS and it needed .265" extension on the same bracket. They check these with clay on the pan near the pickup, and are always looking for .250 - .300" distance.
CLEARANCING THE CORNER OF THE PAN FOR PICKUP TUBE
Once the oil pickup bracket was extended then the tube was running into the corner of the pan both times.
We had to mark this corner, grind away some of the overhanging sheet metal, then debur the corner and clean the pan. It was then checked on the final engine before installing the gasket and bolts.
SHOULD YOU BUY ONE?
We think that this pan is still better than any OEM cast aluminum LS oil pan and baffle kit, and it is quite a bit less costly. The added capacity & the trap doors around the pickup add up to some features we think you have to look at if you are staying wet sump.
Long story short - these pans are cheap because somebody is cutting corners. You can make them work if you check and FIX these four things. Also, use an Accusump in road race cars - just in case.
Cheers,