Hi There,
Just seen this while searching the net to answer some very similar questions for my own Swap and see you are just starting now like me! I will be keeping a close eye on this as you are doing very similar to what I hope to do.. I.e 20B transplant with full LIM and ideally stock rack.. I was contemplating lowering the rack and getting anti-bumpsteer kit though.

Going your route with the rack as it is. instead of cutting the pipes off the power rack can you not just replace the hard pipes with different ones or maybe good grade soft hoses? I assume this is roughly what the defined autoworks conversion is?

I am not to worried about hood clearance as I intend to do a bespoke bonnet.. but if I can get the stock hood closed that's a bonus!

Good luck..
Lee

 

Sheet metal oil pans are easy to fabricate and can include several advantages over the stock oil pan.

For instance I have the Mazda Competition oil pan for the FC RX-7 that is made by using a stock oil pan as the base and cutting the sides and back off and brazing new ones on.

It has flat sides to resist oil sloshing.
Increased capacity to almost 2 gallons.
Strengthened flange due to ceramic powder coating.
Compared to cast alum oil pan it will deform under impact instead of cracking.

In addition to the above I welded a baffle plate just below the flange surface so I no longer needed to have the hassle of sealing two flanges with the competition baffle plate and oil will no longer bathe the RTV at the rear of the baffle plate degrading it.

I would seriously think of modifying the stock oil pan as my first option!

 

Troy why not just make an oil pan? The hump in the front of the pan serves no purpose and you can get rid of it if your oil pickup tube is made integral to the pan. Once I find the right FD for my engine this was my plan, it also has the advantage of being able to build an oil pan brace right into the pan.

 

I'm pretty sure that the full LIM wouldn't clear the stock rack position and the hood even if you had no oil pan on whatsoever.

Also, I'd say it was the perfect storm of poor project planning, incomplete design, and lack of the correct tools to do the job. I initially wanted to hack up the subframe b/c the original design I looked at wasn't complex, and I had the tools available to weld the 3/32" steel that the subframe was made out of. Turns out it didn't work like I thought it would.

I probably would have made a pan if I had access to a tig. In fact, that's still on my list after talking with Pineapple. I'd like to take a 1/2" - 3/4" slab of AL, cut a space out of the middle and weld up a tub to hold oil, instead of pinning my engine.

Lastly, I haven't made much progress past the previous update since I returned the hoist I was borrowing. I cut more of the front part of the SF up to the point that I don't think it's serviceable anymore. I'm now going to section the mounts for the LCAs, and follow a more custom path similar to hwnd or Kevin Doe (https://www.rx7club.com/v-8-powered-rx-7s-299/ls1-fd-build-thread-most-detailed-build-thread-earth-904544/).

Something like this (but not for an LSx)

 

my uim clears the hood. but the intake pipe that bolts to the tb hits the hood framing. no big. the sway bar hits the rack though at full lock so i have to make spacers or longer end links.