I just inspected my new gotham oil pan brace and it doesnt sit flat on the oil pan. It hits the front lip of the pan on one side. Pans not bent, but the brace rides on the lip.The motor mount holes dont really line up all that well either.They are oversized but not centered on the oil pan holes. I dont mind doing a little grinding but I was expecting a quality product that fit well. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else had problems with their brace when they got it?



Dean.

 

I had to grind just a little off one of the front corner holes on my brace, but that was it.

 

Send it back, Im sure Alex will be happy to swap it out for you.

 

I had the same problem, had to do a little machining to get it to fit, plus the motor mount bolts are pretty short

 

They may not have perfect machining on them every time, and some oil pans may be a little off. Just grind down the interference point on the brace and be done with it. Should be a cinch with a Dremel.

Dale

 

As stated above, the braces often need a bit of machining to get them to mate up to a specific oil pan. You can always send it back if the fit is way off.

Keep in mind i may be biased b/c i am one of the owners of Gotham, but I can tell you that my engine and oil pan brace have ~9,000 miles on them and I just changed my oil the other night, not one hint of an oil pan leak

 

Some assembly required. Your parents put it together.

 

I had similar problems, I had three spare oil pans and tried it on each one, some holes were close but not enough, all the holes needed to be enlarged to get them to line up. In my case I don't think this problem pertians the oil pans becuase they all macthed up great with the wholes in the block, but more so on the JIG side of the brace. I am not sure how they are machined now, but when I got mine (almost 2 years ago) I was told they were plasma cut (could see a unsteady hand in the cutting) and they said some minor work maybe required to fit.

 

I put the grinder to it last night. I cant say that Im glad to see that others have had minor problems, but its good to find that im not the only one. Ive used oil pan braces on 13b conversions in the past with custom oil pans, and never had any problems, but they were multi piece braces and had lots of slack.

 

ptrhan,
I didnt ask if assembly was required, I didnt ask about my parents, or yours. I asked if anyone else had problems with their brace. Did you have any problems with yours.

 

I didnt have any problems with mine. Well maybe becuase I had steve put it on when he did the motor.

 

I had no problem because I made my own ring from .200inch thick SS plate .And I did NOT polish it .I got the idea from using the d-ring on the pan head Harley Davidsons ,years ago . The d -ring went around the sheet metal valve cover ,for those of you to young to know . Make your own parts and they should fit .

 

Give me a break man. Where should they make them, in the kitchen? perhaps the bathroom sink?

I know you are very capable and innovative, and your engine bay is full of polished parts and interesting turbo setups, alternators, custom this and that etc and I salute you for it. I seriously do.

But you need to realize that many people either dont know how to or dont *want* to work on their cars. many many people are realtors, entrepreneurs, successful businessmen/women that earn a great living and therefore would rather pay someone else for polished/ceramiced/powdercoated/custom made parts so that they can enjoy their free time relaxing rather than sitting 'at the polishing wheel.'

 

I just got the one from Staff's auto in Canada. Did not realize Gotham Racing had one. My engine will be getting pulled in April to fix a front seal gasket leak, and I figured what better time to have the pan made as leak proof as possible.

Any one had experience with the one from Canada?

 

I just finished my oil pan last night and the brace was touching a little bit of the front lip of the oil pan so i just put the pan on the floor with some carboard underneath it and hammered the lip to make the brace fit. I think they have fixed the hole alignment problem by just drilling bigger holes which was a great idea. This morning I filled the motor up with oil and started her up for about ten minutes, got under the car and so far no oil leak. I'll check it again tomorrow.

 

the screws for the front was a tiny bit short(and these are the ones that gotham sent me) so I had to get some longer ones, I think it was the four up front.

 

I'll tell Alex about the bolts so that problem can be fixed. Also, I will recommend that on the next batch the holes be enlarged a bit.

 

I already called Alex about the short bolt problem this week, Rich....my builder tells me he only got about 1/4 inch thread depth ("bite") with those bolts and likes to see at least 1/2"

I ordered some 12Mx1.25x45 mm long bolts....that might be overkill, 40 mm is about right

 

At least you got the correct bolts. Alex called to inform me that the wrong bolts were shipped with my kit (wrong thread pitch). I never received replacements even after countless emails to Gotham.

So, I gave up and order some from McMasters. I used:

Metric 8.8 Zinc-Pltd Steel Hex Head Cap Screw M12 Size, 35 mm L, 1.25 mm Pitch, Fully Threaded, Packs of 10

45mm seems like it's going to be too much IMO.

 

I'm sorry to hear that Mahjik. What is your full name? I can talk to Alex and perhaps he can offer you a discount on a future order as compensation. Not making excuses, but I know the moving of the shop location caused lots of problems with phone, email, orders, etc.

Rich

 

edit, 8.8 is standard hardware grade, you should be using class 10.9, but you will prob be fine

 

Rich,

I've already taken care of it so it's not a huge deal. Luckily, the stock bolts were at least long enough to start threading so I could seal the oil pan. After that, I got the replacements and kept on going.

If you look up the specifications, you'll see that you won't need 10.9 for the engine mounts. However, it never hurts if it helps you sleep better.

 

10.9s now installed, mr. mahjik....I will sleep well tonight....and hopefully fire the thing up within a couple of weeks, after near 1 year of dormancy!