If anyone is interested I created a spreadsheet of oil pans that should fit sbf short deck motors in an alumaframe application. We did lots of measuring, and with reaching out to manufactures and viewing the dimensions on their websites I feel the list is pretty well dialed in. The AVAID pan that ended up in this car was based off of the composed list and fit beautifully!!
As Jeff Said, the headers were a pain at first. multiple off the shelf units that flat out didn't fit. A set of custom headers "guaranteed to fit" which were off. after taking the matter into our own hands, we were able to create a set that would git but needing fine tuning and after working with the fine folks at JBA an off shelf option was developed. the mock set had 1-3/4" primaries to a 3" collector. I believe JBA ended up 1-5/8" as their final design. These things fit great!!! Go into the car with the motor in place, fairly long, lots of ground clearance (Jeff trimmed 1-1/4" off of the collector in case lowering the motor up to 3/4" becomes the way he wants to go) they are up above the frame rail!
It is important to note that these headers should work with a 351w based motor as well as the 302 based (short deck) motor. The guaranteed to fit sets were based on a taller deck motor, and once installed on the shorter deck motor they hit because they were now closer to things they needed to clear (hope that makes sense). since these were based on a short deck, putting them on a taller deck motor should only aid in more clearance.
The beauty of figuring out the headers and oil pan is now a DIY person can pull their ford into the garage, pull the motor, install: aluma frame, already sorted out headers and an oil pan and put the motor back in and realistically be back on the road in no time.
The last thing I want to hit on before ending this book of a post, is brakes. The inexpensive/great brake options I feel are often overlooked when considering the aluma- frame as a suspension option. Jeffs car has C5 (correct me if I'm wrong dude) std brakes which are a 2 pot 13" rotor setup. He was able to find a set of Baer calipers which are basically C5 calipers for a great deal. Off the shelf rotors were drilled to fit the ford pattern using the Daze cars jig (jig was $25)
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1970 Z28, Pm me if interested in wheel tool rental
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