[DeTomaso] 10 Quart Oil Pan & Removeable X-Member

[JDeRyke at aol.com]

Like Julian's, my home-made removeable rear crossmember is held in only with 
the big nuts & washers also holding the lower rear a-arm clevises, and has not 
shifted in 15 yrs. The factory removeable is held in similarly, but has one 
extra bolt, for unknown reasons.

And the 'oil pump driveshaft' to be used is NOT stock. The stock unit is soft 
mild steel and will twist & eventually break. Moroso, Ford-SVO and others 
sell a 4130-steel one for less than $20 that is much stronger and solves that 
problem forever. A used  oil pump thats unscored inside will be fine for all but 
pro-racing; if you decide to use a new pump, a stock replacement will be best. 
Hi-volume or hi-pressure pumps seem to cause more problems than they solve. I 
run an OEM pump with a 10-qt pan, remote filter and water-to-oil cooler and 
have no oil pressure problems. 

Incidently, the stock oil pressure gauge, like the stock water temp gauge, is 
notoriously inaccurate. Many of us buy a cheap mechanical gauge and 
permanently mount it to a tee fitting on the rear of the block. The stock sender goes 
in the extra leg of the tee fitting; then the stock gauge can be used as an 
idiot-light while if you want to know the true oil pressure, go back & look or 
add the new gauge in a place you can see it when driving.

As for pan gaskets, whatever one you use, contact-cement it to the block and 
give it 8 hrs to cure before installing the pan. This keeps the gasket from 
shifting and if you need to drop the pan later, the gasket is re-useable & is 
not a problem. FWIW, I happen to like the rubberized gaskets from Fel-Pro, as 
the cork ones seem to pinch in two over time. Be sure you torque the pan bolts 
to specs- the bigger bolts in both ends loosen up with vibration,and cause oil 
leaks, and the small bolts in the rest of the holes snap off easily. Have fun- 
J DeRyke