TWO-PART HARMONY:

Two-Piece Oil Pans a Threat
to Silicone-Sealant Industry?

By Sky Wallace.
Photos courtesy Good Communications.

As simple as it seems, pulling an oil pan off a motor, then remounting it when the bottom-end maintenance activity is done, can be a genuine pain. You've gotta scrape off the existing gasket and silicone residue from both the pan and motor, and clean all the oil off the mating surfaces. Then you get to install a new gasket, reapply the sealant, and pray that nothing leaks when the beast roars back to life.

Now, this is bad enough when it only has to be done infrequently, but what about the racers who are inclined to think that regularly checking the bearings and such is a good idea? Of course, an extra measure of pressure confronts those who have very little time before the call goes out to fire up for the next round.

Billet Fabrication's two-piece oil pans feature 3/8-inch-thick, billet-aluminum rails and seals, and provide quick, easy, hassle-free access to the bottom end of any popular V8. Shown here is a three-step, wet-sump pan for small-block GM engines.

The elegant-in-its-simplicy solution to this situation has been presented by Jeff Johnston's Billet Fabrication, in the form of two-piece pans for virtually any racing powerplant. Designed in conjunction with renowned oil-system expert Ollie Volpe, the upper half of an "Ollie"-series oil pan gets the gasket-and-goop treatment only once. Then, after being sealed to the motor's pan rails, it gets to stay there; the lower half, with its captive O-ring forming a leakproof seal, plays the on-and-off game. It takes mere moments to access the bottom end, and mere moments to button everything back up. No muss, no fuss, no scraping, no silicone - and no more anxious please-don't-leak prayers to the oil gods!

Looking into this big-block Ford two-piece pan clearly shows the captive O-ring in the bottom section, which ensures a tight, leak-free seal. Also visible are the billet pan rails and seal. The studs are seated into the top portion of the pan.

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