"My first question is has anyone chopped off an EJ22 oil pan? I think I need to trim out about 1.5 to 2 inches. Wonder what this does to the oil capacity?" - Arnold

Hi Arnold - My EJ20 pan was chopped by Leading Edge.  Outback also chops pans.  We have some pics from Estreme1 in the old Yahoo Group Photo section:

http://autos.ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/subbug/photos/browse/c801

These pics include alloy shortened pans and an Outback shortened pan for a mid-engine car.

We may have some pics tucked away with the step by step cutting and measuring of a pan.  I can't locate them right now.  I also do not know if there is a difference between the EJ22 and EJ20 pans.  Hope this helps - Paul...

I believe my Outback shortened pan was chopped by 1.5" - this reduced the capacity to 4 quarts.  When I duscussed this with Outback they said shortening the pan this much wasn't a problem, you keep the same amount of oil in the pan (and lower crankcase) - I believe 5 qts.? and just run it a lttle higher than stock - when the engine isn't running.  Note that the oil in the pan drops some when running as the oil is being pumped into the heads, etc.
Since the majority of Outback's work is high performance sand rails and they've been doing this for years, any defficiencies in this procedure whould have long since shown up and been corrected - like the slight variations in the mid-engine pan vs. rear engine version.  Outback also makes a pan shortening kit for DIY'ers.
Jeff

Now that explains why my dipstick ready was terrible for years...  I vaguely remember Leading Edge telling me to run 5 qts but I could never get a good reading on the dip stick

So did Outback have any suggestions on how to check the oil to make sure you keep it at the 5 qt level?  I found that my reading seemed to pick up a lot of oil on the sides of the dip stick so I could not tell exactly where the level was - even right at the beginning when I could have made a new 5 qt mark.

I must be running 4 qts these days as the dip stick reading is right on using the stock dipstick.

Paul...

Thanks Paul. If you could locate those step by step pics it would be great becasue I will be doing the chopping....

Thx Arn

Paul,
Here's Outbacks info on their oil pans:
The easiest way to do this is to chop off 1 1/2" of the pan on the bottom.  Since the original design of the motor places the oil a good distance below the crank, when using our chopped oil pan the motor still accepts 5 quarts of oil with no risk of oil aeration.  If using the stock dipstick, the full mark becomes the low mark with this cut pan.  The bottom of the pan is about 10 3/4" below the crank center.  For those doing VW motor replacements, that's about 2 1/2" lower than a stock VW pan.

So I gather the the new "full" mark would be ~ the same distance between the original low and full marks - but now above the original full mark.

Jeff

Thanks, Jeff -that makes sense that the mark would be the same distance above the high mark as it is from low to high.  My challenge was getting a reading that high on the dip stick.  Seemed like so much oil stuck to the sides of the dipstick that I didn't feel confident in the accuracy of the reading.

I will probably pull the pan this Winter as I think the seal leaks like a sieve.  I'll do some checking when it is off to see why its so difficult to get a reading.

I'd like to put a window in the pan to be able to visually inspect the oil level - I wonder if the oil goes up into the dipstick tube at 5 qt - if it does, maybe just a clear tube instead of a dip stick would make it possible to take oil level readings?

Paul...

Hey Arn - Your in luck.  Here's a link to the old Yahoo Group Photo Section showing the pan shortening by cogwheel1rtm - Russ Temple.  He had an EJ20TT, so be sure to check for any differences between this pan and yours.

http://autos.ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/subbug/photos/browse/f796

For the write up on his shortening procedure, search for "Russ Temple pan" on DBA.

Paul...

I have a 2.5 with an outback pan and that is right, the full mark is above the original full mark.  Runs just fine with 5 quarts, just like outback says.