For those of you that plan to run ARP mains, look here..

[jr_ss]

Alright, everyone has speculated at times that the upper oil pan had to be modified to run ARP mains, or to cut them. Well yes, it is true and I've just completed the modification to clear them without cutting them down. You'll need a few drill bits, a dremel, a center punch and lots of patience, I mean a lot. It requires mounting and unmounting of the upper pan multiple times. You'll only have to do this on the exhaust side of the pan, on the very back two studs, as the ARP's clear everywhere else.

To start, I mounted the pan and tightened it down to get an indent of where the studs hit and removed the pan to start the mod. I used a center punch to mark my spot to drill and to keep the drill bit from walking. I started with a small bit and worked my way up to a 9/16" bit for the final touch. Be careful to not drill completely through the pan. It is about 3/16"-1/4" thick so you have some material to work with but not a whole lot. Once you've drill the indents, move on.

The with a dremel, in the indents you created with the drill, remove alittle material at a time to clearance the studs. You want to remove material in the drilled area to bring it to the same depth that the bit went. It is a lot of trial and error. Mount the pan back on, tighten it down and remove again, enjoy doing this multiple times, because that's what it takes to get it right. Once mounted and bolted down, if you see more stud impression, remove the pan and more material. It's actually quite simple, but requires alot of time.

You can simply cut the studs, but mine were already installed and grinding/cutting with the bottomend open didn't sound like a good idea to me. I hope this helps some out, I highly doubt many people will do this, but for those that do, enjoy!

Here is a few pictures of the final product. I have some other modifications done to the pan for my setup. Since I'm running a crank scraper throughout the entire gridle I had to remove the rear hump and weld in a piece of plate aluminum. I also had to cut the tops of the baffles off on the pan because they no longer fit with the crack scraper installed. The two holes drilled closer to the edge of the pan are for the crank scraper studs, if you aren't running one you won't need to do those. You'll also notice a -10 AN fitting welded to the side of the pan, this is for my catch can drain back.

[JDS Performance]

Sorry to bring back up but I was doing some searching to see if ARP fixed this issue yet - Have not found any info yet - but this is a good write-up - a measurement of the hole depth would be great.

[OM3GA]

This is awesome

[homeslicej2]

I don't think ARP has addressed the issue, but i know that Mazworx sells main and head studs kits made to their specs for the SR20DET from ARP material. The headstuds they sell seat completely into the head, whereas the standard ARP ones do not and their main studs do not require you to cut/drill the studs or the oil pan. Price is only slightly more than the standard ARPs. Check out their site for more info.

[jr_ss]

Sorry to bring back up but I was doing some searching to see if ARP fixed this issue yet - Have not found any info yet - but this is a good write-up - a measurement of the hole depth would be great.

Sorry, I just checked back into Nico. I've been MIA for awhile. The depth I cut down was roughly an 1/8". I did not measure this, but it's a rough guessimate to get you into the ballpark. Just be careful and don't let your bit "grab or bite" into the material.