Retroboy,
Sorry for hijacking your forum. I just measured my 5 quart, center sump 360 Mopar crate engine pan and it's 7" deep. It's sits entirely above the bottom of the cross member. If you cut your pan to get more ground clearance, you're going to reduce the quantity of oil that it holds. I'd weld a 1/4" or 5/16" skid plate on the bottom of the pan to protect it and leave it at that. That's what they did back in the day to protect them. My D/Dart has a Ted Spehar fabricated 10 quart oil pan on it with a 1/4" skid plate and it looks mighty beat up. The bottom of that pan is about 2" off the ground.
