Removing dents from oil pan

Whatever state of flatness you get it to, just make sure that your pickup actually contacts the bottom (maybe even with 1/8" tension) when you install it.

I learned that pickups don't like to "dangle" in the pan (at least on 318s) -- when I pounded out dents in my 318 pan, I didn't realize that the dents had bent the pickup up about 1/2" inch from the floor of the pan. With the dents gone, there was a gap there and I'd occasionally lose pressure for a second or two after rounding a corner due to sloshing oil in the pan. I put in a new pickup and made sure it interfered with the pan just a bit, and no more pressure loss.