Milodon road race pan...the saga continues

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737jetdr

737jetdr

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Well Guys& Gals. After reading about the new road race pan that Autoxcuda helped Milodon with for our A bodies if figured that I just had to have one. I have run into several snags with the installation that I thought I would share with everyone. I was started to do an extensive writeup but decide to keep it short instead.

First check Summit and Jegs for prices. Summit $419.99 Jegs $386.99. Summit did refund me the difference. Guess I should have looked first.

I ordered the road race pan for my 360 along with the pickup tube,windage tray and windage tray installation kit. The installation kit is a multi-fit kit as it works on different engines too. Windage tray hardware utilizes studs for the main bolts. The main bolt holes have to be re-tapped with a 1/2"-13 bottoming tap. Be careful and take your time so you don't break the tap off in the block. After installing the windage tray with the proper clearances I discovered that the new main studs are too long and hit the bottom of the pan. called Milodon and talked to Tom & he informed me that the studs may have to be trimmed. Didn't see that in the instructions.
Once the windage tray was installed with proper length bolts I installed the pickup tube on the oil pump. installed the pump and went to test fit the pan. The pickup tube won't fit down into the bottom of the pan. It hits the tray ledge before dropping into the bottom of the pan.
On the phone to Tom again. I was informed that someone forgot to notch my pan for the pickup tube. He instructed me to take some sheet metal snips and notch the ledge myself. OK, no big deal. I notched the ledge for my pickup tube and try again.

Now the pickup tube hits the bottom of the pan and the pan won't sit flush on the block. Back on the phone with Tom. After taking some measurements of my pickup and pan & some personal investigative work of his own Tom tells me that the pickup is too long and they have to make a new one this week. Hopefully Tom can help me get this thing worked out.

Personal notes:
1.I like the pan. It is a pretty trick piece.
2.Not crazy about the windage tray or hardware. I would rather have a kit that is engine specific. The windage tray louvers are punched up towards the rotating parts of the engine instead of down away from them. Not happy with having to cut the new bolts to make them fit.
3. The Mopar windage tray does fit the new pan and pickup tube without issues and hugs the rotating assembly closer than the Milodon one does.
4. So far Tom at Milodon has been helpful. I will keep everyone informed.
5. Retrofitting the pan with the engine in the car can be done but it is an extremely tight fit.
 
Well, That stuff happens all the time with aftermarket parts. You always have to check everything, and if you assume nothing will work perfectly out of the box, you will be pleasantly surprised once in a while...lol. Nice work on your install.
 
Ya know Moper, your right and it is a dam shame it's that way, a dam shame!
 
Too bad you cut the pan, I would had gave up on Milodon and try another manufacture. $400 for a pan darn if I have to make mods, either had Summit swap another new pan or try another brand. Good luck, hope things get better quick.
 
I called Milodon today and tried to order a 31940 oil pan kit. Tom said it will be at least the 22nd to the 25th before they have all the pieces. I asked if I could pay for it, and was told to go to the web site. The web site wouldn't take the order, so I called Tom back. Not much help there, so i called an old friend with a preformance shop and was told that Moroso had the same basic setup up for about the same price. I ordered it and it should be here Wednesday. I'm losing faith in the big time manufacturers, because it seems like they want your business but don't have the materials to sell you. It reminds me of the old Super Shops stores, if it wasn't a "chubby", they would have it for you in two weeks. JMO, rant over...
 
I agree. I was more than a little disappointed. I've got 2 weekends & $600 wrapped up in this so far and my car is still in pieces. Was half tempted to put my old stuff back on and go with an oil accumulator setup. Since I cut my pan to fit the wrong pickup I will be shipping my pickup and pan back to Milodon and have them send me a pan and pickup that fit my car. The bad part is I work out of town 5 days a week so I don't get much time to work on this. I do realize that with a new setup sometimes things like this happen but I would have thought that the bugs would have been worked out before they packaged parts and sent them out.
 
Have you read through this thread I posted about the pan?: http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=116154&page=4

You need to cut the bolts about flush with the nut after you get the adjustable windage tray height set. I'd put two small dimples in the the pan for the main just for added measure.

The windage tray is adjustable so you can set in to the best location and accomodate all different stroke engines. Mopar used the same windage tray on 3.31 stroke 340s and 3.58 stroke 360s. Those tray are not performing equally.
 

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Demonracer said:
I called Milodon today and tried to order a 31940 oil pan kit. Tom said it will be at least the 22nd to the 25th before they have all the pieces. I asked if I could pay for it, and was told to go to the web site. The web site wouldn't take the order, so I called Tom back. Not much help there, so i called an old friend with a preformance shop and was told that Moroso had the same basic setup up for about the same price. I ordered it and it should be here Wednesday. I'm losing faith in the big time manufacturers, because it seems like they want your business but don't have the materials to sell you. It reminds me of the old Super Shops stores, if it wasn't a "chubby", they would have it for you in two weeks. JMO, rant over...
Click to expand...

Check with Mancini, Hughes, and other souces. Just google: Milodon 31940

You will find that pan cheaper than at Milodon.
 
Autox, after talking to Tom At Milodon I looked at your pics that you posted. My pan did not have a cutout in it and my pickup didn't look like yours either. My pickup was 1/2" too long and after I trimmed my pan inside it just about rested right on the drain plug. Even the new pics that you just posted clearly show my stuff is completely wrong. I can't understand how Milodon got everything so screwed up when your install went so well. I shipped my pan and pickup out to Tom today. Told him to fix my pan and pickup and make sure it works before he sends it back. Hopefully they get it squared away in a timely manner.
 
737jetdr said:
Autox, after talking to Tom At Milodon I looked at your pics that you posted. My pan did not have a cutout in it and my pickup didn't look like yours either. My pickup was 1/2" too long and after I trimmed my pan inside it just about rested right on the drain plug. Even the new pics that you just posted clearly show my stuff is completely wrong. I can't understand how Milodon got everything so screwed up when your install went so well. I shipped my pan and pickup out to Tom today. Told him to fix my pan and pickup and make sure it works before he sends it back. Hopefully they get it squared away in a timely manner.
Click to expand...

I had to modify stuff some too. You can see that in the pics.

My pickup was not a production piece. That is why it has all the welded sections in the tube.

Did you attach that pickup support strap to the main cap. We cut it off. The tube is built like a brickhouse so we didn't make another strap.

Do you have pictures of what you have??

This was the cutout on top of the baffles as it was delivered.

IMG_9145.jpg
 
I installed mine in the car. I purchased the windage tray too, but decided unless I had the motor on the stand, I was asking for trouble. The pickup tube sat just about on the bottom, as I can see it through the drain hole. I just ran an event with it, between 4-6K basically for almost an hour...so I guess its fine. Never any oil light either, so far so good.
 
Autox, mine didnt have a strap even though the package said it did. I called Tom about that too. I don't have my pan right now and my camara's battery was dead at the time. I had to take the whole back baffle top off of mine just to get the pickup down in the sump. I figure since I trimmed my pan for the wrong pickup I had better send it all to Milodon and have it made correct. Tom admitted that the pickups were made incorrectly. I don't mind having to modify a part a little as I know sometimes slight changes have to be made in custom applications. The windage tray cutouts are just a little too close to the rotating assembly to judge with a flashlight looking through my core support. I will save it for another time when I have my engine on a stand as Gmachine stated. My mopar tray fits just fine for now and I have never had any oiling issues with it as of yet. Just anxious to get my car back together.
 
The quality on all milodon pans is terrible .Ive been there . Paint them black and see how popular they would be. I've seen posts on here just about matching the color. Its sad when looks out weighs presission. Try and put one of their pans on with a 4 bolt main block. Get out your hammer. I never had one pan from Milodon that didn't have issues. A friend of mine bought a steff's sheet metal aluminum pan It fit perfect. I believe they are assembled on a motor jig. My next pan will be from them. Is there No quality control in China? If you insist on gold they also sell the sticker.
 
i understand aftermarket stuff sometimes need to be tweaked to fit properly but this pan,pick up and tray are from the same company and the pan/pick up is a brand new design. how the hell can they not get it to just bolt on and fit without having to cut,dent and modify it. just doesn't make much sense to me. kinda pathetic if you ask me. especially for the kind of money they are selling the damn thing for.
 
That's a shame, because as I was fitting this pan, I was thinking how good it fits compared to my older Milodon. It fit real tight against the seals and fits perfectly in the car. I think I probably did have to notch one of the baffles, but I figured because I was fitting it in the car I had limited space. My pickup had the strap on it.
 
Sounds like the issue is the pickup.

The windage tray and main bolts are adjustable to be fitted by racers and motor builders to whatever stroke you have. And to figure that out with the motor in the car is going to be tough. If you want a one size fits all stocker windage tray, thats an MP one.
 
Also sounds like it's a work-in-progress at Milodon. It's hard to make a perfect production part when you basically have one or two examples to fit to. But I think perhaps it was released a little too early if they are having issues like bracket/no bracket, trimming, height, etc. I'd think most of those dimensions are factory distances so it's production issues, not engineering issues. JMO anyway. At least all those things are being checked and fixed by the end users.
 
Just an update. It's been 2.5 weeks now and no pan or pickup yet. Called Milodon & talked to Tom. Tom says owner of company is working on it now to get the situation resolved. Hopefully I will have my stuff back by end of the week or first of next week.
 
Just another quick update.6 weeks and still no pan or pickup. Supposedly my pan and pickup are out being plated. It took 4 weeks to fabricate a new pickup. Stuff has been out for plating for 2 weeks now. I am a patient man but my patience and sense of humor are running extremely thin at this point. I can't understand why this is taking so long. I am pretty sure this is what these guys do for a living. Kinda wish I had never even ordered it.
 
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