Let's Talk Oil Pans

Triestino

Daily Driver
Went to move my Fiat 128 to make room in the driveway for a visitor and manage to get a good size dent in the steel oil pan when I rolled off the curb....:eek:

Since I plan to replace it (even though it isn't leaking), could I use a X 1/9 aluminum pan instead? Looks to me that the bolt pattern is the same and I thought it might be nicer to replace the steel pan with a lighter Alu pan...so that I can gain an additional 0.0001 mph when on the freeway. Thoughts? Pros/cons?
 
Nope

The engine in the 128 sits at a different angle than it does in an X. Part of the standard conversion of putting an X motor in a 128 is to use the oil pan, oil pump and drain tube from the 128. Besides, the next time you run the car over a curb you would crack the aluminum pan rather than just bend the sheet metal one!

There were companies that made aluminum pans for 128s but they might be hard to find.

carl
 
Thanks for the quick reply Carl... just when I think I got it right, I learn something new about the 128. I guess I'll stick with the steel oil pan for now.

GT
 
Ditto what Carl said about oil pans/pumps. Alquati made an aluminum finned pan (similar to an X pan) with a fitting for an oil temp gauge. I compared the capacity of a stock 128 pan with an X pan and Alquati 128 pan somewhere on this forum. Volume was actually less for the Alquati due to same overall size as the steel pan but thicker walls. I don't think I weighed them though.

Notes from my own experience: The X pan provides less ground clearance than the 128 pans (when installed on a 128). The Alquati looks awesome but whether it cools any better than a stock steel pan requires data measurement that I haven't done. While I can't claim it would hold up to a parking block, it will take a hit - I hit some decent rocks during an off-road excursion on a hillclimb and the result was a few gouged fins but no cracks or dents in the pan. One day I'll weld a bung in a steel pan and do some temp measurements for comparison.
 
So did I! Needless to say, I was surprised at my findings. I think they basically made it to the same outer dimensions as the steel pan and then lost volume due to the cast wall thickness and cast baffle.
 
So did I! Needless to say, I was surprised at my findings. I think they basically made it to the same outer dimensions as the steel pan and then lost volume due to the cast wall thickness and cast baffle.

Hmmmmm........i have one sitting on a shelve waiting to be fitted on my 128........
 
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