Technical 1 Piece Rear Main Seal Nova Oil Pans Supply Dried Up?

I have been working on a SBC swap into 51 ford Shoebox. Two main options for steering center link clearance is a 60's Nova Oil pan or dropping the center link. No one makes the dropped center link anymore that I can tell (I'm toying with making one). There are a pile of spots to buy a Nova front sump oil pan for a 2 piece rear main seal SBC but no 1 piece RMS. You can find reference to them at Classic Industries and National Nostalgic Nova but 0 in stock or obsolete. Jamco and Shoebox Ford just have the 2 piece RMS oil pans. Anyone know if all these 1 piece pans RMS pans were made decades ago and supply is used up? Also is something up with Classic Industries? I can't get through!

 

When did they make a 1 piece rms pan for a Nova,,,,,decades ago you say ?
I can’t imagine there would be a huge demand for that pan ?
Maybe I’m wrong .

Tommy

 

they started using the one piece seal in 1986....

 

Hey Squirrel,,,did they ever have a 1 piece seal pan for a Nova ?
Maybe I’m wrong !

Tommy

 

Yes 86 and up are the 1 piece RMS and there are google image pics of the 1 piece oil pans but there just doesn’t seem to be any. I agree it’s a narrow market but I would think people looking for them now might be trying to drop the 1 piece rms motors in for the benefits and availability.

 

I cut 2 pans and made one to fit the same application you are doing. Nobody makes the one piece pan anymore

 

Not a stock replacement, but there may be a race style available like Moroso.

 

Details, please! I have a summit $40 rear sump pan coming and a GM Classics 2 piece rear main seal front sump pan on order. My plan was to analyze them and see how/if I can merge. I have a MIG and could braze in a pinch. How much/what did you keep from each pan? You probably Tig’d?

 

The Moroso’s seem to have the notch cut out of a rear sump concept for an actual Nova center link. The Ford shoebox actually has like a 1” clearance issue to the rear of the pan, not where the Nova linkage is.

 

I have a front sump pan for an SBC with a one piece rear seal. don't remember the manufacturer , it was left over from a long ago project. PM me.

 

hope this pic helps.i mig welded it.filled it with water and checked for leaks and got lucky

 

The Novas that used those pans were only 64/67. 68 and later used a different pan.

Any "Nova" pan for a one piece rear main block is going to be a custom aftermarket pan.

 

That's perfect. Thanks! A lot less surgery than I was thinking. I figured I'd have to keep the full sealing surface of the 1 piece RMS pan and graft the front sump onto it.

 

One more question. Did you also end up removing the driver side dipstick pocket on the front sump pan? Or did you have a driver side dipstick on your engine? Mine has dipstick on passenger side. I have a plug coming for it from summit but figured if I kept the driver side pocket on the pan it would leak. Thanks!

 

I used the Nova dipstick pocket on the front of the pan as the sump is in the front

 

From experience, oil will leak where water won't. Use a light petro liquid like Diesel, gas is a bit risky....Or paint thinner...

 

Agreed. Will do. This thread has all the information I was looing for. Thanks to everyone for the input. It's going to be a good updated thread to reference for people doing the same swap in the future.

 

I welded it inside and out.1000 miles and no leaks yet