I finished up a nifty job on Mutt today though I still have to install it (another cut n paste from BangShift):
I'll add a bit more for the Mercedes forum as the BS guys already know this: The steering linkage on the S-10 runs behind the Mercedes lower pan. I had done some modification to the previous pan and it sort of worked but the linkage (drag link and tie rod ends) contacted the pan when the wheels were only slightly turned. As I'm installing the new turbo I had to pull the lower pan to get the turbo drain back tube into the upper pan properly so this seemed like the time to make a new pan designed to give more clearance.
Just when you thought I wasn't doin' nothin'......
Built a new pan for Mutt to get the pan further out of the way of the steering linkage. I needed more clearance from the pan and I'll also raise the engine a tad which ought to let the wheels turn more allowing better maneuvering in the pits. The new pan is all gas welded - or, a poor man's TIG. I'm pretty happy with it. I leaked checked it with water before taking it to Area 51 and it took a bit but I stomped out all the leaks.
Be right back - I have to resize the pics from my new iPhone.....
Success!
The round part clears the oil pump pickup (not easily modified) and was made from a length of thick exhaust tubing. The pan is more or less 14 gage steel (the German equivalent) and I had my metal supplier cut me a piece and bend it on the press brake as I figured I'd have a heck of a time bending that - $6.00 (steel, the cut, and the bend) well spent. Then I cut away everything that didn't look like the hole I'd made in the pan. Took a little figuring but I think I have something here. I got my fitup close enough that much of this was fusion welded (what we called it in the olden days when we didn't need filler rod). If you look at the weld along the bottom of the pan (the top in the bottom pic as the pan is upside down) you'll see a pretty tight little bead. I also welded from the inside which seemed to have made a pretty leak-free weld joint.
I clamped to a hunk of 1/4" steel plate as I welded it to keep it fairly flat and that seem to have worked though it does have a tad of a bend. The pan has a gillion screws in it so I think it'll lay down flat.
Dan