Hmmmmm, this might sounds a bit weird but what about taking another oil pan and cutting around the flange (cutting out the middle). From the picture it looks as it would leave you with a pretty good spacer for not a lot of work.

 

There are basic CAD programs out there. Try out demos, if you find you like one buy it. I use Vector for wireframe stuff. I liked it's wireframe drawing methods and started using it instead of another that sits unused that I paid many thousands of dollars for. Vector has a demo, the full CAM program is $800 bucks but they might sell just the CAD portion for 50 bucks or so, they used to at least. http://www.vectorcam.com/
Any CAD drawing program would be able to export .dxf files. That's the universal way of sharing drawings that any shop would be able to use.

Here are some pics of things I had waterjet cut:

 

We tried every starter we could find....not sure how many different ones there are, however. We ended up with one of the IMI starters. They have a couple of different ones. Some fit...some don't fit as well. When Rob brought me his starter, I had to trade it out for one that would clear.

Certainly, if you grind on the pan, you can probably get another 1/8". If you run a pan gasket, with this, however, I think it is going to get very tough to clear things. I installed a rubber piece between Joseph's crossmember and his pan, as I was not comfortable with how close the two were, with his used motor mounts. I didn't want to rub a hole in the pan.

Since we are not using a pan gasket with our spacer, the effective lowering is certainly less than 3/8". However, we have been lowering the pickup almost 3/8 of an inch, since there is a bit more room in there than is needed. Perhaps production tolerances are responsible for this.

As with everything, there are probably as many different way to do this as there are people. I was looking for something that would fit with as little brain damage as possible.

You are welcome to look at one of mine, if you come to Sharktoberfest.

 

Holly **** Imo! You may be right! And I have another pan too! Why didn't I think of that!

 

Thanks. What are the two shapes on the left? Should I be worried about my 30 year old and now powdercoated pedals?

 

All I want is the maximum downward movement without changing any actual body structure. The IMI starters are large than the one I have. They are also more powerful, but as I mentioned, I don't think I need that extra power just to turn over the stock (maybe a bit less) compression.

 

Those are seat brackets, each seat has 2 on the side that bolts to a weldment on the floor. The larger part ties the top of the seat to the rollcage, those parts are unique to my cage. The pedals are because I want to use dual masters. That makes for alot of work and a new brake pedal is necessary. Since a new brake pedal is going to be fabbed, why not the clutch too? that way they can be spaced optimally. It was just yet another little detail that snowballed, the pedals are also 4130 steel that was heat treated after welding because the brake is slightly offset and needs some strength anyway. The stock pedals are nicely made pieces, no need to worry about them, I wish I could have used them. None of those parts would be needed by anyone else, they just show what kind of stuff you can do with waterjet cutting if you're into making doodads.

 

I did before starting to do from billet. Doing from pan outside rim would leave many more holes than just those made for mounting bolts. Its certaonly usable option but only good thing in it I can think of is that it would be exact same material as pan below it.

 

I imagine you'd have some serious machining on the 'bottom' edge of it too, no? It wasn't designed as a mating surface, so it would need some work.

 

Nothing that a good gasket can’t seal. As long as the surface is straight it should seal.

However if you want a machined surface, you can always just mill it down a bit. Probably would be better to do this before cutting the middle out. This way you can clamp down the pan to the machine and mill the edges, then just cut the middle out.

 

Using the mounting flange from an existing pan would mean machining off at least a couple mm from the lower surface because the bolts near the crossmember are recessed.

Brendan, instead of shortening the stud on the starter, can't you just disassemble it and rotate the motor section 90° CW or CCW?

 

Hey Dave. Will I see you at SF07?

The rotation of the starter is something I was trying to avoid. The car will be low enough, but also I just don't think this starter design will allow it.

 

Yeah, I'll be there.

I guess I just don't see enough of the starter to understand why you are averse to just rotating the motor section. Worried about having a stud hanging down? It seems if you went 90° CCW(looking from the front of the engine) you would have the + terminal facing the camera and the other stud hanging at about the same height as it is now, just on the other side.

 

If you need to draw it in .dxf best bet it to download trial software as Mike suggested (nice custom rear-sets), that Vectorcad software looks sweet although i have no experience w/ it. Can download free trails from Autodesk.com and several other cad sources as well. Have worked w/ Autocad for >10 yrs, would be happy to create a .dxf drawing for you no charge to help your project out if you provided exact measurements for your design (have no dimensions for OB oil pan and starter motor to start off with). I could draw it up and send you the .dxf, and pdf.s to scale for you to print out and check against the actual part, and once coordinated could send the .pdf (or you could) to your water-jetting place, if you don't find another good drafting solution for your project.
Let me know via PM, happy to help out.

 

Thats really nice of your chris. The pan and engine are an S4, so no differences. How do I measure curves and bends?