[Evil Stu]

It was in with a bunch or early Hemi stuff (that i didn't buy). It looked cool so I bought it. It's a cast aluminum oil pan. Came with a baffle and pick-up. Doesn't seem to have ever been used. The baffle fits into the sump pretty tightly; it has a rubber edge/seal all the way around it so it is going to divide the lower sump from the upper pan pretty firmly. The casting is marked Herb Adams VSE. Road race I'm guessing? I know who Herb Adams is and his connection to HO, but is this thing still a desirable piece? Vintage speed parts are not super familiar to me. Will someone want this, or is it garage art?

[ponjohn]

A member here just sold one on Ebay for 700. ( if it's the same)

[Evil Stu]

Thanks ponjon, I guess some folks still want them. I guess there is a wet and dry sump version and i don't know which that was (or which this is for that matter, wet I assume, but i've never seen such a positive seal on a baffle like this). I'm not really looking for WiW, more wondering if I should still consider using the thing.

[SS-TA]

Evil Stu:

These pans are relatively rare I have heard only a couple of dozen were made (I have one). They only hold 5 quarts of oil (with filter) versus the more common 6 quarts on a standard Pontiac pan.

[Evil Stu]

Originally Posted by SS-TA

Evil Stu:

These pans are relatively rare I have heard only a couple of dozen were made (I have one). They only hold 5 quarts of oil (with filter) versus the more common 6 quarts on a standard Pontiac pan.

Thanks a lot. Do I have all the parts here? Or am I missing anything? I'm assuming this all works with a standard oil pump?

['ol Pinion head]

In the mid 90's, had a VSE oilpan & headers go through my hands. The cast alum pan was indeed designed for roadracing & had its own oil pickup. The design of the sump gave room for the VSE 180 degree header tubes to clear under the front of the cast alum pan in a 2nd Gen chassis. This set of VSE 180 degree headers had never been welded together & were missing two segments. An old Pontiac friend and I ended up assembling the headers on an engine, taping the segments together, then made the the two missing segments.

[72projectbird]

Very cool! A member just sold his for some good money.

That old VSE stuff is awesome! I'd love to find a set of 180 headers.

[JC455]

I was SO hoping Ken 'Ace' Brewer was going to have copies of this pan made, back when he was running Pacific Performance Racing.
That's a really neat piece of Pontiac/Trans Am history.

Do you have better pics of the baffle/sump/pickup parts that you have?

[Tom Vaught]

Originally Posted by Evil Stu

Thanks a lot. Do I have all the parts here? Or am I missing anything? I'm assuming this all works with a standard oil pump?

Modded oil pump Pick-up/ screen and baffle in your pic is correct.

Tom V

pm to you with more info.

[maxpowerta]

Theres actually one of these up for sale relatively local to me right now

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details...equestSource=b

Apart from the historical "cool" factor is it actually any better than say the canton road race pan?

[Tom Vaught]

It was designed for one purpose, according to Herb Adams, and that was to allow the installation of the VSE 180 degree header tubes to clear under the front of the cast alum pan in a 2nd Gen chassis. See post #6 above.

For that header system to work you have to cross some exhaust tubes under the engine.
I believe Herb used that removed pan volume to allow the cross-over of the tubes.

Tom V.

Herb was also using special blocks (like the 64 Tempest had) with a cheater dry sump tank in the firewall area, and a cam driven second oil pump, so the pan may have been used to only remove the oil from the small sump, not really store oil.

[SS-TA]

Evil Stu:

You have everything you need, the baffle/pickup can be used with a standard Melling oil pump. The original installation instructions called for RTV silicone as a gasket with a "stacked" double layer of silicone for the seal at the rear main cap.