wow, thats not a big difference at all on the oil pan. Thanks for the help, i'll go with the canton oil pan (or other brands with similar dimensions). Can anyone else agree with MAX POWER about the high volume oil pump? If thats the case, then whats the point of getting a high flow oil pump if it doesn't make a difference.
The primary purpose from what I gather, is for racing. Cars run continually at high rpm, circle track, etc. For a small block Ford, I've not seen a street application that REQUIRED anything more than a standard volume pump.
While on the subject though... I recently assisted a friend in removing a high volume pump from his 89 Fox (now my 89 Fox, more on that in a different thread). He'd been running that pump in a stock oil pan for roughly a year with no problems. It wasn't until he was roughly 2 hours into a long road trip that he noticed his oil pressure was dropping to what seemed to be a dangerously low level. He stopped, checked oil, everything looked fine, so he started back up and continued. 30 minutes later, the same thing. He cancelled the trip and returned home thinking that the pump was going to fail.
Come to find out that the oil pan was being emptied by the pump faster that the oil was returning to the pan. This occured once the oil was well heat saturated. We replaced the pump with a standard volume and he hasn't had the problem since.
Everything was being lubricated just fine. No damage to bearings, cam, rockers, rings or anything else. Just a low pressure indication when the oil pickup was able to intermittently grab air vs. oil.
I also run a 7 quart Miloden pan. I keep 5 to 6 quarts in it for windage. Standard volume oil pump. It works great.
I don't think the question is about whether or not you should run a standard volume pump. I think the question should be: "Do I NEED a high volume pump for my particular application. "
In almost all apps for a Ford small block on the street. I'd say that the answer is no.