oil pan question for you builders out there

[jveik]

i am putting a new oil pan on my 383 that is going to be in my project truck. I put the pan on and it woudn't go all the way on the rails, so i turned the oil pump pickup upward until it would. i am using a milodon pan and pickup tube and the tube has an "idiot bracket" that prevents one from putting it too far down in the pan. when i use the very thick gasket that i got for it, probably 1/8 inch or so, will this raise the end of the pickup tube too far off the pan floor?

what is the ballpark maximum allowable distance between the bottom of the pickup and the bottom of the oil pan?

sorry for the wordy description, i wanted to make sure i didnt leave any details out

also, a question about the gasket. It is a one-piece rubber one with metal gromets that prevent over tightening of the gasket, should i use some type of rtv silicone on the block rails and pan rails or should i just use some up front around the timing chain cover area?

[MrPbody]

3/8" is minumum pan-to-pickup clearance.

Use a dab of RTV (I like "ultra-black") in the corners. MAYBE a very thin film around the underside of the front lip. Use "Aviation" on the rear cap and inside the timing cover where the lip goes. Nothing on the rails.

Jim

[jveik]

thanks for the advice. yeah that oil pickup has a pretty cool idiot-proof feature that has a bracket that sticks out about 3/8 inch from the bottom of the pickup tube that keeps one from putting the pickup tube too close to the pan. I'll use some black RTV on the ends and the corners like you suggested and torque accordingly. Thanks again