Well, here it is:

I trimmed some of of the bottom of the baffle.  It's barely visible.

The gate, appart:

I smashed the third nuckles (second nuckles of the top half) so that the pins will not wander around.  It flops freely.  The pin is 1/8" so it should last.  I mean, it's going to be in a pool of oil.

I'm going to consider making some kind of rail that can catch the oil and let it flow over the top of the baffle to aid in the oil's return to the pick-up.  I may add a baffle for side to side motion, near the pick-up.

In any case, it works very well with water.  So hopefull it will work well with the oil.  I'll just keep my eye on the pressure gauge when I first use it.

My welding wasn't as bad as I thought.  The tensioner on the wire feed was not tight enough.  The last thing I welded was 22 gauge steel.  An extensive air cleaner modification for my firebird.  22 gauge is quite difficult for a beginner.

Lawrenceville, GA

Homespun:

I think most hot oil is about the same consistency as water.  Ever drain your oil after the engine is warmed up?

John

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

So, I've decided to try to improve my trucks oil pan.  It's the standard, almost flat, truck oil pan.  Fortunately it's the one that already has the baffle!  I have made a gate with some piano hinge:

And thus far I have clamped it to the pan, filled it with water, and sloshed it around to see if it actually improves anything:

The good new is that it seems to help a lot.  The flow back to the uh.. "sump" seems to be the same.  While the flow out of the sump has slowed greatly.  So I think this is all good.

There is about 1/4" of clearance beween the bottom of the pan and the bottom of the stock baffle:

I'm trying to decide wether I should trim another 1/4", totaling ~ 1/2", off of the bottom of the baffle to help flow back into the sump.  I'm not so great at welding yet.  So I am looking for advice before I do anything that may result in repair.

I really can't see how it would hurt anything.

Lawrenceville, GA