he is on the money if you want to plate, just dont use epoxy paint it wont hold up to the heat, you might also think about polishing and buffing the inside of the pan

I'm not really sure what your referencing about the dentist/brain surgery analogy but the oil pan is a 14 qt offshore racing pan marketed by cp peformance/hardin marine,its held up ok it just has never fit the block real well which I noticed the first time I fitted it so I have always had to spend extra time laying down a rather large bead of great stuff rtv.If I hadn't originally bought it and had it a few months before fitting it to the block I would have sent it back because I wasn't real impressed with its fit and finish but too much time went by. Its going to be the 5th season and 3rd time of freshening/building the motor this time and the paint that was used inside the pan when it was manufactured (I didn't paint it inside) was bubbled in the area around # 1-4 mains,it hadn't started coming off but I'm sure it would have before I have the motor back apart in two more years. The paint looked just like the stuff you see on oem pans and such,sorta a baked on black looking enamel,except it should have never lifted if that was the case though. I have rebuilt/assembled at least 60 engines for myself and customers in past 25 years and have never felt the need to paint anything inside of them that was exposed to oil for any reason but being this was painted (and I have seen oem pans that are simlarly painted internally) I was wondering if it was something I should be exploring doing,Smitty

Back in the 60's and 70's racers used to apply a coating of Glyptol to the inside of the engine. Not just the lifter valley, but everywhere.
Glyptol is a GE product originally used to seal windings on electric motors. It's the thick heavy red/orange stuff you see on all the windings. Once cured it's impervious to oil, solvents, etc.

The Hardin Marine pan looks just like the old Gil pan. Hardin's been buying up a lot of well known marine stuff like the Keith Eikert marine parts.

Hardin owns Eickert Power Products.

The Hardin pan looks like a Gil pan because it is. They bought Gil a few years ago and are producing their stuff.

Smitty, It had just been brought to my attention that you are having a problem with one of our products. I am with Hardin Marine and would hope to clear the air on not only your oil pan but the pans we build today as well as the variables in question. I asked our entire staff if they had any recollection of hearing from you in regards to the problem you are having and I'm sorry to say no one could recall.

First and foremost we build more styles and quanity of offshore oil pans than any other as it was referred to earlier "brain surgeon" or I think "Dentist" oil pan manufactures. We do build the original "Gil" style pan which it sounds like you have. We took this project on when we purchased the tooling and dies from "Gil". Which in hindsight needed improvments. When we took the pan production over they (Gil) were using imported pan cores and welding stantions to the pan rails which as you can see caused some of what is referred to as distortion. Like every part we build, we constantly try to improve product quality. In the case of pan fitment today all of our pans are engine block mounted during manufacturing and our pans use an exclusive billet oil pan support rail system allowing us to not have to weld or modify the existing quality pan rails. Today we build one of the finest most complete steel oil pans on the market period.

Lastly in regards to your flaking issue of the coating I can only assume that during the coating process that there must have been contamination. While the pan is far out of warranty we would be more than willing to try and help you in this instance. Feel free to PM me and we will do our best to stand behind our product for you in the name of customer service.

Now this is customer service!

Maybe Smitty should send ya the pan.
Then you guys could work it out!

Whatever the case...

Thumbs up Hardin Marine!:drink:

I have had very good service from CP in the 12 years I have worked with them. They have great products. I work with Rick.

But when I needed new pans, I went stainless from Stefs. Very expensive but very nice. They are for a external wet sump Ford.

Oh yeah, I am a Dentist... WTF? :D:D

It is very stand up of you to come on board to explain the reasons why my pan has has block fitment issues since day one (oil rail distortion due to manufacturing process).I intially tried to install a modern 1 piece molded mk 4 pan gasket/seal,I could literally slide a .050 feeler gauge between the pan rail and block towards the front third of the pan,knowing this would guarentee a leak I used a old fashioned cork gasket with a very large bead of great stuff rtv instead. At the time I discovered this I did call and talk to a salesman at cp performance who basically told me "that any pan your going to buy thats is welded steel is never going to fit your block perfect its just a fact of life". I am glad to hear that you have recognized at some point there was a quailty control issue and you have taken steps to improve your products,that is a sign of a good company. The paint inside the pan wasn't flaking,it had bubbled up into several small bubbles 2-3 inches in dia that you could tell if they were poked at or disturbed would pop and start to realease pieces of the paint,at that point I had all the paint removed from the pan (recently in past week). In all fairness,I have seen other brand automotive race car pans that didn't fit too great either that required extra sealent to ensure they did not leak and other than this fitment issue and recent paint issue the pan has held up well,has never leaked or cracked and has controlled the oil well with its design and extra large 14 qt capacity. I will pm you and see if there is anything we can work out,thanks for coming forward and responding,I didn't start this thread to put down hardin marines products,I was really just looking for a good answer as to what if anything I should re-coat the pan with internally,Smitty