what oil pan

[F3BZ]

it must be me. tried advanced search using oil pan. then "oil pan". 0 results. i'm trying to gather up pans for way-in-the-future build before they get scarce. no combo is set in stone but at least one of these will be a go. what might be issues with stock cradle? which can use the stock B3 pan?

B6D/ATX

BP/MT

BP2 (BPT)/MT

B6/MT

[Icedawg]

B6 engines should accept the B3 pan, since the block is the same size. BP pans are a different size than B6 and B3. The pans differ with the transmissions in some cases, but not all. Sorry I can't help more.
A BP can be mated to a stock Festy manual transmission with a bit of mod to the tranny; some grinding and cutting. So no need to change pans on a FWD BP. Not sure on the ATX mating, but I guess it would be the same.

[Advancedynamix]

None of them will be an issue with the stock cradle (crossmember). That goes under the tranny, not the engine.
Small block b series pans interchange with each other as well as some Z series pans and a few years of Kia Rio. The Rio has a cool pan that is similar to a b6t pan. The miata pan fits but would be hard to work with in a transverse arrangement.

[F3BZ]

whatchu mean by cool? is it finned or is there an internal difference or advantage? maybe it'll be obvious from the parts diagram i haven't looked up yet. do you think the rio pan is worth pursuing and will be compatible with B6/B6D oil tube?

[Advancedynamix]

It's been awhile since I've seen one, but I think it has a scraper plate like the miata has. I think you need to use the rio pickup tube, but I can't remember for sure. Dragonhealer bought a brand new rio pan awhile back. I remember looking it over and being pretty impressed, but that's all I can really recall. Dragonhealer is busy this weekend, but he can probably elaborate further when he's back.

[F3BZ]

well if you were impressed, this bears further investigation. hopefully dragonhealer will have some further input. here is a compare of the pans, 00-04 on left. the parts list indicates the later pan being Aluminum and i see the difference in the baffle plates. since the RIO wasn't a screamer i wonder what advantage these pans might have over the B3,B6,B6D or T pan. if it's worth the cost of a JY yank.

[Safety Guy]

Guys, if it may help in the short term, go to Rockauto and pull up pics of both B3 and '04 Rio pans. You can even drag the Rio pan pic up to where you already have the Festiva pan displayed. May help satiate your curiosity a bit till you can compare the real things.

Looks to me when bringing up the '93 Festiva B3 Spectra Premium pan pic that there are holes on the right side of pic that won't be duplicated with the aluminum '04 Rio pan. I do recall that in a B6 swap, the clutch end seals on the engine are different between B3 and '94 B6 pans.

I just don't know enough about this to say if the Rio pan will work. I know that when I bought an aluminum B6 16V pan to compare with the B3 and B6 pans, it was thicker and heavier.

Karl

[Advancedynamix]

Guys, if it may help in the short term, go to Rockauto and pull up pics of both B3 and '04 Rio pans. You can even drag the Rio pan pic up to where you already have the Festiva pan displayed. May help satiate your curiosity a bit till you can compare the real things.

Looks to me when bringing up the '93 Festiva B3 Spectra Premium pan pic that there are holes on the right side of pic that won't be duplicated with the aluminum '04 Rio pan. I do recall that in a B6 swap, the clutch end seals on the engine are different between B3 and '94 B6 pans.

I just don't know enough about this to say if the Rio pan will work. I know that when I bought an aluminum B6 16V pan to compare with the B3 and B6 pans, it was thicker and heavier.

Karl

This is true. The rear main seal plate is different between engines that come with a steel pan and those that come with an aluminum pan. You'll have to use the appropriate seal plate for whichever pan you choose. As far as I have seen, there are only 2 styles of seal plate for the small block b series engines. The miata rear main seal plate is still readily available brand new for those who want to upgrade to an aluminum pan.
I used a b3 seal plate on my b6d with a b6d pan (steel) and had no issues. I used the b3 part because my engine started off as a miata engine with an aluminum pan. The steel b6d pan (91-94 Capri base) is a better pan than the b3 pan. It's deeper and has a nicely baffled sump.

[F3BZ]

this is getting to be a rabbit hole thing. very good info and thanks for the input but since there doesn't seem to be a performance advantage to the RIO pan i think i'll KISS and use the pan that comes with the motor.