I finally got my motor back from the builder and had a little snafu getting it off the trailer. I thought I got away with no damage but found a small dent in the oil pan today while the engine is on the stand. It's on the front passenger side of the hump in the pan where the oil pump sets into. It's only about 1/8 inch deep. My understanding is that the oil pump is 1/4 to 3/8 inch fron the bottom of the pan. If that's the case then there should still be a little clearance between the pan and oil pump. The engine is on the stand and hasn't been run yet. I'd rather fix an issue now than when it's back in the jeep. I honestly think it's OK, but after the amount of time I have in this I don't want any surprise issues. Thanks!

I'm going to say you're fine... It's up front and there is clearance between the oil pan and the pick up.. With that being said, I'm following your build thread and you've sank a bunch of time and money into getting this far.. You won't get a better time to simply roll it over on the engine stand, pop the pan off and massage it back.. It's a tough call I feel your pain on this one..

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, it's a tough decision. I really don't want to pull the pan off, but it is still on the stand. I will probably just leave it. It just bothers me to have a brand new build and know it's there.

If you have doubts, pull the pan. if the pick up pile was damaged, and if you run it that way, you may destroy your motor. It dont look too bad to me from the photos, but I am not there, safe or risky, your choice, chose wisely!

Could I use a borescope and go in through the oil plug hole? There's no oil in the motor right now. My main concern would be what you have mentioned, the oil pick up screen. I wo Der if I could see if it was damaged with the bore scope?

So out of my paranoia, I called the engine builder this morning. He told me the oil pick up was more towards the back of the sump by the drain plug than the front. It's also about 1/2 inch off the bottom of the sump. Being that the dent is only 1/8 inch deep, and on the very front of the sump, I am most likely ok. He recommended shining a light in through the drain plug to see. I am going to try that and a bore scope tonight

C'mon man. If you leave it its going to bug. Now is the time. Do it right or don't do it.

What he said; you're going to worry about it forever and it's a "new" engine.
Keep in mind although the dent is shallow you don't know how far things flexed when it happened as far as it hitting the pick up.
As the engine is on a stand you could have pulled the pan by now in the time it has taken to fool around on the net. Just saying....

AMEN