Raising the motor was for oil pan clearance only. The shallow pans that are made for the 4.6 and what the new pan the canton should be making for us should be 1.5 shorter than the stock pan.(where the additional .5 inch comes from). Personally Im not interested in dry sump. Dont want to deal with the expense or complexity. I went with a Coyote for OEM reliability and simplicity. A skid would help if the pan hangs a small amount below after the new pan but 1.5" is way to much IMHO .

As far as the chassis goes, from what solidworks FEA is telling me, stiffening the back of the car doesnt net any appreciable gains. The backbone is a pretty big reason for this. The backbone and a few other small additions nearly doubled the chassis stiffness from the MKI way back when.

As I mentioned earlier, I dont see the current FFR frame as having any deficits. This is an exercise for me to see how good I am able to make it using a modern analysis tool(sw cosmos) given the HUGE Coyote motor sitting up front. Based on the latest modifications Ive made and simulations Ive run, the frame should be better than 2X in torsion.

Updates coming tomorrow Hank Ive spend several days in the shop this last week while on vacation.

Happy New Year!

David