I stumbled onto this thread while browsing and, although I'm a bit late, I have what I believe to be relevant info. First, I believe that the pan in that picture is one of two pans sent to me a year or so ago. Yes, I am saying it is the EXACT SAME PAN that was in my shop in Alabama. I was told by Gary Armstrong at the time that they were the only 2 of that model in existence and that he wasn't making any more (for obvious reasons). When I received the first pan, I took a pic identical to the one posted here, although it was lost forever in my recent laptop disaster. When I called Gary about it, he was very apologetic and asked me to send it back and he would send me another. The second one fit worse than the first. When I called again, he was again the nicest guy you'd ever want to talk to, and explained that he didn't have a good mold for the 351 pan and was trying to get his hand on a block so he could make a new mold. I sent that one back, too.
Now let me stop right here and interject some commentary. This guy ain't no dummy. He knew this stuff was shit, but sent it anyway. Think about this...he sells "thousands of pans" to all kinds of deep pocket motorsports teams, but yet he can't afford to buy a friggin' Ford Motorsport block to make some molds by??? Hell, he could then sell the block on one of the myriad of Mustang or Ford forums and not been out more than a couple hundred.
After it was all said and done, I didn't make a track day that I had already paid for ($600 non refundable) and was out a couple of overnight shipping charges. In exchange for my trouble, Gary offered to hook my brother up with a smokin' deal on a complete drysump setup for his C5 Corvette Z06, when he got ready for it. Fast forward 6 months and we called to order the dry sump. Gary gave us a price that was identical to the price given to a local speed shop for the same setup for my friend's Corvette. Some deal.
Why would we take a chance on another pan from this company??? I feel dumb saying this now, but we ASSumed that if LGM and ALMS guys were using it, it must be good. WRONG!
The Corvette pan fit alot better than mine, but I would give it a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10.
You shouldn't have to modify a piece this expensive to get it to fit.
Short story, avoid ARE if possible. I'm not sure if I'd call this guy a liar or a cheat, but something is just not right.
BTW, the pan I got from Armando was shit, as well...and was 3 weeks late being delivered...and cost me $162.00 in Saturday delivery air freight to keep from missing another prepaid track day.
If you want a good pan, check out
Billet Fabrication Specialties. Jeff's stuff is top notch.