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Joined: Tue Jun 30th, 2020
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I have info on the melling pump, I too tried to install one and it hit.
I'm a machinist by trade, and in one of the FB groups we measured the height of the stock ford pump and I measured the melling. The screws are what are too tall. I made a suggestion to remove the plate, countersink it for flat heads and replace the screws with flatheads. The member did just that and it fit fine. You would of course have to determine the thread of the screw first as I don't know it but I still have the Melling in the garage and could measure for you if you want.
Some people just beat divots in the bottom of the pan to clear the screws. I wouldn't suggest that.
Nobody that was using the Melling high flow reported any problems, but there were speculations by people not running them (yeah) that it was designed for a deep sump pan and could empty the stock pan during high RPM situations starving the engine of oil. I found no real support for this in my searches but are tossing it out to cover my ass.
Looks like you have done substantial research thanks for coming here and posting your project!
The melling hv oil pump for a 2000 explorer 302 will not fit the cast steel oil pan even if you take the bolts out of the housing. It is about a 1/4 inch taller. I mean you can ding the oil pan and make it fit if you needed to, but not my thing to do.
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2000 EFI 302 Zspec T5 swap ranger