I run a cast deep pan on a turbo 400, what helped a lot was to mill the cooling ribs off it. Right now i have about 3.5" to the trans pan, but the rear of my oil pan is 2.75" . But im not driving anywhere except in the trailer and to the lanes at the track.

You still have stock suspension up front? you can put a fairly tall aftermarket urethane snubber in the lower arm. Trim it that it only has 1/4 to an 1/8 clearance at rest, this way you know the car wont "bottom out" and your limiting the down travel in the front suspension.