Guest Anonymous Posted July 17, 2000 Share Posted July 17, 2000 I just got the driveshaft in, finishing the work underneath, set her down off the jackstands and took a look underneath... Holy @#$% that pan is low!!! 2 3/8" ground clearance to be exact. I had lowered the car 1" with Suspension Techniques springs years ago and never a problem w/ the stock setup of course. So the question......are there aftermarket pans out there that provide more clearance?? The engine is a '91 305 out of a Camaro. The tranny pan is pretty low too, but there's probably not much to do about that except be careful. Any advise would be appreciated!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted July 17, 2000 Share Posted July 17, 2000 I have the same problem, actually I have beat up the bottom of the pan, and looking for a replacement. I was running a 7 qt pan from Moroso. What is everyone else running????? Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLKMGK Posted July 18, 2000 Share Posted July 18, 2000 Have you looked at the 'vette pan that JTR talks about? It's supposed to provide more clearance but I was going to go with a pan similiar to the one you're talking about (gulp). Was this a "drag race" type pan or one made for roadcourse kind of work? Mikelly - which pan did you use? I seem to recall that your pan wasn't an issue and it had extra volume... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted July 18, 2000 Share Posted July 18, 2000 I'm using the moroso Tsump pan. Did you guys use the spacers between the frame and the engine cross brace (Brain fart on the area...) that the steering rack sits in??? Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted July 19, 2000 Share Posted July 19, 2000 I'm running a 5.7 for a 93 trans am and the pan is the lowest part of the car. I just spent 165 on a new GM pan and gasket due to heaved up pavement at a construction site. Car bottomed out and put a small crack in pan. Did not lose pressure but it was an eye opener. I had to have pan now because I was leaving for a drivers school the next day or two. It would have been a great time to go with an after market pan but time would not permit. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted July 19, 2000 Share Posted July 19, 2000 quote: Originally posted by Mikelly: I'm using the moroso Tsump pan. Did you guys use the spacers between the frame and the engine cross brace (Brain fart on the area...) that the steering rack sits in??? Mike Yes Mike, all my mounts including the crossmember spacers are per the "JTR Bible". Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLKMGK Posted July 20, 2000 Share Posted July 20, 2000 I don't think the spacers help to be honest. The motor is attached to the crossmember which is what the spacers sit on. Using the spacers raises the body as it sits on the crossmember but since the motor is attached to the crossmember and not the body of the car it's height remains unchanged.... Mike, how low is your pan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted July 20, 2000 Share Posted July 20, 2000 Jim, you've got it backwards - easy to do. The struts and springs hold the car off the ground through the shock towers. The spacers between the frame and the engine crossmember only lower the engine (along with the control arm inner pivots and steering rack). So taking out the spacers gains you 1/2" of ground clearance on the pan. The spacers were put in by JTR to gain hood clearance (I didn't need any with a 30-336 Holley contender manifold, 750 vac sec Holley 3310, and a 3" high, 14" dia drop Moroso air cleaner) and clearance at the top of the tunnel opening, and to fit the taller distributors (HEI) under the modified hood latch. I didn't need that either, since I move the hood latch over the left valve cover. I took the spacers out to help with the crank and transmission shaft centerline angles, relative to the diff, to get the u-joint angles smaller and more equal. In my opinion, only use the spacers if you are running into distributor or transmission clearance problems. The extra oilpan clearance is needed, and the induction system can probably be altered to get clearance there. The JTR mounts lower the engine quite a bit anyway, so try your engine install without the spacers first. Those driveshaft u-joint angles are important too! BTW, the oil sump ends up just behind the front tires. Having it low there means that coming down too fast off of a speed bump when crawling over it will fairly easily smack the oil sump. I've seen that happen! [This message has been edited by pparaska (edited July 20, 2000).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted July 20, 2000 Share Posted July 20, 2000 I have at least 4inches of clearance from my pan to the garage floor... Doesn't sound like much, but it helps.. I'm using the spacers as my hood would not have cleared... Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLKMGK Posted July 21, 2000 Share Posted July 21, 2000 Man, I'm confused! JTR says that these "lower" the engine relative to the body of the car. This provides clearance at the trans tunnel and latch - so far so good. However it seems to me this is accomplished by mounting the body on "blocks" to raise it - not actually lower the engine. No? These mount ABOVE the crossmember - yes? Between frame and crossmember? What does the body on the car have to do with ground clearance if the motor is mounted to the crossmember and the suspension mounted to that? Does this have something to do with the suspension maybe? Raise the body move suspension mount points? I figured only the bar that angles back attached to the body would be effected - no? If I unbolted the crossmember and lifted the body from the car - the engine's height from the grouond wouldn't change would it? Yeah, I'm truly puzzled here. Not installing the spacers is no biggie for me to be honest - I think my balancer will clear. Hood latch I'm not sure of but I may go with a glass hood and pins anyway - I'm not sure yet. One thing JTR stated that puzzles me - installing these spacers provides room between the balancer and the crossmember. That would seem to say that the motor moves up which is what you've said. How exactly does that happen? Just looked at the engineless car inthe garage - really puzzled now how do you add clearance for the balancer and not lower clearance for the tunnel and latch? (sigh). [This message has been edited by BLKMGK (edited July 20, 2000).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted July 21, 2000 Share Posted July 21, 2000 Jim. Forget about the wheels and the relative height of the engine crossmember. The control arms and tierods are the only things that connect the wheel to the crossmember, and they pivot, so they don't have any set relationship to one another. The struts and springs hold the car up over the wheels. The strut is holding the unibody up at the front and rear at the top of the shock towers. The crossmember is bolted to the unibody. So adding the spacers between the unibody frame rails and the crossmember (on top of the crossmember) LOWERS the crossmember and hence the engine. I had a tough time with this at first until I thought about what was holding the car (unibody) up and what was holding the engine up. And I agree with you, the crossmember spacer blocks that JTR says to put between the bottom of the frame rails and the top of the crossmember can't possibly have an affect on the harmonic balancer to steering rack distance. I couldn't find where they said that when I checked my book. Maybe mine is an older addition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Locutus Posted July 21, 2000 Share Posted July 21, 2000 I believe they may be refering the spacers on the engine mount, the triangular spacers you put on between the engine and the set back plate. Thats the only thing I can think of mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLKMGK Posted July 21, 2000 Share Posted July 21, 2000 Okay, I think I get it now! Geez that was messing with my head! I guess I'll try it sans spacers and see how it goes. Vibration is my biggest worry to be honest. I've got time but not getting my radiator yet is annoying me - I may cancel and go with the GM rad instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.