Okay guys, I (for desperate reasons) had to drop a 1980 305 into my T/A, and I came to find out that the oil pan on a pre-1982 small block has a longer profile, coming almost within an inch of the K member, whereas the 1983 350 I had to pull out had enough room for the y-pipe to my hedman headers...now I have the pan sitting on the y-pipe. I'm thinking about cutting the driver's side pipe off just below the flange, and the passenger side just off the oil pan and splice in with an elbow and piece of pipe...has anyone else encountered this with an older block going in their 3rd gen? And what have you done to correct it? This engine is ready to fire, but need the headers bolted up....thanks for looking and hope to get some replies!

 

The size and shape of the pan varies with different applications. You can just get another pan that fits.

 

Change the oil pan, its an hour job. Not worth the hackjob exhaust you'd have to do to make it work otherwise.