itsarebuild

hi! i have been working on swapping an ls1 (supposedly a 98 trans am) into my 84 z28 and followed a lot of the threads and got a lot of great info. however, i tried to install the motor this weekend and found that i could BARELY get the motor in without hitting the k member. the only way to get it all the way down was to move the clamshell mounts back about 1" from stock and drill new holes. even then the wiring harness is wedged hard between the firewall at the gas pedal mounts and the block. the ac was removed so it isnt a conflict there, it is at the oil pan and the back of the k member. has anyone else had that problem?
as it is i am notching the k member at the back to fit the oil pan more gracefully (much like the people who notched it for the A/c) and will be adding a beefier custom wonderbar as a workaround, but i am wondering if there was another option.....

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

What mounts are you using?

itsarebuild

clamshell type that came with the car. like this.....



the mount on the engine is the stock stamped steel piece i took from the original v8 motor with a transdapt relocation bracket to put it in the stock location.

it looks like there just isnt enough distance between the firewall and the back of the oil pan to fit without hitting the wall with the harness and the k member with the pan. does everyone else have this issue too? it didnt seem to be mentioned much although EVERYONE says it is "tight"......

kizmaro89

I'm using trasdapt mounts and moroso solid motor mounts without any clearance issues. I located the engine/trans in the car before marking and drilling the holes for the engine mounts. Have about 3/16" between the oil pan and k member and plenty of room around the firewall

itsarebuild

hmmmm. maybe the hoist plates i put on the back are making the wiring harness stick out further than yours is. the harness doesnt seem to have enough slack to make it over the top of the intake manifold and rails as is. oh well. no biggie as i already cut the k member. i think i'd like more than a 3/16" clearance anyway....

1ADan

iTrader: (4)

i used a set of 1" setback plate adapters I got from ebay (should be pretty similar to the trans dapt ones) and notched my kmember for clearance. using poly bushings, but wanted a little more breathing room between the pan and the kmember.

itsarebuild

sounds like you had the same issue then as my stock mounts were moved back 1" too. does your k member notch look kinda like this? (obviously closed up and welded though....)

1ADan

iTrader: (4)

pretty close. after spending $200+ on a cast aluminum pan, didn't want to risk cracking it and having to pull the motor out to replace it

Sutton

What pan did put on your 1ADan ?

1ADan

iTrader: (4)

I stuck with the fbody pan as many others have suggested. doesn't hang too low like the truck & h2 pans, cheaper than buying one of the holley swap pans

6SIX6

iTrader: (35)

I did this to mine as the mounts and k member where used in a previous swap. Only thing that touched the oil pan was the welds so I ground them down and the bump in the middle I pounded down and made flat. I got a quater inch on solid mounts now. It isnt gonna hit now

you can see on the left side in the first pic where it was slightly touching the pan. It was just at the top of the weld. On the other side you can see where I ground it down and took a ball peen hammer to the center bump area




You can now see how flat the area is and I have no issues with it now

itsarebuild

as an update..... here it is with the motor in!



thanks for all the advice so far!

6SIX6

iTrader: (35)

Pic doesnt work for some reason. I also got my motor in last night and hve a 1/4 inch gap betweeen the pan and k member on solid mounts.