i have a 91 camaro rs with a 2005 truck ls 6.0 engine. the guy who swaped the ls in did a very nice job all except leaving the truck oil pan on. it so low he welded a cage around to protect the oil pan. this leaves the car with very very little ground clearence. car has no ac and thats not really an issue.

i have read all the stickies and i see from the best of my research that an fbody oil pan will increase my ground clearance under the pan and be a much cleaner deal.

my question is do i need or have to do a tubular k member or will the fbody oil pan fit without it without modifiications. i know to put ac in i have to notch the k member or get a tubular k member.

any and all help is greatly appriciated.
mike

 

some have been able to install the fbody pan without modification, but its tiiiiiiight. Too tight for my own piece of mind (unless you're running solid motor mounts), so I opted to notch my kmember.

 

If setback swap mounts were used, you can get by without notching the K-member IF you install the engine on the K-member outside of the car, then drop the car over the engine/K-member. Otherwise, you need to notch the K-member.

You can get a kit to move the AC up by the head. Requires an aftermarket compressor, though. And custom AC hoses.

 

Hi there. When I put the LS2 in my 89 Iroc I first mounted it onto the stock K-member without doing anything to the K-member. The engine (with an Fbody oilpan) would fit, but there was maybe 2-4 mm of clearance, so I decided to narrow the backside of the K-member about 8-10 mm by cutting out a chunk, which I then welded back of course. If you have the K-member out of the car this is a quick and easy fix to ensure you don't get any annoying contact in between the oilcan and the K-member. The groundclrearance will be as good as it was with the stock engine.

 

I dropped my motor/trans in one shot from the top,no modding the k member and im using poly mounts/But as mentioned..clearance between the pain and the kmember is a lil tight.I havent had issues yet and drive the car hard lol. You could grind down the weld on the back of the k member and then take a bfh to it and reweld it for a good amount of clearance if you are that concerned. Ground clearance with the fbody pan is like factory,pan barely hangs lower than the k member itself.

 

Would a few pics help you Mike?

This pic is a little weird, but I think it shows the clearance pretty well. The camera was laying on the floor and is pointed up at the bottom of the pan.


Side view


Front view. Plenty of room here


Stock unmodified K-member with Spohn motor mount brackets

 

wow thanks guys for all the replies. it looks very tight but doable. i think i may just buy the tubular k member and a f body oil pan and just get it all done in one shot. we will see i guess 500 bucks for the k member is a bit spendy if i could modify what i already have. im guessing there are other advantages to the tubular one. i know of the weight savings. i have heard some about it being weeker than the stock k member for street driving though. i will need to research it a bit.

im guessing to change the oil pan the kmember has to be removed right.

i will say that a car can be driven with a stock truck oil pan. but it is pretty much impossible. its so low speed bumps are out of the question and dips in the road are a problem aswell. the guy who installed it built a cage to protect the oil pan which does work but decreases the clearance even more. i would put this as possible but not advisable at all. maybe its just the colorado roads. i hit a manhole cover yesterday with the protective bar ha.

 

If you're buying the k member just for the pan clearance, a much easier option might be the new Holley or Mast pan. It's more expensive than the f-body pan, but way cheaper than an f-body pan and a new k-member, and easier to swap than a K-member too.

 

Jim

I really like the Holley and mast options. Does anyone have any opinions on either of them. The motor is a 408 strocker will I have any issues.

Also to swap this pan in do I have to remove the k member or pull the motor or can I just unbolt swap and bolt back in.

Thanks guys

 

I thought the holley hung lower than the stock k-member. no idea the mast

I never had issues with mu k-member and pan. I beat the factory weld in with a 3lb hammer so the pan side of it was flush. its fairly close like the picture above but I never dropped the k-member out of the car. Ive place the engine in and then the t56 several times.


one thing ive noticed is the used f-body pans and ls1s are getting cheaper to come by. wish the t56 would follow this trend but they have gone up alot since I bought mine

 

ok gotta get this done asap. it is scary to drive. i noticed today the profile on the frint tires isnt helping me any either. 40 series 18s are pretty thin and make it real low.

i have decided to keep the stock k member and go with either the stock f body pan or the holly pan. i researched and the holly pan is about .89 of an inch lower than the stock f body or 5.0 inches deep on stock f body and 5.89 inches on the holly pan. either is a far cry from the 8 and 3/4 inch truck pan thats on there. that said for safety sake i think i want the stock f body pan so its tucked up with the k member not hanging below.

i know i need the pan, pick up tube, baffle, new oil filer, and of course a gasket. i have heard i may need a dipstick tube and a new dipstick any one have any advice on that.

also i am going to have a local shop do the swap since i dont have the time and i physically cant get it into my shop. need to be focusing on school work not putting a pan on my toy.

does anyone have some good pics of what may need to be done to the k member so i can let the guy know what to look for. also about how much time does it take to do a job like this. engine is mounted in vehicle currently.

thanks again guys

 

bought a stock ls1 f body pan kit. its the pan windage tray pickup pick up o rings dipstick tube and dipstick. 298.00 plus shipping.

i called to buy the mast pan and windage tray but ended up with this set up. the mast pan is 5.75 inches deep and this is 5 inches.

now im just hopping clearance is good on the rods and that there is enough oil capacity to keep the beast lubed.

i found a guy in town that says he has done this swap once before a long time ago. hes confident it should be no big issue. he is also going to tune the car for me. recommendation from ls1tech.

 

I don't know how "good" these are, but...

From underneath:




Before the engine went in:




Basically, I cut back through the holes that are in the middle of the top & bottom of the K-member. You have to look pretty close because the black paint doesn't give any contrast, but I cut a notch for the AC compressor as well.

I can't imagine trying to do this with the engine in the car.

 

57

thanks for the pictures those make it very clear. holy cow thats a big notch in the k member. i think i can get it done with the engine in but not nearly as big of a notch as you have there. very nice work though.

how much clearance would be needed there i was thinking like an inch or so would be fine. im hoping this works out pretty easy guess we will see.

mike

 

You probably don't need that much.

It would be really hard to both cut and weld with the engine still in.

 

update on my oil pan issues

the f body pan was going in today and for some reason it is off by close to 2 inches. it would have taken way more chopping of the k member than would be safe. i must have some wierd motor mounts which wouldnt surprise me.

we decided to order the holley retro ls pan that was suggested early on. its about .89 of an inch lower than an f body pan but about 2 and 1/4 inches shorter than what i have. it has way more clearance with the k member than what the f body pan has i think it is something like 4.5 inches more clearance.

pan will be here in the morning wish me luck.

i was shown a pretty big issue with it up on the lift. the exhaust is completely welded together including the headers to the rest of the exhaust. as well and it is welded to the frame instead of using hangers. this should be alot of fun to fix.

thanks
mike

 

update on the holley pan.

it came in this morning we fit it up and low and behold it fit. plenty of k member clearance to the sump . the front of the pan is pretty deep but with the k member raised back up into place it still had good clearance to the pan on the flat side of the k member. not completely bolted back together yet. but i dont forsee any issues.

the quality of the pan is very good. i read a bunch about it being so so quality i disagree with that for sure. the casting looks great and all the mating surfaces are cleanly machined.

a bit steap on price but then again if you dont want to cut your k member it may be worth it.

ymmv on the fitment as i couldnt get an f body pan to come close to fitting and many others have no issue with them.

mike

 

sounds like you got some offset mount.fbody pans are a no brainer without modding the k member.I used poly mounts with the hawks lsx swap mounts.My 6.0 with cam doesnt rub the frame and i drive it hard.no issues a yr later..im not worried about it.

good luck on fixing that solid exhaust lol,are you running full longtubes and is the car lowered?

 

Full long tubes into a 3 inch y to dual 3 inch side exhaust both exit on pass side. Car is stock height but I think it sits lower than stock in the front.

im think im going to have it all cut out and go to a convention rear exit 3 inch exhaust. Hoping I can salvage the long tubes.

 

Must be one loud car lol.Post some pics/vids if you have any. Stock height you should be good for clearance ..maybe lower the car an inch or so all around might be perfect stance.Sounds like its a quick lil car you got on your hands.

 

I will get some more pics and a few vids up. It's very loud. Just back from dyno tuning it put down 422 rwhp and 426 rwtq n/a. Gonna get emmisions figured out then set up the spray.