hey, I'm about to put my 383 together and was orderin the last parts ands the guy I talked with told me that I could not install a windage tray without having the mains line bored... he said that the forces of the new studs would cause the block to be pulled our of shape and anyway it;s a no go... I never heard of this before and I cant see that installing studs (instead of factory bolts) would cause that much difference. am i totally wrong or what?

 

yeah, ok. the problem is that the studs are torqued differently than a bolt and yes, it can distort the block enough to cause problems.. :lala:

 

Well, I added a windage try to the 73 model 400 block that I put in my 83 car back in about 88 or so; seemed to run fine for around 140k miles or thereabouts.

I wouldn't worry about it.

Get the right pan to go with the tray. A typical stock pan isn't set up for one, and it won't fit very well.

Here's the pan I used. I used the Moroso Teflon-coated tray instead of the GM one though; with the GM hardware.

http://www.paceparts.com/index.asp?P...D&ProdID=25496

Incidentally, it WON'T work on all motors up to 85; only blocks with the left-hand dipstick.