I recently picked up a stock oil pan from a 99 or so vortec 350. It came with the factory windage tray and studs, and I am curious whether or not it would be worth using. We ran the casting numbers on my engine block when I got it, and it turns out that it is a 305 truck block out of a 1996 model, so the tray should bolt up without issue. The pan itself is completely identical to the original one, and still has the baffle in place.

Is there any reason I should NOT use the tray? Will it do much of anything? It looks pretty small, but I'd imagine that GM would engineer it to be as effective as possible, or they wouldn't have gone thru the trouble of designing and installing it in the first place.

Here's a pic:

 

guess it depends on how you define worth using, but there are advantages to having it and since you won't have any expense in doing it no negatives in using it

 

Cool, is there a way I can modify it to be more effective?

Any idea on what the torque specs would be for the studs? Would it just be the same as the main bolts?