I was looking at a few other small block chevys in the shop and I noticed that they all had these plates that go under the oil pan bolts, apparently to distribute the bolt torque.

I bought a new summit oil pan and it didn't come with any. Is it common to use these? Do you guys use them? Are they good to have?

Thanks.

 

Its a good idea to use them if you can, felpro s one piece pan gasket has metal inserts to help prevent over tightening.

 

Do you know who makes them? I've only found these; http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ham-1178/overview/ but they say they are only for Hamburger pans.

 

It was a good idea when oil pan gaskets were cork and could easily be crushed from over tightening. Torquing pan bolts or anything that used a cork gasket was critical and a bit of thread sealer on the bolts prevented them from loosening off.

The more modern rubber, neoprene or metal insert gaskets as mentioned above can be tightened up more without crushing the gasket.

I use a one piece Felpro gasket on my engine. Providing it doesn't get damaged, I keep reusing it every time I pull my pan and I still torque my pan bolts.

 

The more recent oil pans it not a back idea to use them because of imported junk pans sold today.They just don't fit well.Many leak even with the current gaskets out there.