Hey, ive got a 95 Trans am and a built 383 stroker in it, i just finished putting the trany back in and when everything is all up in place where it should be the front of the oil pan is touching the steering rack, Ive figured that ive got two options, lower the rack of shim the engine up, just wondering if anyone has done either of these, i need to know if i shim the engine if im gonna run into hood clearance issues. please any info would be great the oil pan installed is a 13-080T race pan from canton. thanx a lot for your time

 

I'm not familiar with Canton pans, so I don't know if this is a common issue or not. I went with a Moroso pan and it fit perfectly.

To answer your last question, I believe you can shim the engine up significantly without hood clearance issues. You may have issues with wires or fluid lines, I'm not sure. I have seen several people with nitrous solenoids on top of the TB, so that should be at least 1-2" of clearance.

 

I had this same issue with my 383 but didn't realize it until I went to do routine maintenance on the timing seals several years later. I don't think you can shim the motor up very easily on these cars a you will have alignment issues with the motor mounts, and the best bet is to lower the rack/pinion. I ended up leaving mine alone as the pan over time dented where the rack/pinion is an it causes no issues with the seals. I did however put new poly motor mounts on and this brought it up slightly that off the rack just recently.

 

I shimmed my motor mounts with hardened washers. I had to grind the holes a little bit though.

 

Mine had the same problem, but it turns out we were sent the regular sbc oil pan rather than the lt1 pan. I think it's barely not touching now, but the motor mounts have 130k on them so with new ones I think it should be fine.

 

When I first installed my Canton pan it was extremely close to the steering rack but it wasn't hitting, so I left it, even though I never felt comfortable about it.

I just pulled the pan again to replace my Melling oil pump with one of their Select pumps and decided to do something about the pan clearance issue. I made two shims for each side to go between the motor mount and the block out of 16 gauge sheet metal (total 0.116 on each side) and although the bolt hole alignment was tight they went in OK and just put small side load on the rubber motor mount. But now I have at least 1/4 in. clearance between the pan and the steering rack I haven't tried closing the hood yet (the intake is off because I'm still doing other stuff) but I don't think there will be any clearance issues.

If I had to do it again, I would only shim the motor mounts to a max of 0.100", that way I think the motor mount bolts would go in a little easier.

 

i belive there is plenty of hood clearance. the moroso pan i have is already notched for the steering clearance but i think shiming the motor mounts i a good solution.

 

what is the difference in design from the 13-080T from the 242-T that I am using in my build? I know that the 242-t is LT1 specific vs the other is small block pre 1980. Does this affect clearances?

EDIT: the 242t is 7.5 inches deep vs the 13-080T is 8 inches.

 

The Canton pan I'm using (post #6) is the 242-T.

 

I am using a UMI k member, and wonder what kind of clearance I am going to get with my 242T

 

I didn't have any clearance issues with the rack on mine...though I did have to cut up and re-weld the y-pipe for my Random technology (ASM) headers, and plug the oil level sender hole.

 

You should have absolutely no problem.