Ok, so I had a 396 shortblock built (3.875in stroke). And needless to say I had to do a lot of clearancing, everywhere when assembling the full motor. I'm running the stock pan. I clearanced the bottom of the pan (right where it sits above the steering rack) quite a bit; I perhaps did more than necessary just to make sure. But, today when I went to put the puppy on my stock k-member it hit the steering rack, so I grinded the small ridge off the rack, and lil' bit of material to aid in clearing. I now have very very small tolerances. There's about 1/8inch or less between the pan and the rack.

I'm running poly motor mounts, and trans mount. My question is, am I playing with fire with that small of clearance? I'm not sure how much to expect the motor to lower during high torque situations or perhaps while hitting a solid bump while driving. Even if it hits, I believe it could dent in the pan a small amount without problem, like I said, it has a healthy clearance from the rotating assembly.

My other thought was to shim the motor higher on the motor mount plates via grade 8 washers. I was thinking 2 washers would give me plenty of clearance, but i'm not sure how that will effect the drivetrain alignment/etc...

Let me know what you guys think,

Thanks,
Andrew

 

Nobody has ever ran into this problem huh?

 

Most everyone decides to get an aftermarket oil pan when building a stroker. Please say you aren't running a high volume oil pump with that stock pan?

 

I can't help here much as I ran a stock pan on my 383 and didn't require as much clearancing in that area. I would say that if you're positive that you have over clearanced for the rod caps low point then you could just take a little back by taking a wooden block or wedge and make some small "adjustments" to the pan.

SS RRR is right though, most go to the aftermarket pan once they get to the long stroke of the 396.

 

Standard volume pump w/stock pan.

I've seen a couple guys in the past on here with the exact same thing on a 396. One of them was in the 1100hp range (white 96 camaro if memory serves), but I don't remember their names.

 

i used a bmr kmember and didnt have an issue

 

I'm using a Canton pan and shimmed the motor with washers per the recommendation of several people on here.