01Blackerado

iTrader: (4)

Hey guys, alot of you don't know my project but there are a good number of those who do!! I did an iron block build from a 5.3 to a 6.3. During the build I had to make a few choices that I thought could either make or break my project. The most critical of them all was the choice of which oil pan to use!!! Since I have 4WD, the biggest concern with using a LS1 style oil pan was clearance issues due to the front differential!!!

I read in a HOT ROD magazine, before I started this thing, and they did a comparison between the three oil pans. The truck oil pan, the f-body, and the corvette pan!! After all their tests were run they finally came to the conclusion that the f- body pan was the most efficient. (I'll have to find the artical online somewhere if I can. I have the actual magazine that I read it from) The f-body pan had the LEAST amount of sloshing and loss of oil pressure!!! So naturally this was the oil that I wanted to use!! I asked around for while, on this site (actually it was only LS1tech back then), and a few others. All the results were the same... Nobody had tried the F-Body pan, but they had tried with the corvette pan!!!! The corvette pan obviously DOES NOT FIT. The wings on the front make it impossible to clear tierods and half shafts!! The same conclusion was then derived for the camaro pan, not too sure why it was when nobody tested it...but it was safe to say that it most likely wouldn't if the vette style wouldn't fit!!! I figured, "What the hell, maybe I'll see if it works since no-one else has actually tried it." Plus if it did fit, then I would have a Very High Ouput motor with a much better oil circulation system, hence more reliability, less wear and tear, and overall better cooling and performance!!!

Well some of you know that I was doing the motor and tranny swapp this past week!! I did, however, ruin my tranny in the process ( rooky mistake). But even so...I was diing to know if the motor I had spent so much time building, would actually fit in my 4WD truck, seeing's how I put the f-body oil pan on. So I started test fitting it in without the tranny of course. When I got it inside, I had no issue's clearing anything at all!!!! The motor fits just fine


Enough of me, get back to work

Zick

iTrader: (18)

So you got the F-body pan to work with your 4wd setup?
I swear I've heard other guys say it wouldn't fit. Oh well guess you proved them wrong.

Its possible that the F-body is slightly better than our truck pans, but you can't sell the truck pans on Ebay for over $100 like you can with the F-bodies. I did that with my LS1, sold the pan for over $100 and just used the 5.3 pan.

jblack6527

dont you have to have an alignment tool for the pan?

Zick

iTrader: (18)

Not really, but you do have to pay attention when putting it on to align it with the front & rear covers. I didn't have any tool when I put mine on and have had no problems in the last 8-9 months.

thunder550

iTrader: (70)

Nice! Glad to hear that things are starting to come together for you