How NOT to clear the oil pan

[Smiley]

I saw this on a Vegamino listed on Ebay, an example of how NOT to clear the oil pan.

[sirrick4]

Now there's a bloke who likes to live on the raggedy edge. Its a butchers picnic

[spencerforhire]

There was a pic of something similar on one of the Facebook h-body pages; I commented that I am confident of my welding skills, but certainly would not trust something like that at 145 mph. I also suggested that modifying an oil pan made more sense. Then I was told that "the crank would have to be modified as well as the pan". I pointed out that I never had to do that on any of my V8 h-bodies. Fred(73astregt) agreed and also questioned the sanity of using such a cobbled up piece, and then we never heard from the original poster.
Just another daily dose of drama, brought to you by Facebook.

[cjbiagi]

Unbelievable what people will do....and why? H bodies came with V8's in them which means that there are factory parts that work perfectly. Yes, they are hard to find but they are out there or there are safer ways to do things.

[chevyart]

you can go to gen disc. titled clearanced drag link, tues arp 15 2010 by evilcactuar. he took photos of my lowered drag link. it was done by a professional NHRA chassis builder. alot of work went into it, it was definitely jig welded and it fit perfect. pray for me that it holds up. to be continued. art

[chevyart]

can someone bring the pics of my centerlink from the post i mentioned above to this current post on this topic. i dont know how to do do that stuff on the computer. art

[hammerdown7]

I think this is it Art,

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=30399&hilit=center+link

[cjbiagi]

Art, your centerlink does not look like the one above, yours has high quality welds and added gussets. I still don't understand the need for such modifications when there are factory parts that were made to fit.

[spencerforhire]

Art's fabricated centerlink looks to be far superior to that cobbled up one in the original post.

[chevyart]

CJ when you use the stock monza mounts, everything just barely clears. when using the hooker front mount everything changes. my mount is exactly where is was made to be with the correct positioning of the frame mountsa and the right rubber spacers, and i have the good miledon vega pan. just for giggles i tried putting my engine in place with all the procedures mentioned above. needed about an 1" more room for centerlink to barely clear the pan, so i dropped the centerlink aprox 1 1/4". if you start adding more rubber spacers to the hooker mount, then the headers dont clear the steering shaft, the top tranny bolt on driver side hits the firewall, and the headers run into the lower control arms, the bottom header flange hits the floor pan, and probably more spots hit(cant remember them all). lowering centerlink was only sensible way to get the engine in with proper clearances all around.everything is still tight, but it all was worth the effort. art

[Smiley]

Art what yeat Vega did you use that drop link on ?

[spencerforhire]

From Art's description of the points of interference, we can assume that the Hooker kit mounts the engine both lower and farther back than the OEM Monza mounts do. Which explains why so many people have had header and oil pan fitment issues trying to cross breed the two different types. And I also suspect that the other aftermarket mount kits from Trans Dapt, Hardy, etc., are all slightly different.
I've never built a V8 Vega for the street without the OEM pieces, so I have no first hand knowledge about dealing with the aftermarket stuff.

[Smiley]

I have used 2129's on on several 72-74 Vega's with the Hooker front mounts and Hooker crossmember, the firewall and trans tunnel require BFH massaging on the early ones but never lacked that much oil pan clearance.
On my 73 Vega I have a Monza V8 oil pan with Don Hardy side engine mounts, the steering clears the pan perfectly.
It has manual steering and the shaft goes through the Sanderson headers without rubbing.
It has the stock drag link,full K member in the stock location.

[chevyart]

my vega is a 1975. the hooker mount and the TD are the exact same thing. these mounts will not give proper clearance over centerlink if you install it as per their instructions. they will work if you add extra rubber or steel shims, but it causes other areas of clearance problems.. if you have seen many of the old posts over the years, most guys added shims to the mounts to clear the centerlink., and had to chop and cut other areas for decent clearance.. hardy and monza mounts work a little different(i guess), but now you cant use the hooker 2129s. lots of tradeoffs to get these nice cars to go down the road with some nice v8s in them. i sure hope mine holds up. i just couldnt see any other way to get the clearance(except for the way our member Norcelace did his).. that was real neat. art