I have 454 truck motor in my 68. I always had the center drag link rub against the oversized 5 quart oil pan (somewhat annoying but not the end of the world). As I am in the middle of a suspension upgrade I got all those components apart and I am thinking about addressing this issue.

Would slightly grinding down/flattening the middle portion of the center drag link that rubs against the oil pan cause any structural issues to the link itself?

I've seen suggestions on here of guys heating up the oil pan and hammering on it or simply changing to a smaller pan. Don't really want to bang on the pan and changing it out would require lifting the motor a few inches which I am not in the position to do at this point in time.

If the grinding does weaken it, what about welding a support rod to the other side of the link to make up for what I grind off in the back? Just pondering the idea. I can always leave it alone and my new motor will eventually resolve the issue.

How about a small spacer under the trans mount. Or an after market poly trans mount , they are slightly taller than the original rubber ones , that should get you out of the wood's:D

Or spacers under the engine mounts?

I'd ding the pan back a little if it's just a small amount that is needed. I wouldn't mess with the center link.

How about a small spacer under the trans mount. Or an after market poly trans mount , they are slightly taller than the original rubber ones , that should get you out of the wood's:D

If I understand, the spacer would change the angle and pull the pan away from the drag link by tilting the motor/trans a bit forward. I already have an after market trans mount that I put on when I did my 700R4 swap. I am also pretty tight on the passenger’s side as the tranny side is right against the curved/sloping part of the floorboard.


http://www.mattlekawa.com/pictures/camaro/centerDragLinkRub.jpg

I went down the torch and ball pin hammer approach. Looks like that did the trick. Thanks for all the input.