oil pan clearance with engine swap

[blazin8556]

i am going to pull out the factory engine from my 97 tahoe with the passenger dip stick(toast). i am wanting to put in another running engine i have from my 76 el camino. the elcamino is being rebuilt so it doesn't need the engine right now. the engine is a 355 driver side dipstick 4 bolt main and i think it has a very mild cam in it.my question is will i have enough room to use the oil pan from the 355.

link to tahoe oil pan style : ww.jegs.com/i/Dorman+Products/326/264-100/10002/-1

link to 355 oil pan style : ww.jegs.com/i/Trans+Dapt/969/9920/10002/-1

[1998454]

Can't answer the oil pan question. Are you going to run a carb on your tahoe and get rid of the fuel injection? Reason i ask is the vortec heads have a different bolt pattern than older 350 heads and the intake will not work.

[blazin8556]

the engine was set up for tbi by me this past summer. i never got a computer to run the engine. what i was hoping to do is take the vortec heads, get them checked and put them on the 355 so i can keep the stock spider setup.

[devinwalterbmx]

I dont think you will have any problem fitting the motor into the tahoe

[skylark]

Don't forget to adapt the reluctor and plastic timing cover. You will also need to use the early flex plate.

[blazin8556]

Don't forget to adapt the reluctor and plastic timing cover. You will also need to use the early flex plate.

i forgot about the reluctor. thanks for pointing that out. i had also bought a new cover but got the chrome one. guess ill return it cause i forgot how the front of the engine (97) was set up.

gonna start on this project in a couple of weeks.

also, the older engine has a thicker balancer on it. do i need to keep it on there or will the balancer from the tahoe be ok. im thinking the thicker balancer would have to stay with the 355. or would it make that much of a difference?

[blazin8556]

looking around on here i picked up on the fact that my engine is not a 355. 355 would be .030 over. my engine is bored .060 over. that would make it a 360. correct?

[1998454]

yep.
looking around on here i picked up on the fact that my engine is not a 355. 355 would be .030 over. my engine is bored .060 over. that would make it a 360. correct?

[blazin8556]

Don't forget to adapt the reluctor and plastic timing cover. You will also need to use the early flex plate.

ok this is bugging me. how exactly would the reluctor ring come off the bad engine and onto the new engine?

[1998454]

It pulls off the crank from behind the timing cover. Maybe you will have better luck than i had. I tried to put the reluctor on a 78 model 350 and it wouldn't fit.
ok this is bugging me. how exactly would the reluctor ring come off the bad engine and onto the new engine?

[blazin8556]

was it a crank diameter issue?

[1998454]

If i remember right it was a difference in the depth to the shoulder on the front of the crank. We ended up rebuilding the vortec.
was it a crank diameter issue?

[blazin8556]

im just going to rebuild whats there. thanks for the help guys.