Holley 302-2 Pan hitting LS2 rod bolt

[AU Doc]

I’m mocking up my Holley 302-2 pan to check for clearances with my rotating assembly and with the pan on the block without the gasket the front rod bolt just barely hits the pan. Is this normal? I think it will clear once I add the gasket, but that’s a heck of a tight fit!!!

[oleyeller]

When I installed mine, I rotated it by hand and the rod bolt gouged a chunk out of the pan. It looked to me, like there may have been a shift during the casting process, the dish in the bottom of the pan seemed to be in the wrong place to avoid the rod bolt. I just started grinding, and ended up smoothing out the entire inside of the pan. Just got rid of all the casting roughness, and removed more material where the rod bolt hit.

[AU Doc]

Hmmm.... did it hit with the gasket installed?

It looks like it could be as little as the nut being turned in just the wrong direction. Like you’re saying, it could be just the casting roughness making the difference.

[dhutton]

Is it a stroker? You need the 302-3 pan for a stroker....

Don

[AU Doc]

No, it’s not a stroker. Just a stock LS2

[kochevy67]

I am definitely not liking this news, I just bought a pan and am about to put it on.

[AU Doc]

I found one other post on the interwebs saying the 302-2 hits the rod bolt without the gasket. I’m planning to flow up with Holley on Monday.

[andrewb70]

I found one other post on the interwebs saying the 302-2 hits the rod bolt without the gasket. I’m planning to flow up with Holley on Monday.

But who uses the pan without the gasket?

Andrew

[AU Doc]

Haha! Very true. Though I’m still surprised they manufacture the thing with the clearances that tight.

[andrewb70]

Haha! Very true. Though I’m still surprised they manufacture the thing with the clearances that tight.

Because when using that pan in an A body it needs to be as slim as possible in the front. Pretty sure a stock F-body pan hits without a gasket too. It too is really slim in the front.

Andrew

[AU Doc]

Holley tech support confirmed what is being said here. The pans are built to be a TIGHT fit. They said they've never heard of anyone having an issue with them once the gasket is installed, but they also would not commit to whether it's common/expected for the rod bolt to hit the pan on some applications before the gasket is installed.

That said, the gasket on this thing is around .100"-.125", which gives me a .050" to play with.

[DT69Cam]

Holley tech support confirmed what is being said here. The pans are built to be a TIGHT fit. They said they've never heard of anyone having an issue with them once the gasket is installed, but they also would not commit to whether it's common/expected for the rod bolt to hit the pan on some applications before the gasket is installed.

That said, the gasket on this thing is around .100"-.125", which gives me a .050" to play with.

Which gasket are you using ?/ I reused the new stock LS3 gasket on mine.

[AU Doc]

I’m using a GM gasket. 12612350 is the part number, I believe.

[AU Doc]

Well here’s an update. I decided to pull the pan again and do a little grinding.

When I took out the gasket and put the pan back on to find where it was hitting (a little red trans gel on the rod bolts), the rod bolt didn’t hit the pan. WTH!?!? After some fiddling I finally figured out the back of the pan (the bell end) has to be misaligned off to one side to make the bolt hit. The first time I mocked up everything I didn’t use any pan bolts. With everything lined up correctly, there is no interference. So the pan went right back on with no grinding.

[andrewb70]

Well here’s an update. I decided to pull the pan again and do a little grinding.

When I took out the gasket and put the pan back on to find where it was hitting (a little red trans gel on the rod bolts), the rod bolt didn’t hit the pan. WTH!?!? After some fiddling I finally figured out the back of the pan (the bell end) has to be misaligned off to one side to make the bolt hit. The first time I mocked up everything I didn’t use any pan bolts. With everything lined up correctly, there is no interference. So the pan went right back on with no grinding.

Some engineer thought of that ;-)

Andrew

[AU Doc]

Engineers.... what are you going to do? :-)

It’s pretty impressive how little the pan had to be canted for it to cause a clearance problem.