So, went to drop motor/trans in today. . . and it won't go. Oil pan is hitting on the center link and looking to be around 1" roughly to tall in the area of the center link. Spec's below, and points of reference used as well. Looking to see what other guys are running or doing in a similar set up??

74 Cuda, car is a straight drag car, has been tubbed and set up so.
Engine is 440 stroker at 500 CI. with a main stud girdle.
Oil pan is from 440 Source, 7 quart deep center sump pan.

I've never had a motor in this car, picked it up as roller. But it was already set up for a motor plate, but motor plate didn't come with the car. I bought a new plate, used the TTI engine location sheet and referenced my 71 Challenger before I drilled holes and was fully commited.The dimensions all matched up. 5 1/4 up from K-Frame, set the offset on the left to right.

So came up with the 1" value by measuring from top of block to top of cowl, 71 challenger was 13", cuda with motor in, supported and small gap at center link was 12"

Marked location of the center link on the pan, and pulled the motor. Measured pan height at this location (pic's below), did some looking online and saw a drawing of a pan with 1.70 in this area. Also measured a 6 quart hemi pan I have and it was about 1.75.

So is there a Mancini pan or a Mildon deep center sump pan that will give me close to that 1.70 out there? If so I think the ol hammer trick would then work.

It won't fix your problem, but it will help if the center link is in correctly. The link is "U" shaped and the bottom of the U should go forward. If you have it backwards it will change the pan clearance from zero to 1/4 to 1/2 inch. When at the track years ago I looked at friends cars, and 3 of four were in backwards. Steering is fine either way, but pan clearance is not.

Your saying the bottom of the "U" should point toward front of the car?

Pic's taken from a 70 challenger, dimension down is 9 1/4. I take same dimension on mine and get 8 1/2. Wonder if correct idler and pitman arms are on the car. Whats strange is this car had high HP motor in it previuosly. Wonder if they had a pan with center link running thru it, but with the current location it would be pretty close to the crank.

Update: So looking further into what I found above, the car has a manual steering box on it. It doesn't hang down near as low as my power steering challenger. So, this is the riddle I need to solve to drop the center link down enough to get the motor in. Anyone know what the differences are of the pitman arms among the different body styles? Wondering if maybe I have an A body pitman arm in there or something?

You can't arbitrarily drop the center link. It will drop the inner tie rods as well. Now your messing with bump steer. You can space the K frame down. When it comes time to align it you may want longer upper ball joints to compensate for the increased distance between the upper and lower joint pivots. They are available from Speedway Automotive.
Doug

Pretty sure you need the correct pitman arm. I changed my '74 to manual steering using using '70 or '71 stuff. They are different, the car went left on launch 'till I figured out the bump steer was different on the D/S. The correct arm helped a bunch.

Yes, the bottom of the "U" in the center link should go forward. When you look at the link, it looks like it should be back, but nope, just a little more clearance when correct.

BUT, with the looks of the depth of the pan there, that pan would have to be notched or a different pan.

Thanks, it's easy enough to flip and check at this point. I do know my center link is running up hill to the pitman arm though. Got a 70 E body pitman arm tonight and looks as though it will "drop" same amount, but angle is different. So not sure why yet, but still thinking pitman arm is wrong. figure I'll need to go to a pan where center link is running thru pan, but with pitman arm where it is I don't think that will work as is either.

Here is a perfect example of not mixing pitman arms. Now that you metion the drag link is not parallel to the ground. Thats a warning flag. At times the idler arm mount may be at the wrong angle. Causing the drag link to be unlevel as well. Just repaired a 67 Satellite that had that issue.
Doug

I've been through this.....
There are 4 different types of Pitman arm for Ebodys (manual / power and 72/73 changeover date), also fast ratio types. There are 2 different idler arms and fast ratio types.
I'm guessing you may have the "fast ratio" fitted as this brings the centre link further forward, (arms are shorter). You can google "E body body pitman arm" to see the variants.

Also the pics of the fitted centre link, it's in the correct position. And if you do use an oil pan with a hole for the centre link, the link can only be physically fitted one way, which is the way in the photographs. HTH's

So I picked up a used 70 E body pitman arm (70-71) supposed to have same small spline. Pulled pitman arm on the car and it's bigger spline on a manual box. I thought all manual boxes were small spline? Part number on it is 14-331.

I think in 73 everything went to large spline , I bought a year one big block a body repop pitman arm years ago and it's large spline , all A body big blocks from the factory are small spline ... ugh .

When I bought my Barracuda it was the same way. The center link was not level and was touching the left corner of the pan and the inner tie rod end zerk fitting was leaving a mark on the torsion bar. Bump steer was very noticeable. I compared the pitman arm with another one and it looked good. One of the old MP books said you might need to shim the steering box to correct bump steer. So that's what I did. I shimmed the box until the center link was level and that solved all of the above problems. 20 years later still working as it should. Is my k member incorrect or bent? Maybe but chassis tolerances were pretty loose back then also so who knows.

Yep, this is where I'm at. Ordered new pitman and idler arms. They will be here Monday. Get those in and last night after several more days of inspection and research this is what I plan to do. Nearly everything on this car is custom/aftermarket and that is what is adding to it. K member looks to have been modified in the area where the box mounts, steering column is aftermarket. Well there's a collar that sets the steering shaft length in the column. I saw where it was in a different place than sometime before in it's life due to missing paint. Loosened it, lossened the box and added a .09 washer just to check and gained over 1/2" at the pitman arm. So once the correct arms are in, I'll make a good solid 1/8 shim for the top of the box button all that up and re-measure. Believe I will still need to modify the pan a little, and have a fab guy lined up. But nothing like the inch that I was afraid of. More like a 1/2" mod for clearance I think. The 1/4 main stud girdle and aftermarket pan being a little taller in this area than a factory pan will require the mod. But. . .think we'll get it. I'll know for sure mid to late next week. Thanks for all the help on here guys!

Why not space the cK frame down? How much movement will you need?
Doug

I believe he is using factory style motor mounts, not a motorplate.

I'm using a motor plate, but I've already drilled it for factory location. Pitman and idler be in today, get them installed tonight and I'll know more where I'm at. I'm just pretty sure by the numbers I'll need to fab the pan because of losing 1/4" with girdle and pan being a little taller in the drag link area than factory. I'm at the point I'm fine with a small pan modification.

Wow, sorry, Had a brain fart and confused this post w/ another one where the guy was having issues w/ a hemi fitting in the car.
Carry on.

Spacing the K frame down like DVW suggested would be an easier solution.