Valley pan does not fit

[zuburg]

I'm in the process of assembling a remanufactured 292 I bought to replace the 239 I found in a 1956 Thunderbird I bought. The valley pan is not fitting as the notches along the outside edges don't line up with the heads where the ports stick out, and the baffle hits the edge of the opening when trying to put it in place. Would there be any concern with cutting some of the side of the baffle enough to clear?

 

[Y-Blockhead]

Good morning. Normally the valley pan is installed before the heads. This has always been a sore spot with me.

No it won't hurt to trim the valley pan to fit as long as you don't encroach into the gasket area.

Good luck...

 

[darrell]

it should fit without cutting.at the same time its a lot easier to put it on before the heads.

 

[zuburg]

Thanks. I suspect my pan came from an earlier year car and the design of the heads are slightly different. The design must have been done thinking if original manufacturing, not down the road remanufactured engines since long blocks don't come with pans.

 

[dmsfrr]

I'm thinking it would be safer to trim an edge of the vertical baffle rather than the outside edges where it sits on the gasket, so the outside edge will have enough stiffness to seal.

 

[zuburg]

That's the plan I'm going with, thanks for your confirmation.