1976 Chevy Nova - EcoNova Part 2

With the lower half of the clamshell fully assembled, we’re now ready for trial fitment of the E-Rod LS3.

Here is Holley’s new swap pan (left) next to the factory Corvette LS3 pan. The integral GM baffling is good, but Holley’s design is more effective at keeping the oil near the pickup under hard acceleration or lateral loads. Speaking of pickup, note the different routing of the tube, which will require a little alteration to the LS3’s windage tray. Also note that the “Oil Change Required” sensor will not be retained.

Back on the engine, it should look like this with the Holley tube installed. Make sure to rotate the engine by hand to ensure there aren’t any clearance issues with the crank; we had no issues with ours.

So close, yet so far away! Positioned as far rearward as possible, the front edge of the Corvette pan was sitting on the crossmember. This is a common issue with LS swaps in most classic muscle cars. Cutting a relief is doable, but we prefer not to slice the structural suspension parts when there are better options.

With the Holley pan bolted in place, the E-Rod drops right into place, and there’s so much clearance we could practically fit our head between the sump and the crossmember.

This is that better option we where referring to: the just-released LS swap pan from Holley. This low-profile pan will work for most vintage chassis, thanks to a compact design and a sump moved as far rearward as possible.

In this photo, the larger indentation near the blue Sharpie is the location of the original pickup tube. The indention we’ve outlined needs to be cut out to clear the mount for the new tube.

Included with the Holley pan is a GM oil bypass with gasket and a spin-on filter adapter.

With just those simple changes, the E-Rod LS3 drops right into the ’76 Nova engine bay like original equipment. We’re loving how far back the Holley mounts place the engine as well. The number one cylinder is inline with the ball joints, which combined with the lightweight aluminum block will definitely be beneficial to handling dynamics and weight bias.