Originally Posted by richscorvettes

I think you will like the 502/502. We installed one in our 67 and several friends have also used it. Most of the issues you will face have been mentioned but here is a little more detail which should be of help.

The stock 502 oil pan is a little deep especially if your car is lowered much from stock height. Our car was lowered to the point where we had only had 2&1/2" of ground clearance and that certainly wasn't the first thing we wanted to hit over a speedbump! GM Performance makes a 4 quart (5 with filter) pan that will give you more clearance. The oil pan is available from GM Performance Parts and the kit is #12495360. It comes with the pan, four main cap bolts, the oil pump screen, the oil level tube, dipstick and the pan gasket. I spoke with Moroso when I needed a shallower pan and they didn't have one at the time but they now make a six quart pan with side kickouts to work with the one piece rear seal. There may be others such as Milodon who have them as well.

Although the stock big block exhaust manifolds can be made to fit they would need some grinding along the flange area as it comes into contact with the head bolts. The bolt locations they use on the aluminum heads are different than a regular big block and a little grinding is needed. You might also want to match the shape of the exhaust ports. I think headers are the easier way to go. Just get them ceramic coated to keep the underhood temps down.

The headers we used are from Sanderson. The Sandersons are made specifically for that head bolt arrangement and port shape. They are model BB5 for that engine are well made. They have a machined ring on the flange that doesn't even require a gasket. You just use a sealant. I also used the Stage 8 header bolts which have retainers to keep them in place. You do have to watch for clearance at the idler mount. We had to replace the stock bolt and nut arrangement and tap the hole to mount a bolt to give us about a half inch of additional clearance.

If you are using side exhaust you will have to fabricate the connection from the header collector to the side pipes. You also have to cut the side pipes where they turn upward in order to connect them to the new short piece of pipe you make from the collector. It's not all that difficult to do but does take some fitting and welding. After finishing ours I had them ceramic coated. There has been a lot of discussion of different side exhaust mufflers (e.g.. Spiral Turbo & Stainless Works, etc.) and the archives should have several threads on that subject.

With the Mark V or VI engine you will also need the clutch "Z" bar adaptor plate as the forward location you need on a Vette isn't there due to an external oil plug location. The clutch bracket is available from Scroggins-Dickey Chevrolet. It wasn't available when we did ours and I had thought about making a similar bracket but decided to go with a hydraulic setup. Believe me, sticking with the mechanical linkage will be a lot easier!

Another area to watch for is your air cleaner setup as the intake manifold is a little taller than that on a stock big block. A big block hood gives a little more clearance but you will also likely have to use a shorter height air cleaner. There should be several threads on that subject in the archives.

This engine comes with an HEI dist. which doesn't have a mechanical tach drive. I went with an MSD billet dist. with a mechanical tach drive but you also need to use a "mellonized" dist. gear since the roller cam will eat up a regular gear. I had to retro-fit the stock HEI gear but MSD should now have the right one.

Since the engine doesn't have a provision for a mechanical fuel pump you will need an electric unit. We placed ours along the passenger side frame rail at the rear of the frame just ahead of the gas tank. We also used a billet fuel filter placed on the passenger inner fender well.

For cooling we used a Be Cool radiator and dual Spal fans but there are other vendors such as DeWitts that make a radiator/fan setup which should work great.

For the engine accessory brackets we used a serpentine system and pulleys from March but others such as Street & Performance also have them to work with whatever accessories you are using.

You will also need the externally balanced flywheel (168 tooth gear) but your stock big block bellhousing will work. We used the Centerforce Dual Friction clutch and pressure plate setup. The engine uses the mini high-torque starter which works great.

I have some pictures which could be of help and if you need those just send us an e-mail and I'll send them to you.

Best of luck with your project.

Originally Posted by Hoggg

Rich, I am getting ready to purchase and install the 502 in my 66 corvette with a non matching 427. If you could send the pics, i would be very appreciative.
Scott sbmsrhog@***.net or txt 402-341-0989