The chinese pans are like $130 and work great. They're likely the exact same casting used for the Holley stuff since its all made in China as well.
You shouldn't need any fancy mounts either to swap a car that already had a small block in it. $20 adapter plates the your original small block mounts work 90% of the time.
That's $150 or so to fix your pan and mount problems.

 

yes my 81 monte has a sbc 305 700r4 trans. you have a link or picture of the mounts

 

Here's a down and dirty way to cheaply mount your LS where a small block chevy was...

NAPA SBC $8.00 motor mount $35 ebay swap plate...

 

Can someone tell me if it's ok to run stock valve keepers and retainers using Elgin RV-9951s valve springs the max lift with them are .600 lift and the camshaft im running is a Elgin SS2 .585 .585

 

If the spring fits that retainer it should be fine.

 

Has anyone done business with ictbillet.com..see they have some GM LS7 lifters are they legit?

 

ICT Billet is a good company. However, there's a difference between real LS7 lifters and Delphi LS7 lifters. Not sure what ones they sell. Some people have had issues with the Delphi ones. I source everything from BTR when it comes to valvetrain components, and recently got some of their LS7 lifters for a 6.0 I'm building. I had some takeout GM LS7 lifters, and I disassembled one of each just to see if there were any internal differences and I found none.

 

Doesnt Delphi make the BTR Lifters ?? Just ran across an couple of auctions BTR Delphi LS7 lifters. Not sure which lifters I want to go with

 

Auctions? Hopefully they are legitimate. So much counterfeit on auction sites and even the jungle website, I'm hesitant to buy popular quality brands unless I'm willing to accept it might be a cheap knock-off. Spark plugs, ignition boxes, injectors, valvetrain parts. If it's popular they'll copy it (but with cheaper internals or bad quality), and someone will try to sell it as the real deal. Both stock or popular aftermarket brands.

 

just put morel 7717 lifters in it, not worth the hassle of wondering whether the "ls7's" are real or not

 

I jumped the gun the other night and went with the ls7 lifters from the ws6store.well the bulk gm ls7 lifters. they claim to be exactly like the oem. Couldnt beat the price for 159

As for oil pumps I was going to run a high mileage oem pump that I shimmed but I think im going to replace the oil pump too since I didnt know the mileage on the motor when I bought it. Will the Meiling 295 do the job? or what are yall running for the oil pump

 

Thats a mild cam so youll honestly be fine either way

melling m295 is plenty or whatever the standard volume/pressure one is

you dont need the high volume/high pressure unless youre changing bearing clearances and running different weight oil

 

ok cool. thanks guys

what about the oil barbell whats the benefit of going billet?? Or should I just go with the plastic type like melling or leave the old one in?

 

I recently did a full build of my 5.3 in my Firebird and I used a replacement plastic barbell. It really isn't a part I have ever heard of failing. The only claimed benefit of an aluminum one is a narrower stem which *might* help with flow. Just use a stock style one. Do replace it though, the o-ring on the old one may be brittle.

 

went with the melling replacement barbell. melling295 and ls7 lifters arrived today. The lifters came in a plastic bag filled with some type of lubricant. Do I have to soak these in oil and can I just slap them in they are pretty drenched in this oil lubricant

 

It's not mandatory to soak them in oil, but I always do anyway. Up to you.

 

The benefit is that if you rebuild the engine, the billet one has a provision for a bolt to pull it back out. You can then, replace the o'ring and reuse it.

The plastic one is usually damaged during removal and gets replaced with a new one.

 

Got the lifters all cleaned up with some brake parts cleaner and let them soaked overnight. Installed the lifters with the new gm lifter trays new trays were grey instead of the oem brown but fitted perfectly. Also Got the M295 oil pump installed as well. I pour a little bit oil and assembly lube inside the pump to help with dry start,.Next on to the head bolts im going to be using some enginetech bolts but not sure about the head gasket yet. Is there any particular head gasket I need ? My heads use the 10 bolt and 5 smaller bolts which are 2005 and newer

 

I just went with BTR MLS gaskets on mine. You could just get factory MLS gaskets too. Either will work.

 

Can I reuse the stock rocker arms / push rods or do I need to upgrade them to trunion? And for the pushrod length how would I determine which I need? im running a SS2 .585 .585 LS7 lifters