Well a bit more something today, although I wouldn't call it progress~ No response from Renegade yet...
So far it looks like the washer is probably not that big of a deal, but what does seem to be a big deal is that the new balancer is not quite long enough to bottom out on the oil pump :/ Shorter by about 3/16th's of an inch so looks like i'll have to add a spacer in between the crankshaft and the harmonic balancer... Would have been nice to know. Oh well more delays~
Other news is that the oil pan is most definitely not going to work. It fits, but ground clearance is the issue. My boss and I jumped in the back today to mimic the motor/trans although short by about 400 pounds! At best with no suspension travel there is only about 5 inches of clearance with the current oil pan and in reality probably less then that once everything is in the car so add in suspension travel and the damn thing will be bouncing about 2 inches off the ground... no bueno~
Luckily there is a factory type solution for this in the forum of the Corvette oil pan which is only about 5 inches tall vs. 7 inches for the current pan so there it is. If you are building a track only car then you will probably be OK, if you plan to drive it on the street and don't want to rip your oil pan off on a speed bump, better replace it...
12624617 PAN