OK guys, figured out more on my own about my oil pan fitment problem earlier, I'll ask question first then add background info second:

Would a high-capacity oil pan require an oil pickup with a longer (front to back) tube than stock?

Background: I am swapping out the motor in my 95Z for an all-forged LT1 355 that I picked up from a Corvette guy. I got a good deal for an almost-new motor but have little info about the setup the guy was running - it was already out of the car. I thought I was retarded when I couldn't fit the oil pan baffle around the oil pickup, but then I measured the length of the oil pickup tube on my new motor vs. old. The new (Corvette) one measures about 7.5" from the very front of the pickup tube (where it screws into the pump) to the very back edge of the circular oil pickup. The old one (stock Z28) measures barely over 5.5". The 2" or so difference is caused by a longer tube on the Vette motor.

So moving forward; the tube & pickup thats too long is tacked to the new oil pump - I can't just screw it off w/o grinding the weld down. I don't want to reuse the old stock setup that has 155K mi on it.

So I guess I either:

1) pull the new pump off and carefullly grind the tack weld off, remove tube & oil pickup and replace with original

2) get a new oil pump with correct pickup and tube for my Z

3) if the current setup is indeed intended for a high-capacity oil pan, go ahead and buy one - probably good to have anyway

Suggestions??