340 Problems

1st of all nothing from the 340 will fit or interchange on the 5.7 hemi,,

there was a guy building real hemi heads for a 340,but they were so pricey i guess he didnt survrive,,

the part you are talking about im guessing runs from side to side under your oil pan ?? that is called the drag link,,it is connected to the pitman arm,,on the steering box and the ideler arm on the oppsite side,,with a nut holding them in place,,you will need to unbolt it,,and pry it apart,,either use a pickel fork, or a torch and small sledge hammer,,

or remove the pitman arm from the steering box,,and the ideler arm,,and let it drop down,,this wil give you enough room to remove the oil pan,,,

first look and see if the engine isnt sitting on the drag link,,,if it is,,one of 2 things is wrong,, either old sagging motor mounts,, ot the drag link is a slant six cylinder drag link,,the motor should not be sitting on it but will be very close in normal operation

why are you removing the oil pan ?