[V]

i can get my oil pan out without pulling the motor, oh wait...thats because it was shattered by the #1 rod.. nevermind lol

yeah LS- series motors have a dry valley. just like the northstar 32v motors. however the northstar is worse than an LS- motor in design because GM decided to stick the starter IN the valley under the intake.

To pull the motor is not that hard, as long as you have a lift, you just disconnect the wiring(throw it on the engine), a/c compressor(tie off to the side), steering shaft, brake lines at abs controller, cooling hoses, etc, then you unbolt the engine k member and trans crossmember(remove tq arm and DS) then lastly i think you unbolt the top 3 bolts on the front struts, and the whole assembly drops out. once out you just unbolt the motor mounts and lift the motor up. My old shop just pulled a 94 v6 that way and my old boss said it was so easy, he thought itd be a bitch due to the car design, but it came right out. Once i get my lift installed I'm pulling the motor out of my SS that way.