mrl510

I was just wondering, why would you need a deeper oil pan or larger capacity oil pan. The oil pump can only pump so much right? Even if your was to put a high pressure pump. Do you really need a larger oil pan when building a performance motor?

ENRKyle20

more oil means cooler oil wich is good It also means that in a 3000 miles / 3 month cycle it stayes cleaner (some ammout of junk spreak out threw more oil) and most importantly, more oil (bigger pan) means that under heavy turning the pump will never suck on a dry pan.

I run a 383 with a HV / HP pump and a stock pan. because its a road car.. If it were even going to see one day at a track (not drag strip) then it would have a high capacity pan.

Injuneer

The highest HP LT1 I ever actually drove - not mine, just drove it - (1,125HP with a Vortech blown 383) used the stock pump (blueprinted, high pressure spring) and stock pan. Car routinely ran 9.0's with huge wheelstands and no oil problems (except when he dropped it too hard from a wheelstand and the pan hit the track... ). I run the same setup with my 800HP nitrous setup. I would think the larger pan would be of more benefit on a road course/auto-X setup.

I'd avoid the high volume pump with a stock pan. There are documented cases of that combination starving the motor for oil. Check the posts by "rkrause".

cnorton

Drag racers typically use a deeper oil pan in order to move the oil level farther away from the crankshaft. Windage is a huge power-drain. The pan on my car is a Moroso #21239 that is full length and extra wide with a kickout and built-in screen. It's worth significant horsepower gains on the track to run that pan with no more than five quarts of oil. I have run it with as little as four quarts. On a back-to-back test, the car picked up .15 in ET with only a change from seven quarts to five. Just because a pan is advertised as a seven quart or eight quart pan, you won't realize the true potential if you run two or three extra quarts of oil. Be sure to buy an oil pump pickup that is designed specifically for the extra-capacity pan. I use a standard volume Melling pump with Moroso pick-up #24175 and it maintains full oil pressure of 60# for the full duration of a quarter mile run with maximum RPM of about 8200.

It's worth your time to place your pan in the solvent tank, measure and pour 4 quarts of solvent into it. With a marker, mark the pan at the level it reaches. Pour out the solvent, measure the distance from the pan rail down to the mark. Flip your assembled short block upside down and measure the distance from the pan rail on the block to the approximate point that the rotating assembly extends below the pan rail. Add the approximate thickness of the oil pan gasket. When you perform this experiment on a stock oil pan you'll quickly see that the rotating assembly is very close to the oil level. Using a deeper/wider pan with the appropriate pickup is well worth the expense when you're in search of more power.

mdacton

I use a 8 qt. pan with 5 quarts

When I used to have a stock pan I played around with oil levels and ther was alot to be had. I ended up going ym fastest with 3.5 quarts and a small filter. syock pan/pump....was at zero on the finish line but picked right back up. Put a few hundred passes on it like that

I use a few things in the bottom now and a screened milodon windage pc. with studs. I would like to try another pump though b/c I think mine is using more h.p. than I want it to.

mrl510

well im trying to decide if i should run a bigger oil pan on my motor and high volume pump. i have a forged 383 lt1 that going to be supercharged. Im hoping to see around 600hp and prob. not turn more that 6000rpm hardly at all. It will see the strip a little but not all the time mostly a bad street car. What should i run as far as oil pan and oil pump set up? Thanks

mdacton

stock

Injuneer

If the stock setup (modified per my post above) works for a 1,000+HP blown 383 LT1 revving to 8,000rpm there's a pretty good chance it will work for your setup. I've heard that the "new" stock oil pumps are not what they used to be, so maybe an equivalent Melling would be in order.... do a "search".... the topic has been covered.

The key is protecting the oil from the crank, as noted in cnorton's post. You have to use a windage tray and you have to control the oil level.

cnorton

I've come to the point that I favor screens over trays and particularly screens built into the pan rather than screens that bolt to the main bolts/studs themselves because, in a deepened pan, they can be located lower. I believe that the farther away from the crank, the better. Kickouts are worth it if you have the room for them because they trap the oil slung by the rotating assembly and redirect it away from the windage area.