Oil Capacity ?

[Otto J]

I am getting ready to fire my new Stage 1 motor, and am not sure of the actual oil capacity, I have a factory pan, dropped 1 inch, With a Duttweiler Oil system and a large Wix racing filter (1601R i believe)
THere is no dipstick as the block has 4 bolt splayed caps so there is no provision and i did not add one like i should have.
I remember my stock block with a big filter held 6 quarts.
So i would believe it to ba 7 quarts with all the oil lines and the huge oil filter.
Any Ideas??
THanks in advance

 

[TurboDave]

I would recommend getting a custom dip stick holder/hole made and brazed onto the side of the pan as close to the top as practical.

 

[Otto J]

Thats all fine, But how do you know it full? You still need sone kind of idea of the capacity to be able to mark a custom dipstick once you know your full.

 

[Lee Thompson]

Pan

I have the same pan, but with a large external cooler and PTE remote filter. It takes 8 qts. to fill mine when I drain everything.
7 qts should be perfect assuming your pickup is @ the bottom of pan which I believe it is!!! I some times run mine @ 7 qts. ---1 qt. low showing on the stick.

 

[Otto J]

I believe it is a lee thompson pan>
thanks again

 

[ijames]

Just mumbling out loud here, but what you care about is balancing between having enough oil in the sump to never starve the pump and let it suck air, and keeping the oil off of the crankshaft to minimize windage losses and foaming. I'd start by figuring out how far the oil level is from the lowest point on the crankshaft (a rod bolt or cap when that throw is rotated all the way down) in the stock pan. If you have a stock block with the pan off you should be able to put the dipstick in and measure from the full mark to the crank. Then take into account your stroke and go down that same distance and mark your pan (and custom dipstick), and see how much oil it takes to fill it to that level, including tubing and filter volumes. I'm one of those who don't really believe in large volumes of oil for no particular reason (takes longer to warm up, may not reduce foaming at the oil pickup any depending on pan design, we're not running methanol so dilution isn't a killer, yadda, yadda ), so if takes more than 7 quarts to get to your mark I'd move the mark to where 7 gets you.

 

[Nick Micale]

A little late now Otto, but we just finished a couple dropped pans with a dip stick bung in the side. If you want to send yours sometime, we can modify it accordingly. Or can send you a pattern for locating it? The fill mark should be at the same level as stock.

After the bottom of the pan was cut off the for the 1" drop, we could accurately line up where the bung should be positioned. We used a Milidon tube and stick from a small block Ford application. A custom threaded weld bung was made to fit it to the pan.

It should hold 8 quarts after running oil pressure to fill all the lines.

 

[10SV6]

I run 6 plus the lines with that pan.

 

[Otto J]

Thanks for the replies, I talked to my engine builder and he said it will be between 6 and 7. so i will start with 6 and and watch the pressure very carefully to see if it needs more