oil level in relation crank windage tray?
 

Putting new engine together and taking measurements according to dipstick oil was above windage tray and into crank. Thanks

Is this a factory windage tray and are the main caps aftermarket?

Its my opinion you want oil level under the tray

Oil is supposed to fly off the crank hit the tray once it hits the tray then it obviously stops flying around and gravity allows it to migrate lower

If you have oil level at the crank the crank is going to airiate the oil more and the force of the crank smacking the oil will be transfered to the tray speeding up possible cracking of the tray, also the crank sitting in oil reduces useable power at the flywheel

Just remember also when the oil is pumping in the passages there will be less in sump.

I broke my crank and on tear down had two spun mains and the tomahawk windage tray was cracked in lots of spaces. Had about 400 runs. Was a moroso pan but had to put around 9+qts. to read full on dip stick That crank had been in the oil upon what I found today. I put 8 qts. in pan and shows 1/2" below windage tray.

If you overfill to account for oil in passages during running there will still be a period during startup that this overfill will be a negative.

its best to check oil level soon after running anyways to get as close to a running reading as you can.

also other things can crack a stock windage tray as well, detonation, preignition or any other tuning issue that creates major vibrations not normally in a healthy engine

a good thing to do is check your dipstick insertion when your block is built up enough, put a flat edge on the bottom of the tray and see where that correlates to the marks on the stick

What crank was this?
Factory cast?

Aftermarket cast?

Aftermarket steel?

If your oil level when running was always into the tray then you likely had so much oil being whipped up that it was getting passed the rings and into the chambers and lowering your octane level enough to have the motor detonate .

That could lead to a broken crank even before 400 runs came about.

I would think the most important measure is oil height relative to the pickup, no?

Is there a set oil height above the pickup that one would need, or are there other factors at play?

Since beemergary is running a moroso pan/pickup, would moroso be the ones to ask?

I can tell you on a Canton pan with the oil at the level for a factory dip stick "Full" . Oil galleys full oil just covers the built in tray.