[YNOBIL]

Since they said '67 GTO's took 7 quarts of oil and my '72 400 has the same size oil pan is it safe to put 7 quarts in it ?

[johnta1]

I'd use 6 quarts.
Not sure why the 67 shows 7 quarts.
(with filter)

Of course if you do a lot of twists and turns, 7 may work better.

[Old Goat 67]

Originally Posted by johnta1

Not sure why the 67 shows 7 quarts.
(with filter)

Because the dipstick showed 2 quarts between Low & Full.

[johnta1]

Actually it was 1966:

[MikeNoun]

The factory 1969 service manual shows for a V8 Pontiac:

6 qts with filter change
5 qts without filter change

Same in the owners manual.

The factory dipstick is marked 5 quarts (do not overfill).

[chrisp]

Originally Posted by MikeNoun

The factory 1969 service manual shows for a V8 Pontiac:

6 qts with filter change
5 qts without filter change

Same in the owners manual.

The factory dipstick is marked 5 quarts (do not overfill).

Have the same stick as you posted , also have one marked 6qts. same identical length just scaled up higher .

[Sirrotica]

1967 Stratostreak V8 was 7 quarts with filter, one year only. In 1969 as part of my vocational training I worked at a Pontiac dealer on the grease rack, and you had to know that. Because the dipstick calibration on 67 was different and you surely didn't want to send a customer car out 1 quart low fresh out of the dealership. At this time in history people actually did monitor their dipstick readings. Full service service stations were around at the time and provided the service free with your gas purchase too.

Another variable at the time was the transitioning from the long spin on filter to the shorter can filters, both were easily available at the time and interchanged. A conscientious owner would opt for the longer filter being perceived as bigger was better at the time. More surface area would be perceived as better filtering for the engine oil and possibly less pressure drop.

Everything else in the oiling system was the same except the oil dipstick gauge marking. Running the sump 1 quart over on other years was a bandaid if you were going to be turning corners hard with your Pontiac (oval track racing, autocross, road racing).

To answer the OP question, running the sump on a later engine over 6 quarts total is probably not going to hurt anything, it's not going to be an advantage over running 6 quarts total unless your turning corners under extreme conditions.

Pertaining to the service bulletin John has posted, I serviced a heck of a lot of 66 Pontiacs, and 6 quarts W/filter in a 326,389 or a 421 always brought the stick to the full mark on the gauge/stick. I had never seen that bulletin when I worked at the local Pontiac dealer, not saying it didn't exist, just never saw evidence of it.

[Lloyd-TX]

I always run 6 ½ quarts. Helps keep the pickup covered upon panic stops and / or hard RH turns.

[ponyakr]

I always ran 7 for bracket racing, just to make sure there was still oil covering the pickup, after most of it was pumped to the top end, during a pass. It worked OK. Never lost a 455 bracket engine.

[Squidward]

My 69 350 would uncover the pickup on a rapid decel, like the end of the quarter. Pressure would drop to zero. It was the 5 qt deal, without the pan baffle. So I am feelin' ya there!

[rexs73gto]

Back in 67 Pontiac came out with a service bulletin about the hard use of the engine in the GTO's & the new Firebirds by the owners , & the service dept was told to put in 7 qt's of oil in those engine & they were also sent a new dipstick to install in those engine . It kept the owners from blowing up the engines from lack of oil in the pan while spirited driving. Pontiac had more then a few of the new 400's come back knocking because the owners went out & drove them hard & uncovered the pick up & lost oil pressure & spun a bunch of rods. That was the fix for that , just add extra oil to the pan & put in a new dipstick that read different but had to put 7 qt's total with a filter. It worked to.

[Sirrotica]

The first race I ever drove on a dirt track car (67 Lemans/GTO) was run in reverse (novice class) I guess one of the track owners thought it would be great to run a heat race backwards. Took a bunch of restarts and they only ended up running 3 laps. I won the race, however the next week in the feature I spun a rod bearing and lost the engine, rod through the side of the block.

I attributed it to forcing all the oil to the front and right of the pan and uncovering the oil pickup at high RPM. When your looking over your shoulder driving, of course you can't see the gauges, fortunately the track never tried doing this again.

It sucked that I lost a good 400 (67 GP) engine in the process for a trophy. The sponsor gave me another engine (68 Ventura) which I went through, fresh heads, new bearings, oil pump, cam and lifters timing chain and gears. That engine ran for 2 years in that race car without problems. When I moved up a class I sold the engine and installed it in a street car, 67 Firebird.