[Murf'sDad]

In order to save a few shekels I'm going to refurbish and re-use my stock '76 oil pan. I can't run an OEM windage tray; no bosses, unwilling to tap non-bossed caps.

Are there any mods to the stock pan, aside from welding in trap door baffles, that can be done to this pan to help with oil control? I'm mostly concerned with uncovering the pickup in sweeping right-handers.

The stock baffle has spaces along the drivers side of the pan as you can see in the pic. Would it help to weld a cover over those spaces to stop oil from climbing up the pan wall in right hand turns?

Stewart

[NBF823]

I think it was the HO book that said you can weld up the right side of the pan.

Best you can do is copy a road race pan, or buy one. That means trap doors.

There's a few posts on here about the the oil starve subject. Most seem to seem to sugjest the accusump pressure thing. I think guys ran the road race pans and in some cases still dropped oil pressure in some right handers.

Other than that, the only thing I know of is dry-sump.

There's a few wicked road race cars on here.

[Tom Vaught]

If you do a lot of "acceleration runs", put a 3/4" wide piece of metal across the back of the oil pan and tip it downward so that any oil that piles up in the back of the oil pan wall will be turned back into the sump vs reaching the rear crankshaft counter weight. Imagine a "7" shaped piece of metal but with the base of the "7" vertical and being the oil pan wall. The added metal will be about a 45 degree angle downward towards the sump.

Tom Vaught

[Murf'sDad]

Originally Posted by NBF823

I think it was the HO book that said you can weld up the right side of the pan.

Best you can do is copy a road race pan, or buy one. That means trap doors.

There's a few posts on here about the the oil starve subject. Most seem to seem to sugjest the accusump pressure thing. I think guys ran the road race pans and in some cases still dropped oil pressure in some right handers.

Other than that, the only thing I know of is dry-sump.

There's a few wicked road race cars on here.

I've got the H-O books. I don't remember the oil pan suggestion but I'll have to go re-check it.

No pan is perfect for all possibilities but I want mine to cover most of my driving possibilities.

Thanx, Stewart

[Murf'sDad]

Originally Posted by Tom Vaught

If you do a lot of "acceleration runs", put a 3/4" wide piece of metal across the back of the oil pan and tip it downward so that any oil that piles up in the back of the oil pan wall will be turned back into the sump vs reaching the rear crankshaft counter weight. Imagine a "7" shaped piece of metal but with the base of the "7" vertical and being the oil pan wall. The added metal will be about a 45 degree angle downward towards the sump.

Tom Vaught

Hi Tom:

Any "acceleration runs" will be of the informal type, but the rear baffle is a good idea. Now if my welding skills were good enough to incorporate it into a trap door on the left side and front and side baffling to hold the oil in the area of the pan around the pickup.

Stewart

[b-man]

[uforacing]

Originally Posted by Murf'sDad

I've got the H-O books. I don't remember the oil pan suggestion but I'll have to go re-check it.

No pan is perfect for all possibilities but I want mine to cover most of my driving possibilities.

Thanx, Stewart

Page 23. I still have the mod underlined from 30 years ago.

[Skip Fix]

Remember the oil has to drain back into the sump from above to, why even Canton;s tray has some holes in it.

On B-Mans picture looks like the old HO pan. I would extend that baffle, maybe even another mini trap door, a little more around the front so oil can't creep around it on hard braking, my old HO pan has issues with HARD stops autocrossing.

[Murf'sDad]

Originally Posted by b-man

That's what I was looking for. Thanx Bart. Is the vertical baffle tight to the floor of the pan? I can't tell.

Stewart

[Murf'sDad]

Originally Posted by uforacing

Page 23. I still have the mod underlined from 30 years ago.

I got my copies of the two H-O books in about '77. Read them cover to cover over and over. Just not in recent years. Went to the shop and opened it up and there is the one sentence reference. Once I saw it I remembered.

Stewart

[Murf'sDad]

Originally Posted by Skip Fix

Remember the oil has to drain back into the sump from above to, why even Canton;s tray has some holes in it.

On B-Mans picture looks like the old HO pan. I would extend that baffle, maybe even another mini trap door, a little more around the front so oil can't creep around it on hard braking, my old HO pan has issues with HARD stops autocrossing.

I was thinking of plugging the holes on the side and drilling some holes in the grooves of the baffle to allow drain back.

I was thinking the same thing about the front of the pan but more along the lines of keeping the oil from going around the baffle in a right hander.

Stewart

[b-man]

Originally Posted by Murf'sDad

That's what I was looking for. Thanx Bart. Is the vertical baffle tight to the floor of the pan? I can't tell.

Stewart

It's only tight at the rear corner, the width of the baffle is the same for the whole thing. This one is a copy of the H-O Racing pan I have on my GTO.

[Murf'sDad]

Originally Posted by b-man

It's only tight at the rear corner, the width of the baffle is the same for the whole thing. This one is a copy of the H-O Racing pan I have on my GTO.

After seeing the pic, I went out to the shop, grabbed a piece of bristol board, took some measurements and cut out a pattern of a baffle to fit to the pan. The way I cut it, it is tight to the bottom of the pan, i.e.; fitted to the pan, and the top edge is level with the top of the factory baffle. It fits tight to the back corner of the pan and back wall and comes across the front as far as the factory baffle does. The new piece is tapered upward from the floor of the pan on the passenger side so it meets the existing contour with minimal bend. As long as you have the trapdoor on the side, having the baffle as close to the floor of the pan should work the best, shouldn't it? Or am I missing something?

How did you build your hinge? It looks like you welded a tube to the top of the trap door and put a pin through it, using small pieces of the tube welded to the baffle as pivot points. I saved, re-sized and enhanced your picture so I could get more details, but my dying eyes still can't get all the details. Maybe after the cataract surgery in October I'll see it better.

Glad you attached the pic. I considered doing this but I was contemplating having to weld the new baffle all around the edge of the existing baffle and to the pan walls and bottom as well. A half dozen tack welds I think even my welding skills can handle with minimal problems.

Thanx again, Stewart

[b-man]

The tubing welded to the top/front side of the hinge is 3/16" tubing, same for the two small pieces tacked to the baffle.

I'll try to dig up some dimensions, from what I remember the opening in the baffle for the trap door is only 3/4" tall. I tried making the door a little taller (it's about 1" tall) but it ends up hitting the oil pump pickup.

I had this pan on the 455 that used to reside in my Tempest and it worked well for 30K miles while I was running that engine in the car.

[Murf'sDad]

Originally Posted by b-man

The tubing welded to the top/front side of the hinge is 3/16" tubing, same for the two small pieces tacked to the baffle.

I'll try to dig up some dimensions, from what I remember the opening in the baffle for the trap door is only 3/4" tall. I tried making the door a little taller (it's about 1" tall) but it ends up hitting the oil pump pickup.

I had this pan on the 455 that used to reside in my Tempest and it worked well for 30K miles while I was running that engine in the car.

So my eyes aren't totally gone yet. BONUS! Still got surgery in October though!

I'd appreciate any dimensions you can provide. I wasn't thinking about the height of the trapdoor, only it's width. I hadn't considered the door hitting the oil pump. My measurement indicate my pump pickup is only about 3/8" above the pan bottom.

Stewart

[KEN CROCIE]

B-mans assesment is correct in that if the baffle door extends to the floor of the pan it will hang up on the pickup. I had customers call me complaining that the pan didn't work as advertised---only to find out they "improved" the pan by extending the flapper all the way down. I can't stress strongly enough to use a windage tray. Use BBC studded main bolts (aftermarket kind) on # 2 & 4 main and drill hole in the tray in the proper location. We actually made a kit like this years ago(I am henceforth dropping "back in the day" expression).Without a tray , about 25HP worth of oil will hang on the crank and not go back to the pan!!

[Murf'sDad]

Originally Posted by KEN CROCIE

B-mans assesment is correct in that if the baffle door extends to the floor of the pan it will hang up on the pickup. I had customers call me complaining that the pan didn't work as advertised---only to find out they "improved" the pan by extending the flapper all the way down. I can't stress strongly enough to use a windage tray. Use BBC studded main bolts (aftermarket kind) on # 2 & 4 main and drill hole in the tray in the proper location. We actually made a kit like this years ago(I am henceforth dropping "back in the day" expression).Without a tray , about 25HP worth of oil will hang on the crank and not go back to the pan!!

Hi Ken:

When Bart said he wanted to make the flapper 1", I envisioned making it taller, not dropping it down. I can see the need to have clearance between the bottom of the pan and the flapper so it can move, but I also understand that making the flapper pivot higher may limit the movement because it hits the pump and 3/4" is as high as you can go and get maximum opening.

I was going to check the extra studded head bolts I have to see if any were compatible with the main bolts. Thanx for the 411 on the BBC aftermarket studded bolts. I have both a full length and a 4/5 length windage tray. Really want to use one of them.

Stewart

[b-man]

Originally Posted by Murf'sDad

Hi Ken:

When Bart said he wanted to make the flapper 1", I envisioned making it taller, not dropping it down. I can see the need to have clearance between the bottom of the pan and the flapper so it can move, but I also understand that making the flapper pivot higher may limit the movement because it hits the pump and 3/4" is as high as you can go and get maximum opening.

I was going to check the extra studded head bolts I have to see if any were compatible with the main bolts. Thanx for the 411 on the BBC aftermarket studded bolts. I have both a full length and a 4/5 length windage tray. Really want to use one of them.

Stewart

You can't extend the flapper door height either up or down, it won't work unless it's built just like the photo shows.

[242177P]

What about multiple flappers? Say 1/4" each, one above the other??

[Murf'sDad]

Originally Posted by b-man

You can't extend the flapper door height either up or down, it won't work unless it's built just like the photo shows.

So we're talking a flapper, max 3/4" tall, that will clear the bottom of the pan and have free movement.

Stewart