getting your oil SYSTEM TO BE EFFICIENT

[grumpyvette]

this is simple if you think about it, the OBJECT IS TO TOTALLY INSURE A STEAD FLOW OF OIL AT ALL TIMES TO YOUR ENGINES MOVING PARTS, measure the lowest point that the crank assembly swings below the lower block pan rails, lets say its 4.23" inches,(not including the windage screen that ideally spaced about 3/16" lower) now thats the highest the oil level should be! your oil pan depth on your car will be determined by the ground clearance needed (on my corvette thats a pan, 7.5" deep maximum) my oil pan has a custom wide baffled sump thats roughly 12" x 14.9" x 3" added to the lower 3" of the oil pan, thats 536 cubic inches, a quart equals 61 cubic inches of volume, or 8.79 quarts I put 9.5 quarts in the car because theres at least one quart in the upper engine while its running , <b> oil is the life of your engine , you must make sure the oil pump NEVER SUCKS AIR OR HAS A LIMITED SUPPLY/FEED INTO THE PICKUP</b>

I bought an oil pan that looked some what like this

 

from

http://www.midwestmotorsportsinc.com/mms.nsf/pages/Specials

for $89

 

installed it and carefully measured and marked it and had a local welding shop extend the sump forward about 7 inches to increase the oil capacity (MY WELDER WAS BROKEN THAT WEEK, COST ME $80 but well worth the minimum costs envolved) DON,T FORGET ITS A SYSTEM YOU NEED THESE ALSO

 

http://www.melling.com/highvol.html</a> <A HREF="http://www.melling.com/engoil.html" TARGET="_blank">http://www.melling.com/engoil.html

 

ok lets look at a few things, pressure is the result of a resistance to flow , no matter how much oil is put out by the oil pump there is almost no pressure unless there is a resistance to that oil flow and the main resistance is from oil trying to flow through the bearing surface clearances and once the pumps output pressure exceeds the engines ability to accept the oilflow at the max pressure the oil return system/bypass spring allows the oil circles back through the pump ,now the amount of oil flow necessary to reach the furthest parts in the engine from the oil pump does not go up in direct relation to rpm, but it instead increases with rpm at a steadly increaseing rate that increases faster than the engine rpm due to centrifugal force draining the oil from the rods as they swing faster and faster since energy increases with the square of the velocity the rate of oil use goes up quite a bit faster due to the greatly increased (G-FORCES) pulling oil from the rod bearings over 5000rpm going to 8000rpm than the rate of oil flow increases from 2000 rpm to 5000rpm (the same 3000rpm spread) and remember the often stated (10 lbs per 1000rpm)needs to be measured at the furthest rod and main bearing from the pump not at the pump itself, next lets look at the oil flow itself, you have about 5-6 quarts in an average small block now the valve covers never get and hold more than about 1/3 to 2/3 of a quart each even at 8000 rpm (high speed photography by SMOKEY YUNICK doing stock car engine research with clear plastic valve covers prove that from what Ive read) theres about 1 quart in the lifter gallery at max and theres about 1 quart in the filter and in the oil passages in the block, that leaves at least 2 quarts in the pan at all times and for those that want to tell me about oil wrapped around the crankshaft at high rpms try squirting oil on a spinning surface doing even 2000rpm (yes thats right its thrown off as fast as it hits by centrifugal force, yes its possiable for the crankshaft WITHOUT A WINDAGE SCREEN to keep acting like a propeler and pulling oil around with it in the crank case but thats what the wrap around style milodon type windage screen is designed to stop)the only way to run out of oil is to start with less than 4 quarts or to plug the oil return passages in the lifter gallery with sludge or gasket material! now add a good windage tray and a crank scrapper and almost all the oil is returned to the sump as it enters the area of the spinning crankshaft! forming a more or less endless supply to the oil pump, BTW almost all pro teams now use DRY SUMP SYSTEMS WITH POSITIVE DISPLACEMENT GERATOR PUMPS that are 3,4,or 5 stage pumps each section of which has more voluum than a standard voluum oil pump because its been found total oil control is necessary at high rpms to keep bearings cool and lubed

 

NOW I POSTED THIS BEFORE BUT IT NEEDs REPEATING

ok look at it this way,what your trying to do here is keep an pressureized oil film on the surface of all the bearings to lube and cool them and have enough oil spraying from the rod and main bearing clearances to lube the cam and cylinder walls/rings. now a standard pump does a good job up to 5000rpm and 400 hp but above 6000rpm and 400hp the bearings are under more stress and need more oilflow to cool and because the pressure on the bearings is greater you need higher pressures to maintain that oilfilm.lets look at the flow verus pressure curve. since oil is a liquid its non-compressable and flow will increase with rpm up to the point where the bypass circuit starts to re-route the excess flow at the point were the pressure exceeds the bypass spring pressure. but the voluum will be equal to the pumps sweep voluum times the rpm of the pump, since the high voluum pump has a sweep voluum 1.3-1.5 times the standard pump voluum it will push 1.3-1.5 times the voluum of oil up to the bypass cicuit cut in point,that means that since the engine bearings leakage rate increases faster as the rpms increase because the clearances don,t change but the bleed off rate does that the amount of oil and the pressure that it is under will increase faster and reach the bypass circuit pressure faster with the high voluum pump. the advantage here is that the metal parts MUST be floated on that oil film to keep the metal parts from touching/wearing and the more leakage points the oil flows by the less the voluum of oil thats available for each leakage point beyond it and as the oil heats up it becomes easier to push through the clearences.now as the rpms and cylinder preasures increase in your goal to add power the loads trying to squeeze that oil out of those clearances also increase. ALL mods that increase power either increase rpms,cylinder preasures or reduce friction or mechanical losses. there are many oil leakage points(100) in a standard chevy engine.

16 lifter to push rod points

16 pushrod to rocker arm points

32 lifter bores 16 x 2 ends

10 main bearing edges

9 cam bearing edges

16 rod bearing edges

2 distributor shaft leaks

1 distributor shaft to shim above the cam gear(some engines that have an oil pressure feed distributor shaft bearing.)

so the more oil voluum the better.chevy did an excelent job in the design but as the stresses increase the cooling voluum of the extra oil available from the larger pump helps to prevent lubracation delivery failure, do you need a better pump below 5000rpm or 400hp (no) above that level the extra oil will definitely helps

 

The bottom of a Chevrolet distributor housing can be modified to spray pressurized oil onto the distributor drive gear. The extra lubrication will reduce distributor gear and camshaft gear wear. This is especially important when the gear is used to drive non-standard accessories, such as a high volume oil pump, or a magneto that puts additional loads on it and the cam. When the distributor is installed, the bands at the bottom of the housing are designed to complete the internal right side lifter galley on all small and big block Chevrolet V-8’s and 90° V-6 engines. If you hand file a small vertical groove .030" wide x .030"( thats the diam. that crane recommends Ive always used the larger groove with no problemsdeep on the bottom band (above the gear), pressurized oil running between the two bands will be directed downward onto both the gear and the camThis procedure is recommended for all Chevrolet engines no matter what material gear (cast or bronze) or what type of camshaft (cast or steel) you are using.

 

keep in mind the groove MUST be lined up with the cam gear when the distrib. is installed

[pparaska]

Grumpy, Nice post!

 

Are you saying it's o.k. to have the oil level in the pan (engine not running) almost up to the crank (almost touching the windage screen)?

[grumpyvette]

it can be even about 1/4" above the lower edge of the windage screen while the engines not running because the oil level will drop 1/2-3/4" after the engines running for a minute again

[Guest Anonymous]

Great technical info! This is the kind of thing that advances hot rodding above mere bolting things together. I have a question for you that has been the center of disagreement between myself and some of my car buddies:

 

1. OIL VISCOSITY; My feeling has been use the best quality, low viscosity (5W X 30W) oil with the intention of reducing viscosity "drag" on internal components. Most of my associates think I'm crazy, and endangering my parts doing this. Most beleive that 10W X 50 is the only way to go. I do run relatively tight clearances (other than pin-fit). Your thoughts?

 

I run a 510 inch BBC, my oil system is a nine quart pan (I run eight quarts in it) with a crank scraper (no windage tray) and oil pump baffle.

[grumpyvette]

READ THIS

http://www.fammllc.com/htmlpub/PDF%20Files/LUBE_Bulletin12.pdf

 

http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/auto_technology/2002/8/motor_oil/print.phtml

 

BTW

as a general rule youll want to run the thinnest weight oil that will maintain about 20 lbs of oil pressure in a hot (200f)engine at idle, remember oil flow over the bearings COOLS by ABSORBING HEAT and carrying it into the oil pan, oil cooler or letting the cooler block surfaces absorb the heat for the cooling system to remove, to cool the bearings and lifter contact points ETC. the greater the voluum of oil flowing over the bearings the more heat can be carried away and the more constant the surface temp. can be. and be fore someone jumps in with that old myth that oil flowing over the surfaces to fast will fail to pick up the heat from the bearings... let me point out this chart

 

 

http://www.diabolicalperformance.com/clearances.html

heres other info,

http://www.babcox.com/editorial/ar/ar10180.htm

 

http://www.thirskauto.net/BearingPics.html

 

http://www.waynesgarage.com/docs/oil.htm

 

http://www.jimcookperformance.com/TechNotes/TN%2023.html

 

http://www.cryoeng.com/images/EngineDurabilitySecrets.htm

 

http://www.melling.com/engoil.html

 

http://members.aol.com/carleyware/library/engine2t.htm

BTW on the high voluum pump versus the standard pump, what Im saying is basically this

if you push the oil at a low enough pressure and voluum accross the bearing surfaces the limited , stock oil voluum ,compared to the higher , voluum pumped by the aftermarket pumps, passing over the surface will ,pick up a higher heat transfer per oil voluum in contact with the bearing surfaces due to its longer contact time.

that poses three minor potential problems that might be major potential problem depending on the temp. range and oil quality (mineral versus synthetic)

 

(1)as the oil voluum passing over the bearing surface heats up it can absorb a lower percentage of the bearings heat

 

(2)as oil heats up it breaks down and by the time mineral base oils hit 260 degrees they have lost significant luberacation

 

(3)oil picks up and carries micro trash (carbon,acids, metalic dust,etc.) that can embed in the bearing surfaces, a slightly higher pressure and voluum flowing accross the bearing surfaces TENDs to keep them cleaner because the FILTERED oil PUSHED OVER THE BEARING SURFACES tends to be run through the FILTER more often

so if your pushing 20% more oil at 10% greater pressure accross the bearings the oil will tend heat slower,have a greater time in the cooling off cycle and stabilize at a lower total heat absorbsion level.

 

what most of the guys that tell you a stock pump is all youll ever need FORGET to TELL you is that

the high voluum pumps pump oil to the bearings faster at startup, helping to prevent wear, pump ONLY what the engines CLEARANCES ALLOW, have a more constant pressure level, and they also don,t seem to understand that the hydrolic lifters in most engines have internal valves that limit the oil flow voluum, in almost every case where someome says the valve covers fill up at high RPMs, your talking to someone whos just repeating something they heard, or someone whos FAILED tO CORRECTLY PREP THE BLOCK AND/OR USE A WINDAGE SCREEN not someone thats actually tested the engine to see if what they are talking about is true

 

read this part of that big post above

 

now what does quite frequently happen is that the guys installing a high volume oil pump just swap out the standard pump, reinstall the stock or simular pick-up and bolt on the pan with the pick-up in the stock possition on the oil pump. the stock pick-up is mounted about 3/8" off the pan bottom,the high volume pump is normally equiped with impeller gears about .3 inches longer than stock, the high volume pump body is that much lower in the pan, resultting in the pick-up being only about 1/8" from the pan bottom. the result is that on a normal chevy oil pump pick-up this leave a space of about 1/8" x 2.5" for oil to flow into the pump. at low rpms this works but as the rpms climb the pick-up that can,t get any oil to pump cavitates as it spins and fails to pump oil, result oil pressure drops untill rpms are lowered no matter how much oil is over the pick-up............ valve covers never get and hold more than about 1/3 to 2/3 of a quart each even at 8000 rpm (high speed photography by SMOKEY YUNICK doing stock car engine research with clear plastic valve covers prove that

 

BTW WHILE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT OIL SYSTEMS, just some info, see these remote adapters, a fairly comon reason people install high voluum pumps is to use these remote adapters

 

 

 

well a fairly comon way to kill an engine is to INCORRECTLY install one of these remote filter adapter kits,

look at the top picture and keep in mind that those two connecting hoses COULD be flipped as to what end(in/out ) on the remote filters gets hooked to the bypass adapter (IN/OUT) ports, hook it up correctly and everything works just fine! but swap the two hoses on only one end and YOUR OIL PUMP tries to push OIL PAST the ANTI-DRAINBACK VALVES on the oil filters,(and most of the time is marginally successfull in that a trickle of oil does get to the bearings and rocker arms at idle) now at idle youll still get good oil pressure (about 15 lbs) but rev the engine and the highly restricted oil flow pressure goes up very slowly but the oil VOLUUM getting into the block is so low youll spin a bearing in about the first 20 minutes ( [color:"red"] and 99% of the time the guy that does this blames the guy who built his engine for putting it togeather WRONG when in fact the engine could have been PERFECT but with no oil reaching the bearings under load the engine is history within at best about an hours running time! [/color]