So I was reading through the old oil pan thread that just got bumped and saw this:
I actually read that thread not too long ago, but I somehow missed this. What do the different pickup tubes look like? This is the one out of my spare motor, a 5-plug large-crank-pocket engine that came out of a 1970 Challenger.



What makes me nervous now is that the one in my race engine, an original '64 3-plug block with an A-body pan, also looks like this. Do I have the wrong pickup tube installed? This is the same pickup the engine's been using as long as I've had it.

The only other type I've seen had a longer curve to it, and may have ended with the pickup facing a different cardinal direction, but I can't recall for certain. It came from a different '64 Dart, but one with a later (replacement, I assume) 5-plug block, with a small-pocket crank mounted. So I have no idea which engine it came from originally.

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Somehow I ended up owning three 1964 slant six A-bodies. I race one of them.
Escape Velocity Racing

As long as it's not interfering with the moving parts, is resting on the bottom of the pan (or nearly so) and there are no obstructions or junk in the screen, I think you're OK. It just needs to be immersed in the oil so as to provide a continuous supply to the oil pump (and not be in the way of moving parts). If you're doing any high rpm stuff, then windage trays might come into play to keep the oil down in the pan better, but otherwise I don't see an issue.

brian

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https://tinyurl.com/yynpj4v2

The bigger issue at hand for racing is on hard cornering, the oil will slosh to one side or the other of the pan, so most road/track racers will weld baffles into the pan sump with a flow hole so the oil can still sit in the pan but limit it from starving the pick up and pump, I think a couple of guys have experimented with the baffle and cutting the pickup tube and uniting the parts with a hose and clamps so the pick up can 'slide' where the oil goes when the lateral forces shift.

Windage tray keeps the oil in the pan so it's not whipped up by the motion of the crank, both of these improvements would serve to help keep the oil where it should be...starvation at the pump for a bit too long and it will be a new engine...

Wow, I hadn't heard of the homemade traveling sump head, cool...

Do they make those for race engines commercially, or was that just SL6 ingenuity in action?

brian

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https://tinyurl.com/yynpj4v2

Yeah, I'm mainly wondering about depth of the pickup as I didn't check the pickup-to-pan clearance on reassembly. I figured if it worked fine before, it'll be fine now.

I've been talking about baffling my pan for two years now, but I never seem to have the time and motivation simultaneously.

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Somehow I ended up owning three 1964 slant six A-bodies. I race one of them.
Escape Velocity Racing

Frank,

The 64 Dart pickup looks basically like the one in your pic - just one sharp bend at the bottom. However, I cannot comment on the length/depth and bend angle of the Challenger pickup in your pic. If you don't have baffles, I can't see how you are getting decent oil pressure on turns+braking or why you didn't spin bearings. Is your pan really stock?

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Help yourself in racing and run a good synthetic just in case you lose oil for a moment; it will help your engine live through varying degrees of loss of oil pressure. I have run over 2.5 minutes with zero oil pressure on a rally stage on Mobil 1 with zero engine damage found at disassembly. I did short shift some when I saw the oil pressure at zero.....engine was a 250+ HP turbo'd Mitsu 2.6L with 15 psi boost.

Lou,

I don't have any baffles, my oil pump gear/cam gear shred event happened on a wide highway right hand turn going 80 mph (2500 rpm (2.76 gears)). Do you think oil starvation played a part? Otherwise I don't race, just street machine.

Links to baffle fab?

thanks,

Brian

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https://tinyurl.com/yynpj4v2

I seriously doubt it, my oil light came on after the bang...just exploring the glory that is SL6 design...

That's one reason I'm going to a pressure gauge, more real time data...

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https://tinyurl.com/yynpj4v2

Lou, I'm pretty sure it's a stock pan. It definitely doesn't have baffles. I can't say I've been diligent about checking the oil pressure gauge in corners, so it's very possible we get a drop. We normally run 1 quart over full with a decent full synthetic like Mobil 1, so maybe that helps. When we pulled this engine apart, the bearings didn't look too bad as far as I could tell, but if I remember right, the mains actually looked worse than the rods, which kinda surprised me. But what do I know. The journals were all on the small side of spec with no gouges.

The engine had strong oil pressure until the end; we only had to rebuild because the rings were shot. I'm starting to wonder if the mom and pop engine builders who rebuilt this thing for me ten years ago were actually wizards in disguise. I do plan to baffle the pan in any case; it's just that my friends and I are lazy, and we typically don't start race prep until there isn't time to do much from the "optional" list.

_________________
Somehow I ended up owning three 1964 slant six A-bodies. I race one of them.
Escape Velocity Racing