It's always something in an engine buildup isn't it????
So we get the pan installed on the 498 project only to discover that the pickup is >.5" above the bottom of the pan. And this is on the Moroso pan and pump/pickup combo that was on the previous 454. (All the same orig parts, they were all in good shape)
Convential wisdom says you want 3/8 to 1/4 inch of clearance.
Makes me wonder if the large clearance (I didn't check it originally......6 years ago) I had when it was a 454 was responsible for the crappy bearing wear.
Anyone run into this?
The Moroso pickup is unlike the stocker in that it is a rectangular piece that is brazed to the pump with a support arm also bolted to the pump. Not real adjustable......
How to solve this?
Call Moroso?
Buy a new pickup? (Gee, will it be identical to what I have now?)
Buy a new pump/pickup assy? (Arrrrgh)
With the $$$$ invested in the project, I want it correct.
Ron

I think you should be OK with a 1/2" clearance assuming your taking into account approx 1/8" for the pan gasket?

I have run as much as 1/2", maybe a tad more(my last one had the pickup "box" sitting crooked where it didn't sit flat or parallel to the floor of the pan), but prefer to shoot for 3/8" total clearance. Sometimes the pickups just don't want to cooperate the way their designed and you can't realy adjust them how you would like without damaging them. I don't like to beat on them too much as I have found them to be brittle and crack/break if your too agreessive trying to make depth adjustments.

Ron,
Pickup to pan clearance of .5" or so is not a problem. It is better to have a little more clearance than not enough. As long as the oil level is not allowed to drop too low, you should be picking up enough oil from within 1/2 inch from the floor to circulate OK.
The only problem that may be encountered with excessive pan/pickup clearance is in an extreme wheelstand or very hard acceleration. A rear pan baffle that you can get from Moroso, is a viable solution for the hard acceleration issue.

Well,
The 1/2" clearance was w/o a pan gasket. And I'm using a 1 piece setup, which is thicker than the std. cork gaskets.
I looked at the Moroso site, and I notice that they use the same pickup with the std. volume pump as they do with the HV pump.
Now isn't the HV pump longer? The gears are for sure.
I'm using the std. volume pump. (If it's good enough for Grumpy Jenkins, it's good enough for me) Or so my engine builder has always said. He says no need for the HV pump in a properly clearance Rat Motor....unless you want to suck the pan dry. ( I like the "suck dry" part of that)
The pan I have is the kick out version, but only 6 quarts.
So we need to fix this one way or another.....I emialed Moroso, but will probably call them Monday AM.
I guess it bothers me cause I didn't measure this the first time around 5 years ago, and the bearings didn't look very good when the engine came apart. Even though the last 3 runs were all in the 10's...and that was a bit rare for my car.
Thanks for the responses guys.
Ron

Ron, If a baffle is available to keep the oil from being thrown up the back of the pan i'd get one as this is more than likely what is happening if your temporarily loosing pressure on the launch. It sounds like something that would have to be welded in to work. Check the Reher-Morrison website as David Reher wrote an article on this subject and it's in his tech articles for the reading. Very good stuff. A good deep 7 or 8 qt. pan could pay some benefits and could prove to be "cheap insurance" in the long run.

I'll talk to my engine guy and see what he thinks.
One other thing......I suffered a Fram Filter implosion on the car as well. When I went to do an oil change, I looked in the filter and the core had imploded. So none of the oil had been filtered for who knows how long. That could also have been the cause of the bearing uglies.
I have never seen a drop in oil pressure.....but then who looks while the car is launching....and would the gauge even catch it? I do look at the big end when stopping.
I use -4 line to the gauge.
Ron

BTW....never bought another Fram oil filter since then....for anything!