i need to replace my oil pan, the prior owner bottomed out and dented the bottom up pretty bad. anyway i'd like to replace it and i'm not sure what type of pan and oil pump to buy. it's mostly street driven but i do like to get into it. it's a 69 chevelle with a 454, 4 speed and headman headers if thee are clearance problems to worry about. i probably don't know the right questions to ask, oppinions welcome.
thank john

keep in mind sometimes the high volumepumps wear the cam/dist gear out quicker.... just ask me i learned the hard way graemlins/clonk.gif

you don't need one unless your engine is so worn out it won't maintain oil pressure with a stock pump. doesn't sound like that's the issue in this case, so just replace it with a stock pump if you feel a need to change something.

Be careful of aftermarket pans, especially if they have little kickouts on the sides. we see mant reports of guys having to pull or loosen the left header to get the oil filter out. Bummer deal. The aftermarket pan needs to be for a Chevelle chassis, other passenger car and truck pans won't fit, the hit the crossmember.

Tom

I had a high volume pump. Took it out after I looked at the oil pressure gauge @6000 rpm - it was down in the 20's! Installed a stocker with a Z-28 spring. Now it's ~ 55 psi at all times.

Mike

Lets assume I don't know crap. HOWEVER, in the bible of big blocks" How to Hot Rod BBC's" it clearly states " The stock oiling system NEEDS NO IMPROVEMENTS ". So be it. They do give you an EXCELLENT section on how to blueprint your pump. So , IMHO, a $22 Melling M77, with maybe a hour into it for blueprinting is 110% satisfactory. You can buy pumps done this way for $65, including the L88/Ls7 pump.

If its a high RPM motor, as I run, I used a Moroso 20451 pan ( 7 qt) that I only run 6 qts in, with a blueprinted M77/Moroso pickup. If its a more typical 5500 rpm redline, stock pump and stock replacement pan would be the choice. The L88 pump is slightly bigger than stock, but not the size of an HV pump.

IMHO, HV pumps are for loose clearance race engine, or applications with oil routing such as turbos or remote filters. It won't hurt a stock or street/strip engine, just completely unwarranted , i.e., drag on the engine for nothing.

sounds like good advice. thank you all. are the crank scrapers necessary and do they come in the stock pans.

thanks again

No and No for the scraper.

Any time you keep oil off of the rotating crank it is a good thing. But a scraper is not required and likely you would see any difference between with and without. And a stock replacement pan usually doesn't have anything like that.

If you get a pan like Gene mentioned, you will get some of the oil control features of race pans, but without the side kickouts that Tom mentioned.

Good Luck.

R.J.

I have run them but only on race motors with alum. rods. The alum. rods require so much side clearence that there can be pressure problems with the std. pump.

Hey, I just put a Milodon 7 quart Stroker low profile pan on my SBC with Dynomax long tube headers and I can still get the oil filter on and off, just dont fill it when you put it back on!