Small Block Oil Pick Up Tube Question

Jadaharabi said

Totally agree With tightening up loose clearances and using trays and scrapers. At the same time remember the escaping oil is also carrying away heat from the moving part to the oil pan where it is cooled.

Click to expand...

And less oil flow would lessen the effects of any restrictions like at the intake. Spot on about the oil cooling; oil cooling does a LOT more than most folks appreciate. I remember having an argument (oops, 'discussion') a few years back, where I was saying that thinner oils flowed more and cooled better. Someone took umbrage and said that was all wrong, and that they had tested on a dyno, and that thinner oils just got hotter.... When I explained that the hotter oil was BECAUSE the thinner oil was flowing more and cooling the internal parts more, there was a 'meeting of the minds' LOL

I've moved to thinner oils in rally use for that very reason; the engines can get hammered on for 5 to 45 minutes at a time and any extra cooling helps keep things more stable inside the engine, turbo, etc. However, that is a racing discipline where beyond a certain point, getting every last HP is a worthless effort; you just can't put it to the ground. I'd probably look at it very differently for drag racing, where every .01 second can count and the traction can be managed to use any and all extra HP.

BTW, all very interesting work here; thanks for putting it out there.