High Volume Oil Pump?

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whitey

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I have a 360 with a high volume oil pump. While it was running I pulled the dipstick and there was nothing very little on the stick. It's a fresh oil change with 5 quarts of Rotella T 15W40 and a K&N oil filter and a stock oil pan with a windage tray. Would it hurt to add, say a half quart of oil?

Thanks...Eric
 
Back when I had my 383 Super Bee I usually ran it with 5 quarts of Penn 50w (in the summer) and had no problems.....except at the track. With the HV pump in it twisting 7000 it would empty the pan. To cure the "slow return" I ran an extra quart.

However, you aren't talking about a WOT 13.40 pass. I haven't owned enough small blocks to have ever even thought about looking at the stick while running to know if there is an issue. But if it were a big block and there was no oil in the pan at idle I'd be tearing it apart looking for restrictions in the return path.
 
My machine shop told me a 5 quart oil pan would be ok with a HV oil pump provided I don't get out on the highway and go wide open throttle over 100 mph for like 10 minutes straight. You should be fine running 5 quarts unless you plan to rev over 7,000 rpm all the time.

If you run more oil then the pan holds the crank may splash it too much causing the oil to foam up then you'll have a problem.
 
what 340sfastback said...thats what mopars performace direct connect line told me. as i will be going to the high volume pump but sticking with stock 5qt pan. and the dipstick they gave me isnt the same stick my 340 came with...so id check the stick length.
 
Yes 340fastback is right. You don't want to run it overfull because when it gets splashed around and foamy (aerated) it's almost as bad as having no oil at all.

You always check them shut off. I've pulled the dipstick on a couple engines when running just to see what it looked like and none of them showed much oil when it was running.
 
You really don't have a problem to speak of - what is happening is a HV pump will pump more oil through the system - with a 5 qt pan there is not quite enough oil - I always recommend stock pumps with 5 qt pans and Volume pumps with 7 or 8 qt pans - hope this helps

Skip
Middleburg Performance
904-406-2115
 
It is best to have a high volume pan for more capacity so the oil will run a little cooler and windage will be eliminated but I know quite a few fellows that are running stock pans (including me) with the hv pump and are not having problems. Here while back I was out on a destitute hwy. and had a nice open area to see what speed it redlined at in 3rd and it took about 3/8 mile to reach it which was 120 mph and I watched the oil pressure gauge closely and it never dropped any or indicated that it was running low on oil. But I did use a die grinder to clean up the oil drainback holes to promote quicker drainback. Awhile back I read an article from back in the late 60's where Mopar experimented with this very subject and found the stock pickup so restrictive that it never pumped more oil than the pan would hold. In other words it allways drained back fast enough. I imagine just like any other test there are factors that can affect this somewhat and possibly big blocks are worse, don't know much about them.
 
If you try to measure it o the stick after only adding two of teh 5 qts... does it show low? The rest is being pumped and draining back. That's why they tell you to measure hot wiht the engine off. It's fine.
 
If the dipstick is showing full (hot but no running) then you are fine. Leave it alone. If you are trying to achieve a better oil capacity and cooling setup then add a 7-8 qt pan and a oil cooler to compliment your HV pump. That said, I don't think it is necessary in your case because the dipstick will still show low if you are checking oil level while the motor is running, assuming that is what you are concern about.
 
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