Quote:
Originally Posted by mrennie
Perhaps I am missing the obvious, but something that is fuzzy to me...
...what negative effects are there if the pickup is higher off the pan floor than ideal?
I understand that the pickup cannot be too close to the pan, or else it hinders suction and could affect flow.
But what bad happens if the pickup is say, 1" off the floor? The only thing obvious to me is that you loose some oil capacity in the system, as the oil that cannot get sucked into the pump effectively disappears as it cannot be used...but is that it?
Thanks
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If the pick-up is mounted higher, as in your example, for a normal street vehicle you would never notice the difference in the extra oil below the pick-up screen.
If you are a drag racer or road racer and the pick-up is 1/2" higher vs the upper height distance, then when you accelerate (or turn corners sharply), the pick-up being slightly higher has more chance of seeing air vs oil and you would then be adding air and oil mix to your engine.
Road Race pans have trap doors to keep the oil from running away from the pump pick-up. This means the average oil level in the pan around the pick-up is higher and less chance of air entering the engine.
Some put a deflector baffle on the back wall of the oil pan (about 3 inches up) to force the oil climbing the rear wall under acceleration to turn quickly back into the sump and keep the pick-up covered.
So if you drive smoothly it makes no difference, if you drive like a NASCAR guy or a Drag Strip guy you need mods besides the stock oil pan. making sure the pick-up is about 3/8" is in the ball park for a good location but does not fix a racing oil starvation issue. Same deal for slamming on the brakes and having the oil run to the front of the pan on hard decels after the pass.
Tom V.