Oil Pickup Clearance

Running a new combo for me. 60WT Brad Penn (half 70 and half 50 with 1/6 Lucas Stabilizer). 12 Quarts in the pan total. Was wondering what is the best pickup to pan clearance to run with this weight oil. Moroso says 1/4" to 3/8" from pickup to pan. Will 1/4" be enough for this heavy of an oil? I'd like to keep it on the tight side to prevent oil starvation. Thanks.

Tom

 

Tom.....
if this is a Hemi combo, you might want to re-think the 12 quart thing. we run about 1/4" clearance on the pickup. TFX block with a dragster pan....16 quarts of Brad Penn. just my 2 cents.

 

Darren,

No, this is a KB-Olds with an Olson wet sump door car pan. Has a Moroso billet pump but the screen is 5/8" off the pan bottom. I filled the pan and at rest, it looks like it would loose about 3-4 quarts at that height. That's why I wanted to close up the gap but was just concerned of how close is too close. Thanks.

Tom

 

i think it would be a good idea to close that gap, i would try to get it close to 1/4".

 

we run 16qt. on our kb's

 

I was wondering about that. I put 12 qts in the pan and it did not get up to the pan rail ledge. Four more quarts would get it just into the block skirt and right below the crank. Was thinking that running down the track that some of the oil would be up above in the heads and valley and that any oil in the pan would be below the windage tray. Am I off base on this? Will this be too much oil at low RPM, i.e. staging where the crank will be whipping it around? Will that cause any issues? Thanks.

Tom

 

Tom....
i am in no way an expert on this, but i bet as soon as that motor is running for a minute or so that the pan will be 1/2 full. there is a ton of oil going in every direction when that thing is running. there's no way the crank will be whipping oil around....just my 2 cents.
Darren